One day, a little boy saw a bird sitting on the wall outside the window. He asked his father, "Baba, what is that sitting on the wall?"
The father smiled and said, "Beta, that’s a crow."
The child asked again, "Baba, what is that sitting on the wall?"
The father answered again, "Beta, that’s a crow."
The child asked for the third time, "Baba, what is that sitting on the wall?"
The father, still patient, replied, "Beta, that’s a crow."
The boy kept asking the same question, and the father kept answering patiently, even though it happened many times.
Years went by, and the boy grew up. The father became old and frail. One day, the old man asked his son, "Beta, what is that sitting on the wall?"
The son, now grown up, replied, "That’s a crow, Baba."
After some time, the old man asked again, "Beta, what is that sitting on the wall?"
The son said again, "That’s a crow, Baba."
A little while later, the father asked once more, "Beta, what is that sitting on the wall?"
This time, the son got annoyed and said, "Can’t you understand? I just told you it’s a crow!"
The father became sad and said, "When you were a child, you asked me the same question 100 times, and I was patient with you. But now that I am old, you scold me for asking only three times. Parents spend their lives taking care of their children, and when we grow old, we become a burden."
Moral: Always treat your parents with kindness and patience.
Source:
Narrated by Mustafa Abid's great grandmother. Recorded in Muzzafarabad as a part of Clicks and Culture, our collaboration with Beaconhouse School System.
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