The Dead Man

A peasant finds a Brahman sitting cross-legged outside his door.  He notices flowers cast by the holy man into the river as an offering to the waterway’s resident crocodile. 

A week earlier, the crocodile had killed the wife of the peasant’s half-brother as she waded across the stream.  Bearing this danger in mind, and with his own wife recovering from an infection, the peasant approaches the river with caution.  He fills a large jug with water and bears it home.

The peasant returns to the stream with another jug and carelessly draws the attention of the crocodile.  The beast seizes the man’s leg and drags him below the surface. After several moments of struggle, the peasant submits.