Our story begins a long time ago with the death of a merchant. By a cruel twist of fate, his wife was still pregnant with their child at the time. To make matters worse, all her wealth is taken away by her wicked brothers. The hapless woman takes refuge in the house of Kumaradatta – her dead husband’s friend – where, after delivering a healthy boy named Gunadhya, she begins to make a living by doing menial work.
The poor woman persuades a teacher to educate Gunadhya in writing and mathematics. When the time comes, she tells her son to visit Vishakhila, a rich merchant who lived in the city and was known to lend a helping hand to deserving young men from good families to start their own businesses.
Gunadhya finds Vishakhila scolding a young man for wasting money and, pointing to a dead mouse on the floor, saying, in a manner of speaking, that a clever man would be able to use even that to increase his wealth. Gunadhya takes up the dead-mouse challenge literally, leaving behind an incredulous Vishakhila rolling in laughter.
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