Barber who shaved the pride .

Barber  who shaved  the pride .

By

P.R.Ramachander

(I got the idea   from a face  book post by A.G.Kesavan. My thanks are to him)

One  learned  man who was  very proud,

Enjoyed   teasing others  and make them cry.

All people   of the village  avoided   him,

But one day the learned one  saw  Barber.

The Barber  who  was wearing  a torn but clean  cloth,

Was sitting below a banyan tree, along with his wares,

Waiting   for some customer   to come   to get a hair cut or shave,

And the learned man  went near him and asked, “how much for a cut  or shave?”

With all seriousness   the Barber  replied , “Two rupees for a cut,

And one rupee for a shave  sir”   and the learned man laughed,

And told him, “Please  shave my head”   and Barber  respecting,

The age   and knowledge  of the old man , started  his job.

The learned man started  his  usual job   of teasing the Barber,

And  asked him “your profession  begins   with a  bar,

And seems   to end   with   a beer  but  I do not see,

Either  a bar  or beer  in it  , anywhere   near here?”

The Barbar  laughed loudly and said , “You can also  say,

That it begins with a barb” and then the learned  man,

Teased him further , “If   you   start  barbing  others ,

Do’nt you think  , they will shave you off   from this village”

The Barber   replied  “I would not barb   them   but  only,

Barber  them and they would happily look satisfied,

On seeing their image in my mirror   and  would  go away with joy.”

The learned man  replied, “I think you are wrong”

“I always    thought   that   you are  barbaric  people”

And this irked   the barber  and he kept his knife ,

On the moustache  of the learned  one and asked,

“Do  you want   this  moustache  of yours?”

The learned man replied “Yes”   and the barber  shaved it away,

And gave it to the  learned man saying “It is now yours”

And then he kept   the knife near his   bushy eye brows,

And asked  “Do you need this ?”  and learned man said “no”

The barber removed  his eye brows and threw them away ,

And said “ I just did     what you  wanted “ and  this shaved off ,

The pride of the learned man and he  then and there  decided,

“I am as good as any other   and I would not  tease any one from now on.”

The learned man  now further  learnt that  his wisdom  , his power,

His  position and  his wealth  is not meant   to tease  but help others,

And the false pride   in any person   would completely change his fate,

And that   every being on earth  has  some special  god given ability.