KIDS' ORG
Long, long ago there lived a poor fellow. He lived all alone. He had no relatives or any one to call in his home. He had to beg for his living. Every morning he used to go round the village and beg for alms. The villagers gave him flour, rice, salt, oil as alms everyday. He would keep aside a little flour he got in a pot and used the rest of it. In this manner he collected a plentiful of flour. He was very happy. He hung the pot near his bed and lay down gazing at the pot.
One night, while gazing at the pot of flour, he began to dream: “I wish I were rich, then I would not beg from door to door. There is a lot of flour in the pot,” he said to himself, “and it will last for some days. But suppose there was a famine then I could sell it for a very good price, probably one hundred rupees. Then I shall take the hundred rupees and buy two fat she-goats. I shall feed them with fresh grass and leaves. They shall soon have young ones and these young ones will grow up and have young ones of their own. In this manner I shall soon have a flock of goats. I shall go to the market and sell them. Then with that money I shall buy a cow. The cow shall have calves. The claves will grow up and become cows. They shall have more claves. I shall sell the cows and buy a buffalo. The buffalo too shall have young ones and soon there shall be a lot of buffaloes. There will be a lot of milk in the house. I shall make curd, butter from the milk. I shall go and sell milk, milk products and sweets in the market. Then I shall buy a shop in the market and keep the milk products and sweets to sell in my shop. Then I shall have a big house of my own. The house shall have big lawns and a garden. I shall have many servants. I shall soon be very rich. A rich trader shall come to me and request me to marry his beautiful daughter. Then I shall have a lovely son. After some months my son shall start crawling. He will crawl and come to me. I shall be tired after the day’s hard work. So I shall call out to my wife. She will be busy in the kitchen. So, I shall call out again. She will come running, but now I shall be red with anger and I shall beat her and kick her hard!”
Thinking that he was kicking his wife, he kicked the pot of flour. Crash! The pot came down and smashed into hundred pieces. The flour spilled all over the poor fellow and he was white all over. He looked around him and there was no big house, no wife and no child. But alas! the flour of his pot which would have lasted for a few more days was all over him and on the ground. This was the result of his day dreaming.
(Moral: Never build castles in the air. They are surely going to crumble).
The Philosopher and the Boatman
A learned philosopher was crossing a river in a boat. In a passion of ego, he asked the boatman whether he had any knowledge of History, to which the poor boatman replied negatively. He then asked the boatman whether he had any knowledge of Geography; to this question the boatman’s reply was again negative. At this stage, he asked the boatman whether he had any knowledge of Mathematics or Science; the boatman’s reply was again the same. He however, added, “Babuji, I am an illiterate person. Why are you asking me such questions?”At this the philosopher remarked in vanity, “Oh my dear boatman! You have wasted all your life.”Just when they were conversing some dark clouds burst upon the sky from nowhere and soon it began to rain heavily, with strong winds blowing. The river became turbulent and the boatman was struggling hard to control the boat, but it soon became apparent that it was going to capsize.
He now asked the philosopher whether he knew swimming. The philosopher’s reply was negative. Then the boatman jumped out of the boat, saying, “Babuji, as you do not know swimming, your life is wasted.” The boatman swam to the shore and the vain philosopher died in a watery grave, because he did not know how to swim.
(Moral: You should never underestimate others).
