THE THREE FRIENDS

There once lived three young friends. One of them was a Prince. He was the youngest son of the king. The second one was the son of the king's minister. The third one was the son of a rich merchant. They were always together. But they never showed any interest in their education. All of them were very lazy and never did any work.

The king cautioned his son against such laziness. he even threatened to send him away from the palace if there was no change for the better. The minister and the rich merchant also similarly advised their sons.

The three friends got together and discussed about the situation.

The minister's son said "We can go anywhere, but we have no money. And we can ask only our fathers for the money".

The merchant's son said, There's a plan. There is a mountain nearby. I have heard that it has many precious stones, rubies and diamonds. Then let us go there. If we are able to find these gems, we need not ask for help from our parents, so said the prince.

The three friends rowed across the big river, crossed a forest and reached the mountain. All the three of them climbed up. They were lucky to find many precious stones there. But while returning, they had to necessarily come back through the forest.

There will be thieves in the forest. They may even kill us to loot the precious gems. We have to be very careful advised the minister's son. The prince agreed, That's true. We have to protect these valuable gems."

The minister's son had an idea "Before entering the forest, let us swallow the gems" he suggested. And while the three friends were doing so, a thief watched them from a distance. He decided to follow them, kill them and shall slit their stomach to take out the gems.

As the three friends were about to enter the forest, the thief went up them and said, "Friends, this forest is very dense. I feel so scared. Can I also come with you?"

The three friends had no objection to this. There was a small village in the middle of the forest. The village chief had a parrot and he was very fond of it. The parrot could talk. It told its master, "The travelers have precious gems with them". The chief wanted these gems for himself. So he imprisoned the four of them and searched for the gems. He couldn't  find them. He thought that the parrot had made a mistake and therefore released the travelers.

Just as they were about to leave the village, the parrot once again said "The travelers have precious gems." The Chief had them imprisoned again stripped them naked and searched for the gems. He couldn't find them.

My parrot never lies. These people definitely have the gems. They must have swallowed them thought the chief. I will slit your stomach tomorrow. Then the gems will be mine" said he and threw them into the prison.

The four of them could not get a wink of sleep. They were worried about there fate.

The thief thought to himself, "Anyway, my stomach doesn't  contain any gem. I will ask the chief to slit my stomach first. When he cannot find any gems in my stomach, he will let go of the others. I am bound to die. But let me atleast save the lives of these three.".

The thief therefore spoke to the chief first. "Sir please slit my stomach first. I cannot bear to see my brothers die".

The village chief cut open the theif's stomach. Alas! there were no gems there. Oh! I have killed an innocent person" cried the chief.

He released the other three persons from the prison. They survived because of the thief's sacrifice. They continued their journey and reached their town. They make the gems come out of their stomachs, sold them and became rich. Their parents were also very happy. But the three friends could never forget their co-passenger who gave up his life just to save them.

NOBODY IS EVIL. EVEN THIEVES CAN BE KIND-HEARTED.

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