Great Lesson for Our Children.

Let's tell this story during their bed time:

Once upon a time there lived a very wealthy and wise man named Abdullah. He had two sons. His oldest son was very hard-working and used to earn his living all by himself. He never asked his father for any money. The youngest son of Abdullah was a very lazy guy and was unwilling to work at all and used to spend all his time enjoying with friends. He used to spend his father’s money and lead a very luxurious life like a prince. Abdullah got too much worried about his youngest son’s situation and thought he badly needed to do something about it. So one day Abdullah called his youngest son and told him to go to the market and earn some money and put a condition that if he was unable to bring home any money he would not be allowed to have his dinner that night. Out of fear that his father would not allow him to eat his dinner, the youngest son went to the market, but didn’t find any work. He came home and went to his mother and told her about it. His mother could not see him sad so she gave him 20 pounds.

In the evening when Abdullah asked his youngest son to show what he had earned that day, the son quickly presented the 20 pounds note and told father that was his earnings of the day. Abdullah was a very wise man and from his experience he guessed that the money was given to him by his mother. So Abdullah told the boy to tear the note and throw it in the pool. The son did as he was instructed by his father.

The next day Abdullah sent his wife to her friend’s place and told his youngest son to go to the market and earn some money with the warning of being deprived of the night’s dinner. This time the son with a very sad face went to his eldest brother and told him his situation. His eldest brother was very kind and loved his brother very much so he took a 10 pound note from his pocket and handed to his brother.

In the evening when Abdullah asked his youngest son to show his earning, he promptly showed him the 10 pound note that his brother gave him. As Abdullah was a man of wisdom he suspected this time the son might have got the money from his brother so Abdullah told his son to throw the money in the pool. The son did just as his father told him to do.

The next day Abdullah sent his eldest son on a business trip and told his youngest son to go to market and earn some money. This time as there was no one at home who could help him the son went to a shop in the market and asked for some work. The shopkeeper told him to transfer goods from the van into the shop. The son could not refuse and by the time he finished with all the work he was sweating profusely. He was soaked in sweat from head to toe and his feet were trembling and he felt excess pain in his body.

The son returned home in the evening with 5 pounds in his hand. His first earning of his life. He showed the money to his father. Abdullah told his son to throw the money in the pool. The son was shocked and aghast and cried out, “O Father! How can you ask me to throw the money into the pool ? This is my hard-earned money. My entire body is aching and you are asking me to throw this money? ”

The father replied with a big smile, “Son, on previous two occasions you didn’t once hesitate to throw the money into the pool because it was not your money and you just didn’t care, but this time you got so horrified and couldn’t even imagine throwing your hard-earned money in the pool. That’s exactly how a person feels when he sees his fruits of labour being wasted.

The son realized how wrong he was and he learnt a great lesson and got to know the importance of hard-work and the value of money. He promised to his father and himself that he would never by lazy and earn money on his own so he could enjoy the fruits of his labour in the right way.