28. The Farmer
and the Farm-hand
Once a farmer constantly
advertised to hire hands for his land, along the seacoast. Most people dreaded
the awful storms that raged across the ocean and denied to work on farms. After
a steady stream of refusals the farmer met a short thin man, during the
interview of the applicants. The farmer asked, "Are you a good
farm-hand?" Then the man only replied, "I can sleep when the wind
blows." Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help,
hired him. The farmer felt satisfied with the man, working from dawn to dusk.
One night, hearing a loud howled wind, the farmer jumped from bed, grabbed a
lantern and rushed to wake the farm-hand up to tie things down before they blew
away. But he didn't move. Acrimoniously, the farmer himself went to tie things.
But he was amazed to see everything, in its appropriate position. The farmer then
understood the words said by the farm-hand and confidently went to sleep.
Moral: Work done in advance
reaps good results.
TAGS: language development in children, Inspirational Moral Stories, very short stories with morals, stories to read for kids.