The Unwelcome Guests

Partho was a poor but generous man always ready to share whatever little he had with others . He often brought home people for tea or lunch , there by causing great hardship to his wife .his wife Promila ,to get rid of this trouble , hit upon a plan and kept  it a secret to herself . One day , when she looked out of the window she saw three fat men coming towards her house. Promila guessed at once that they were coming to her house for lunch at her husband's invitation . Promila decided to try her secret plan one these three. When the men arrived at the front door sometime later , they were pleased with the warm welcome given them by their host's wife . But when they entered the house they were puzzled with a strange  sight .The saw a mortar and pestle ready for worship standing in the hall ."what is this  ?" asked one of them . " who worships this mortar and pestle ?" " Don't you know?" said the woman pretending great surprise, " It is my husband 's deity . It demands human blood . When my husband comes home, he will pick up the pestle and hit you on your heads to draw blood . So many time I have told him not to do it because it is I who have to clean the floor afterwards ......". Partho returned just then and he was puzzled to see the men hurrying away from his house.

" They wanted the pestle ," explained his wife ," and I refused to give it to them ."

"Oh you foolish woman ! " said the husband . " If they wanted the pestle you should have given it  ," so saying partho picked up the pestle  and ran after them shouting ," come back ,come back  You can take the pestle ."

The men , already badly frightened , thought he was coming to hit them  with the pestle and ran for their lives .

Partho sometimes wondered why after that event people had stopped accepting invitation and why his wife smiled every time she touched the pestle . Pertho asked his wife time and again but she never let out the secret.