Chapter 1
The children had gone with their Ajja to the paddy fields that morning. They
were all city kids and did not know a thing about farming! On the way, Anand
was surprised to see a bird's nest on top of the tree. He said to Ajja, 'I wonder
how birds decide where and how to make their nests!' Ajja said, 'The straw in
the nest is from the paddy field. Do you know, farming helps human beings as
well as birds?' Krishna replied, 'Ajja, I thought wheat and rice can be just
plucked from trees, like mangoes. But today I realized there is so much work
in farming.'
That afternoon, after lunch, when they gathered around Ajji for the day's
story, she looked sharply at the children. They had enjoyed learning about
farming activities like cleaning seeds and separating the straw from paddy. In
the city everything came from the supermarket, but here they had seen how
things were really produced.
Ajji said, 'Farming is very important. If farmers do not grow any food,
what will we all eat?'
Anand said thoughtfully, 'If farmers do such important work, why are they
so poor?'
'That's true, my dear,' Ajji sighed, fanning herself. 'Of course there are rich
farmers too, people who own lots of land. But many in our country till small
pieces of land, and so make less money.'
Then seeing the kids' crestfallen faces, she put down her fan, sat up and
said, 'But I can tell you of a poor farmer woman who did not remain very
poor. All due to her sharp wit!'
'Tell Ajji! Do tell!' the kids yelled. So Ajji started her story.
Chapter 2
Kavery's lazy husband annoyed her no end. There she was working like a
donkey in the fields, ploughing and watering and tending a hard, dry piece of
land, while her husband snored away happily at home! Why, once when a
stranger came asking for some food and water, he just pointed towards the
kitchen and went back to sleep. The stranger, thankfully, was an honest man
and took only enough for himself and his horse. Not that there was much to
steal in Kavery's little house. They were poor farmers with only a patch of
land where nothing seemed to grow. Somehow Kavery tilled the land, did
some odd jobs in the neighbourhood, and made ends meet.
The land was right next to a temple. On some days her husband would
come along with her on the pretext of helping her, but no sooner would her
back be turned than she would find him stretched out near the temple
courtyard gossiping with passing villagers.
One day, as she was working in the field, trying to dig up the ground so she
could sow some seeds, a thin man with a big moustache appeared beside her.
He was a thief, and up to no good. Kavery, of course, did not know this. She
greeted him politely and went back to her work. Now the thief wanted to steal
the coins that were given as offerings in the temple and perhaps even the
ornaments on the idol. The only way into the temple was by digging his way
in from Kavery's land. But how could he do anything there, with this tough,
no-nonsense woman working away?
Guessing Kavery was hard up for money, he whispered to her, 'Sister, why
are you working so hard on this barren land? I will give you one thousand
rupees, sell it to me.'
Kavery raised her eyebrows; why did he want to buy the land for so much
money? Surely something was wrong . . .
The thief sensed she was not about to sell it to him, so he raised his price:
'A thousand and fifty? No? Two thousand? No again? FIVE THOUSAND?
No?'
Kavery kept shaking her head. She did not like this odd-looking man who
was offering her so much money for the field. Clearly he had some evil plans.
Finally, to keep him quiet, she made up a story. 'I will never sell this land.
You see, it belonged to my ancestors. Now we are poor, but I am told that
once our family was very rich. Though we lost a lot of our money, much of it was also buried here, in this field by one ancestor, to keep it safe from
robbers. Then people forgot about it for years and years. My husband found a
clue to the location of the hidden treasure just a few days back. Why do you
think I am digging this hard earth? Not to sow seeds, oh no, that's just what
everyone thinks. I am actually looking for hidden treasure!'
Chapter 3
The thief was stunned. He felt this woman was really innocent, giving such
important information to a stranger. He thought, why should I not take
advantage of this situation? Here he was, hoping to steal a few coins from the
temple, and this woman was telling him about hidden treasure! He replied in a
very humble way, 'Yes sister, I understand; after all it is your family treasure.
Only you should get it.' He pretended to walk away, and went and hid himself
a little way down the road.
Night fell; Kavery packed up her tools and headed home. The temple, too,
emptied out and the priest locked it up for the night. Then at midnight, when
all was quiet and the night creatures were coming out of their homes, the thief
crept into the field.
All night he dug and dug, looking for treasure, but of course there was no
sign of it as there never had been any treasure to begin with! By the time
dawn broke he realized Kavery had made a fool of him and all he could do
now was get away from the field fast.
When Kavery reached the field she grinned to herself. Just as she had
expected, the thief had spent the night digging up the land nicely for her. All
she needed to do now was sow the seeds. She worked hard in the field for the
next few months and managed to grow a good crop. She sold those and finally
they had some money. With a part of this money Kavery bought some
jewellery. Many months later, the thief decided to show his face in the village again.
He was careful to disguise himself, though. He trimmed his long moustaches,
tied a colourful turban and pretended to be a travelling salesman. No sooner
had he stepped into the village than he saw Kavery going about her work. But
what is this . . . Instead of the simple, unadorned lady he saw last year, she
was now wearing jewellery which looked as though it had been in the family
for years! Surely she must have located that missing treasure finally! He was
determined to look in her house and find the rest of her money and treasure.
That night, he appeared at Kavery's house and said to her husband, 'I am a
traveller and don't have a place to spend the night. Please give me shelter for
the night.'
Chapter 4
Kavery's husband agreed immediately. Kavery, however, glimpsed the man
from inside the house and saw through his disguise. She knew he must be
planning some robbery, so she said in a loud voice, making sure the visitor
heard her, 'Oh dear, your dear aunt is all alone at night and has asked us to
come stay with her. You know how the dark scares her when your uncle is not
there. Come, let us go there for the night.' Then lowering her voice a bit, yet
making sure she was heard clearly, she continued, 'Don't worry about the
jewels. I have hidden them in little holes in the house walls. No one will
suspect the hiding spot.' Then she came out and in her normal voice told the
thief, 'Brother, you can sleep in the veranda. The house will be locked. Here
is some food and water for you. We will come tomorrow morning.' The thief
smiled to himself at Kavery's foolishness.
Her husband, meanwhile, stared at her with an open mouth, wondering
which aunt and what jewels she was talking about. When she firmly walked
off, he followed obediently.
The thief could not believe his luck. He had the entire night to comb
through the house, tap all the walls and look for the hidden stash of gold
ornaments. So he started. Tap tap tap. Kick, punch and shove. He prowled and
he tapped, he kicked and he pushed the walls, hoping to spot the jewels.
Finally he tore down all the walls. But, of course, there was nothing he could
find. Exhausted he fell asleep and woke only with the crowing of the cock as
the sun rose. Quickly he found his little bundle of things and ran off. Within
minutes Kavery and her husband returned.
'Oh Kavery, see what the bad man has done to our house! You gave him
food and shelter and made me come with you leaving the man alone in the
night,' her husband wailed. But Kavery was smiling! Then she broke into peals of laughter and said, 'Don't worry. I had planned this all along. You see,
I saved money from our last crop to rebuild the house. I needed to call in
some labourers to help tear it down, but our guest has done it for us! Now we
can make a larger house for ourselves, just the way we always wanted.'
The whole village heard the story and started marvelling at her intelligence.
Many months flew by. The thief was burning to take revenge. How dare that
village woman trick him, that too not once but twice! He realized that she was
very clever.
Chapter 5
One day, he dressed up as a bangle seller and started wandering in the
village. Kavery spotted him and knew who he was at once. She said to her
friends who were crowding around the bangle seller, 'Oh dear, I would have
loved to get some for myself. But ever since that good-for-nothing thief tried
to steal all our money by tearing down our house, I have hidden everything in
a little hole in a tree in the woods.'
'Which tree?' her friends asked.
'Oh no, I am not saying which tree, but it is at last safe and sound out in the
forest.'
The thief looked at her. Yes Kavery was wearing an ordinary sari with no
ornaments at all.
Her friends turned around in astonishment at the crash with which the
bangle seller flung down his collection of bangles and made off for the forest.
Only Kavery watched with a grin on her face.
Out in the forest, the thief searched high and low for the jewels. He
climbed trees, poked around in bushes, got bitten, scratched and growled at,
but he would not give up. The jewels were there somewhere and he had to
find them.
So that is where we will leave him, prowling around in the forest, looking
for money and gold that don't belong to him. Everyone praised Kavery for
her quick wit in ridding the village of the thief. She continued to work hard
and made more money from her farming and became a rich old lady. Even her
husband was shamed into giving up his lazy ways and helping her. As for the
thief, who knows, perhaps he is still in that forest, looking for what was never
his. Now if only he had learnt to work hard like Kavery—he would have been
as rich!
The children laughed and laughed when the story was over. 'The poor thief!'
Meenu and Krishna giggled. 'Maybe he got eaten by a tiger!'
Ajji grinned. 'See,'she told Anand, 'sometimes with a bit of luck and lots
of pluck, people can change any situation in which they find themselves!'