This story is from many years ago. At that time, there was a king who ruled in South India. In the king’s bed, there lived a bedbug named Mandarisarpini, but the king had no knowledge of this. Every night, when the king fell into a deep sleep, the bedbug would come out of its hiding place, feed on the king’s blood with great relish, and then return and hide again.
One day, an ant named Agnimukh entered the king’s bed from somewhere. When the bedbug saw it, she was furious that an ant had entered her territory. The bedbug approached the ant and told it to leave immediately. The ant replied, “Oh sister bedbug, no one behaves like this even with their enemies. I have come from a faraway place and just want to rest in your house for one night. Please let me stay here.”
Hearing the ant’s words, the bedbug’s heart softened. She said, “Alright, you can stay here, but you must not go near the king. Don’t disturb the king or go anywhere near him.”
“Dear sister bedbug, I have come from afar, and I am very hungry. Moreover, every night there is an opportunity to drink the sweet blood of the king. Please allow me to taste the king’s blood tonight,” pleaded the ant. The bedbug, influenced by the ant’s words, granted permission. She said, “Fine, you can have the king’s blood as your meal, but before that, you must wait for the king to fall into a deep sleep. You can’t touch him until then,” said the bedbug. The ant agreed, and both waited for the night.
As the night fell, the king entered his chamber and began preparing for sleep. The king had a robust and healthy body, and his stomach was quite large. Seeing this, the ant’s mouth watered. As soon as the king lay on the bed, the ant, without any hesitation, went straight to the king’s thick belly, cut it with force, and then quickly ran and hid under the bed. The king screamed in pain and immediately summoned his soldiers to the room.
The king ordered his soldiers, “Soldiers, there must be a bedbug or louse in this bed. Find it and kill it immediately.” The soldiers began searching the bed, and they found the hidden bedbug. They swiftly killed the bedbug, and the ant escaped.
In this way, due to the mistake of the bedbug, the poor ant was killed.
Lesson from the Story:
This story teaches us not to trust a stranger blindly.
