The Importance of Hard Work

Palampur was a small village near Shimla. People of this village were ordinary workers and

earned very little for their livelihood. There

was a railway station near the village, where a small market developed in due course of time.
Ramlal was a poor labourer of this village and used to work in the market on daily wages.
This was the only source of income for Ramlal and he had many liabilities to carry –
children's education, food, clothes, etc. He had four children, but Bhola was the most
notorious child of all. He had no interest in studies. He used to make several excuses for not
going to the school. Not only this, he preferred to eat chocolate, toffee and junk foods instead
of homemade food. Every day he used to take money from his father giving one pretence or
another and spend recklessly.

Ramlal was very much worried for his son Bhola who had such bad habits. One day, he took
a strict decision to reform his son. He vowed not to give him any money from that day
onwards.

The words of his father made Bhola sad. He came to the conclusion that the day was not good
for him. In case he did not earn, he would not get the food in the evening.

He thought, ‘Where should I go? I must ask

my mother for fifty rupees and this way today's problem would be solved.' So, he went to his
mother and narrated the whole incident to her. The mother gave him fifty rupees. He ran to
his father and gave him the money.

Ramlal understood that his son had not earned the money but had taken it from someone.
Therefore, he asked his son to throw the note into a well. Bhola threw the money into the
well.

Ramlal complained to him, "I had asked you to earn money on your own. Why did you take it
from your mother? Go again and earn this amount yourself. In case you fail to earn fifty
rupees, you will not get the food in the evening. Go and do just as I have told you."

In spite of this, Bhola did not take the words of his father seriously. He again went to his
mother, told her everything and asked her for fifty rupees. But this time, his mother refused.
Then he went to his sister, narrated the whole story to her and asked for money. She took pity
on her brother and gave him fifty rupees. He was very happy and went to his father with
those rupees. But his father again asked him to throw the note into the well. He had to throw
this money into the well.

Ramlal commanded his son again, "Go and earn money yourself." The bewildered son again
went to his mother for money, but she refused. Then he went to his sister, but she also
refused.

Bhola came out of the house. He was very sad and lost all hope. He sat on the road-side and
started weeping. At this moment, a passerby asked him, "Why are you crying?" Bhola
replied, "I need fifty rupees urgently. My father has told me to earn fifty rupees today. Failing
this he will not allow me to take the meal in the evening." "Right, you have to work and earn
money. Nobody will pay you without work. Why don't you go to the railway station and help
the passengers carry their luggage." Then the man gave his own bag to the boy to carry it to
the station and paid him twenty rupees. Encouraged by the job suggested by the stranger,
Bhola helped other passengers in carrying their luggage to the railway platform and earned
thirty rupees more by the evening. Now, he had fifty rupees in all. He quickly went home.

On reaching home, he handed those rupees to his father. But his father again asked him to
throw the money into the well.

"This time, Bhola did not throw the money away.

Instead he said to his father, "The money is not borrowed, but I've earned it through hard
labour. I will not throw it into the well. I worked at the railway station carrying loads on my
head. I did not hard labour so I cannot throw the money. I will rather keep it safe." Hearing
this, Ramlal patted his son with great affection. He further said, "I also earn money with hard
labour and the same is wasted by you on useless items. I hope now you have understood the
value of hard labour and money." He continued to say, "It is praiseworthy that you did not
lose hope and continued to make efforts to earn. Now you are supposed to study and get good
education to become a good citizen."

Bhola was very happy. His confidence increased and he said, "I will work hard in life and
never waste money. I will also try to become a good citizen."
Three Wishes
Once there lived a woodcutter with his wife. He used to cut wood in the forest and sold them
in the market. This was the only means of his livelihood.

One day, he went to cut wood in the forest. On the way, he was singing a song and enjoying
the nature and its beauty. There he saw a very big tree in front of him. He thought of cutting
the whole tree to get more wood. As the tree was very big, the wood obtained from it would
be enough for his whole life.

As the woodcutter picked up his axe to cut the tree, he heard a voice, "Please do not cut this
tree." The woodcutter stopped and looked here and there, but found none. He thought it to be
an illusion. He again picked his axe and aimed at the tree, but he heard the same words again,
"Please be kind to me. Do not cut this tree." The woodcutter again stopped and looked all
around. But he could not see anyone. He was quite perplexed. Then a fairy spoke from the
tree, "I am a fairy and live in this tree. During the winter, I live in the trunk and for rest of the
year I live on its branches. If you cut this tree, I will be homeless, the winter is approaching
fast and I will die of cold. Do not destroy my home. I will fulfill your three desires instead."

The woodcutter was very happy. Now he could be rich without doing any work. He accepted
the fairy’s offer and ran to his house to tell his wife about this. His wife was waiting for him
as usual. She was surprised to see the woodcutter back so early and said, "Why did you so
early today? You are looking very happy. What is the matter? Please let me know."

The woodcutter replied, "I got a big treasure today. Though it is yet to come. I will get the
treasure soon." And he started dancing. His wife could not understand anything and said,
"What is the matter? Tell me clearly. I cannot hold my patience anymore."

The woodcutter narrated the whole incident to his wife. His wife jumped out of joy. The
woodcutter said, "I am hungry. Give me something to eat." His wife said, "Since you used to
come late, I have not prepared anything till now. Wait, I will just prepare something for you."
The woodcutter said, "No, do not cook anything. I can fulfill any three desires. Now as the
first one, I want sweets and hot pudding." As soon as he uttered these words, a plate of hot
pudding came before him. He ate to his satisfaction and the plate continued to fill again and
again. Then he asked his wife also to eat the tasty pudding. But she was very angry and said,
"You have wasted one boon, and now I wish that the pudding should be pasted on your
nose!" The pudding immediately stuck to his nose. The woodcutter got annoyed and said,
"Oh, what a fool you are! What have you done?" He tried to clear the pudding from his nose,
but the pudding remained stuck. He scolded his wife and said, "You have wasted the second
boon and we can ask for lots of money." The woodcutter got irritated and said, "Oh! You are
a big fool. There is hot pudding stuck to my nose and you are asking for money! I wish that
the pudding of my nose should vanish immediately!" The pudding vanished. The woodcutter
heaved a sigh of relief.

This way, the woodcutter and his wife lost the golden opportunity of becoming rich. Their
luck had knocked at their door, but they failed to avail the opportunity and remained poor
was as before.
WATER IN DESERT
Once, a child was born in a Vaishya family, who was named Bodhisatva. The family had a
flourishing business. When Bodhisatva grew up he began to help in the family business.
Sometimes he had to go to other towns for business.

Once, Bodhisatva proceeded on a business trip along with other five hundred businessmen.
They all had their bullock carts. The leader cart was leading in front and others were
following him.

Slowly, the caravan reached the desert. Everywhere nothing except sandy landscape could be
sighted. They all felt very tired after travelling such a long distance in the desert. As the sun
was too hot it was difficult to move further.

Seeing all this, the chief of the caravan said, "Let us rest here for the day. We shall resume
our journey in the evening. Then the weather will be fairly cool."

All followed the instruction. They parked their bullock carts, gave fodder and water to the
bulls and went to take rest.

In the evening the chief of the caravan called out, "O men, get ready for the journey. They
city is not too far. We will reach in the morning."

All got ready and bullock carts made a long queue one after the other. To lessen the weight
on the bullock carts. They emptied the water vessel with the hope that they would fill the
vessels with fresh water in the city. They were hopeful that there would be no desert further.

The caravan of bullock carts proceeded ahead. The carts were closely following one another.
The chief was leading the caravan to the city.

They continued with their journey in the dark throughout the night without even realizing
whether it was right direction or not.

At the dawn, realized that they had lost the path. They desperately decided to return to the

same spot.
The sun was getting hotter as the caravan was searching for the place. Finally, they reached
the same spot where they were the day before. They had already thrown the water they had
with them. Now feeling too thirsty they desperately looked for water which was nowhere to
be seen. The carts stopped in a circle. They were dying for water.

Seeing no other way, Bodhisatva decided to search water in the desert. He was so determined
that he wanted to dig a well for water. But his search went in vain. Then he began to look for
a suitable spot where water could be found on digging. He moved further and found some
cactus. It occurred to him that it was a suitable spot for digging, as cactus wouldn’t grow
without underground water. Then, he asked a cart driver, "Friend, dig over here. Water is
likely to be found at this spot."

He started digging. After digging deep his spade struck a rock! He stopped digging and cried
out, "There is a rock!"

Bodhisatva heard the digger and descended in the pit. Seeing the rock he went closer to it.
Suddenly his eyes shone. He could hear a sound of water beneath the rock.

He came out of the pit and said to his friends, "If we do nothing, we are sure to die of thirst. I
have heard water running under the rock. Let us try to break the rock at any cost. We will
surely get water. We must have will power and courage. Let us try again with confidence."
But the people were too tired and thirsty to muster courage to come forward to make further
efforts. Bodhisatva was disappointed to see that none showed courage to come forward for
digging.

Suddenly, a youth stood up picked up the spade and descended down the pit. Seeing the

youth Bodhisatva was hopeful for water.

The youth started hitting the rock with all his might and the broken and there came up a
fountain of cold, sweet water. Seeing this, the people rushed towards the fountain and began
to dance joyfully. They quenched their thirst. Bulls were also given water. All thanked
Bodhisatva and proceeded on their journey.

Soon they reached the city. Thus, Bodhisatva with his determination and courage could save
the lives of his companions. Moreover, that fountain of water became a place for the travelers
to quench their thirst and rest. The will power and courage are key to success.