Once upon a time there was a poor young man who aimlessly travelled from one city to another. One day he entered a small city and met a crippled beggar who asked for food from him. Out of sympathy, he gave the beggar some food and water that he carried with him.
While preparing to leave, the beggar seized his hand and said with a dry parched voice, “Young man! You’re very kind. Though you’re poor, you still give me some food. To reciprocate your generosity, I will give you one magic spell. Learn it by heart, some day it’ll be useful to you.”
With the power of the magic spell, a person who recited it would be able to stimulate any type of fruit to yield out of season, but that person had to bring a bowl of water and blow on it after reciting the magic spell, then pour the water on the root of the tree. However, the beggar set a condition that the young man had to respect him sincerely throughout his life, otherwise the magic spell would lose its power. The young man agreed unconditionally. He was very pleased and after paying a tribute to the beggar, he went on his way to other cities.
One day the young man happened to arrive at a big city where a soldier was making an announcement that anyone who could get a mango at this time of the year and present it to the pregnant queen would get a handsome reward. At the time of this announcement, it was not the season of the mango tree to fruit, so no one could get a mango for the queen. The queen was very eager to eat a mango.
Having heard of the announcement, the young man immediately volunteered to get a mango for the queen. He brought a bowl of water and after reciting his magic spell he blew on it. He then asked the soldier to lead him to the royal garden where he poured the water on the root of the mango tree. He then asked everybody to come the next day.
Surprisingly, the next day the mango tree gave plenty of fruit. The queen was very much delighted to be able to eat mangoes. She presented valuable gifts to the young man and asked him to live in her city.
The young man became rich overnight and lived a happy life in that city. He no longer needed to wander from city to city. However, one day out of curiosity the king asked the young man as to how he acquired the magic spell and who was his teacher.
When asked by this question, he felt too shy to tell the king that his teacher was actually a crippled beggar. So he informed the king that his teacher was a holy sage living in the far-away forest. A few days later, the queen again wanted to eat mango. So the king instructed the young man to bring mangoes to the queen.
The man then performed the ceremony as before, but this time the mango tree did not give even a single fruit. The king was very angry and demanded the man to reveal the reason. Upon learning the truth, the king condemned the ungrateful man and expelled him from his city. All of his property was ordered to be confiscated by the king. The young man became poor again. He realized that his magic spell lost its power because he did not keep his promise to his teacher. He felt sad but it was too late now.
The morale is: Don’t dishonour honour.