One day, while he was going to see the king, he found a dead mouse on the street. He calculated and said “The man who has eyes of wisdom may take this dead mouse for a living”

A poor main accidentally heard the millionaire’s words. He thought that unless the millionaire knew, the millionaire wouldn’t say. So, the poor man took the dead mouse and sold it for being a cat food. He gained a very little money and then used that money to buy some of cane juice.

After that, he saw some flower pickers coming back from the forest. He served each of them some amount of cane juice. Each of flower picker gave a poor man a bunch of flowers in return. The poor man sold those flowers and gained some money.

On the next morning, he use that money to buy cane juice and drinking water and then went to the flower garden to serve them to the flower pickers. The flower pickers gave him a lot of flowers. He could make eight coins with this trick.

One day, it was a rainy and stormy day. A lot of branches and leaves were dropped on the ground in the royal garden. The garden keeper couldn’t find a way to trash them out.

The poor man went into the royal garden and offered to the garden keeper “If you give me those branches and leaves, I’ll bring all of them out of the garden.”

“Please bring them out, man.” The garden keeper replied.

The poor man went to the playground. He served cane juice to all children and asked them to bring all branches and leaves, and then piled them up in front of the royal garden.

There was a royal craftsman finding for firewood to burn clay pots. He found branches and leaves in front of the royal garden; so he bought them from the poor man. At that time, the poor man had sixteen coins and some of pots.

After that, he bought a big jar and stood it near the city gate. He filled it with drinking water to serve five hundred grass carriers.

The grass carriers said “Your generosity helped us much, what can we do for you in return ?”

“I’ll told you when I need your help.” The poor man replied.

The poor had made friends with many people. He made friends with workers both onshore and offshore.

One day, an onshore worker told him that a merchant with five hundred horses would arrived at the town on the next day.

The poor man said to grass carriers, “Today, each of you just give me a bunch of grass and don’t sell your grass unless I sold them out.”

The grass carriers accepted and then brought five hundred bunches of grass and laid them in front of the poor man’s house.

When the merchant arrived, he can’t find any grass except from the poor man, so he bought grasses from the poor man with a hundred thousands coins.

After a few days, an offshore worker told the poor man that a big ship had docked at the port. The poor man rented a car with many followers, looks like a great merchant, and went to the port. He gave a ring to the ship’s sailor as deposit and told him that if other merchant come to the port, he must tell them that the great merchant had deposited all merchandises.

When other merchants went to the port, the ship sailor said as the poor man told. So, each of one hundred merchants bought shares from the poor man with one thousands coins and gave another one thousands coins for buying merchandises. The poor man, who was not poor at that time, went back to the town.

The poor man realized that he could made a lot of money because of the wise millionaire. Then, he brought a hundred thousands coins and offered them to the millionaire.

The millionaire asked “How could you make such a lot of money ?”

The poor man said “I did as you said so I can make a lot of money in four months,” and told all the stories.

The millionaire was impressed so much. He offered his daughter as the poor man’s wife. When the millionaire passed away, the poor man became a new millionaire.

The wise millionaire finally reincarnated as the Buddha. The poor man finally reincarnated as a monk.

When there was only sixteen kilometers left before the destination, the merchant ordered his followers to abandoned all water and firewood, and then went ahead.

Being tired, the navigator took a nap. Unfortunately, all cows turned back and went back all night. In the morning, the navigator stopped the caravan. All people thought that they would die because of thirst.

The merchant thought that if he was discouraged, all people would die. So he patrolled around and found a clump of grass. He thought that the grass grew because there was water underneath. He ordered some of his followers to dig down there.

After digging for a big while, they reached a bedrock. All of them were dishearten and stopped digging.

The merchant said to one follower, “Look, if you give up now, all of us will die. Do use this hammer to break the rock.”

The follower accepted and beat the rock hardly. The rock was broken and water blown out from the hole. All people could use the water for drink and bath. Because of this, all people were safe.

The merchant finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

The wise merchant thought that if he travel together with the foolish merchant, there would be not enough space, firewood and water. So he called the foolish merchant and consult with the foolish merchant, “Look, I think that it would be not good if we travel together. Do you want to travel first ?”

The foolish merchant thought that if he went first, way would be not muddy yet, his cows would have untouched grass, water would be clear, and he could set the price of merchandise by himself. So he said “I’ll travel first.”

The wise merchant thought that if he went last, way would be smoothed, his cows would have newly sprouted mild grass, there would be dug wells. He also thought that setting price is like killing people, so he preferred to sell merchandises at the set prices. Because of these, the wise merchant said “My friend, you should go first.”

The foolish merchant accepted and begun traveling. The path was lack of water, so he prepared many large water jars and put them on the carts.

While the foolish merchant was traveling in an arid forest, he found a small cart surrounded by twelve soaked guards. It looks like they had a lot of water. The small cart was stopped to give way to the foolish merchant’s carts.

One of the guards asked the foolish merchant “Where are you from ?”

“Noble man, we are from Varanasi.” the foolish merchant replied. “How about you ? You all looks so wet, is it rain on the way you passed ?”

The guard replied, “What you say ! On the way I have passed, there are a lot of water source. It always rain. However, I see that you have big carts at the end. They looks so heavy. What do they contain ?”

“They contains water.” The foolish merchant replied.

“Oh ! They are not need anymore !” the guard said, “there are a lot of water sources ahead. You should break all jars and travel with lighter carts.” and then went away.

The foolish merchant ordered his followers to break all water jars and went ahead. However, there is no water at all. After travel for a while, the foolish merchant and his followers were thirsty and exhausted so they all stopped the caravan and slept there.

Actually, the guards are ogres who masqueraded as the guards to deceive humans. They wanted to make deceived humans tired so they are easy to be eaten.

In the night, the ogres came from the ogres town. They ate all humans and cows. All five hundreds carts were untouched.

After the foolish merchant had left the village about half a month, the wise merchant started his caravan.

Before entering the arid forest, he announced to his followers “Noble men, unless you’ve got permission from me, you don’t waste any water. In the forest, there may be a poisoned fruit, if you found any fruit that you never eat, don’t eat it.” And then they entered the arid forest.

In the arid forest, the ogres with cart appeared again. The wise merchant noticed that they had red eyes and had no shadow. They also suggested that the wise merchant broke all water jars.

The wise merchant said “Thank you for your suggestion. However, I’m a merchant. I won’t discard any water if I don’t see new water source.”

When the ogres disappeared, the wise merchant said to his followers, “Those men aren’t humans, they are actually ogres. They want to deceived us to discard our water to make us tired. My friend is not smart, he may be deceived and has been eaten. We should go ahead fastly.”

They finally found five hundred carts with a lot of bones on the ground. In the night, the wise merchant ordered his followers to build a camp and guard the camp securely.

In the morning, the wise merchant ordered his followers to choose only strong carts and high-priced merchandises from the foolish merchant’s carts and then went ahead. When the wise merchant reached his destination, he could sell his merchandises with double to triple prices.

The foolish merchant finally reincarnated as Devadatta. The wise merchant finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

Moral: Trust only the truth, not estimation.

One day, they accidentally have a plan to set their own caravan with five hundred carts to go to the same direction.

While discussing that who should go first, the stupid merchant thought that if he went first, his cows whould have a lot of grass to eat and he could sold the merchandise first, so he told the wise merchant that he want to go first.

In a deep forest, while the stupid merchant was traveling, he found twelve men soaked with water. One of them greeted “Hello merchant, where will you go ?”

“I’ll go that way” the stupid merchant answered.

“It looks like you have a lot of heavy carts, what do such heavy carts contain ?” the stranger asked.

“They contain big jars filled with water.” the stupid merchant answered.

“That’s not needed anymore ! There are a lot of water ahead. Look at us, we are all soaked because it’s always raining here.” the stranger suggested.

The stupid merchant followed the suggestion. He broke all water jars and go ahead. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any water until the night. He and his followers were very thirsty and exhausted so all of them slept deeply.

All the twelve men are actually ogres disguising as men. They transformed back to ogres and eat the stupid merchant, all his followers, and his cows. Only bones and carts were left.

Fifty days passed, the wise merchant started his caravan also.

In a deep forest, the wise merchant also found twelve men soaked with water. One of them greeted “Hello merchant, where will you go ?”

“I’ll go that way” the wise merchant answered.

“It looks like you have a lot of heavy carts, what do such heavy carts contain ?” the stranger asked.

“They contain jars with water.” the wise merchant answered.

“That’s not needed anymore ! There are a lot of water ahead. Look at us, we are all soaked because it’s always raining here.” the stranger suggested.

“Thank you for your suggestion.” the wise merchant said.

However, the wise merchant didn’t believe the suggestion. He asked his followers “Do anyone of you heard that there are any stream, waterway, or any swamp around here ?”

Followers answered “No, Sir.”

The merchant asked “Therefore, we shouldn’t believe the strangers who told us that there are a lot of water ahead. They may be robbers or ogres. So, we can’t abandon our water.”

The wise merchant continue traveling until the caravan found a lot of bones and all carts of the stupid merchant. Sawing that, the merchant said “Look, those men surely be ogres. We will set camp here, and we need to guard our caravan carefully all night.”

In the morning, they were all safe. The wise merchant ordered his followers to take expensive merchandise from the stupid merchant’s carts and continued traveling. At last, he could sold out all of his merchandise, and came back home safely.

The stupid merchant finally reincarnated as Devadatta. The wise merchant finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

Moral: Think carefully before believe.

When the caravan arrived at a desert which is long about a thousands kilometers, the merchant planned that the caravan would prepared food and firewood adequately, and the caravan would move during the night, and because it is very hot during the day, the caravan would have a rest during the day.

When there was only fifty kilometers left, the merchant ordered that the caravan abandon all food and firewood to lighen up the caravan, and head for destination.

Unfortunately, the jockey in the front was asleep and napped. Cows turned back and head back all night.

In the morning, knew that the caravan was going back, the merchant suddenly stopped the caravan and thought “If I get desperate, all of us will die.” So he scouted around and found a clump of grass. He thought that there may be a artesian well underneath. Therefore, he ordered his followers to dig there.

After digging about 30 meters, they found only a shale. All followers was desperate. However, the merchant crouched down and put his ear closely next to the shale. He heard a sound of water. So he ordered one of strong followers “My son, don’t be desperate, please use this metal ingot knock this shale out and all of us will have water.”

The follower followed the order, he peek the shale many times until the shale was broken and the water sprung out. Eventually, all people in the caravan was safe.

The follower finally reincarnated as a monk. The merchant finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

Moral: Being unflagging causes a good result.

One day in a morning, while he went to see a king, he found a dead mouse on the road. He calculated and said to himself “Who sell this mouse would have a better life.”

A servant heard that, so he took the mouse and sold it to a cat breeder for a little money. Then, he used that money to buy sugar cane juice and served it to royal flower pickers on the street while they went home.

In the next morning, they gave him some flowers in return. He took those flowers and sold it to a florist. The servant bought sugar cane juice and carried it to the royal garden and served it to royal flower pickers again. He did this again and again.

One day there was a monsoon. After it was over, he saw that there are many branches are broken and dropped in the royal garden. He begged a garden keeper for the broken branches. Then, he bought sugar cane juice and served it to cowboys. He ask cowboys to move the broken branches away from the royal garden. After that, he offers the branches to a royal craftsman and make a lot of money.

He bought a big earthen jar and set it near the town gate. He served water and sugar cane to grass sellers.

The grass seller said “Thank you very much, how can I repay you ?”

The servant said “Don’t mention it. I will tell you when I need your help.”

Because of this, the servant could make friends with many grass sellers and merchants.

One day, a merchant told him that a horse seller would bring 500 horses to the town on the next day. Therefore, he asked each grass seller to give him a bunch of grass and not sell grass to other until he sold out.

In the next morning, when the horse seller arrived, he could not find any grass except from the servant. So, the grass servant could make a big profit on selling grass to the horse seller.

One day, another merchant told him that 500 barks would be arrived on the next day. He rent a wagon, hired many followers, go to the port and paid a deposit on all goods and all barks. Many merchants at the port was impressed by the appearance of the servant; so they asked him for being a partnership and each one gave him a hundred coins. He accepted and sell goods and did it over again and again.

Finally, he can made two hundred thousand coins, he feel that he should pay something back to the millionaire. So, he offer up a hundred thousands coins to the millionaire. The millionaire asked how the servant make a lot of money; so, the servant told all the story.

The millionaire realized that the servant is grateful and smart. Therefore, he offered his daughter to be his wife. After the millionaire passed away, the servant became a millionaire.

The servant finally reincarnated as a Buddhist saint. The millionaire finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

Moral: Smart persons usually establish themselves from little of money. Grateful persons finally succeed.