Courage & Intelligence Always Brings Success

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Once upon a time there lived a poor washer man in a small hut in a village. He made his living by washing clothes of the residents of the village. On his small pony, he would collect the dirty linen and carry these to the nearby river for cleaning. His son Arjun also accompanied him to help his father in work.

Arjun was a very timid and shy boy. He was afraid to speak to strangers and go out alone in the dark. His father often scolded him for his timidness. One day Arjun`s father asked, “What do you want to become in life?” Arjun said, “I want to become a soldier and serve my country.” His father said, “On the battlefield you have to depend on your own self. Unless you become bold and courageous and do things without someone’s assistance, you will never develop courage and confidence in yourself to become a soldier.

Courage has to be developed from childhood itself. Only courageous persons are asked to do difficult things. Only those persons are given difficult jobs, who take courage to do those things, which other persons refuse to do.

By successively taking up more and more difficult jobs, man develops greater confidence and experience. In this way, ultimately people become successful in life. This is how people become successful leaders, sportspersons, soldiers, stars, writers, singers, musicians, stage anchors, fashion designers, artists, doctors, scientists, journalists, computer experts, businessmen, and achieve top positions in all fields of life.” 

Arjun asked, “When would I get an opportunity to develop and show my courage?” His father said, “Opportunity comes very often. You have to be alert to see and grab it before it slips away.”

One day, when Arjun and his father were washing clothes in the river, the sky suddenly became covered with dark clouds. In order to avoid getting drenched, they decided to return back home early.  In the meantime, while grazing, their pony wandered deep inside the forest. They tried to look for it but did not succeed.  After searching for some time, they returned back to their hut. They knew that the pony knew the way back home and could return on its own.  However, deep in the forest, the pony had lost its way.  Soon the night fell. It became dark and there was no sight of the pony.

It was a moonless night. Thick clouds had made the night pitch dark. It began to rain heavily. The roof of their hut was covered with old broken tiles. Rainwater began to drip all over the hut.  The washer man murmured, “This DRIP-DRIP is terrible. I am not afraid of any tiger, but when this DRIP-DRIP arrives I am unable to face it. Here it comes again to trouble me.”

Outside the hut, a tiger was passing by. When he heard the man talking about the terrible DRIP-DRIP, he stopped to listen.  The tiger thought, “DRIP-DRIP must be some animal more powerful than a tiger. That is why, this man, who is not afraid of tigers, is afraid of DRIP-DRIP.”

Thinking that the DRIP-DRIP was inside the hut so terrified the tiger that to save himself from this unknown animal, he decided to hide behind the bushes near the hut.

Inside the hut, Arjun and his father did not know that there was a tiger hiding nearby. After some time, the heavy rain changed into a drizzle. In the meantime somehow the pony had also found its way back home.  When Arjun opened the door and looked out, he saw his pony standing there in a corner. It got injured while coming through thorny bushes. Blood was oozing out of its legs.

Arjun thought, some wild animal had attacked his pony and injured it. He decided to go out and look for the animal that had injured his pony. He remembered his father’s advice. His father had told him not to be afraid of darkness and always be courageous. This was an opportunity to prove his courage. He thought he would go out and punish the animal.

To avoid getting drenched, Arjun covered himself head to foot in a dark plastic cover. Then with a rope in one hand and a stick in the other, he came out to find the animal that had injured his pony.

He saw the tiger hiding behind the bushes. When the tiger saw Arjun approaching him, he thought it was the DRIP-DRIP he had heard the man talking about. Because of the dark plastic cover, he could not see that it was a man. He thought that the animal DRIP DRIP was coming to attack him.

Out of fear the tiger started trembling and hid his face in between his legs. In the darkness, Arjun also could not see that it was a tiger. He thought that it was the animal who had injured his pony

The boy tied the tiger around the neck with the rope and thrashing the tiger with the cane all the way, dragged it to the shed near his hut.

The tiger did not utter a word. Thinking that he was being pulled by the DRIP-DRIP, he nervously followed the boy.  

Arjun fastened the tiger by a peg in the shed outside his house.

After entering the hut, he told his father, “An animal had injured our pony. It was hiding in the bushes behind our house. I gave it a good thrashing. I have bound it and brought it here for further punishment. What shall we do with it?”

Arjun`s father said, “ I am happy to note that you were not afraid to go out alone in the darkness of night and even had the courage to tie an unknown wild animal.

However, now it is too late in the night. Tomorrow morning we shall decide what to do with this animal.”

Early in the morning, the washer man woke up on hearing the sound of a large number of people gathered in front of his hut.

People passing by had seen the tiger tied near his hut. News had spread throughout the village that a tiger was tied at the house of the washer man. People from neighbouring villages too had begun to gather to see the strange sight of a tiger tied in the village. 

On coming out of his hut, the washer man too was surprised to see the tiger. Then he remembered what his son Arjun had told him the previous night.

He asked his son to come out of the hut and patting him on his back told people, “Arjun had caught this tiger.”

Everyone began to congratulate Arjun on his brave feat. By word of mouth, the news reached the king. His spies told him that there was a very courageous boy in a village, who had tied a tiger in the night and brought it to his hut. The king sent a messenger and called Arjun to his court.

The king rewarded Arjun and said, “Since a long time I was in search of a brave person to become the commander of my army. You are fit for this job. From this day, I declare you as the commander of my army.

Arjun said, “But sir! I do not know how to ride a horse? I also don’t know how to use a sword? How shall I command your army?” 

The king said, “It does not matter. You can easily learn these things. The most important thing is to be courageous, intelligent and hard working. You have shown that you have all these qualities. I am confident that you will be able to defend the country from the enemies.”

Arjun decided to take lessons in archery under the guidance of an officer of his army. He wanted to prove that by hard work anything could be achieved.

In this way, a few days passed. One day, the king’s spies brought the news that the ruler of the neighbouring country was planning to attack his kingdom with a large army. The king called Arjun and asked him to make preparations to defend the country. The king said, “Although our army is small in comparison to the army of the enemy, I am sure with your courage and intelligence you will be able to save our country from the enemies.”

Although Arjun did not have the experience of battle, he did not lose courage. He thought that he could scare the enemy by creating an impression that his own army was stronger.  He thought of a clever plan. He asked the chief minister of the king to make arrangements for the collection of as many hawks and big dogs as could be found in the country. Under the order of the king, his subjects captured thousands of hawks and mastiffs.

Arjun asked painters to paint the dogs with colours to resemble tigers, leopards and bears. Thousands of dogs were painted yellow, with black stripes, like tigers and with black and brown spots like leopards. Others were painted black to look like bears. He also asked his people to tie small mirrors on the necks of the hawks.

The painting was carried out secretly in a house, where none could enter. People of the kingdom did not know about the work. Through his spies, Arjun spread a rumour that he had caught many wild animals from the forests and was training them in this building to fight with his soldiers.

The commander of the enemy across the border too heard the news. His spies told him that Arjun was going to fight him with animals in his army. Although the commander had heard that Arjun was so brave that he had once caught a tiger, he did not believe that animals could be trained to fight like an army.  However Arjun carried forward with his secret plan.  He asked all his soldiers to tie branches with green leaves on their waists. When the final day for the war arrived, he ordered his soldiers and animals to collect on a large field.  He asked the soldiers holding the thousands of hawks with mirrors tied around their necks, to stand behind him.  Behind the hawks, he asked the painted dogs to be assembled. 

At the back of the painted dogs, stood the soldiers mounted on the horses with branches of trees tied around their waists. Arjun had not yet learnt how to ride a horse. Climbing the back of the horse with the help of his soldiers, he asked his soldiers to tie his legs with the stirrups. Holding a sword in his right hand, he shouted that he was going to lead the army, and the members of the army were to follow him as told.

He told his soldiers that after he had proceeded up to some distance, the hawks were to be released behind him from their cages. After the hawks flew up in the sky, the dogs painted like tigers and leopards and bears were to follow him towards the enemy.

Finally, at the back of these dogs, the soldiers with branches of trees tied to their waists were asked to follow.  After giving these directions, Arjun jerked the reins of his horse and galloped forward at great speed towards the enemy`. He held the sword tightly in his left hand.

On the way, he thought, if he could also hold one more sword in right hand, it would appear that he could fight with both hands. However, for bringing the other sword out of its sheath from his waist-belt, it was necessary to stop the horse. The horse was galloping at great speed. Because he had his left hand holding the sword, he tried to pull the reins again and again with the right hand to stop the horse with all his might. But the horse kept on running.

Then he got an idea. He saw a tall slim tree in the distance. As soon as the fast running horse passed beside the tree, Arjun caught hold of the trunk of the tree with his right hand to stop. However this too did not stop the horse.  On the other hand, because of the force of the speeding horse, the tree was uprooted. Now Arjun rode holding a sword in the left hand and a tree in the right.

From atop a hillock, the commander of the enemy’s army was watching the battlefield with his binoculars. When he saw Arjun leading the army with a sword in one hand and a tree in the other, he was terrified. Then he saw the great dust raised by the approaching dogs. The painted animals appeared like thousands of tigers, leopards and bears charging forward at great speed. He also saw the numerous birds in the sky. Behind the dogs appeared the mounted soldiers wearing branches of trees with green leaves on their waists.

He had heard about Arjun`s courage. He also remembered what his spies had told him that Arjun had wild animals in his army.  When he found thousands of hawks, with mirrors shining in sunlight, in the sky all over the battlefield, he thought Arjun had trained these birds to fight from the sky with some special weapons.

The commander of the enemy’s force was horrified. How could he fight an army with such a brave commander and an enemy, which used trees as its weapons? He thought it was impossible to defeat an army, which was attacking from above with hawks and with wild animals and soldiers on the ground with strange weapons.

He raised a white flag for surrender and ordered his army to retreat from the battlefield to safety as quickly as possible. Thus, with the help of his intelligence and courage, Arjun could win the battle without fighting.

Later on, he worked hard to learn techniques of war and became a great soldier. His courage made him so famous that no army dared to attack his country in future.

Moral

With intelligent thinking, hard work and courage you can do anything. Courage is developed early from childhood by taking up great responsibilities.