{"id":572,"date":"2021-03-14T10:09:57","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T04:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/?p=572"},"modified":"2021-03-14T10:09:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T04:39:57","slug":"pretty-image-was-slow-poison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/2021\/03\/14\/pretty-image-was-slow-poison\/","title":{"rendered":"Pretty Image Was Slow Poison"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the city of Eleph, there lived a famous painter whose name was Ismail. He could do wonders with his brush. Every wall he decorated, every house he painted and every colour he used was a reflection of his talent.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Every family in Eleph wanted him to paint their house. He was much in demand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Picture by: The TOAD<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ismail had an assistant, <\/span><\/span>Afan<\/span><\/span>, who was not as good as him. <\/span><\/span>Afan <\/span><\/span>worked with Ismail on all his assignments and got paid handsomely. But he was jealous of Ismail\u2019s fame.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When <\/span><\/span>Afan <\/span><\/span>could stand it no more, he tried to harm Ismail, believing he would inherit all his fame. But his desperate attempts to remove Ismail failed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Afan <\/span><\/span>then came to know of a tantric known for his black magic. He told the tantric that he wanted to remove Ismail and be as famous as him. The tantric gave him a vial containing some liquid.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMix this in the paint which Ismail uses,\u201d the tantric told <\/span><\/span>Afan<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Picture by: The TOAD<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When <\/span><\/span>Afan <\/span><\/span>went to work with Ismail the next day, he quickly mixed the liquid from the vial into the paint.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As Ismail painted with the colour containing tantric\u2019s liquid, the stroke of his brush created an image on the wall. The image came to life and started talking.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know you. I also know that you are famous,\u201d the image told Ismail. \u201cIf you let me do your work, I will make you more famous.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ismail was happy to hear words of praise from the image. He stopped painting and relaxed, while the image painted the walls with beautiful colours.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When the owner of the house saw Ismail\u2019s work, he was mesmeri<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>ed by its beauty. He heaped more praise on Ismail.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This made <\/span><\/span>Afan <\/span><\/span>angr<\/span><\/span>ier and more <\/span><\/span>jealous. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He rushed to the tantric. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told you to get rid of Ismail. But you made him more famous,\u201d he told the tantric. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The tantric smiled.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHave patience. This praise is a slow poison which will kill him,\u201d he told <\/span><\/span>Afan<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Weeks passed. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The image kept painting one house after the other. Ismail would just relax. With time, Ismail became lazy. He forgot how to paint. He forgot how to even hold a brush.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly one day, the image vanished. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ismail was perplexed. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t know what to do. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He picked up his brush to finish the painting, but he was no longer able to do so. His laziness had consumed his talent.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When the owner of the house came to see his work, he was heartbroken. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not what I paid you for. You are not even one bit of your fame. Get out of my house,\u201d he told Ismail, while <\/span><\/span>Afan <\/span><\/span>happily watched tantric\u2019s trick tak<\/span><\/span>ing <\/span><\/span>effect.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ismail messed up more assignments. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, people of Eleph knew Ismail for his poor work. <\/span><\/span>Soon, his <\/span><\/span>name was forgotten. There was no work for him. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Heartbroken and depressed, Ismail decided to leave the city and <\/span><\/span>he <\/span><\/span>never returned.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

In the city of Eleph, there lived a famous painter whose name was Ismail. He could do wonders with his brush. Every wall he decorated, every house he painted and every colour he used was a reflection of his talent. Every family in Eleph wanted him to paint their house. He was much in demand.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,98,97,11,8,96,95],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-children-stories","tag-ismail-afan","tag-jealousy","tag-kashmir","tag-kids-stories","tag-laziness","tag-slow-poison","enable-dropcap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572"}],"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=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}