The Wisest Lesson

It's a long time ago. A landowner lived in a small village. He owned a lot of land and wealth, but he was very miserly. The villagers disliked him because of his miserliness.

The landowner employed laborers to work on his fields. He made them do all the hard work—plowing, sowing, watering, and harvesting. But in return, he only gave them enough food to keep them from starving. He paid nothing in the name of wages.

When the harvest was complete, he would stop feeding the laborers. Because of this, any laborer who came to work for him would leave within a few days. His miserliness was widely discussed in the village.

Gradually, the situation became such that no laborer was willing to work for him. Whenever the landlord tried to hire someone, they would demand double the wages. This caused the landlord great distress.

In the same village lived a very intelligent and wise boy named Shyam. When he heard about the landlord's miserliness and the cruelty he inflicted on the laborers, he decided to teach him a lesson.

One day, Shyam and a friend approached the landlord. The landlord asked them to sit down and asked the reason for their visit.

Shyam said, "Master, I want to work in your fields."

The landlord looked at him carefully and said, "But you'll have to work the entire year. You won't run away midway, will you?"

Shyam smiled and said, "First, tell me what you'll pay as wages."

The landlord said, "That will be decided based on your work. If you do good work, I'll give you twelve kilograms of rice a year, and if you don't, I'll only give you nine to ten kilograms. You'll also get clothes to wear."

Shyam thought for a while and said, "Okay, sir, but now listen to my condition. I know that you give laborers less food and less wages, which is why they leave and run away." 

Then he said, "You will give me one paddy seed a year, which I will sow in the lowlands, and one wheat seed, which I will plant in the highlands. You will give me clothes to wear and a plate of rice to eat every day. I will not ask for more than one plate."

Shyam then said, "If I don't work hard, you can cut off my hand. And if you work against the condition, I will cut off your hand. Tell me, is it okay?"

The landlord found this condition very easy. He felt that he would not lose anything, so he immediately accepted.

Shyam started working the very next day. He was very hardworking and worked wholeheartedly.

When it was time for dinner, Shyam brought a huge banana leaf to eat. As soon as the landlord saw the large leaf, he turned red with anger.

He said, "You will eat rice on a banana leaf? What kind of joke is this?"

Shyam laughed and said, "Master, the condition was that I would get a plate of rice."

The landlord obliged. Now every day Shyam ate rice in the same large banana leaf.

The cook, perplexed, said to the landlord, "Master, this is a very strange man. He eats rice as much as ten men alone."

The landlord said, "But he also does the work of ten men."

Shyam was really hardworking. He sowed a paddy seed in the low-lying land and a wheat seed in the high-lying land. After some time, the plants produced many grains. He preserved those grains as seed.

The next year, he sowed those seeds again. In this way, the seeds grew every year, and the crop also increased.

This continued for six years. Gradually, Shyam came into possession of all the landlord's land. Rice was flourishing on the low-lying land, and wheat on the high-lying land.

Now the landlord was worried.  He went to the village council with a complaint.

The council called Shyam and said, "Shyam, forgive this landlord. He has already received a severe punishment for his mistake."

Shyam said, "He has tortured the poor laborers and hasn't even given them enough food. He must be punished."

But after the council explained, Shyam felt pity. He said, "Okay, if he cuts off his hand, I'll return the land to him."

The landlord was frightened and said, "No, I won't cut off my hand."

Shyam felt pity for him. He returned half the land to the landlord.

After that day, the landlord completely changed. Now he treated the laborers well, gave them full meals, and paid them fair wages.

The villagers began to admire Shyam's wisdom and fairness.

Read more : -  The Hidden Ocean