Greedlines Can Make a man Blind

LONG ago there lived a merchant Tartar. He was very rich, but he was very greedy. One day he loaded his forty camels with costly spices to trade in a far away city in Ethiopia. He sold all the spices there. He halted in an inn to have lunch on the way back. There a pious man met Tartar and they became friends then.

The pious man described about the secret land of enormous wealth.

“I also have heard about it “Tartar said with a smile.

The pious man said, “If you bring your camels there, we will load a lot of precious stones like diamonds, rubies and gold.” Tartar nodded his head as a symbol of acceptance. The pious man further said that half of the load should be given to him. Tartar thought that it was reasonable. So he agreed the offer.

Both of them travelled and reached the land fully surrounded by beautiful mountains. The pious man sprinkled some white powder on the ground, taken from a small box he had. Suddenly clouds of smoke came from the powder. After, all the smoke had settled down, he saw a way there. When both of them went through the path they found a cave with full of gems and gold coins.

The pious man asked Tartar to come in. He moved inside the cave. There he saw the treasure which he never had seen before. He quickly took them and filled his bags and loaded them on the camels. When he completed the loading of all the forty camels, the pious man told Tartar that he should take twenty camels, as his share.

On hearing that Tartar said to the pious man, “why are you in need of such a wealth?, you may take only ten. I will take thirty”.

The pious man agreed to that with a smile. Some time later, the greedy Tartar again said, “Even the ten would be a burden to a pious man like you, so you may take five only”.

Again the pious man agreed. But Tartar was not satisfied with that. So he asked him to give the five also to him. The pious man nodded his head with a smile.

Even then Tartar was not satisfied. So he again asked him to give the magical powder too as the pious man needed it no more. Only then the holy man warned Tartar that the powder might cause danger if it was not used properly.

Further he said that it turned everything to gold when rubbed on the left eye. “But you would be blind if you rubbed it on your right eye’’he said.

As his greed grew more, Tartar did not care about the danger. He compelled the holy man to give the powder. After a while the holy man gave the magical powder with the box and left the place.

Tartar could not control his curiosity. He quickly started to rub some powder on his left eye. All of a sudden the entire thing which he saw with his left eye changed into gold. Then he thought that if he rubbed the powder on both the eyes, the whole world would turn as gold.

Ignoring the warning of the pious man, he rubbed the powder on his right eye also. At the very next movement he became blind. He cried with pain and said,”God…I was too greedy”. But it was too late, for he had become totally blind.