Once, Lord Yama and all his people had to attend a wedding in Indra’s home. They thought that there should be someone to guard the gates of hell and heaven in their absence and so they left Chithra Gupta behind on duty. Yama told him not to allow anyone to go inside Heaven in his absence.
A little while after Yama had left, there came a knock on heaven’s door. Chithra Gupta peered outside and saw an old, lame tailor standing there. He told the tailor to wait outside till Lord Yama returned. But the tailor replied humbly,“Sir, I can’t keep standing for long. I am lame and my legs start hurting. Also,I have been good all my life.Please let me come inside heaven.”
Chithra Gupta consulted his records and said,“No,you have not been a good man.You have taken money from the pockets of many shirts that were given to you for repair. I cannot allow you to come inside heaven.” But the tailor defended himself and said,“Sir, it is not my fault. The money fell on my table while I was repairing the shirts and the owners of the shirts never asked for their money.” Chithra Gupta took pity on the tailor and admitted him into heaven. He said,“You can sit here for some time. When Lord Yama returns, He will decide whether to keep you in heaven or send you to hell.” Chithra Gupta left the tailor there and went to his home.
The tailor started looking around heaven. He went into all the rooms and saw everything that was to be seen. At last, he came to a big room with several chairs in it.One of them was a beautiful golden chair.The tailor wanted to see what it felt like to sit in that chair. Since there was no one around, he went and quietly sat on the chair. All of a sudden,a picture of the world appeared before his eyes. He saw a washerman taking money out of the pocket of his shirt that he had given for washing. The tailor was infuriated. He got up and threw the chair at the washerman. As soon as he did that, he saw Lord Yama returning. He was scared. He quickly hid in a corner of the room.
When Lord Yama came to the room, he saw that his chair was not there. He called Chithra Gupta and asked him,” Where did my golden chair go? Did you allow anyone to enter into heaven while I was gone?” Chithra Gupta quickly found the tailor and brought him in front of Lord Yama. Lord Yama asked the tailor,“Where is my golden chair?” Terrified, The tailor replied, “Sir,I saw a washer man stealing money from my shirt that I had given to him for washing. So I got angry and threw the chair on him.
Lord Yama was very angry. He said,“If I threw a chair on you every time that you took money from someone’s shirt,there would have been no chairs left in heaven.You stole others’ money yourself and now you are getting angry because someone stole your money? You will be sent to hell.” And so, the tailor was sent to hell.
For more such interesting Indian Folk Tales for Kids, go to: Indian Folk Tales.
For other interesting short and moral stories for kids, go to: Stories for Kids.