One day, there was a lazy farmer living with his wife and children. This farmer would wake up every morning, go to the well to bathe, then return to his home to sleep again. Despite owning a large piece of land, he never cared about farming it. His wife was the one who cared for the land to provide them with food.
Every day, before going to the field, his wife would try to wake him from sleep so he would go with her. But he would refuse to wake up and pretend to be asleep so he wouldn’t work in the field. His wife felt severe distress from his laziness, but she didn’t know how to deal with him.
One day, the farmer’s wife was returning from the field when she met the village wise man. She welcomed him greatly and asked him to visit them in their home to have dinner with them so they could benefit from his wisdom. The wise man agreed and went with her to the home. When she arrived, she thought she would find her husband asleep as usual.
But she found he had woken up from the children’s noise and was sitting playing with them. She told him that the wise man had come to have dinner with them. Her husband rejoiced and welcomed the wise man greatly, who was loved by all the people of the village. The farmer’s wife prepared delicious food for the wise man, while her husband started washing the wise man’s feet.
After the wise man finished eating, he said to the monk that he was very happy with their good hospitality to him. Therefore, he was ready to fulfill one request that the farmer would ask of him. The farmer thought a little and said to the wise man that he wished he owned a magical person who would do all the work on his behalf because he didn’t love to work and preferred sleeping.
The wise man agreed and said to him that his request would be ready immediately, but on the condition that he ask him for work continuously and never leave him without work at all. Then he left. A while later, the farmer saw a giant goblin standing in front of his door. He was frightened at first, but then he realized that the wise man was the one who had sent him.
The farmer said to the goblin, “Come on, go and water all my land.” Immediately, the goblin went. The farmer thought he would need several days to water this large area of land and that he would go in to sleep as he wished. But before he reached his bed, he found the goblin had returned. He asked him why he had returned so quickly. The goblin said to him that he had finished the work he had requested of him and must assign him another task, otherwise he would eat him.
The farmer decided to ask him to plow all the land because this work required a long time. The goblin went to execute the command. The farmer said to himself, “I’ll go to eat, then think of new work to assign him.” He sat with his wife and children to eat. But before finishing eating, the goblin returned after completing his mission.
The farmer had to assign him new work, but he hadn’t thought of anything new yet. He felt confused and said to him, “Then play with my head.” Immediately, the goblin obeyed the command and started playing with the farmer’s head without stopping until the farmer felt a severe headache. He started calling out to his wife to rescue him from this predicament he had fallen into.
His wife said to him that she had an idea to rescue him from the goblin, but on the condition that he stop being lazy and go every day to care for his land. The farmer agreed. His wife said to the goblin, “Come on, go to the dog in front of the door, and you must make his tail straight all the time.” Her husband said to her, “This work is easy, and the goblin will return quickly.” But she said to him that there was no person on earth who could make the dog’s tail straight. Therefore, the goblin would remain busy all the time.
Translated from: Lazy Brahmin