The Brahmin and the Cobra is a story from the Panchatantra — one of the oldest collections of fables in the world, written in ancient India over two thousand years ago. This tale is about gratitude, greed and the consequences of forgetting kindness.
There was once a Brahmin who lived near a forest.
He was a poor man. His land was dry and difficult to farm. He worked hard every season but the harvests were never enough.
One morning while working his field he found a cobra in a hole in the ground. Instead of killing it he looked at it for a long time. An old man in his village had once told him — a cobra living near a field brings good fortune. Feed it, respect it, and the land will reward you.
The Brahmin brought a bowl of milk that evening. Left it at the hole. Went home.
The next morning he found a gold coin where the bowl had been.
This continued every day. Milk left. Gold coin found. The Brahmin's life slowly improved. He never told anyone. He came every evening, left the milk, said a quiet prayer, went home.
One day the Brahmin had to travel to another village.
He asked his son to leave the milk at the cobra's hole while he was away.
The son went. Left the milk. Found the gold coin the next morning.
He stared at it for a long time.
If one coin comes from one visit — what would happen if he killed the cobra and took everything at once? Surely there was a nest full of gold inside.
He came back the next day with a stick.
The cobra bit him before he reached the hole.
The son died that afternoon.
When the Brahmin returned and heard what had happened he went to the cobra's hole that evening. Not with anger. Just with the bowl of milk.
He left it. Sat quietly. The cobra did not come out.
After a long time a voice came from inside the hole.
"You have come back," it said. "But things are not the same as before. Your son struck at me out of greed. I struck back. What was between us — that trust — it is broken now. Take this last coin and do not come again."
A gold coin appeared at the entrance of the hole.
The Brahmin picked it up. Walked home.
He never went back.
Greed does not only cost the greedy. It costs everyone around them. And some things, once broken, do not go back to what they were.
