The Brahmin's Goat and the Three Swindlers

A Brahmin had purchased a goat for a religious ceremony and was carrying it on his shoulders as he walked toward his village. Along the way, three swindlers noticed him with the goat and devised a scheme to steal it through trickery.

The three swindlers approached the Brahmin separately, from different directions, pretending not to know one another at all. The first swindler walked up and said, "O learned Brahmin, why are you carrying this unholy dog upon your shoulders?"

The Brahmin was startled. "This isn't a dog," he said, "it's a goat!" But the swindler simply laughed and walked away. A little further down the road, the second swindler appeared and said exactly the same thing. "Reverend sir, why do you carry this dog on your shoulders? It goes against your sacred duties!"

By now the Brahmin began to feel uneasy, though he assumed it was merely a coincidence. After walking a bit further, the third swindler approached and repeated the very same claim. "You're a Brahmin, yet you carry a dog around — this is deeply inauspicious!"

Having now heard the very same claim from three separate strangers, the Brahmin began to genuinely doubt his own eyes. He thought, "Perhaps some illusion or trick of magic is making this goat appear different than it truly is." Frightened and confused, he assumed something unnatural was at play.

In his panic, the Brahmin abandoned the goat right there on the road and hurried away, relieved to be rid of what he believed was something impure. As soon as he was out of sight, the three swindlers regrouped, picked up the goat, and went off laughing together.

In this way, the Brahmin lost his valuable goat simply by trusting the repeated claims of strangers without ever questioning their truth.

Moral: A claim repeated by many people does not automatically make it true. One should trust their own eyes and judgment, and believe only after careful, thoughtful consideration.