Open Your Eyes

The Monkey and the BellOnce in the'mountain Sriparvata near the city of Brahmapura, a robber was passing through. A hungry tiger attacked and killed him. Now the robber had stolen some jewellery from a temple along with a brass hand bell. A few monkeys who were living there saw these scattered nearby. One of the monkeys picked up the bell, and liking the ringing sound of the bell it began to swing the bell to and fro. The people in the city heard the ringing of the bell in the mountains and were mystified and a little scared. They began to wonder as to who could be ringing the bell. At last the bravest among them offered to go and investigate the cause. He went on the mountain road and saw the dead robber. Hearing the ringing of the bell suddenly from somewhere above, he lost his courage and came running back in fear. He told the others that the mountain was inhabited by an evil spirit who would kill men and and ring the bell to announce their death. Now the simple folk of the city believed this and became thoroughly frightened. Nobody ventured near the mountain. Each time the sound of the bell was heard they shivered with fright. Many started to flee from the city. Meanwhile the monkeys were so fascinated by the sound of the bell that they continued to ring it every now and then. The King announced a handsome reward to anybody who could drive away the evil spirit. An old woman who lived in the city did not believe in evil spirits. She decided to find the cause of the ringing of the bell. She went up the mountainside and soon came upon a group of monkeys happily ringing the bell. The old woman burst out laughing with relief on seeing this. She also saw the remains of the dead robber and the footprints of a tiger nearby. The old woman collected the pieces of jewellery lying near the robber and concluded that he must have been killed by a tiger. The clever old woman went to the King and said that she would drive out the evil spirit from the mountain and would bring...