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Once upon a time, there lived in Samarkand a prince who had riches beyond all compare. His father, the king would generously hand him a handsome allowance every month in gold and silver coins. The prince would spend the money lavishly on himself and his friends entertaining them everyday with parties and food. Soon, he developed a circle of friends who practically lived on his income, and still his money showed no signs of decreasing. So, he made it a point to always ride on his magnificent steed to the centre of the city and throw gold and silver coins at the beggars and destitute people, who lived on charity.
The poor people would scramble to catch as many coins as they could. As a result, there were some who would gather three or four coins and weak and old would remain looking at them. Often, the occasion turned into a mad fight to catch coins tossed out by the prince. The prince would stop his horse at a safe distance, and would enjoy the scene, for it amused him a lot to see the beggars fighting over his money.
One day, the prince as usual decided to amuse himself at the expense of the beggars. It was winter season, and there was a heavy storm of snow in the city. No one was out of the doors of who could possibly help it. The prince was disappointed that he was not going to have his share of fun for that night as he had brought with him two bags, one filled with gold coins and the others with silver for the beggars.
Suddenly, he noticed a poor old woman sitting by the side of the street, thinly dressed and shivering with cold, but still hoping that some passer-by would take pity on her miserable state, and give her the money to buy the food for the night.
She was almost on the point of despair that she would have to go hungry for the night, when she heard, the footsteps of a horse coming near her. She strained her eyes to look up, as he came by and stopped in front of her. The old woman felt a faint tinge of hope that brought colour to her cheeks. The man on the horse said: “How terribly cold it is, take this,” and threw a gold coin near her into the snow, which was piling up by the minute, and rode off on his horse, as if he was in a great hurry.
As usual, he stopped a little way down the road to see the old woman going down her knees looking for the coin, and searching desperately for it in the snow. But, she failed to locate the gold coin as it eluded her reach.
“It was now none of his business,’ thought the prince, “I have done for her whatever was needed, and if she was lucky, she would find the gold coin and have her fill for the night, or she would go hungry, if it was so destined.”
With these thoughts, he rode his horse to his palace, and his servant helped him to dismount. He made his way to the dinner table where a lavish meal was laid out for him. As he settled down on his chair to eat his dinner, he again thought of the old woman. He started to eat, but he could not bring himself to swallow a morsel of food, for the picture of the old woman on her knees in the snow started haunting him. He suddenly felt ashamed of his act of charity. He suddenly knew how he should make up for making her suffer on that harsh cold night.
He rang for the servant, and ordered him to prepare dinner for two, and he again went out mounting his horse looking for the old woman, and found her still searching in the snow for a coin.
“I am afraid, you will not find that now, mother,” said the prince, “but come with me. I know of a place where a hot dinner is awaiting both of us. You shall be my guest for the night, or as long as you want to, and I shall arrange a comfortable lodging for the night.” He took the old woman with him to the palace.
The poor old woman who was hungry for the whole day could hardly believe her luck. Her new friend had also noticed that she was half-blind and held her hand so that she should not fall from the horse, until they reached the warmth of the palace dining room, where hot food had been set up by the table, and a fire lit in the hearth to keep the room warm, and had her seated on a chair and ordered his servant to attend to all her needs, and later led her to the servant’s quarters where she would reside, if she desired for the rest of her life.
For the old woman, the food on the table was a feast that was fit for the kings. After eating her full, she turned to thank her host to find that he had finished early and had retired for the night. The servant took her to the lodging that was meant for her and gave her a warm quilt and a comfortable bed to sleep for the night.
On that night, the Prince had a dream, in which he saw a pen recording his act in the Book of Golden Deeds in which his act was given the prominent place of the prince who was sorry for his act, and had faced the cold again to bring some of the comforts to a half-blind woman who was less favored than himself.
Moral of the story: “A kind word with forgiveness is better than charity followed by injury…O you who believe, make not your charity worthless by reproach and injury, like him who spends his wealth to be seen by people…” Holy Qur’an (2:263-264)
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