A fruit seller's call reached little Krishna. He heard her inviting people to buy her fruit. A heap of grain lay nearby. He filled His small cupped hands and went towards her.
As He hurried, grain slipped between His hands. He did not notice how much had fallen. He moved His hands over the seller's leaf container of fruit. The child had come to make His exchange.
The woman smiled at Him. His smiling face and sweet manner softened her heart. She placed fruit in His eager hands. She also showed Him how to hold His hands together to receive it.
She filled those little hands completely. So absorbed was she that she did not consider whether her own container had become empty. Krishna disappeared inside the house. Her leaf container was now full of jewels.
The seller did not notice the jewels at first. She did not even attend to the weight she carried. Absorbed in Krishna's sweetness, she went home. There she discovered the precious stones.
Yet the jewels did not end her longing. Away from the beauty of His face, she felt as though she had lost a great treasure. Jīva Gosvāmī describes her absorption in Krishna as making her forget the whole world.
Meanwhile Krishna carried His fruit carefully to His mother. He approached as joyfully as someone who had found a treasure. He gathered all the fruit into the end of her garment. Yashoda asked where He had obtained it.
In His childish, imperfect speech, He explained the exchange. The fruit seller had accepted grain as payment and kindly given Him the fruit. His mother cautioned Him against trusting everyone as He trusted the people of His own house. The little boy did not understand what such distrust meant.
Krishna then asked His mother to distribute the fruit among the people. Yashoda began sharing it with delighted hands. But she could not come to the end of it. For several days she remained amazed. Those who tasted the fruit did not forget its wonder.