Imagine having a son-in-law so lazy and foolish that every time he tries to help, disaster follows behind him.
Long ago, in a small village surrounded by paddy fields, muddy paths, and bamboo houses, there lived an old couple who had only one daughter. They loved her dearly and wanted her to live a happy life. So when the time came, they found her a husband and married her off with great hope.
At first, the old couple believed their new son-in-law would become part of the family and help with the work. But very soon, they discovered a painful truth.
Their son-in-law was not just lazy.
He was foolish beyond imagination.
After marriage, instead of taking his wife to his own home and building a life through hard work, he came to stay at his in-laws’ house. At first, the old couple welcomed him warmly. They thought, He is young. Let him stay for a few days. He will understand his responsibilities in time.
But those few days slowly turned into many days.
And those many days turned into a burden.
From the very beginning, the foolish son-in-law showed no interest in work. Every morning, the old man would rise before sunrise, wash his face, and go to the field. The old woman would sweep the courtyard, feed the hens, prepare rice, and begin the day’s chores.
And the son-in-law?
He slept.
He slept after sunrise.
He slept after breakfast.
He slept through the heat of the afternoon.
Even when the rest of the village worked in the fields, sweating under the sun, he would lie inside the house and snore so loudly that people passing by could hear him.
At first, the old woman tried to speak politely.
“My son, a young man should not sleep all day. At least go outside and do something.”
But he would turn to the other side and reply lazily, “I will do it tomorrow.”
Tomorrow never came.
His wife felt deeply ashamed. Whenever she saw her parents working while her husband slept like a sick buffalo, her face burned with embarrassment. Still, she said nothing. She kept hoping he would change.
But instead of improving, his foolishness only became more visible with each passing day.
One rainy afternoon, he returned home after wandering around outside. His legs were covered in thick wet mud up to the knees. Without stopping, he walked straight toward the sleeping room.
The old woman saw him and shouted, “Stop! Wash your legs before you go inside!”
The foolish man looked down at his muddy legs, then looked back at her with complete seriousness.
“Why should I wash them?” he asked.
The old woman stared at him. “Because they are dirty!”
He shook his head and said, “My legs are not people. They are only legs. Why should they bathe?”
For a moment, the old woman had no words. She simply looked at her husband in disbelief. The old man closed his eyes and muttered, “This boy will destroy us.”
Still, they controlled their anger.
They told themselves, He is foolish, but maybe he can still learn simple work.
So one morning, the old woman decided to give him an easy task.
She said, “Go to the cabbage field and clean the weeds around the plants. Don’t damage the cabbages. Just remove the weeds.”
The son-in-law nodded confidently, took a dao, and walked toward the field. The old couple looked at each other with a little hope.
“Maybe,” the old man said, “he has finally decided to be useful.”
But when the old woman went to check on him later, she nearly fainted.
The weeds were still standing.
The cabbages were gone.
That foolish man had chopped down the cabbage plants one by one, leaving the weeds untouched.
The old woman held her head and cried out, “What have you done?”
He looked proud of himself.
“You told me to clear the field,” he said. “So I cut the big plants first.”
The old woman let out a long sigh and said bitterly, “Ah… this is my own fault. I trusted my foolish son-in-law.”
After that disaster, the old man’s patience began to wear thin. He called the son-in-law one day and said firmly, “Enough sleeping. Enough eating. A man must earn. Go and find a way to bring money into this house.”
The son-in-law took those words very seriously.
A little too seriously.
He went outside with a spade and began digging the ground behind the house.
The old man saw him and asked, “What are you doing now?”
The fool wiped sweat from his forehead and said, “I am looking for money.”
“Looking for money where?”
“Underground,” he replied. “I thought maybe money grows in the earth like potatoes.”
The old man nearly collapsed from frustration.
Now in that village there lived a thief, a sly man who survived by stealing from fields at night. One day, while passing by, he saw the son-in-law digging for money in the soil like a madman.
The thief stopped and watched him for a while.
Then he smiled.
He had found the perfect fool.
He approached and said in a low voice, “Brother, if you really want to earn money, digging here will not help.”
The foolish son-in-law stood up eagerly. “Then tell me. How can I earn?”
The thief came closer and said, “Come with me tonight. I know where valuable things can be collected easily.”
The fool’s eyes lit up. “Will I become rich?”
“If you listen to me,” said the thief, “you may.”
That night, the two of them crept into a sugarcane field. The thief cut the canes quietly, then turned to the son-in-law and said, “Let us divide them fairly. You take the top portions. They are clean and beautiful. I will take the lower parts since they are muddy.”
The fool agreed at once.
He proudly carried the leafy tops, believing he had received the better share, while the thief took the thick, juicy lower parts where all the sweetness was.
As the son-in-law walked home, pleased with himself, a dog from a nearby house smelled him and began barking. Before he could escape, the dog leaped and bit him hard on his backside.
He screamed so loudly that birds flew from the trees.
Dropping the sugarcane tops, he ran through the dark path, clutching his rear and shouting for help, while the thief disappeared into the night laughing silently.
Most men would have learned a lesson from that.
But not this one.
A few days later, the same thief returned.
“How much money did you get?” asked the fool.
The thief replied, “That was only a small chance. Tonight we can get something even better.”
Again the foolish son-in-law followed him.
This time they entered a paddy field ready for harvest. They cut rice plants quickly under the moonlight. When the work was done, the thief once again divided the stolen crop.
“You take the plants,” he said. “They are large and useful. I will take the grains since they are small and troublesome.”
The fool, thinking he had gained the bigger share, agreed happily and lifted a huge bundle of straw onto his back.
On the way home, still walking in the dark, he accidentally stepped on a sleeping bull.
The bull rose with a violent snort.
Before the fool could even cry out, the animal charged after him.
He threw away the bundle and ran blindly through the field, shouting in terror, while the bull chased him until he tripped and fell face-first into the mud.
By the next morning, news of the theft had spread through the village.
People whispered, then laughed, then openly mocked him.
Soon the matter reached the ears of his in-laws.
The old man was furious.
“You useless fellow!” he shouted. “Sleeping all day was not enough? Now you have become a thief too?”
The old woman scolded him even more harshly. His wife stood in the corner, unable to lift her eyes in shame.
Humiliated, the son-in-law puffed up with anger and declared, “Fine! Then I will not eat tonight!”
The old couple did not bother to stop him.
That evening, the old woman cooked rice and made a delicious fish curry. The smell filled the house. Everyone sat down to eat, but the foolish son-in-law sat apart, pretending to be deeply offended.
“I told you,” he said proudly. “I will not eat.”
The old woman shrugged. “As you wish.”
But after everyone had gone to sleep, the smell of fish curry continued to float through the house.
The son-in-law lay awake.
His anger slowly weakened.
His greed slowly grew.
At last he could no longer bear it.
Quietly, he got up from bed and crept into the kitchen. The house was dark and silent. He found the pot of fish curry and removed the lid. At once the rich smell rose into his nose.
He dipped his hand in and began eating.
One handful became two.
Two became many.
Then, wanting the last bit of curry stuck to the bottom and sides, he pushed his head into the neck of the mud pot.
For one second, all was well.
Then he tried to pull back.
His head would not come out.
Panic struck him at once.
He stumbled around the kitchen with the pot stuck over his head, banging into baskets, utensils, and the wall. Pots clattered. Lids rolled. A stool fell over.
The old woman woke up in fright.
“A cat!” she shouted. “A cat has entered the kitchen!”
She rushed in holding a lamp.
But when the light fell on the figure running around, she froze.
It was not a cat.
It was her son-in-law, with a mud pot stuck tightly over his head, arms flailing, fish curry dripping down his chest.
The old woman was too shocked even to laugh.
At last she took a stick and struck the pot until it cracked and broke.
The son-in-law stood there, dazed and greasy.
The old woman looked at him and sighed, “Oh… so it was not a cat after all. It was the big cat.”
Even then, the house did not find peace.
The next night, after stuffing himself heavily at dinner, the foolish son-in-law felt a strong need to relieve himself. Outside, rain was pouring down. The path to the toilet was wet and cold.
He lay in bed and thought, Why should I walk all the way outside in this rain?
So, instead of going to the toilet, he relieved himself inside the room itself.
Then he simply turned over and went back to sleep.
The next morning, the smell hit the old couple before they even entered.
The old woman covered her nose.
The old man burst into the room.
And there, in the middle of filth and stink, the foolish son-in-law was sleeping peacefully as if nothing had happened.
That was the end.
The old man shook him awake and thundered, “Get out!”
The old woman pointed toward the door. “Enough. We tolerated your laziness. We tolerated your foolishness. We tolerated your shameful behavior. But not anymore.”
For once, the son-in-law had no reply.
He packed his few belongings in silence.
His wife did not stop him.
The old couple did not stop him.
And as he walked away from the house, the whole place seemed to breathe again.
From that day onward, the old couple lived in peace.
Their courtyard stayed clean.
Their fields stayed safe.
Their fish curry stayed inside the pot.
And whenever villagers spoke about foolishness, they remembered the son-in-law who slept all day, destroyed cabbage, searched for money in the ground, got cheated by a thief, and nearly turned himself into a kitchen cat.
Moral of the Story
Laziness and foolishness do not harm only one person. They bring trouble, shame, and suffering to everyone around them.
👉 Enjoyed this story?
✔️ Share it
✔️ Comment your favorite scene
✔️ Read more below
👉 Explore More:
-
Funny Village Stories
-
Ghost Stories
-
Pupu Tomba Stories