KILL THE COW

 

A family lived on a small plot of land at the outskirts of a remote village. The family owned one cow and they lived totally off its milk. If the cow produce little milk, they eat little, if much, they eat much.

A traveler tired after a long day’s journey arrived at the village. He had no place to stay and he’s hungry. But this family invites him in and shares their little food with him.

He feels so thankful and grateful to this family for their kind gesture to a lonely and worn traveler. He was genuinely grateful and thought, “What can I do to show my appreciation to this family?”

As he was thinking about it, he walked down to the center of town. He sits on a bench and next to him sat a very famous wise man. He turns to the wise man and says, “Wise man, there’s a magnificent family that helped me today. They gave me their food. They shared with me their table. I want to return the favor.”

The wise man looks at him and said “Kill the cow.”

Shocked, the traveler looks at the wise man and said “How can I? It’s their only possession. I can’t do that.”

The traveler, on second thought, knowing the reputation of the wise man thought to himself “there must be something to this.” And just as he was about to live the town, he decided he’s going to do it.

So, late at night, he crept into the home of this family that so graciously helped him. He slaughtered the cow and heads off.

A year later, the traveler returned to the village, and immediately noticed something has changed. He noticed new shops and a thriving market. He saw a new hotel that provided beds and food to the travelers who came for the market.

He walked into the hotel, behind reception, he sees a young man standing tall, smiling and happy. He noticed this young man is the son of the family that helped him a year ago. He walked up to him and said “Young man, the town has changed. This hotel is new. What happened?”

The young man answered him, “Last year, our family lived off one cow. And one night the cow died. We woke up in the morning, we had nothing. We had to go out and do something to eat. We took some of the other things we owned and sold them in the market. People came and bought from us. We built a small place to serve food for the people that came for the market. And we also built an hotel for the people who come to the market and eat at the restaurant. And its thriving.”

“Life has changed for the better. I’m so glad our cow died.”