In one village there lived a peasant. He had a daughter. She decided to marry the strongest person in the world.
One day a raja came to the village on an elephant. The girl noticed that all the people, as soon as they saw the rajah, bowed to the ground to him. She decided that there was no one stronger than the rajah in the world, and she followed his elephant.
On the way they met a sadhu.
[Sadhu—hermit, “holy man.”]
The Raja dismounted from the elephant and bowed at the feet of the saint. The girl thought that the sadhu was stronger than the rajah. And she went after the sadhu.
On the way, the sadhu saw a Shiva temple, entered there and prostrated himself before the statue of God. Here it seemed to the girl that Shiva was stronger than the sadhu. She decided to marry Shiva and stayed in the temple.
A little time passed, and the girl saw that a dog had wandered into the temple. He walked up to the image of the deity, ate all the offerings, and then turned and shamelessly raised his hind paw. After this, the dog calmly left the temple. The peasant's daughter saw that the dog did not value Shiva at all. “So he is stronger than Shiva,” the girl thought and, deciding that now she would have to marry the dog, she followed him.
The dog reached one house, saw a young man - his owner - and began to caress him. Then he stretched out at his feet, stuck out his tongue and began to look devotedly at the young man, as if he was awaiting an order. Seeing this, the girl realized that the young man was stronger than the dog. She approached the young man and told him everything. They got married and began to live happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru