PANCHTANTRA
STORIES
THR
FOOLISH BRAHMIN
Once upon a time a foolish brahmin came to visit
Birbal with a strange request. He wanted to be addressed
as 'pandit'. Now, the term 'pandit' refers to a
man of learning. But unfortunately this poor brahmin
was uneducated. Birbal tried to explain the difference
to him saying that it was not correct to call an
uneducated man a pandit and because of this very
reason it would be improper to call him so. But
the silly brahmin had his heart set on this title.
So, as usual, Birbal
had a brilliant idea. He said that as the brahmin
was an uneducated man he should hurl abuses and
stones at anyone who dared to address him by the
very same title he wanted. Then Birbal called all
his servants to himself and ordered them to call
this lowly brahmin a pandit. The brahmin was very
pleased. But the moment the servants started calling
out to him as 'pandit' he pretended to be very angry
and started to abuse them loudly. Then he picked
up a few stones and hurled them in their direction.
All as per clever Birbal's advice.
All this shouting
and screaming drew a crowd. When people realised
that this brahmin was erupting every time anyone
called him 'pandit', they all started to tease him.
Over the next couple of days, he would constantly
hear the refrain 'pandit' wherever he went. Very
soon the whole town started referring to him as
'pandit' much to his delight.
The foolish brahmin
never realised why people were calling him in this
manner. And was extremely pleased with the result.
He thanked Birbal from the very bottom of his foolish
heart.
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