BED TIME STORIES

BED TIME STORIES – MALA AND GEETA BED TIME STORIES Mala and Geeta were children and next door neighbours. Being penniless, Mala used to collect leaves of weeds for cooking food. God Shiva and his wife Parvathy are always circling the earth, Shiva with his eyes closed and Parvathy watching the people from their heavenly circuit. When she spotted Mala, her tender heart melted. She assumed the garb of a hag and stayed in the jungle where Mala was going to collect weeds.Mala was surprised to see a good house and approached it as she was thirsty. The old woman gave her water and persuaded her to stay for the night as night, as night was approaching. Do you like the room with cookies or the one with coconut fibre? – the old woman asked. Being hard working, she chose the latter and made ropes during the whole night. The hag was pleased to see her work when morning broke and asked her to select a box as gift for taking home. True to her nature, she chose the smallest box. What a surprise when, reaching home, she opened the box and found it full of costly jewels! Overnight, she became rich. Geeta was envious and she too wanted to see the hag, when told about Mala’s experience. Next day, she set out to collect weeds which was quite unnecessary as she was already rich and her mother gave her plenty to eat. She spotted the hag and approached her for shelter for the night, even though night was still far away! When asked to select a room, she chose the one with cookies and ate till she started vomiting and dirtied the room. She too was told to select a box. Being greedy, she took the biggest box and carried it all the way home, with great effort, stopping at several places, as the box was too heavy for her. At long last, she reached home and impatiently opened the box. To her horror, it was full of poisonous snakes!