In the city, there was an old millionaire family. However, this family had lost their money and left only a girl with her grandmother. They usually worked for hire. Actually, they had a golden plate but the plate was dusty so they didn’t know that it’s actually gold.

When the first peddler arrived at the old millionaire family’s house, he shouted “Jewelries for sell or exchange !”

Seeing that, the girl said to her grandmother “Grandma, could you buy a jewel for me ?”

“We’re so poor. We have no money. How can we buy that ?” questioned grandmother.

“We have a big plate and we didn’t use it. We can exchange that plate with jewel.” replied the girl.

So the grandmother called the peddler, brought out the plate and said “Master, I’ll give this plate to you and you just give us some jewelries.”

The peddler took the plate. After holding, he thought that it may be a golden plate. He scratched on the back of the plate with the pin and found that it was a golden plate. He planed to take the plate for free, so he threw the plate to the ground and said “This plate doesn’t worth anything.” And then he left the house.

After a while, the second peddler arrived at the house. He shouted “Jewelries for exchange !”

The girl said to her grandmother again, “Grandma, I want some jewel.”

The grandmother replied “Don’t you see the previous peddler threw our plate away. What can we exchange jewel with ?”

The girl said “That peddler is so rude. This peddler looks gentle. He may accept our plate.”

The grandmother agreed and let the girl called the second peddler.

They brought the plate to the second peddler. Knew that the plate is actually a golden plate, the peddler said “Grandma, this plate worth a hundred thousands coins. I have not much jewelries or money to exchange with this golden plate.”

The grandmother said “The previous peddler said that this plate worth nothing and threw this plate away. I’ll give you this plate and you just give me anything.”

The peddler gave them almost all his money and jewelries, and then left the house. He brought back only scales, bags and eight coins and quickly went to the boatyard. He gave the boatman eight coins and went into the boat.

The first peddler went back to the house and told the grandmother “Give me that plate and I’ll give you something.”

“What the hell you said ? You make my golden plate worthles ! A fair peddler just gave me one hundred coins for that plate.” replied the grandmother.

Heard that, the hestitant peddler lost his conciousness. When he gained his conciousness, he quickly went to the boatyard. He saw the second peddler in a river, so he called the boatman “Dear boatman, please come back.”

The second peddler said to the boatman “Don’t go back.”

Saw that the boat didn’t come back, the hestitant peddler got very angry and then got dead with vengeful heart.

The first peddler finally reincarnated as Devadatta. The second peddler finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

The peddler from western arrived first at the home of poor old woman, who lived with her granddaughter. The granddaughter wanted some jewelry; so the old woman brought out old rusty plate to exchange with some jewelry. To check the material quality, the peddler scratched the plate with a pin and found that the rusty plate is actually a golden plate. He realized that the plate worth hundred thousand coins. He had a plan to own the plate for free, so he told the old woman that the plate had no value. He thought that he would come back later and get it for free or paid with least money.

After a big while, the peddler from eastern had arrived. When the old woman brought the plate to exchange with jewelry, the peddler held the plate and noticed the unusual weight of the plate. He picked up a pin to scratch the plate and found that the plate was actually a golden plate. He told the truth to the old woman.

The old woman said “This may be your luck because previous peddler just told me that this plate has no value. You just give me some jewelry to exchange with this plate.”

The peddler said “All my jewelry worth only 500 coins. I’ll give all my jewelry and all my money to you.”

After exchanging, the peddler brought the plate and left the district.

When the tricky peddler came back and known the story, he shocked and fainted. After got consciousness, he hurriedly got up and pursued the honest peddler but the honest peddler was already in a river-crossing boat and almost arrived at the other side of the river. The tricky peddler shouted and called the honest merchant to come back, but he doesn’t.

With anger, the tricky peddler said that “May I hurt you in every next life.” And then he was dead.

The tricky peddler finally reincarnated as Devadatta and the honest peddler finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

Moral: Greediness and dishonesty are not good at all.

Note: This is the reason why Devadatta revenges the Buddha for many lives.