A woman baked chapatti (roti) for members of
her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra
chapatti on the window sill, for whosoever would take it away. Every
day, a hunchback came and took away the chapatti. Instead of expressing
gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: “The
evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” This
went on, day after day. Every day, the hunchback came, picked up the
chapatti and uttered the words:
“The evil you do, remains with you: The
good you do, comes back to you!” The woman felt irritated. “Not a word
of gratitude,” she said to herself… “Everyday this hunchback utters
this jingle! What does he mean?” One day, exasperated, she decided to do
away with him. “I shall get rid of this hunchback,” she said. And what
did she do? She added poison to the chapatti she prepared for him!
As she was about to keep it on the window
sill, her hands trembled. “What is this I am doing?” she said.
Immediately, she threw the chapatti into the fire, prepared another one
and kept it on the window sill. As usual, the hunchback came, picked up
the chapatti and muttered the words: “The evil you do, remains with you:
The good you do, comes back to you!”
The hunchback proceeded on his way,
blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman. Every
day, as the woman placed the chapatti on the window sill, she offered a
prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune.
For many months, she had no news of him.. She prayed for his safe
return.
That evening, there was a knock on the
door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in
the doorway. He had grown thin and lean. His garments were tattered and
torn. He was hungry, starved and weak. As he saw his mother, he said,
“Mom, it’s a miracle I’m here. While I was but a mile away, I was so
famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old
hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food, and he was
kind enough to give me a whole chapatti. As he gave it to me, he said,
“This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your
need is greater than mine!”
” As the mother heard those words, her
face turned pale. She leaned against the door for support. She
remembered the poisoned chapatti that she had made that morning. Had she
not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and
he would have lost his life!
It was then that she realized the
significance of the words: “The evil you do remains with you: The good
you do, comes back to you!” Do good and Don’t ever stop doing good,
even if it is not appreciated at that time. If you like this, share it
with others and I bet so many lives would be touched
No comments:
Post a Comment