Beware of a Shrewd Woman

There lived a poor Brahmin. His name was Dindayal. He was very pious but his wife was very selfish and arrogant. So, everybody preferred to stay away from her.

One day Dindayal said to his wife, “I will go to take a dip in the holy river Ganga on the occasion of Sharad Purnima. It is customary to give food to a Brahmin according to one’s capacity. In my absence, you must do this.”
Dindayal’s wife got very angry at him and said, “There is not enough food at home, yet you aspire to feed a Brahmin. Since I married you, you have not given comfort to me. Now you want to share the little food we have.”
At this, Dindayal was frightened and blabbered, “Dear, please don’t speak like this, you must feed the Brahmin to follow what our ancestors have laid down as a ritual.” Thus, being content with her promise, Dindayal started for the city.
After some time, Dindayal’s wife softened the sesame grains in hot water and left them to dry in the sun. Suddenly, a dog came and as its back was itching, it rolled on the sesame grains spread out to dry. When it got some relief, it barked. Hearing the dog’s bark, Dindayal’s wife came and saw what the dog was doing. Seeing this, the wife was disappointed. Then the shrewd woman thought, “If I give these unclear grains to my neighbor, surely she will take them for unhulled sesame.”
So, Dindayal’s wife went to a neighbor’s wife taking the sesame grains. She said,’’ Would you care to have some hulled sesame for unhulled ones?”
It was a matter of chance that the neighbor’s wife needed the hulled sesame. So she readily agreed to the exchange.
In the evening when her husband came, she said, “Dear, I have exchanged some unhulled sesame for hulled grains from Dindayal’s wife. Isn’t it a good bargain?”
“Don’t touch these sesame, grains. Don’t you know the shrewd woman? Surely the shrewd woman had something up her sleeves or she would not have gone through this exchange,” said the husband. Thus, the neighbor asked his wife to throw away the sesame grains and advised her to beware of the shrewd woman.

This was the short story by Tanu Nashkar. Also, read What does a child think inside a mother’s womb?