This is one of the best short folktales stories for kids. In a village in South India, there lived a poor man called Raghu. He didn’t have enough to eat but he was very generous man and often brought home guests for lunch or dinner. Raghu’s wife, Lalitha loved her husband but could not understand his inviting strangers when they themselves had so little to eat. She tried to reason with him but he wouldn’t listen.
One afternoon, Lalitha was looking out of the window when she saw three fat men walking up the hill towards her. She thought, “Oh, goodness! Will he never learn? He has invited these men for lunch. Where am I to get enough food for all of us?” She looked out again and saw that they were nearing the gate of the house. Also, read A Price To Pay.
Image Source@ musicas.cc. Lalitha thought quickly, “I have to put this madness to an end.” She rushed into the kitchen, picked up the grinder and some flowers and arranged them in the living room. There was a knock at the door. Lalitha rushed and opened the door and invited the men in. “Please, be seated!” she said, “My husband will come home soon. Can I offer you all something?” The men smiled and shook their heads.
Suddenly, one of them saw the grinder arranged as if ready for worship and asked, “Madam, why do you have a grinder here? Who worships it?” Lalitha smiled and said, “Oh this, my husband worships it! It demands human blood. That’s why my husband invites so many people home. When he comes, he will take the grinder and bang it on your heads to draw blood. That’s the only way to appease this deity.”
The men looked terrified but Lalitha continued, “I have asked him a million times not to do it.” She then turned to the window and said, “Ah! There he is! He’ll be here in a moment.” The men had heard enough. They got up and rushed out of the door past Raghu. Raghu was puzzled. He turned to Lalitha and asked, “What’s the matter with them?” “I don’t know! They saw my grinder and wanted it. But I said they couldn’t have it and so they rushed out,” she said.
Raghu rushed to pick up the grinder and went after the men. He screamed, “Here, you can have it! I’ll give it to you!” But the men just ran faster when they saw him chasing with the grinder. After a while, Raghu decided it was pointless to chase the men and so returned back home. He gave the grinder back to his wife and said, “I don’t know what has got into them! Anyways, let’s have our lunch.” You may also like to read, Tenali Raman And The Proud Priest.
Over the next few days, Raghu invited quite a few people home but to his surprise, no one accepted his invitation. He couldn’t understand what had happened. Lalitha kept her secret and much happier as she had finally got rid of her unwanted guests!
Here is a visual depiction of one of the great short folktales stories, “The Unwanted Guests”. See the video story below,