Once upon a time, there lived four robbers in a village. One day, they have stolen a temple bell and ran towards the forest. A lion heard the jingle of the bell and became curious to locate the sound. As soon as he saw the robbers. He jumped upon them and killed them at once.
The bell fell on the ground. After a few days, a group of monkeys passed through that way. They spotted the bell and carried it to their home. They found the jingle of the bell very interesting. Afterward, every one of them became very fond of the bell and started playing with it.
After every tiring day, in the night monkeys would sit on the top of the hill in the forest and enjoy the melodious sound of the bell. The people of the village were afraid of the noise.
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Soon afterward the people from the village found the bodies of the robbers and proclaimed, “Certainly there is an evil spirit around here that kills human beings and then rings the bell to celebrate.” When the people heard this, they thought that some demon was hunting their village.
Without giving any second thought, people started leaving the city in terror. There was an intelligent and bold old woman in that village. She thought to herself, “I don’t believe that some demon is haunting this village. I will find out who is ringing the bell.”
At late night, she went into the forest bravely and found that a group of monkeys was playing about and ringing the bell. Now as the women knew the secret about the bell, she went to the king and said, “Your Majesty! I’m sure this evil spirit can be conquered by worshipping the gods. But this will cost money.
If you can grant me some money, I will kill the demon and bring happiness to the village.” The king who was too afraid to get rid of the demon granted the request of the woman.
On receiving the money, the women bought some peas, groundnuts, and fruits. She arranged worship of the gods. She made a circle on the ground, placed all the eatables, and started worshipping the gods. After the ritual, she picked up all the eatables and went into the forest.
She placed the fruits and other things under a tree near the hills. She kept a watch on the monkeys from the distance. As the monkeys saw the eatables, they dropped the bell just as the old woman had expected out of them. They ran to pick the eatables. The woman picked up the bell quickly and rushed towards the village. She gave the bell in the court of the king.
The king was happy with the brave woman and everyone in the village admired her bravery. The pleased king rewarded the woman for her bravery. Since that day, there was no noise and people lived happily ever after.
