This is one of the great jataka tales stories for kids. A long time ago, in a far away village, there lived a Brahmin. He had a wife and three beautiful little daughters whom he loved very much. The Brahmin worked hard and took good care of his family.
But one day, all of a sudden, he died. His family was heart-broken. The Brahmin’s wife cried with grief, “Oh, God! What shall I do? How will I support my children?” In the meantime, the Brahmin was reborn as a beautiful golden swan. Also, read The Clever Son.
Image Source@ www.youtube.com. One day, the swan said to himself, “I wonder how my dear family is! I must visit them.” He flew to his village and was unhappy to find his family begging for their living. “I must do something to help them because I cannot leave them to beg,” the swan exclaimed.
The swan then flew towards his wife. When she saw the lovely bird, she wanted to catch it. The swan said, “My dear wife, I’m your husband!” Plucking one of his feathers he said, “Sell this feather and buy some food and clothes!” Then, he flew away. Every week, he came to provide for his family.
Soon, the Brahmin’s wife and her daughters were rich and were able to live in luxury. However, the Brahmin;s wife was a very greedy woman. She was not happy with getting just one feather. And so, she decided to pluck all the feathers of the swan.
So, the next time the swan arrived, she pounced on it. The poor swan begged her not to pull off all his feathers but in vain. The swan cried to her, “What have you done? Those feathers are useless! Because you took them by force, they have changed into ordinary feathers.” “Oh, no! What do I do?” vailed the Brahmin’s wife.
The swan looked at her and said, “This is what greed comes to my wife! You were greedy and now you are left with nothing!” It flew away, never to return again. You may also like to read, The Wise Leader.
Here is a short visual depiction of one of the jataka tales stories for kids “Greed Does Not Pay“. See the video story below,
