KuppuswamiThere was a rich farmer .He had three sons. The first two sons were very intelligent and clever. Everybody considered his third son as useless. People thought that he can never get anything done and called him Kuppuswami-the lord of rubbish. One day the first son wanted to go out and earn money. He said he would go to the forest and cut wood. His mother made lot of good sweets and also gave him Sherbet to drink. This boy went to the forest. There he saw an old man sitting on the floor. The old man asked the farmer’s son, “I am very hungry and thirsty. Can you give me something?” The farmer’s son refused and told that he had only a small quantity and he cannot give it to the old man. When he started cutting the tree, it fell on his hand and it broke. So he was forced to come home. Then the second son told his father, “I will go to the forest and cut wood.” .His mother made him few sweets and gave him lime juice to drink. He went to the forest and met the same old man. The old man asked him for food and something to drink. But because he was afraid that it will get over, he also told the old man, ”No, I cannot give you anything.” When he started cutting the tree it fell on his leg and his leg broke. He had to be carried to his home by others. After a few days, Kuppuswami told his parents that he will go to the forest to cut trees. His parents made fun of him. When he insisted , his mother gave him white rice and water to take to the forest. When he went to the forest, he met the same old man, who asked him, “I am hungry and thirsty. Can you give me something.” Kuppuswami readily agreed but told him, “I have only small quantity of white rice and plain water. If you want it, you can share it with me.” The old man agreed and they opened the packets that Kuppuswami had brought. To Kuppuswami’s surprise, the white rice had become Payasam( Kheer) and the water had become Yoghurt(Lassi). Both of them shared this tasty food. Then the old man blessed Kuppuswami and went his way Kuppuswami cut a tree. As soon as the tree fell down he saw a golden parrot below the tree. He took the golden parrot and came out of the forest. He had to stay in a hotel for that night. The hotel owner had three daughters. They all saw the golden parrot and wanted to steal the parrot from Kuppuswami. That night after Kuppuswami had slept the first daughter came and touched the cage of the parrot. Her hand got glued to the cage. When she was struggling, the second daughter came. She wanted to help her elder sister and touched her .Her hands got glued to the first sister. Then the third daughter came. Though her other sisters told her not to touch them, she touched the second sister and her hands got glued to the second sister. Kuppuswami got up next morning, took the cage and started walking to the next town. He did not see the three girls attached to the cage. When they were walking, the cart man of the hotel saw the three girls following the parrot. He came near them and touched one of the girls. His hands got glued to her body. So Kuppuswami was walking with four people. The priest of the village saw that all these people were following Kuppuswami. He wanted to help them. He touched the cart man and his hands got glued to the cartman. When he was struggling, the assistant priest came out of the temple and saw that the priest was following all these people. He tried to pull the priest away and his hands also got glued. Kuppuswami was not aware of all these and reached the next town. This town had a king who had a daughter. This princess was always sad. So the king had told every body that, if somebody makes her laugh, then he will give lots and lots of money to him. When this princess saw Kuppuswami carrying the cage of golden parrot and followed by six people, she started laughing. The king became very happy and gave lot of money to Kuppuswami. Kuppuswami gave some of this to his brothers and parents and lived happily.
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