Page 40 - Kailaspati: Paramhans Hansdevji Avadhoot

the jeweller was driven out of his own house and all he had was stolen. Both the husband and the wife concluded that it would not be wise to stay with their relatives living in their town. They then left the town under the envelope of the darkness of night and took shelter under a tree on the outskirts of a village. But hardly did their troubles diminish. a few days later, the jeweller having undergone a lot of strain and pain got bed-ridden. his devoted wife was then forced to take to begging. With whatever alms she could collect by begging from door to door, she used to feed her ailing husband and as for herself she took whatever little was left. Days of agony passed in that way. But the most painful of agony was yet to befall them.
One day the jeweller felt like eating halwa (a sweet dish) and he expressed his desire to his wife. Before long the devoted wife went out begging. The alms she had collected was but three paise, and that too after having begged from door to door. she bought flour, sugar and oil with each paise she had got and returned home in the evening. On having prepared halwa, she saw that her husband had become senseless as a result of high fever. she then poured the halwa in an earthen bowl and kept it covered with a leaf and fell asleep as a result of the day-long strain and starvation Night over, the fever got abated and the hungry jeweller wanted to be offered halwa. The wife said, “it’s by your side, kept covered with a leaf.”
as the jeweller was about to have it, he saw no halwa in the bowl there. it was instead full of the stool of a dog that had eaten the halwa from the bowl. The hungry and thirsty jeweller, at the very sight of it, could not help crying in utter agony. The wife too felt both shocked and shattered. Nevertheless, she said, “This is nothing but the severest blow that has befallen us; therefore, i am sure, good days are going to dawn.”
The very next day, the jeweller felt a little better than what he was earlier and left for the town at a distance. On reaching there, he saw a few men quarrelling among themselves over the possible value of an ornament. The jeweller had a look at it and was quick enough to determine its value. Those who were quarrelling over the thing got amazed at the skill and expertise of the jeweller. One of
18 Kailashpati