A completing story showing that cheating and dishonesty bring nothing but ruin in the end.

The story begins: Once there was a milkman in a village who wanted to grow rich quickly. Instead of selling pure milk, he began to mix water with it every day...

The Story

Once there lived a milkman in a small village. He kept several cows and sold milk to the people of the town every morning.

He was greedy and wished to become rich in a very short time. So he thought of a dishonest way to earn more money.

Every day he mixed a large amount of water with the milk before selling it. In this way he cheated his customers and made a big profit.

For a long time no one found out his trick. The milkman collected plenty of money and grew proud of his clever dishonesty.

One day he took a big pot of money and went to the town across the river to buy a golden chain for his son.

While crossing the river by boat, a strong wind rose and the boat began to rock. The heavy pot of money slipped from his hands and fell into the water.

The milkman watched helplessly as all his savings sank to the bottom of the river. In a moment he lost everything he had gathered by cheating.

Later a wise man told him that the river had only taken back the money he had earned by mixing water. The milkman understood his mistake and repented, but it was too late.

Moral: Dishonesty never pays.