MAN, THE HOST UNGRATEFUL OF ALL BEINGS

A poor brahmin in search of a comfortable livelihood set out into the wide world.

En route, he had to pass through a jungle. Driven by thirst, he came upon a big well and discovered that there were four live beings who had had the misfortune to have fallen individually into the well earlier. One was a monkey. The other one was a tiger. Yet another was a man and the fourth one was a snake. And listening to their heart-rending entreaties, he saved them all. They all promised him help in case of need, conveyed him of the location of their individual abodes or modes of contact and went their separate ways.

However, as bad luck would have it, the poor brahmin could make no progress in his guest for a better life. And then he remembered his beneficiaries and approached them one by one at their respective places.

The monkey provided a choice assortment of fruits to the poor brahmin.

The tiger provided great riches in the form of golden ornaments belonging to the past human victims of himself.

And it was then that the brahmin went to his human beneficiary in the city and sought his help in converting the ornaments into currency.

The man, a goldsmith by profession, took the ornaments by himself and set out on the ostensible purpose of showing them to another goldsmith in the city.

However, it was to the king indeed that the man headed straight.

He conveyed to the king that he had identified the ornaments as belonging to the king's missing son and that the obvious murderer, the brahmin, was to be found waiting at the goldsmith's own residence. And soon, the brahmin was duly clapped in jail on a charge of theft and regicide, with a sentence of death staring him straight in the face.

And such indeed was the idea of gratitude of the human beneficiary of the brahmin, - who in his darkest hour of need thought of his fourth beneficiarv, the snake.

As per the plan, the snake promptly came by the fastness of the night into the jail - on being mentally called for - arid conveyed of a plan he hatched in order to save the brahmin.

As per the plan, the snake proceeded straight to the royal palace and bit the sleeping queen. And with the condition of the queen turning thus, the king announced a royal reward to her saviour-to-be.

The brahmin in jail, as per the snake's plan, offered his services and was taken to the royal chamber. And when he placed his hand on the queen's forehead for a while, the poison got itself duly neutralized and the brahmin was feted and presented with the announced reward by the king.

Such indeed was the gratitude of the snake towards his benefactor.

And when questioned by the king later, the brahmin conveyed in detail the treachery of his human beneficiary.

The goldsmith was duly punished and the brahmin was presented by the king with a big house too, besides the huge financial reward, to live happily ever after with his wife and children.