The Gift of Insults
This is a great bedtime story for kids with moral which has been adapted from the Zen Story. Once upon a time, in a village near Tokyo, lived an old samurai. This samurai had never lost a single battle in his life. Even in his youth, he never lost a single fight he fought. He could defeat any challenger. This samurai’s praise spread far and wide. Soon, many students came to him. And started studying under him. The students wanted to learn the art their master possessed.
One day, a young warrior came to their village. Now, this young warrior had heard tales about the old samurai. He wished to fight the old samurai and win. This young samurai too had not lost a single fight until now. He wanted to make a name for himself after defeating the old samurai. Also, read The Other Side.
Now, there was a trick to winning. And because of it, the young samurai had never lost a single battle. The young samurai never took the first step. He let the opponents take the first step. Through that, the young samurai knew where the opponents’ weakness lay. And then, he used that to his advantage.
He knew that the old samurai must have a weakness, too. So he looked for the old samurai. After finally finding him, the young samurai challenged the old samurai. Despite his students’ concerns, the old master accepted the challenge. As the two began the battle, the young samurai began throwing insults at the old samurai. The young samurai hoped to anger the old samurai.
But the old samurai kept quiet and did not say a word. Then the young samurai threw dirt and spit on the old samurai. But even then, the old samurai kept his composure. This continued for a while, and it wasn’t long before the young samurai gave up and left. The students were concerned about their master and asked why did the insults not hurt him?
The wise master smiled and said, “When you do not accept a gift from somebody, then who does the gift belong to?” You may also like to read, Beauty In Imperfection.