When the sage breathed, his breath fell on the goondas like poisonous gas

The two sons of a very wealthy man were complaining between themelves that their father was not settling their share of his property. Waiting for some time, they went to their father and asked him to give them their share. The father, disappointed with the behavior of his sons, prayed to Lord Siva. His sons were not inclined to believe in their father as they were afraid that he might donate all his wealth to Siva temple and annadhanam. But the rich man insisted that he would give them their share only when both of them became responsible persons and started earning on their own. One of the two sons was a drunkard while the other did not have any bad habits. When this son asked his father to give him his share, the man said that though he didn’t have any bad habits, he was not honest and was giving a major portion of the produce to his wife’s relatives without the knowledge of his father. Both the sons became very wild on their father’s refusal to give them their share and in their angry mood, they broke all the valuable things in the house. The rich man wept on seeing the atrocious behavior of his sons and prayed to Adiseshan and Perumal and sought the help of Lord Siva.

After two days, an aged sage came to him when he was performing his daily puja. When the rich man noticed some divinity in the eyes of the sage, he realized that he was a Siddha. He prostrated before the sage. When asked about his identity, the sage replied that he was a traveler and that he wanted to stay with the rich man for two days. The rich man was very happy to hear this and told him about his sons. The sage told him that he knew it already. Then, he went and sat on the mound at the door of the house, telling the rich man that all he wanted was only some cooked rice and nothing more. It was mid night. The two sons of the rich man came with some goondas (they didn’t know about the arrival of the sage). When they knocked at the door, the sage asked them who they were. Annoyed at this question, the sons raised their hands to hit the sage.