In plain words
In this way only after a test for each stage is he able to rise higher. In the same way, here too Dharmarāja had a test. One day, as they were going through the forest, Dharmaja grew thirsty. He asked his younger brothers to see whether there was a pond nearby and bring him a little water to drink. Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva went to the pond in turn, one after another, and did not come back. There a yakṣa put a question to them. He told them to answer a question first and only then go down into the pond. But none of them could answer the yakṣa's question. ‘All this time, and my brothers have not come!’ thought Dharmaja, and he went to the pond looking for them. There a yakṣa: ‘Dharmaja! None of your brothers could answer my question. They have fallen senseless. You at least, give the right answer to my question and then quench your thirst,’ he said. What was the question? A very small one: ‘What creature lives with its eyes open in sleep and with its eyes open in waking too?’ Dharmaja burst out laughing. ‘It is the fish,’ he said. Delighted that Dharmaja had so subtle an intelligence, the yakṣa said, ‘Whichever of these brothers you ask for, I will bring him back to life.’ Dharmaja thought it over. Arjuna is very much needed in the great Bhārata war. Bhīma too is very much needed. But Nakula and Sahadeva are not so needed. Even so, to keep the word he had given his stepmother, he told him to bring Sahadeva back to life. Then the yakṣa: ‘Dharmaja! I greatly admire your gratitude. You did not ask for the lives of your own mother's children. You ask for your stepmother's children. What great breadth of mind! I will surely bring him back to life,’ he said, and, admiring Dharmaja's broad feeling and that gratitude, he brought all of Dharmaja's brothers back to life. In this way, when we cultivate the feeling of gratitude, we receive four good fruits for every one.