A robber happened to pass on the outskirts of a village after committing a robbery in a temple in a city. On the way, a tiger attacked him and killed him. The tiger devoured the various parts of the robber'sbody and left. A bunch of monkeys, while frolicking on the trees saw a bell lying nearby which the robber had stolen from the temple. One of the monkeys picked up the bell and when it rang, the monkey was so thrilled that he began swinging it from side to side make it ring.
A villager passing by heard the ring of the bell and wanted to investigate from where the loud ringing tone was coming. He looked right and left, but could not see anything. At the far end of the path, he saw the dead robber'sparts lying here and there. All of a sudden, he heard the bell ring and got so frightened that he rushed home to his village, crying, ?Ghost, Ghost! I saw a ghost on the outskirts of the city. I saw parts of a corpse and I heard the bell ring possibly to announce a person'sdeath.? He told the villagers that an evil spirit resided on the path outside the city and warned them not to venture that side.
Nobody tried going on the path and whenever the bell rang, they concluded that a man had died and the bell was ringing to announce the man'sdeath. By and by the villagers became so frightened that thinking that it was their turn next to die, they decided to leave the village and go and live elsewhere. And the monkeys were so fascinated by the ringing of the bell that one by one they would ring the bell every now and then. The village headman announced a reward for one who would drive the evil spirit away.
An old woman who lived in the village had no faith in spirits or ghosts and decided to identify the cause for the ringing of the bell. She went to the outskirts of the village and came upon a group of monkeys engaged in ringing the bell playfully. She was thoroughly amused to see this and noticed the parts of the robber'sbody lying nearby. On walking further, she saw the pug-marks of the tiger and concluded that the tiger must have killed the robber and that the bell must have been stolen by the man.
She went to the village headman and told him that she knew how to drive the evil spirit away and that all she needed for the purpose was a sack full of nuts. The headman was very happy to hear this and immediately gave her a sack full of nuts. She went to the outskirts of the village and sprinkled nuts all around. On seeing the nuts, the monkeys jumped down from the branches of the trees and one of them who held the bell threw it aside. The woman quickly picked up the bell and returned to the village to inform the headman that she had driven away the spirit. She added, ?Here is the bell which used to announce the death of every man who went to the outskirts of the village.?
The village headman was very pleased to hear this and rewarded the woman with handsome gifts.
This just goes to prove that blind faith and superstitious beliefs do no good.
