Mr Lazy

Mr. Lazy went to see a renounced astrologer to see what lay ahead in his life. After examining his horoscope, the astrologer told him, “Congratulations, you will become a millionaire at 40 years old and will live to a long life of 95 years.” Mr. Lazy was so pleased that he returned home dancing merrily. ‘I will become a millionaire at 40 years old,’ he thought, ‘so, I don't have to work!’ From then on, even though he was poor, he just dreamed of being rich and did not bother finding work. Finally, he became so poor that he died of hunger at the age of 39.

After his death, he went to see Yama (Lord of Death), and filed a complaint against the astrologer. Yama looked at his records and said, “This is very strange, according to my calculations, you do not have to die at 39 years. In fact, you really should get rich at 40 and thereafter live upto 95 years!” Yama then ordered his officers to investigate the case.

Several days later, the officers came back with the following report:

The Heavenly Emperor had decided to give Mr. Lazy one million gold coins, so he asked the God of Wisdom to carry out the task. The God of Wisdom went down to earth and looked for Mr. Lazy in all the graduation lists of all the schools, colleges and universities, in the hope that he could arrange to pay him the money in the form of a big salary as a very senior civil servant. But, Mr. Lazy was not in any of the graduation lists, nor as a candidate for the civil service examinations. The God of Wisdom thought, ‘Mr. Lazy is nowhere to be seen in the civil service examinations; maybe he is in the military services. Let me asked the God of War to help him out.’

The God of War took the money and started looking for Mr. Lazy in all the Military Services, including the Army and the Police. He could not locate Mr. Lazy anywhere in the ranks and files either. Unable to help Mr. Lazy to get a big military victory and a big award, he asked the God of Wealth for assistance.

The God of Wealth, responsible for commercial prosperity, went down to the business world to look for Mr. Lazy. He went through all the trading places but, again, Mr. Lazy was nowhere to be seen. Unable to give Mr. Lazy the money in the form of a big profit, he turned it over to the God of Land for help.

Finally, the God of Land located Mr. Lazy in his home and he devised a scheme to hand the money over. He left the money in the backyard, and then tried to get Mr. Lazy to do some gardening and therefore find the money. But, Mr. Lazy was too lazy even to clean up his own backyard, and so the money remained there untouched.

Upon reading the report, Yama told Mr. Lazy, “Sorry, the Heavenly Emperor really did want to give you a million gold coins during your lifetime. But you did not make any effort to get it. Case dismissed!”