There was a Brahman living at the edge of a forest that he used to frequent, for cutting wood for his daily use. One day on his routine trip to that forest he went near a tree to cut some of its branches. Brahman also possessed a mill where he would grind oil seeds he used to gather and take oil and sell it to the nearby villagers.
While he raised his axe to cut the tree branches, a Pisacha or a ghost jumped to the ground and requested him not to cut that tree because it resides therein. In return the ghost assured to get him a bag full of oil seeds every morning!
The Brahman agreed and the ghost too kept its word, providing him the bag full of seeds every day! Alas! The ghost was perplexed as the hunt for seeds proved futile day by day. It had exhausted all the fields near the forest and now was forced to look to other nearby villages also. In the process the ghost was so tired and forgot its daily food!
One day the ghost was sitting on the tree while yet another ghost arrived and saw this forlorn ghost and inquired about what happened to it. The Ghost explained the whole sad story of his to the new ghost.
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The new one took pity on the old one and said that he could suggest a good plan to kill the Brahman and get relief, on a condition that the new ghost would also be allowed to reside on the same tree along with the old one!
The old one readily agreed and as planned both of them went to the Brahman’s house in the night and hid themselves in the cowshed!
Waiting for the opportunity to grab the poor Brahman and eat him up! Just about that time the Brahman arrived with a new bull into the cow shed and started beating it with a bamboo stick and shouting and calling the bull as Pisacha, the ghost! He even threatened to kill the bull in one stroke of his cane! Listening to all these both the real ghosts were totally terrified and shaken.
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The new ghost could not bear it any longer and jumped down from where he was hiding and confessed to their wicked plan of killing the Brahman! And pleaded with him to spare them and assured him that he would get a barrel of oil every day saving the Brahman a lot of labour!
The Brahman quickly gathered his wits and spoke to the ghost in a stern voice and advised them not to be foolish in their life trying to kill him. They readily agreed and went away and also kept their word! Imagine their plight!
Moral of the story is, under all trying circumstances one should be level headed and use the common sense appropriately.