The loafer who gave advice

There was a bad fellow who was a real loafer. His poor wife was suffering like anything because her husband wouldn’t work. But what could she do? He kept saying that soon he would get a nice job and then they would lead a luxurious life. But he never got a job. Finally she got mad at him and started insulting him. “I have heard that story too many times,” she said.

The husband said, “I am not going to put up with your insults. I am going to leave you.”

The wife could not believe her ears.

He said to her, “Previously you could say that at least you had a husband. Now you can consider yourself a widow.”

She became furious and said, “It is better to be a widow than to have a husband like you!”

So the husband left the house and walked and walked. He said to himself, “It is beneath my dignity to be insulted by a woman. I am not going back there!”

As he was walking he saw a moneylender with his clients. So he said to himself, “My wife used to tell me that I am a good adviser. Let me start giving advice right now.”

The loafer went up to the moneylender and said, “There is something called sin and there is a place called hell. To ask for interest is a sin. Because you are asking for interest, you will go to hell, whereas I will go to Heaven.”

The moneylender said, “I am taking only my due. I am not asking for high interest. I am asking for only what I deserve. My interest is not exorbitant.”

“No!” the man insisted. “What you are doing is very bad.”

The moneylender looked at him and then said, “Perhaps you are a beggar. My wife is very kind-hearted. She always thinks of vagabonds. She has a special fondness for them. You can come to my house and my wife will definitely feed you.”

The moneylender was right. The loafer went to his house and the moneylender’s wife prepared a very delicious meal for him. This made the loafer very happy.

As he was leaving he said, “Don’t forget my advice. There will come a time when you will feel the necessity of giving up this business entirely. Then you will pray to God for peace and love. But if you always deal in money and ask for interest, then you won’t be happy.”

The wife said, “He is right, he is right.”

The husband said, “Yes, he is right, but he should keep his advice to himself.”

The loafer felt sorry that he had been insulted, so he left the moneylender’s house and again started walking. Then he saw a lawyer and a group of people. He said to the lawyer, “You are a lawyer. Do you ever tell the truth?”

The lawyer got mad. He said, “What are you saying? Who are you?”

The loafer said, “You are a lawyer and these people are your clients. You are teaching them falsehood and asking them to tell lies. For a lawyer there is no Heaven — only hell.”

The lawyer got even more furious and he started beating the loafer. He shouted, “Granted, we tell lies, but it is only to save honest people.”

“Yes,” said the loafer, “honest people hire you. But for what? Only to see you tell lies so that you can win the case.”

The lawyer said, “Go home peacefully. If you argue with me, I will thrash you even more.”

The man went away and said, “First I gave advice to the moneylender and told him that he shouldn’t ask for interest. He didn’t appreciate my advice. Then I asked the lawyer to give up his profession and he became mad. That means the world does not need my advice. They will all definitely go to hell, and I shall go to Heaven. But where is my Heaven?”

Then he thought of his wife. Inwardly he saw that his wife was crying for him. So he said, “Let me go back to my wife, my Heaven, and let these people go to hell!”