The hermit and the king's wealth

A king once wanted to go hunting in the forest. On the way he stopped at a hermit’s cottage. The king gave the hermit some expensive jewels and other things and said, “Now I am entering into the forest to hunt and I don’t want to take these expensive things with me. Will you take care of them for me?”

The hermit said, “I will, because you are such a nice king.”

The king said, “Do you want me to leave some guards to protect you?”

The hermit said, “It is a good idea to have guards. But I would appreciate it if the guards do not stay near my house. I would like them to stand so that I cannot see them. I don’t want to be bothered by them. I want only to pray and meditate. I am only a simple hermit. If people see your guards near my house, they may think that I have got expensive things here. Why not give your belongings to your guards in the first place? Then I won’t have to worry. Money creates such worries and anxieties!”

The king said, “I would like you, and not my guards, to keep my jewels. I am not pure, but I would like my possessions to become pure by remaining with you. You are a saint. If I give these things to you, then my golden rings and diamonds will become pure.”

So the saint agreed to keep the expensive things until the king came back. O God, in two hours’ time four hooligans passed by. They had never been to the hermit’s house, but when they saw the king’s guards moving around, the hooligans thought that perhaps the hermit had something valuable. They decided to wait a few hours. Then, if the guards fell asleep, that would be the time for them to enter into the hermit’s house and see what was there. After all, if there was nothing expensive, why would there be guards?

In three hours the guards fell asleep on the ground outside the house. The four hooligans went inside the hermit’s cottage and asked the hermit to give them whatever he had. They said, “We are sure you have expensive things because we saw those guards. If you have got anything from the king, give it to us. But if you make any noise, then we shall kill you!”

The hermit said, “I don’t want to hide anything from you. Here are the king’s jewels. You take them. But mind you, you are only four persons. The king has many soldiers and one day you will be caught.”

The hooligans laughed and laughed. While they were laughing so loudly at what the hermit had said, the guards woke up and caught them.

The hermit said, “What can I do? The king gave these jewels to me and these hooligans wanted them. They didn’t believe me when I said they would be caught.”

The guards wanted to thrash the bandits. Although they had got back the jewels, still they wanted to punish the hooligans. But the hermit said, “Please do me a favour. Since they were unable to take anything, you must forgive them. The king has got his possessions back, so the best thing is to forgive them.

“It is really your fault that these hooligans came into my house. It is only because you were asleep that they were able to enter. What were you doing when they came in? Who asked you to fall asleep? Since you were not dependable, since you did not do your duty, how can you expect these hooligans to be good?

“If the king finds out that they came into the house because you were asleep, he will be very mad at you. So if you punish the thieves, you yourselves will be punished. In every way it is better for them to go away without being punished.”

The guards listened to the hermit’s judgement.