One day, the Nat of Fate went to a village to predict the future of a child who was soon to be born. On the way, he was very tired and decided to rest. As soon as he perched himself near a spreading tree on the bank of a small river, Nat, the patron saint of the banyan tree, suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
-Where are you going? - he asks Nat of Fate.
“You see a village in the distance,” answers Nat of Fate, “very poor woodcutters live in it.” They are about to have a baby. I wanted to make him rich and happy.
“This is unfair,” Nat, the patron of the banyan tree, was indignant. “The parents have vegetated in poverty all their lives, but their son will prosper!” Why didn't they please you?
“I couldn’t prepare an enviable fate for the woodcutter and his wife.” Their ancestors did not revere Buddha, did not respect their parents. And so that this would not be passed on from generation to generation, I drew only three lines on the foreheads of the woodcutters. Therefore, they were destined for a bitter fate. But, as they say, let him who has experienced suffering turn to God. The woodcutter and his wife became pious and hard-working, they always treated their elders with respect, so I found it possible to make their child happy.
– Are you the only one who can decide a person’s fate? Can't another Nat help him? Here, for example, is me.
- Well, try it! But I advise you that if you want to be useful to someone, it’s better to contact me!
And Nat of Destiny moved on.
But Nat, the patron saint of the banyan tree, did not calm down. “I’ll try myself, without the help of Nat Fate, to make the poor woodcutters happy,” he decided and went to the village. So he sees that the woodcutters left the house before dawn and headed into the forest. There they chopped firewood, loaded it into the boat, and got ready to go to the market. Before they had time to set sail from the shore, Nat, the patron of the banyan tree, put a bag of silver in the boat. The woodcutter reached the middle of the river, suddenly a huge puntius fish jumped into the boat and swallowed the bag. The woodcutter was not at all upset. “This fish is not about my honor,” he thought, “it’s too big.”
The next day the woodcutter went into the forest again. He tied the boat to a banyan tree and began collecting firewood himself. And Nat, the patron saint of the banyan tree, is right there. “Yesterday I didn’t manage to help the woodcutter,” he thought, “maybe today something will work out.” Whatever happens, I’ll give him a bag of gold.”
And he put a bag of gold in the woodcutter's boat. But, as before, the woodcutter did not attach any importance to this. Just like last time, as soon as the boat reached the middle of the river, a puntius fish jumped into it. She, as before, swallowed the bag of gold and disappeared into the water.
The woodcutter was not sad this time either. And Nat, the patron of the banyan tree, was beside himself with grief. “There is no way I can make the woodcutters rich. Perhaps Nat Fate is right. Apparently, I can’t do without his help.” And Nat, the patron of the banyan tree, went to the niche in which the Nat of Fate lived. He repented to Nat of fate for his futile efforts and asked his consent to help the poor. The Nat of Fate answered him:
- I will prove to you that I am right in practice. Today the fate of the poor woodcutters is about to change. They revere both Buddha and elders. They are both hardworking and modest. If I correct their fate lines, everything will immediately go differently for them. And you, friend Nat, look and rejoice.
And Nat, the patron of the banyan tree, began to wait impatiently for the Nat of Fate to keep his promise.
Early in the morning the woodcutters set off for the forest. They see a fisherman selling a huge puntius.
“I wanted to eat some fish,” the wife turned to the woodcutter. The woodcutter bought a puntius, and they began to cut it up. They cut it in half, and in the belly of the fish there were two bags, the same two bags that Nat, the keeper of the banyan tree, had once tried to give to them. So the Nat of Fate forced fate to be merciful to the woodcutters. So they managed to get rich.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru