Friday, October 16, 2009

Repaying Mother's Debt

And then there was a king who wanted to repay all his debts before he dies. Debts of even those who helped him in his childhood. If someone had shared lunch with him when he was small, he gave them a palace. Finally, he approached his mother and wanted to repay her debts too ... for all the love she had showered on him, for all the nights she was awake when he got fever, for all the lies she told to his father to save him from punishment, for all the wonderful food she cooked, for all ... you get the idea.

She smiled and told him that she would like the payment in kind. The king only had to sleep one night in a bed that was wet, soaking wet.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

So a bed was brought and water was poured on it to the mother's satisfaction. And the king went to sleep on it.

By midnight, he had learned his lesson.

He came out shivering and fell at his mother’s feet asking for forgiveness.

Mother's debt can never be repaid.



I heard this story from my uncle when I was small. No idea what the source is.

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1 comment:

grace said...

a pleasure to read one of these stories specially when the wonderful treasure of stories from the Panchatantra and Jataka are almost forgotten. A wonderful treasure of wisdom these mythological stories are!

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