{"id":489,"date":"2020-11-08T14:47:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T09:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/?p=489"},"modified":"2020-11-08T15:17:25","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T09:47:25","slug":"man-loses-gift-to-greed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/2020\/11\/08\/man-loses-gift-to-greed\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Loses Gift To Greed"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the winter of 2003, it was snowing heavily in the plains of Elefh.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Musa, a young man, was walking down the street as it snowed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Illustration Asloub Tariq<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Along the way, he saw an old woman who had kept a sack containing food by her side.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The sack was too heavy for her to carry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet me carry it for you,\u201d Musa told the woman.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She smiled at him as he lifted the sack. They walked through the snow and the woman gingerly followed Musa, making sure she did not slip.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The old woman guided Musa to her home, which was not so far. He placed the sack at the door of her house and left.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d said the woman.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Illustration Neha Kumari<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two days later when Musa walked through the same street, he saw the sack at the same spot but he did not find the woman.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He picked up the sack and carried it to the woman’s house once again. As he arrived at the door, he knocked.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCome in,\u201d said the woman.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Musa went into the house. There the old woman was lying on her bed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI found your sack. Here it is,\u201d he told the woman.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you come to get it?\u201d he asked the woman.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI am sick. I could not go out of the house to fetch it.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Musa then placed the sack on a shelf and turned to leave.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you again,\u201d said the woman. \u201cYou are a kind man. Will you accept a gift from me?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The woman then took out a notebook and a pencil from under her pillow and gave it to Musa.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnything you draw on this notebook with this pencil will become real, but only until it is meant for good or to help others,\u201d she told Musa.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, you must leave.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To test the gift, Musa drew a cup of water to feed a pigeon. The picture immediately came to life.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Musa understood the value of the gift.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Seasons passed but Musa did not see the woman or her sack. He kept using the gift for good.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Summer passed and then came autumn. Musa had to travel to a far-off village for work. There he met a rich landlord, who lived in a mansion bigger than any Musa had ever seen. He had horses, horsecarts, housekeepers and helpers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Outside the mansion, he saw a hungry dog.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing the riches which the landlord enjoyed, Musa ignored the dog and felt a desire to acquire wealth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He drew on his notebook a house bigger than the mansion, horses, horsecarts and a heap of gold coins.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As always, his drawing sprung to life and he had all that he had desired.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Musa rushed forward to step into his mansion. But as soon as his feet touched its surface, everything he had drawn disappeared, reminding him of the woman\u2019s word.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sad, Musa went back to see the woman. As he reached her house, he saw the woman standing by the window, smiling.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know what has happened,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you were kind, you earned the gift. When you gave up your kindness to become someone else, you lost the gift.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, you may leave.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Musa understood what he had lost. He could not dare to ask any questions. Shamefaced, he quietly left the place.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the winter of 2003, it was snowing heavily in the plains of Elefh. Musa, a young man, was walking down the street as it snowed. Along the way, he saw an old woman who had kept a sack containing food by her side. The sack was too heavy for her to carry. \u201cLet me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,9,50,12,11,8,37,49],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-amusing","tag-children-stories","tag-greed","tag-inspiring-tales","tag-kashmir","tag-kids-stories","tag-kindness-story","tag-old-woman-and-man","enable-dropcap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}