The Louse and the Bed-Bug
There lived a white louse by the name of Mandarisarpini in the spacious bedroom of a mighty king. She used to live in the corner of the bedsh.eet spread over the king’s beautiful bedstead. Everyday, when the king was fast asleep, the louse sipped his blood and crept back again into a corner of the bed-cover to hide herself.
One night, a bed-bug by the name of Agnimukha strolled into the bedroom of the king. The louse saw him and told him to get out since the whole of the bedroom was her territory only. But the bed-bug said to her cleverly, “Look, you ought to be a little courteous to your guests. I’m your guest tonight.” The louse got carried away by the bed-bug’s sweet talks. She gave him shelter saying, “It’s all right. You can stay here tonight. But, you will not bite the king to suck his blood.”
“But I’m your guest. What will you give me to eat?” the clever bedbug asked. “What better food you can serve me than the king’s blood.”
“Well!”, replied the louse. “You can suck the king’s blood silently. He must not get hurt in anyway.”
“Agreed”, said the clever bed-bug and waited for the king to arrive in the bedroom and sleep on the bed.
When the night fell, the king entered into his bedroom and slept on the bed.
The greedy bed-bug forgot all about his promises and bit the sleeping king hard to suck his blood.
“It’s a royal blood”, thought the bed-bug and continued sucking till the king felt a terrible itching in his skin. The king woke up and then ordered his servants to find the bed-bug and kill it.
But the bed-bug hid himself very cunningly into the joints of the bedstead and thus escaped his detection. The servants of the king, instead, found the louse on the bedsheet. They caught her and killed her.
Moral:- Never trust the strangers.