Stories from Mohiyuddin

The stingy and the miser.

There was a village. In that village, there was a well-known miser. In another village, there was a stingy who is also the most miserly person in his village. Both of them always competing each other to find out who is the most miserly of them both.

One day, the stingy wanted to challange who is more miserly betweem them. He met the miser and told him that he wanted to give him a cow. The stingy however, knew that this was just a trick because the miser is the most miserly person in the other village. When the stingy went to the miser's house, the miser was not there. Only his son was home. The stingy told the miser's son that he wanted to give him a cow. So, he took a basket that he brought with him, took out a picture of a cow and gave it to the miser's son. The miser's son was a bright boy. He knew that this must be one of his father's competition. He told the stingy that he will give him oranges in return. He went inside and brought a sack. From that sack he took the oranges one by one and put it inside the stingy's basket. However, the oranges were just invisible oranges. The miser's son pretend to take oranges from the sack by cupping his hand. The stingy smiled and thought that the miser had teach his son very well. He went home feeling defeated.

When the miser returned home, his son told him about the stingy's visit. The miser was very angry. "You shouldn't gave him like that, give him like this!" the miser said while cupping his hand much smaller than his son's.