This story comes to us from ancient China. Once there was a great scholar who had three disciples. The great scholar was an experimentalist in all sciences and arts. He once wanted to test the immortality of men and animals. As such with the intention of living in seclusion he went to a remote hill side in a far away forest uninhabited by other humans.There he tried to brew the elixir of life. He got down all the necessary herbs to start with. The three disciples were observing what their great teacher was doing. Once every thing was ready he called the disciples.
"The elixir of life is now ready. But I am not sure of its powers."
They also had a pet dog with them.
"I will give some to this dog in the first instance. Then we can see how it works." The disciples went on watching what their teacher was doing. He gave some to the dog. The dog died after a deep sleep. The teacher looked somewhat sad. "I have taken all the trouble to see a poor animal dead. I left my domestic life in search of immortality. I am now too ashamed to return home. I would rather die."
Teacher said in a mood of disgust and poured the elixir of life into a cup.
"I want to drink," he said.
"Please don't," said the chief disciple.
Read moreBut nobody could resist the teacher. He drank the cup of elixir of life. To the dismay of the disciples the teacher died. The disciples exchanged frightened glances and discussed themselves.
"What does this mean? Now we have lost our great teacher as well." "Who knows if he will rise up?" Said the second disciple. "Perhaps he only knows all these things," said the third disciple.
"I don't want to go home without my great teacher," said the chief disciple. Having said that the chief disciple too drank a cup of the elixir of life. He too died. Now there were three dead bodies. "This is not going to help us," said the second disciple.
They decided to bring two coffins from the town for the two dead bodies. Then they left the three dead bodies, the two human bodies and the dead body of the dog there and walked off.
Few hours passed. It was surprising that the teacher rose up as if from a deep sleep. He looked around to see his chief disciple and the dog getting up.
"Where are the other two disciples?" Asked the teacher. "They may have gone home," said the chief disciple, looking around. "Now that we have tested and proved the powers of the elixir of life, should we make a move?"
The dog which got up was sniffing around in search of food. The teacher made him eat some food.
"I think three of us have entered immortality," said the teacher.
On their way from the forest they saw at a distance the two disciples returning with two coffins. They were surprised to see the faces of their teacher, the chief disciple and the dog.
"The test is over," said the teacher.
It is said that the teacher, the chief disciple and the dog lived for a long time. But the teacher never revealed the secret of the elixir of life to any other human being.
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