A woman baked
chapatti (roti) for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry
passerby. She kept the extra chapatti on the window sill, for whosoever would
take it away. Every day, a hunchback came and took away the chapatti. Instead
of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: “The
evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” This went on, day after day. Every day, the
hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and uttered the words:
“The evil you do, remains with you: The good you
do, comes back to you!” The woman felt irritated. “Not a word of gratitude,”
she said to herself… “Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he
mean?” One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. “I shall get rid
of this hunchback,” she said. And what did she do? She added poison to the
chapatti she prepared for him!
As she was about to keep it on the window sill, her
hands trembled. “What is this I am doing?” she said. Immediately, she threw the
chapatti into the fire, prepared another one and kept it on the window sill. As
usual, the hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and muttered the words: “The
evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!”
The hunchback proceeded on his way, blissfully
unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman. Every day, as the woman
placed the chapatti on the window sill, she offered a prayer for her son who
had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune. For many months, she had no
news of him.. She prayed for his safe return.
That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she
opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had
grown thin and lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry,
starved and weak. As he saw his mother, he said, “Mom, it’s a miracle I’m here.
While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have
died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of
food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole chapatti. As he gave it to me,
he said, “This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your
need is greater than mine!”
” As the mother heard those words, her face turned
pale. She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned
chapatti that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it
would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life!
It was then that she realized the significance of
the words: “The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to
you!” Do good and Don’t ever stop doing good, even if it is not appreciated at
that time. If you like this, share it with others and I bet so many lives would
be touched.
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