The Old Tiger's Golden Bracelet
Panchatantra Stories · 1 min read
An old tiger, too weak now to chase prey, stood at the edge of a lake holding out a golden bracelet, calling to travelers on the road. "Good sir," he said to a passing merchant, "I wish to give this bracelet to charity as penance for my past sins, but I no longer trust my own claws to hand it over gently. Wade in and take it from me."
The merchant, eyeing the gold greedily, ignored his own caution and stepped into the muddy water — and quickly sank up to his knees, unable to move. The tiger came closer, "helping" him, and the merchant realized his mistake only as claws finally closed around him.
His last thought, as he was dragged under, was simple: greed had walked him straight into the trap that fear alone would have kept him far from.
Moral of the story
Greed can silence the very caution that would have kept you safe.