Panchatantra Stories

The gold giving serpent 

Once upon a time there lived a poor Brahman. He used to work hard on the fields but all his efforts did not bear fruit. He one day found an anthill on his field and found a serpent there. Thinking that he had not paid respect to the guardian deity of his field, he procured milk and started feeding the anthill with milk from that day. One day he found a gold coin in the plate. So he used to get a gold coin everyday he fed the serpent with milk.

Then one day he had to go to the town and asked his son to look after the serpent by feeding him the milk. The son was greedy and he thought, "This anthill must be full of gold coins". And he stuck the serpent. Unluckily the serpent did not die and it attacked the boy and he died.

Moral : Greediness is harmful