A Fistful Of Gold

Vinayak lived in a small town. As his parents had died rather young, his grandmother brought him up. He was not a bright lad at all. In fact, he was quite foolish but never seemed to realize it. However, he was round and tubby and on account of his enormous size, everyone called him Fatty Vinayak.

Grandma wanted Fatty to take up a job. So one day she called him to her side and said, “Look here, Vinayak, I want you to work for a living. When you do get a job, work at it quietly. Be satisfied with whatever wages you get. You will be known as a good lad. Then you’ll get a fistful of money.”

So Fatty went around looking for a suitable job. On the road one day, he met a traveler and promptly accosted him. “Sir,” Fatty addressed him, “Could you give me a job? I’ll work silently. Give me a fistful of money. I ask for nothing more.” The traveler realized that he was dealing with a rank idiot. So he said, “Do you see that lizard there? She’ll give you a job.” Fatty looked at the lizard, which was jerking its scaly head this way and that. Thereupon the traveler said, “Go on boy. Don’t you see the lizard is beckoning to you.” Eagerly, Fatty ran towards the lizard, but the latter with one bound slithered into a hole behind some bushes.

Then the fat boy thought, ‘Ah! So you have gone home. But how can I follow you? I’ll have to make the hole bigger if I want to enter.”

Then he went home and took out his spade and poker. Armed with these, he came back and began to dig. After several hours of such digging, Fatty Vinayak’s spade struck some object with a metallic clang. He reached into the hole and brought out a rusty iron box. When he prized the lid open, he saw the box was full of gold pieces. Then he remembered his grandma’s words, “Fistful of money,” she said.

“Good, I have two fistfuls of gold pieces.” He took several pieces of gold and put the box back in the hole. When grandma saw Fatty’s grubby fingers clutching gold pieces, she became excited and asked him where he had got them. So Fatty related his adventure with the lizard and how he had dug a hole. After hearing this, grandma hurried to the spot and brought home the iron box, which was heavy with the gold pieces. Then she turned to Fatty and asked him to keep quiet about their find. Fatty, his round eyes opening wider, nodded his head like a Tanjore doll.