A TALE OF GOOD ACTIONS VERSUS EVIL (Main Characters)
1. A housewife who loves to make chapati
2. A poor man – a hunchback – a man with a grotesque bump on his back. A man who can’t stand up straight and looks all hunched over. Not a pleasant sight.
3. A son who was no longer around.
SETTING
A land far away in time and distance. Somewhere in the Indian sub-continent. Chapati is an Indian flatbread also known as roti. This unleavened flatbread is a staple in the Indian subcontinent and also in Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore). It is made of wheat flour, salt and water.
HAPPY HOUSEWIFE
A generous housewife made chapati for her family and always made an extra one for a famished passerby. This one was placed on the windowsill for someone to take it.
DAILY DINNER
Every day a hunchback would take the chapati but never said thanks.
NO THANKS
Instead of saying thanks and expressing gratefulness, the hunchback uttered a phrase:
Evil you do never leaves you,
The good you do comes back to you!
DAY AFTER DAY
Every day – the scene was played out: Happy Housewife would make chapati for her family plus one extra – which was taken by our hungry hunchback. Every day he would repeat:
Evil you do never leaves you,
The good you do comes back to you!
IRRITATION
Our happy housewife wondered – not one word of gratitude! Every time this hungry hunchback just repeated out loud:
Evil you do never leaves you,
The good you do comes back to you!
MYSTERIOUS MYSTERY
What on earth does this mean? Now our happy housewife was unhappy – I must get rid of him!
POISONOUS POISON
Evil crossed her mind and she added poison to the chapati that was intended for him. Just as she was about to put the chapati on the windowsill, her hand started to tremble and she had second thoughts.
INTO THE FIRE
“What am I doing?” She tossed the chapati into the fire, and decided to prepare another for the passerby. Today was no exception and the hunchback took the chapati, and as he did he muttered:
Evil you do never leaves you,
The good you do comes back to you!
IGNORANCE IS BLISS
The hunchback took off with the chapati in hand, blissfully unaware of the turmoil raging in the mind of the housewife.
THE POWER OF A PRAYING MOTHER
Every day, as the housewife placed the chapati on the windowsill, she offered a prayer for her son who was far away – he had travelled to a land far away to seek his fortune. She always prayed for his safe return.
LONG LOST SON
For many months, she had had no news of her son. That evening there was a knock on the door. Her son had returned. She was so surprised and could hardly recognize him. Now he was thin and lean, and his garments were torn and tattered. He was famished and weak from lack of good food.
MIRACLES HAPPEN
It is a miracle I am here! Just a mile away I collapsed because I was so hungry. I would have died but for a hunchback who gave me a whole chapati. As he gave it to me he said – this is what I eat every day. Today I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than mine.
THE REALIZATION
The housewife’s face turned pale. She needed the support of the door to remain standing. She remembered that very day she had made the poisoned chapati. Had the hunchback taken that chapati her son would be dead now. It was then she realized what these words meant:
Evil you do never leaves you,
The good you do comes back to you!
THE MORAL OF THE STORY
Do good and never stop doing good even if it seems that it is not appreciated at the time.
Source: http://www.lessonsoftheday.com/2012/03/wonderful-touching-story.html
An I CAN READ English specialist with over 20 years teaching experience, I have worked in the British Council and Linguaphone, well-known language institutions. I am a London-trained lawyer and have been the public affairs officer at the British High Commission, Singapore, as well as an editor in an international book publishing house and a national magazine. In 2006, I was appointed as an Ambassador of Peace (Universal Peace Federation and Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace). I am also co-author of two law books: English Legal System and Company Law, published by Blackstone, Oxford University Press. For enquiries about I CAN READ classes, email susanmckenzie2003@yahoo.co.uk. FOR DAILY BLESSINGS: www.abetoday.com
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