Long ago, there were three young men. They were close friends. One of them was a prince, the youngest son of a king. Another was the son of the king's minister. The third was the son of a rich merchant. The three were always together. They took no interest in their studies and did not want to do any work either. They just wasted away their time, doing nothing.The king sent for his son. "You are wasting your time," he said. "Mend your ways."The minister sent for his son. "I do not like the way you live," he said. "Mend your ways." The merchant sent for his son. "Mend your ways," he said. "If you don't, I shall throw you out of the house."
The three friends got together. "My father has asked me to mend my ways," said the prince. "That is exactly what my father told me, too" said the minister's son. "And mine too," said the merchant's son. "He went on to add that he would send me out of the house if I did not mend my ways!" "This is too bad," said the prince. "We cannot put up with such insults even from our fathers. Let us go away."
"But how can we go away?" asked the minister's son. "We have no money of our own. We may have to get money from our fathers." "Let us find a way of making money," said the merchant's son. "There is a mountain not far from here. I am told there are precious stones and gems at the top of the mountain." "Let us climb the mountain, then," said the prince. "If we find some precious stones, we will not have to depend on our fathers."
The three friends set out for the mountain. They crossed a wide river and passed through a dark forest. Finally they reached the mountain and climbed to the top. They were lucky, for each one of them found a gem of great value. "Now we can go home," they said.
As they came down the mountain, they thought of the difficult journey ahead. They would have to pass through the dark forest again. "The robbers and thieves in the forest," said the merchant's son, "might kill us and take our gems away." "That is true," agreed the prince. "We must think of a way to get our gems safely home."
"I know what do," said the minister's son. "We should swallow the gems before we enter the forest. We shall carry them safely in our stomachs." "That is a good idea," agreed the prince. "No one will know they are there." As they approached the forest, they sat down to eat. Each of them swallowed his gem with a mouthful of food.
It so happened that a thief had been following the three friends. He heard what they said and saw them swallowing the gems. He decided to kill the friends and get the gems for himself. When they were about to enter the forest, the thief went to them and said, "Good masters, ahead lies a dark forest. I am afraid of going through it alone. May I join you?"
The friends were glad to have one more man in their party.
Half way through the forest was a village. The headman of the village had a parrot. He was fond of it and could understand whatever it said. He believed that the parrot always spoke the truth. The four men reached the village. As they passed by the hut where the headman lived, the parrot began to talk. "The travellers have gems!" he cried. "The travellers have gems!" The headman heard the parrot. He wanted to get the gems for himself. So he sent his men after the prince and his group of friends. They were caught and brought back to the village. The headman searched them, but did not find any gems on them. "My parrot must be wrong this time," he thought. The prince and his friends were set free.
As soon as they left the village, however, the parrot spoke again. "The travellers have gems! The travellers have gems!" "My parrot has never been wrong," the headman said to himself. 'The travellers must have gems with them." Once more the thief and the three friends were caught and brought before the headman. This time he made a thorough search. But still he could not find the gems.
"My parrot always speaks the truth," he said. "The gems are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps you have swallowed them." The thief and the friends kept quiet.
The headman said, "Now I know what to do. Tomorrow morning I shall cut open your stomachs. I shall get the gems all right. "The headman locked them up in a room. None of the four was able to sleep. They were all frightened and could only think of the dreadful fate that awaited them in the morning.
The thief sat thinking. "There is no gem in my stomach," he said to himself. "If I ask the headman to cut me open first, he will not find any gem. He will then think there are no gems with any of us. So he will let the other go. In any case I have to die. I might as well save the lives of these three young men."
The next morning, the headman got ready to cut open the stomachs of the four travellers."Please sir," begged the thief. "Let me be the first. I cannot bear to see my brothers die." The headman agreed. The thief's stomach was cut open. There were no gems inside. "Alas!" the headman cried. "I have killed this man for nothing. My parrot has really made a mistake." So he set the others free.
The three friends continued their journey, sold the gems and became rich. But they remembered with immense gratitude the man who gave up his life to save them.
