The old lady and the physician
Once there lived an old lady who
was very rich and lived all by herself in an ancestral bungalow that
belonged to her. She did all her work alone and didn’t want to bring in
any third party for her assistance even though she found it very
difficult to do them alone, because she feared that another’s entry
would cause unexpected problems and threats to her life.
 She loved her wealth a lot while didn’t have any idea of sharing them
with another. While life went on in this manner without any hiccups for
several years she became ill and had to loose her valuable eye sight as
the end result of this.
When this happened she became very scared and from there onwards
spent most of her time in searching for a famous eye physician with the
idea of obtaining her vision back. After a tiresome search she managed
to get details of a well recognized eye surgeon and made no hesitation
in bringing him for her assistance.
When the physician called on her at her residence, she explained the
situation of her illness and promised a large sum of money to him only
if the illness was cured completely but, nothing if not, and the former
too agreed to it as he had full confidence on his treatment and
abilities.
She asked him to visit her bungalow to treat her on the following day
while the physician too didn’t hesitate bearing the large sum she had
promised him.
After visiting her house within the first couple of days itself he
managed to have a close look at all her belongings, specially the
furniture and learnt that they were very valuable in price as they were
a combination of both antiques and modern masterpieces.
As his desire for these items grew greater he thought of a plan to
own them without raising any sort of suspicion in the old lady’s mind.
Finally he decided to delay the cure and remove all the valuable
furniture one by one daily. After having committed his unlawful deed he
cured her completely and demanded his fee but the lady refused to pay
him anything.
 After having argued with her for several days on this matter and
getting to know precisely that her decision would not be revised he
decided to sue her in Court as the last option and even when the old
lady was brought in front of the judge she stayed at her own decision of
refusing to pay a single cent and, the judge inquired from her what had
been the reason for her not to keep to her promise.
Then she told him in reply that she had decided not to pay the
physician only because her sight was not restored completely and not
because she tried to play the latter out. When the judge further asked
her why she said that her sight was not regained in full she in reason
added that she could not see any of her valuable furniture which she had
seen before losing her sight.
When the judge studied the case carefully he learnt that it was true
enough and decided to give his final verdict in favour of the accused.
By this the physician whose downfall came through unlawful desire and
greed had to be satisfied only with the furniture and lose a much larger
sum of money which was promised to him at first.
- Edward A. Windus, Maharagama.
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