The Carpenter’s Wife

At this stage Raktamukha, the monkey, told Karalamukha, the croc, “O wicked croc, I now know your evil thoughts. How can I come to your place? It is your nature to be wicked. Friendship with good men will not change your nature. You are too attached to your woman. You are her slave. Such people never hesitate to lose their wealth and friends for her sake.”

As the monkey was telling this story of the carpenter to the croc, someone from the sea came and told the croc that his wife who was fasting had died. The croc felt that living in a house without a wife was like living in a jungle.

He told the monkey, “Friend, pardon me. I have done you harm. So, I have lost my wife. I deserve to die.”

The monkey said, “I know you are a hen-pecked husband. But this is no time for grief because you are rid of a greedy wife. You must celebrate.” The elders have said:

“Consider that evil woman
Who has no character and
Who always quarrels with you
As a curse in the form of a wife.
That man who wants to be happy
Should not even take her name.
He who loves a woman of vice
Perishes like a moth kissing fire.”