Mother Shandilee's Bargain

During the rainy season, a travelling scholar stayed with a kind Brahmin and his wife, Mother Shandilee.

One morning the Brahmin said, “Tomorrow is a day for sharing. Even though we have little, could we offer someone a simple meal?”

Mother Shandilee looked at their nearly empty jars. At first she worried that they could not spare anything.

Her husband replied, “A small gift given with care can still bring comfort.”

She found a measure of sesame and decided to prepare it. She washed the grains, removed their husks and spread them in the courtyard to dry.

While she worked indoors, a playful puppy raced through the yard. It knocked over a dusty flowerpot, covering the clean sesame with soil and tiny stones.

“Oh dear,” Mother Shandilee sighed. The grain was no longer fit to serve.

Then she had a dishonest thought. “Perhaps a neighbour will exchange plain, unhulled sesame for my hulled grain without looking closely.”

She carried the basket from house to house, offering more valuable hulled sesame in return for ordinary grain.

One household was about to accept. Their son Kamandaki paused.

“Why would anyone trade prepared sesame for grain that still needs work?” he asked. “A bargain that favours us so greatly may hide a reason.”

They inspected the basket and found the dust and pebbles. Mother Shandilee lowered her eyes.

“You were right to ask,” she said. “I should have explained what happened instead of passing my loss to someone else.”

The neighbours did not shame her. Together they sifted the sesame. What could be cleaned was used as bird feed, and they shared fresh grain so Mother Shandilee could still prepare a modest meal.

The travelling scholar remembered the exchange: an offer may look wonderful, but wise people first ask why it is being made.

Mother Shandilee remembered something more important—honesty turns an awkward mistake into a problem that neighbours can solve together.