Story of the golden squirrel

Story of the golden squirrel

Dharmaputhra was the eldest of the Pandavas. He used to give all his wealth to charity. Nobody returned empty handed after seeing him. He was very proud about that. One day, he gave food to ten thousand people. When many of them had taken food and washing their hands, Lord Krishna and Dharmaputhra could see a strange sight. One squirrel which had half its back of golden colour was rolling in the water used for washing hands. After every roll, it used to see its back. Lord Krishna called the squirrel and asked him, “Your conduct is strange. Can you tell us what you are doing?” The squirrel replied, “Not far away from here there lives a very poor Brahmin, his wife and son. They work very hard throughout the day. With whatever they earned they would buy food. They would divide this food in to three parts for each of them. One day when they were about to take food, they heard a knock at their door. When they opened, they found a poor starving man. He said he was very hungry and wanted some food. They called the poor hungry man inside. They then divided their food in to four parts and they gave one part to the poor man. But after eating that food the poor man sad still he was hungry. Then the father gave his portion. After eating that the poor hungry man told, he was still hungry. Then the mother gave her share. After eating that, the poor man told, still he was hungry. Then the son who was a young boy gave his share also. After eating that that poor man said, his belly was full and washed his hands. That water fell on my back. Wherever it touched it became golden. Unfortunately it was not sufficient to make my entire back golden. I know that Dharmaputhra is famous for his charity. That is why I came here. But my back is not becoming golden.” Then Krishna told Dharmaputhra, “Cousin, see the difference. You are giving since you have lot. But the poor Brahmin family was giving even if they did not have.”