Rohan was a greedy and selfish man, never satisfied with the money he had and always coveting more. He never hesitated to deceive others to obtain money. Above all this, he was stingy and gave nothing to the poor and needy. His selfishness was so great that he wanted to own everything for himself, regardless of what others possessed.
He counted every cent, large and small. Because of his stinginess toward others, he had abundant money with which he bought many lands and employed many workers. Despite his great wealth, he paid them very small amounts and was ready to lie at any time and at all times in order to increase his money.
One day he told everyone that he had lost a bag containing 50 gold pieces after searching for it all day without finding it. Although he sent all his workers to search for the coins everywhere, no one could find it. So Rohan told his friends and neighbors to search with him for the bag and asked them to inform him if they found it, promising that he would give a valuable reward to whoever found it.
Rohan was very sad at losing that bag. After a few days, a ten-year-old girl found the bag and told her father that she had found a small bag on the road containing 50 gold coins. The girl’s father worked on Rohan’s land and told his daughter it belonged to Rohan after learning that a bag with those specifications had been lost from him days ago. He decided immediately to return the money to its owner and restore the bag to its master.
Although he was a poor man in dire need of money, he decided to return the bag of money to Rohan. Indeed, the next morning the man went to Mr. Rohan, returned the bag to him, and asked him to examine the coins inside. Rohan was very happy to see the bag, but he remembered his promise to give a reward to whoever found it. Because of his greed and stinginess, Rohan lied and claimed that the coins were missing and that the bag had contained 75 coins, not just 50.
The honest worker was shocked to hear those words. He swore to Rohan that this was all his daughter had found in the bag. But Rohan did not accept his words and claimed he was a liar and must take him to court and sue him for theft of the gold. In court the judge listened to Rohan, who told the judge that the bag had contained 75 gold pieces and that the worker had given him only 50.
The judge asked him if he was sure that his bag had contained 75 gold pieces. Rohan answered: “Yes, my lord judge.” The judge turned to the honest worker and asked him whether the bag he found had only 50 gold pieces or 75 gold pieces as Rohan claimed. The worker confirmed that there were only 50 pieces and that Rohan was lying about him.
Thus the judge issued his verdict in that case based on the statements of both parties. He said in the judgment that Mr. Rohan had lost a bag containing 75 gold pieces, while the bag found by the girl contained only 50 pieces. Therefore it did not belong to Mr. Rohan but rather to someone else, and since no one had reported losing it, it was rightfully the girl’s and her father’s.
Furthermore, if anyone finds a bag containing 75 gold pieces, let them know it belongs to Mr. Rohan. Thus Rohan left the court empty-handed because of his lie, and the girl and her honest father won the bag with its 50 gold pieces as a symbol and appreciation of honesty. The judge’s wisdom here was that he rewarded the truthful one and punished the lying greedy one.
From Indian literature, translated from Bag of gold coins