The stolen bullocks

There was a farmer who had saved up money for years to buy two very strong and powerful bullocks. Finally, he had the necessary amount and he was so happy to be able to buy a pair of bullocks to plough his fields. The day after he purchased the bullocks, early in the morning, the farmer yoked them to a plough and for two hours he ploughed his fields. Then he became tired, so he released the bullocks and allowed them to move around. Meanwhile, he sat at the foot of a tree to take rest. Alas, in a few minutes the farmer fell asleep.

Soon afterwards, a thief happened to pass by. He saw the two beautiful bullocks and he began to lead them away. All of a sudden, the farmer woke up and started screaming, “Those are my bullocks! What are you doing?”

The thief said, “These are my bullocks! They were roaming free and I found them first.”

Then both of them started fighting. The thief claimed that he was the owner of the two bullocks and the farmer said, “They are my bullocks! I paid for them.” The farmer started screaming at the top of his lungs, and the villagers all rushed to the scene.

The thief said, “Two days ago I bought these bullocks. Now I am taking them to my home.”

The farmer said, “No, it is not true! I bought them! These are mine! Just last night I bought them.”

An elderly villager said, “If they belong to you, then you have to prove it.”

The farmer said, “How am I going to prove it?”

The villager said, “Was there nobody who saw you arrive with these bullocks?”

The farmer said, “Yesterday in the evening I bought them, and early in the morning I brought them here to plough my fields. Alas, nobody has seen me bring them here.”

Then the thief said, “I bought these bullocks two days ago and I am taking them home to my village. If you come with me, I will be able to prove it.”

The villagers said, “Where do you live?”

The thief answered, “I live quite far from here, but if you come with me, I will be able to bring forward witnesses to prove my story.” The thief knew that he could easily fool the villagers. He would bring them some distance and then run away in the night, taking the bullocks with him. That was the plan in his mind.

Since the villagers could not settle the dispute, the elderly villager said, “Let us go and get our village doctor. He is very, very wise. Perhaps he will be able to solve the problem.”

So they brought the village doctor to the field. The village doctor said to the thief, “Since you claim to be the owner, I am sure you have fed the bullocks.”

The thief said, “Oh yes, I have taken good care of my animals.”

The doctor continued, “What did you give them this morning?”

The thief said, “I gave them boiled rice, sweets and many, many things. I even gave them fried potatoes.”

Then the doctor asked the farmer, “What did you give them?”

The farmer said, “I am a very poor farmer. With greatest difficulty, I saved up enough money to buy these two bullocks. This morning I gave them only grass. I did not have anything expensive to offer them. I only gave them grass.”

The doctor said, “Now let me see who is telling the truth.” He took some powder and put it into water. Then, after shaking the bottle, the doctor said, “All right. Now let the bullocks drink a little.” As soon as the doctor put this drink inside the mouths of the bullocks, they both started vomiting.

The farmer became so miserable. He said, “O my God! My bullocks will die!” He was panicking because of the way the two bullocks were vomiting.

In the meantime, everybody could see that the bullocks had vomited only grass. There was no rice, no potatoes. So they immediately declared, “The farmer is telling the truth. The other fellow is a thief!”

The farmer was so relieved. He took his bullocks and started leading them away. Then the villagers started thrashing the thief. They beat him up mercilessly because he was such a liar. They wanted to punish him for his crime.

The doctor said, “Listen to me. This is not the only world. There is another world. In this world he has told a lie, and for that you are all punishing him. But wait until he goes to the other world. When he dies, in that world they will punish him far more ruthlessly than you are doing now. So the best thing is to leave him to be punished in the other world.”

The villagers said, “Will he really be punished? Are you sure?”

The doctor was the wisest man in the village and they all respected him. He said, “I tell you, there is another world. People who do wrong things on earth receive punishment in two places. Here you have punished him ruthlessly. He is almost dead. But when he dies, there will be another punishment, and that punishment will be even more severe. So do not punish him any more. Let him return home.”

The villagers listened to the doctor and allowed the thief to leave the place. They were so happy that in the next world also he would be punished for telling lies.