In a certain village there lived a poor beggar and his wife. The man
used to go out every morning with a clean vessel in his hand, return
home with rice enough for the day's meal, and thus they lived on in
extreme poverty.
One day a poor Madhava Brahmin invited the pair to a feast, and
among Madhavas muffins (tosai) are always a part of the good things
on festive occasions. So during the feast the beggar and his wife had
their fill of muffins. They were so pleased with them, that the woman
was extremely anxious to prepare some muffins in her own house, and
began to save a little rice every day from what her husband brought
her for the purpose. When enough had been thus collected she begged
a poor neighbour's wife to give her a little black pulse which the
latter--praised be her charity--readily did. The faces of the beggar
and his wife literally glowed with joy that day, for were they not
to taste the long-desired muffins for a second time?
The woman soon turned the rice she had been saving, and the black
pulse she had obtained from her neighbour into a paste, and mixing it
well with a little salt, green chillies, coriander seed and curds,
set it in a pan on the fire; and with her mouth watering all the
while, prepared five muffins! By the time her husband had returned
from his collection of alms, she was just turning out of the pan the
fifth muffin! And when she placed the whole five muffins before him
his mouth, too, began to water. He kept two for himself and two he
placed before his wife, but what was to be done with the fifth? He did
not understand the way out of this difficulty. That half and half made
one, and that each could take two and a half muffins was a question too
hard for him to solve. The beloved muffins must not be torn in pieces;
so he said to his wife that either he or she must take the remaining
one. But how were they to decide which should be the lucky one?
Proposed the husband:--"Let us both shut our eyes and stretch ourselves
as if in sleep, each on a verandah on either side the kitchen. Whoever
opens an eye and speaks first gets only two muffins; and the other
gets three."
So great was the desire of each to get the three muffins, that they
both abided by the agreement, and the woman, though her mouth watered
for the muffins, resolved to go through the ordeal. She placed the
five cakes in a pan and covered it over with another pan. She then
carefully bolted the door inside and asking her husband to go into
the east verandah, she lay down in the west one. Sleep she had none,
and with closed eyes kept guard over her husband: for if he spoke
first he would have only two muffins, and the other three would come
to her share. Equally watchful was her husband over her.
Thus passed one whole day--two--three! The house was never opened! No
beggar came to receive the morning dole. The whole village began to
enquire after the missing beggar. What had become of him? What had
become of his wife?
"See whether his house is locked on the outside and whether he has
left us to go to some other village," spoke the greyheads.
So the village watchman came and tried to push the door open, but it
would not open!
"Surely," said they, "it is locked on the inside! Some great calamity
must have happened. Perhaps thieves have entered the house, and after
plundering their property, murdered the inmates."
"But what property is a beggar likely to have?" thought the village
assembly, and not liking to waste time in idle speculations, they
sent two watchmen to climb the roof and open the latch from the inside.
Meanwhile the whole village, men, women, and children, stood outside
the beggar's house to see what had taken place inside. The watchmen
jumped into the house, and to their horror found the beggar and his
wife stretched on opposite verandahs like two corpses. They opened
the door, and the whole village rushed in. They, too, saw the beggar
and his wife lying so still that they thought them to be dead. And
though the beggar pair had heard everything that passed around them,
neither would open an eye or speak. For whoever did it first would
get only two muffins!
At the public expense of the village two green litters of bamboo and
cocoanut leaves were prepared on which to remove the unfortunate pair
to the cremation ground.
"How loving they must have been to have died together like this!" said
some greybeards of the village.
In time the cremation ground was reached, and village watchmen had
collected a score of dried cowdung cakes and a bundle of firewood from
each house, for the funeral pyre. From these charitable contributions
two pyres had been prepared, one for the man and one for the woman. The
pyre was then lighted, and when the fire approached his leg, the man
thought it time to give up the ordeal and to be satisfied with only
two muffins! So while the villagers were still continuing the funeral
rites, they suddenly heard a voice:--
"I shall be satisfied with two muffins!"