The Wheat is Cheaper.

 The Wheat is Cheaper.

"Bharat", the name for India in several Indian languages, is mainly derived from the name of the Vedic community of Bharatas who are mentioned in the Rigveda as one of the principal kingdoms of the Aryavarta. It is also said to be derived from the name of either Dushyanta's son Bharata of Mahabharata. At first, the name Bharat referred only to the western part of the Gangetic Valley. Still, it was later more broadly applied to the Indian subcontinent and the region of Greater India, as was the name "India". The principal names, of historical significance are Bharat, India and a third name, "Hindustan."

There are numerous stories available in Bharat, one of them I recall is The Wheat is Cheaper.

Once two sisters who had become friendly began talking about stories. The elder one named Aarna asked Adiya to tell a story that Dadduji had told her. Adiya told her older sister an Indian story. Adiya agreed to tell a 'good Indian story called "The Wheat is Cheaper". The story runs as follows: -

Long ago there lived a greedy merchant in an Indian town.

He used to go to a town to buy and sell a lot of grain to earn a profit. One day he saw a farmer on the way. He thought of making money out of that simple villager. He went up to the farmer and started talking. He said, "Both of us can tell a very ridiculous and senseless tale. If you cast a doubt on my story, you will pay me a hundred rupees. But if 1 doubt your story, I shall pay one hundred rupees". The farmer agreed and the merchant began his story like this: -

"One day I was going along this road. I saw a merchant with a long row of camels loaded with large quantities of grain. All these hundred-and-one camels were tied together, nose to tail, by ropes. A kite flew down from the sky and carried the first camel. All the other camels, being tied together, were also carried up with the first camel.

A princess, sitting in her garden, happened to look at the sky. The first camel kicked the kite and broke loose. The whole trail of camels fell right into the left eye of the princess. The princess began to cry with pain. Her maid lifted the princess's eyelid and pulled out all the camels from within the eye. She put the camels into her pocket". The farmer listened to the story till the end without casting any doubt on it.)

So, the merchant could not get any money out of the farmer because he did not cast doubt on the merchant's story.

Now the farmer told the story as follows:

"My father was a farmer. He had a fine horse and a fine saddle on it. One Sunday as he came back home from the market, he found a sore as big as a palm on the back of the horse. There was a storm in June and a lot of dust was blown into the sore along with some grains of wheat. The grains sprouted when it rained. We had a fine crop yielding forty thousand kilos of wheat from the horse's back. As you know, your father was very poor and starving in those days. He came to my father and begged him to give him seventy-five kilos of wheat. My father gave him seventy-five kilos of wheat as a loan which is still due". The merchant grew angry as the farmer was telling a lie. But he kept quiet as he could not cast doubt on his story. He thought it was better to pay the loan i.e., rupees seventy-five as the price of the wheat than rupees one hundred. Thus, he paid Rs. 75/- to the farmer as the cost of the wheat that was lent to his father. At this Adiya said, "Aarna, is not the wheat cheaper?"