Moral Story 4

Diligence and Gratitude
Once upon a time, an important adviser to a certain king was on his way to a meeting with the king and
other advisers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dead mouse by the roadside. He said to those who
were with him. “Even from such small beginnings as this dead mouse, an energetic young fellow could build
a fortune. If he worked hard and used his intelligence, he could start a business and support a wife and
family.”
A passer-by heard the remark. He knew this was a famous adviser to the king, so he decided to follow his
words. He picked up the dead mouse by the tail and went off with it. As luck would have it, before he had
gone even a block, a shopkeeper stopped him. He said, “My cat has been pestering me all morning. I’ll give
you two copper coins for that mouse.” So it was done.
With the two copper coins, he bought sweet cakes, and waited by the side of the road with them and some
water. As he expected, some people who picked flowers for making garlands were returning from work. Since
they were all hungry and thirsty, they agreed to buy sweet cakes and water for the price of a bunch of flowers
from each of them. In the evening, the man sold the flowers in the city. With some of the money he bought
more sweet cakes and returned the next day to sell to the flower pickers.
This went on for a while, until one day there was a terrible storm, with heavy rains and high winds. While
walking by the king’s pleasure garden, he saw that many branches had been blown off the trees and were
lying all around. So he offered to the king’s gardener that he would clear it all away for him, if he could keep
the branches. The lazy gardener quickly agreed.
The man found some children playing in a park across the street. They were glad to collect all the branches
and brush at the entrance to the pleasure garden, for the price of just one sweet cake for each child. Along
came the king’s potter, who was always on the lookout for firewood for his glazing oven. When he saw the
piles of wood the children had just collected, he paid the man a handsome price for it. He even threw into the
bargain some of his pots.
With his profits from selling the flowers and the firewood, the man opened up a refreshment shop. One day all
the local grass mowers, who were on their way into town, stopped in his shop. He gave them free sweet
cakes and drinks. They were surprised at his generosity and asked, “What can we do for you?” He said
there was nothing for them to do now, but he would let them know in the future. A week later, he heard that
a horse dealer was coming to the city with 500 horses to sell. So he got in touch with the grass mowers
and told each of them to give him a bundle of grass. He told them not to sell any grass to the horse dealer
until he had sold his. In this way he got a very good price.
Time passed until one day, in his refreshment shop, some customers told him that a new ship from a foreign
country had just anchored in the port. He saw this to be the opportunity he had been waiting for. He
thought and thought until he came up with a good business plan. First, he went to a jeweler friend of his and
paid a low price for a very valuable gold ring, with a beautiful red ruby in it. He knew that the foreign ship was
from a country that had no rubies of its own, where gold too was expensive. So he gave the wonderful ring to
the captain of the ship as an advance on his commission. To earn this commission, the captain agreed to
send all his passengers to him as a broker. He would then lead them to the best shops in the city. In turn, the
man got the merchants to pay him a commission for sending customers to them.
Acting as a middle man in this way, after several ships came into port, the man became very rich. Being
pleased with his success, he also remembered that it had all started with the words of the king’s wise
adviser. So he decided to give him a gift of 100,000 gold coins. This was half his entire wealth. After making
the proper arrangements, he met with the king’s adviser and gave him the gift, along with his humble thanks.
The adviser was amazed, and he asked, “How did you earn so much wealth to afford such a generous gift?”
The man told him it had all started with the adviser’s own words not so long ago. They had led him to a dead
mouse, a hungry cat, sweet cakes, bunches of flowers, storm damaged tree branches, children in the park,
the king’s potter, a refreshment shop, grass for 500 horses, a golden ruby ring, good business contacts, and
finally a large fortune.
Hearing all this, the royal adviser thought to himself, “It would not be good to lose the talents of such an
energetic man. I too have much wealth, as well as my beloved only daughter. As this man is single, he
deserves to marry her. Then he can inherit my wealth in addition to his own, and my daughter will be well
cared for.” This all came to pass, and after the wise adviser died, the one who had followed his advice
became the richest man in the city. The king appointed him to the adviser’s position. Throughout his
remaining life, he generously gave his money for the happiness and well-being of many people.
Moral - With energy and ability, great wealth comes even from small beginnings

Moral Story 4

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Diligence and Gratitude

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