SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

   We must progress by steps. We cannot reach our goal overnight. This requires making slow and steady efforts in achieving what we have set out to achieve in life. This is amply illustrated by the story of the hare and the tortoise.

   Tortoises are known to be slow. They take a lot of time to cover even a short distance. On the other hand, hares are known to be fast runners. They cover long distances in a very short time. They are confident of their speed.

   Once a hare challenged a tortoise to a race, knowingthat he was sure to win the race. He was fast and the tortoise was slow. They decided on a finishing point and at the appointed time they set off. The hare took giant strides and soon overtook the slow tortoise. On the way, he decided to rest for some time to allow the tortoise to keep pace with him. After he had rested for some time, he saw the tortoise approaching him. The hare ran fast and decided to rest at the next stop to wait for the slow tortoise.

   This happened number of times on their route. Somehow the hare slept longer than he had planned at the last stop and the tortoise overtook him. By the time he woke up, the tortoise had already reached the finishing line. The slow moving tortoise had own the race against the first running hare because he was slow and steady in marking process towards his goal, whereas the hare lost it because misplaced self-confidence.

Honesty Is The Best Policy

           Honesty always rewards. A dishonest person may appear to prosper for a short while, but finally it is the honest person who is rewarded. It is virtue that all of us must cultivate even though we may have to suffer in the beginning.

Once there was a poor woodcutter. He would go to the forest every morning, cut wood and sell it in the market at the end of the day. This was his only source of livelihood.

One day as he climbed up a tree to cut wood, his axe fell into the deep river below. He jumped into the river but he could not find his axe. Disappointed and dejected, he sat down on the bank of the river and started crying. The river Goddess took pity on him. She came out of the river holding a golden axe in her hand. “Is this axes yours?” she asked the poor woodcutter again. “No,” he replied. ”My axe was an ordinary one.”

The next time, the river goddess appeared with the real axe and asked the woodcutter, “Is this axes yours?” “Yes, yes,” he replied. “This is indeed my axe. Thank you for restoring it to me.” The river goddess was so pleased with the poor woodcutter’s honesty that she gifted all the three axes to him.

Another woodcutter came to know to this. But he was not honest. He went to the same spot in the forest and climbed up the same tree. Then he purposely dropped his old axe into the river, sat on the same spot and started crying loudly. The river goddess appeared with a golden axe in her hand. “Is this axes yours?” she asked him “Yes, Yes,” the dishonest woodcutter replied. “Not only this. I dropped silver and an iron axe into the river also? Could I please have all the three?” “No,” replied the river goddess. “Since you are dishonest, you will lose your own axe also.”

Saying this, the river goddess disappeared and the dishonest woodcutter sat there bemoaning the loss of his original axe. Dishonesty had lost him heavily, whereas the first woodcutter was rewarded for his honesty.