Rash action

SCHOLARS WITHOUT COMMON SENSE

In a city lived four Brahmins. They were good friends and three of them were very learned in all sciences. However, they did not have any common sense. The fourth Brahmin was not well versed in either scriptures or sciences, but had plenty of com- mon sense.

One day, all four friends decided that their learn- ing was of no use unless it brought them wealth. Therefore, they planned to seek the patronage of the king in the city.

On the way, the eldest amongst them said, point- ing to the fourth man. 'Friends, this fellow is an uneducated fool. He only has common sense. I am not going to share my earnings with him. I do not even like him coming along with us.'

The second friend also supported the eldest boy's suggestion.

Friends, it will not be right to send him back, said the third one. 'He is one of us. Besides, we grew up together. Let's share whatever we get with him, because only a narrow-minded person differentiates between what is his and what is someone else's. To a generous person, the whole world is his family.'

In the end, the other two agreed to the third friend's suggestion. And the fourth man went along with them. As they continued to travel, they reached a forest where, under a tree, they saw a heap of bones.

'Look,' pointed out one of them, 'here is a chance. These are the bones of a dead animal. We will use our knowledge and bring it back to life.'

'All right, the first friend said. 'I'll use my learn- ing to reassemble the skeleton. With his learning and power, he commanded all the bones to join together into a skeleton, and they did.

When the skeleton was ready, the second man commanded flesh, blood and skin to fill and cover the skeleton. When the third man was about to give life into the body, the fourth Brahmin, who had only coms. mon sense, warned him, saying, "Wait! This looks like the body of a lion. If it comes to life, it will kill all of us.

"Nonsense! You are a fool, the third man replied angrily. 'Do you think I will not test my learning while I have the chance?

"Please wait', said the fourth man, 'till I am safely up this tree.

He quickly climbed the nearest tree. The third friend breathed life into the body and the lion came alive. He pounced upon and killed the three

learned men.

Then the third Brahmin, who had found gold, said, "That's why, even if one is very learned, he still needs common sense. Else, everyone ridicules him, just like the learned men in this story.

'What is this other story about? Please tell me. begged the fourth brahmin. The third brahmin then narrated the story.