The story so far: Shivraj the farmer had a special person helping in the fields. A demon! The demon would do any task given to him. But if Shivraj stopped giving him tasks, the demon would threaten to gobble him up. Shivraj somehow managed to fool the demon and save his life.
Shivaraj had a visitor, his cousin from the neighbouring village. The cousins began to chat. “I see green fields here. Do you have people working in the farm?” asked Balaraj, his cousin.
“I have only one person helping me,” said Shivaraj.
“What? And he works so much!” said Balaraj.
Shivaraj smiled. He did not want to tell his cousin that the help he received was from a demon. “He is quite special,” he said with a smile.
“I wish I had someone like him. I have to dig a well, but don’t have anyone willing to work,” said Balaraj.
“You can have my man,” Shivaraj said.
Balaraj thanked his cousin.
“You go home now. My man will report to you tomorrow,” assured Shivaraj.
The next morning Balaraj had a visitor. “Shivaraj sent me here. From now on you are my Master,” said the visitor.
Balaraj was delighted that he got someone to do the work. He asked the man to get busy digging a well. The man nodded his head and left.
Balaraj expected him to take at least a week to complete the job. After lunch, Balaraj went out to see how the man was working. To his surprise, he found the well already dug and the man jumped out of the well.
“Tell me what’s next?” the man asked.
“You take rest,” said Balaraj to the man, “You have done a good job!”
“So Shivaraj has not told you much about me,” said the man, “I’m Guddu, the demon. You have to keep giving me work. If you stop giving me work, I’ll eat you up.”
“All right,” said Balaraj. “I have enough work for you. Come with me.”
He took the demon to the backyard. There was a huge heap of potatoes there.
“You want me to put them all in a bag?” asked Guddu.
“Not so fast. First you must sort them out,” said Balaraj.
“What do you mean?” asked the demon.
“You have to separate good ones from bad ones. Then, we put all the good potatoes in a sack to take it to the market,” explained Balaraj.
Leaving the demon to finish the job, Balaraj went into his house to take a nap. After an hour, he got up. “By now he must have finished the work,” he thought as he walked to the backyard.
To his surprise, he found the demon pulling his hair. “Decision, decision, decision. I’ve to decide which one is good and which one is bad. And it is taking time,” complained the demon.
Balaraj smiled. “Take your own time. I’m not in a hurry,” he said.
Now Balraj knew how to handle the demon worker. The demon could finish any physical job like tilling the soil or watering the field in no time. When he returned and demanded more work, he could always give the demon work such as sorting potatoes or the like; this would keep the demon busy for a week.
One day, Guddu the demon got so tired of the sorting work, that he ran away! Balaraj ran after him calling out. “Come back. I’ll give you easier work; you have to sort out rice from dirt! That’s all.”
The demon ran faster leaving Balaraj far behind!
