Atondido Stories
At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any
benefit to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and
from that time, no matter what he gained by the power of the
conch, the money-lender gained double. And the knowledge
that this was so preyed upon the farmer's mind day and night,
so that he had no satisfaction out of anything.
At last, there came a very dry season,—so dry that the
farmer's crops withered for want of rain. Then he blew his
conch, and wished for a well to water them, and lo! there was the
well, but the m o ney-lender had two!—two beautiful new wells!
This was too much for any farmer to stand; and our friend
brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at last a bright idea
came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it loudly, and
cried out, "Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And so he,
was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells,
he fell into one, and was drowned.
Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better
of a money- lender—but only by losing one of his eyes.
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