A village was situated on the edge of the forest which was prosperous and people of the village were leading a peaceful life.
The villagers had built a temple in the middle of the village, where they used to worship everyday. There was a big bell at the entrance of the temple.
One night, a thief stole the temple bell and fled towards the forest.
When thief was running in the forest, bell was ringing and its sound was spreading far and wide. A tiger who was roaming near by, heard sound of that bell and started following the sound out of curiosity.
The thief was already very tired while running from the village to the forest. So, he sat under a tree to relax. At moment, lion also reached there and killed the thief. The bell fell there.
Next day a herd of monkeys passed by that place. When they saw that bell, one of those monkey picked it up and took it with him. Monkeys found the melodious sound of the bell very interesting and started playing with it.
Often, monkeys used to gather at night and used to play by ringing that bell. Unaware of the reason behind the sound of the bell coming from the forest at night, villagers found it very strange.
One day everyone decided that the secret of the bell ringing in the night has to be known. So, they prepared a young man of the village and sent him to the forest to check the cause. When the young man went to the forest, he saw the skeleton of the thief.
Young man got scared and ran back to village and told everyone that some ghost is roaming in the forest, who kills people and then rings the bell.
The villagers believed his words without thinking. This news spread like wild fire in the whole village. Atmosphere of fear prevailed in the village. Slowly the people of that village started migrating to other villages.
When the King of the state came to know that the people of a village in his state were migrating from there, he made it known throughout the state that the person who would drive away the ghost roaming in the forest, will be given a suitable award.
This announcement of the King was also heard by an old woman living in the same village. She believed that the ghost was just a rumor. One night she went out to the forest alone. There she saw a group of monkeys, who were playing by ringing bell.
Old woman understood the secret of the sound of the bell ringing in the night. She came back to the village.
Next day, she went to King and said, “I can drive away the ghost wandering in the forest but for that a ritual had to be organized to bring that evil spirit under control, for which i will need some money.”
King instantly arranged money for the old woman. With that money, she bought some peanuts, gram, fruits and made a circle in the temple premises and keeping all the food items inside circle, started praying to God.
After doing this for some time, she picked up all the food items and went to the forest. After reaching the forest, she put all the food items under a tree and hid herself behind a tree, waiting for the monkeys to come.
After some time a group of monkeys came there and when they saw a lot of food items, they threw the bell aside and ran to eat them. While monkeys were eating peanuts, gram and fruits with great pleasure. Meanwhile, getting the opportunity, old woman picked up the bell and came to the King’s palace.
Handing over the bell to the King, she said, “That evil spirit has left this bell and fled from the forest. The villagers have nothing to fear now.”
King was very pleased with the bravery of the old woman and gave her the award. From that day on wards the villagers never heard the sound of the bell and they started living happily again.
Learning:
1. One should not reach any decision without thinking.
2. With intelligence every problem can be solved.
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