Taste of one's own medicine

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Papayya in Padmapuram village. Papayya was an unscrupulous money lender who levied unreasonable interest rates, fudged account balances and deceived people. He also used to trick innocent people and made money out of their misery.

Once, Papayya went to the market to purchase some hay. There he met a simpleton villager, Ramayya, who was selling hay stacked on his bullock cart. Papayya quickly realized that Ramayya was gullible and went over to ask - 'How much for the cart of hay?'

Ramayya presumed that Papayya wants to purchase all the hay in the cart and said, 'one hundred rupees and not a paisa less'

Papayya said that while the price was high, he was willing to take it. 'Drive the cart to my home. I will pay you there', he said.

Ramayya then drove the cart to Papayya's house and down loaded all the hay. Papayya then asked Ramayya to tie the cart in a corner under the three. Now,  Ramayya was confused, 'Why should I leave my cart there?'

'I negotiated for a cart with hay - that includes the hay and the cart and the bullocks!' claimed Papayya. Ramayya tried to convince him that this is not correct and that the price of hundred rupees was only for the hay. Papayya did not listen to him and drove him out of the house.

Ramayya left the place were saddened. His livelihood depended on the bullocks and the cart and he could not operate without them. When he reached his home, his son Gopayya got to know of the whole affair and challenged, 'Papayya took advantage of your innocence and weakness. I will teach him such a lesson that he will never repeat this with anyone!'

Gopayya used to work in the house of the village head. He went over to the head's house and said, 'Sir, a grave injustice has been done to my father by Papayya and recited the whole trickery. 'To teach a lesson to Papayya, I need your help  - I request you to come dressed as a normal farmer along with me'

The village head agreed to Gopayya's request and went along with him dressed as a normal farmer and a white beard so that he is not easily recognizable. They both took a cartload of hay and went near Papayya's house and started selling, 'Cart of hay. Cart of hay - for very low price'

Attracted by the call of low price, Papayya came over to purchase. He then saw two innocent looking farmers and thought that he could play the trick again and asked, 'How much for the cart of hay?'

Looking just for this chance, Gopayya replied 'Very low price Sir. Just a handful of coins from your son's hand'

Papayya got excited hearing this! He ran inside his house and came out with his five year old son holding the lowest denomination coins he could find and asked Gopayya  'Is this the handful of coins that you are asking for?'

Gopayya replied 'Yes Sir. Please take the hay first'.

Papayya took the hay and was up to his tricks again 'Cart of hay means hay with the cart and bullocks, So leave the cart and bullocks under the tree'

Gopayya acted a bit surprised, 'Oh, is that what you meant?' However, he agreed and left the cart, bullocks and hay under the tree.

After that Papayya was about to hand over the handful of coins in his son's hand. Gopayya took the coins and then took out his knife and said, 'Handful of coins from your son's hand means the coins and the hands too. So, I will cut the hands now'

As Gopayya was about to grab the five year old's hands, Papayya screamed, 'Handful of coins means that the coins in the hand. It does not mean that you can take the hands!!'

'Cart of Hay means the hay in the cart and not the cart and the bullocks. Just like you took the cart with the hay, I want the hands with the coins' retorted Gopayya

Papayya now realized the position he was in. He also realized that the man along with Gopayya was the village head and could not raise his voice and accepted defeat. The village head levied a penalty of one thousand rupees on Papayya and ensured that Papayya returned the bullocks and cart that he tricked out of Ramayya.

Papayya learnt the taste of his own medicine that day and resolved to never trick people again.