51. The Wise
Boy and the Merchant
Once a merchant with his
horse carrying two sacks of wheat was on his way to the market. Meanwhile, the
merchant got exhausted and decided to take a nap. When he woke up, he didn't
find his horse and started searching for it everywhere. On the way he met a
boy. He asked the boy about the horse. The boy asked, “Is the horse's left eye
blind, his right foot lame and is he carrying a load of wheat?” “Exactly. Where
have you kept my horse?” The boy said that he had not seen that. The merchant
angrily decided to take the boy to the village chief for punishment. The judge
asked, “If you had not seen the horse, how could you describe it?” The boy
replied that he guessed by seeing different, heavy and light tracks of the
horse, and the grass on the right side of the road was eaten but the grass on
the left was not. From these facts he understood that the horse was lame and
blind in one eye and the scattered seeds of wheat indicated a horse carrying a
load of wheat. The judge and the merchant understood his cleverness.
Moral: One should not be quick in judging people.
TAGS: language development in children, Inspirational Moral Stories, very short stories with morals, stories to read for kids.