Never Fear

The Candy Floss Incident

Grandpa bought some candy floss for the kids, Everyone eagerly grabbed at it, all except for Kittu who hung back. Grandpa, noticing this, pushed some under his nose and said, “Come on, lad. Here’s some nice fluffy candy floss for you.”

Then, Mani piped up and said, “Grandpa, Kittu is afraid of candy floss.” To this, Grandpa snorted and retorted, “What nonsense! You mustn’t be afraid of your own shadow. You can’t be a coward! Why, lad, nobody likes a coward! Let me tell you about a man who was a coward.”

The Tale of the Cowardly Farmer

He began his tale, “In a certain village, there lived a farmer who had four acres of land. But he was a big coward. So, everyone in the village teased him about this and made his life miserable.”

Another farmer, whose fields bordered his, lived quite close. He too, never missed an opportunity to tease the timid farmer. All the village folk went to great lengths to create problems between the two. But the coward would not participate in any arguments.

One day, some folks came up to him and said, “Have you heard? Your neighbor is letting his cows graze all over your land.” The farmer replied meekly, “Oh! That’s all right. The cows can graze on the grass in my fields.” On another occasion, some villagers approached him spreading news that his neighbor had taken half of his harvested paddy.

Once again, the farmer answered resignedly, “Oh! That’s all right. I suppose, he doesn’t have enough paddy to go around. Let him take what he will.”

The Turning Point

One day, the cowardly farmer saw his neighbor chopping down a tree that belonged to him. Gathering some courage, he ran up to his neighbor and said, “Look here, man, how dare you cut down my tree? You take advantage of my meekness.” The neighbor replied, “Look here fellow, the roots of your tree have spread all over my field. I ought to be digging that up too!”

The meek farmer scratched his head and said, “It’s all my fault really! Having you for a neighbor is bad enough.”

The Lesson Learnt

Grandpa finished his tale and concluded, “Well, children, if you let fear get hold of you, you will end up losing everything.” The children clapped their hands and declared, “Never fear. We’ll always be brave.”