Short Stories » The Lazy Farmer

The Lazy Farmer

Sinha, the farmer was a very lazy man. He had fertile lands, but because of his laziness, he cultivated crops only in a part of his land.

One night, it rained heavily and the roads turned muddy. Sinha was very happy that it had rained. He was to water the crops the next day. However, because of the heavy rain, he did not have to water them as the crops got sufficient water. However, he wanted to assess the status of his fields after the rain.

He also had two loads of hay to be sold at the market. Since the roads were muddy, he stayed at home. He decided to take a visit after two days, by which time, he hoped that the roads would be clean.

However, even after two days, the roads were still slightly muddy. Nevertheless, Sinha went to the market on a cart with horses. The road to the market was fairly good and he sold the hay. Then he took the country road and rode the cart towards his fields. But, the road was uneven and muddy with stagnant water.

Sinha drove very slowly to avoid getting dirty. Unfortunately, for Sinha, one wheel of the cart sank into the mire. He tried hard to move the cart and even pushed the horses to do so. The more he tried, the deeper the wheels sank into the mire.

He got down from the cart to look at the sunken wheel and searched all around for any help. However, help was hard to find, as people rarely took the country road, and all of them preferred the market road, which was much better.

Sinha started to curse himself for taking the bad road. Suddenly dark clouds appeared in the sky and it appeared that it was going to rain. Sinha lost his temper and started screaming, ‘Hell, there is no one to help me’”.

Suddenly, he heard a booming voice from the sky, “Sinha, no one will help you unless you try to pull the wheel out by yourself.

Sinha then realized that he had done nothing to pull out the wheel from the mire. Sinha then removed the horses that were tied to the cart. He bent down and tried to pull out the wheel. After a few minutes of struggle, he gradually lifted the wheel from the mire. Supporting the cart with a shoulder, he pulled the wheel out. It was then Sinha understood that he succeeded, because he had tried. After that incident, Sinha realized his folly and was a changed man.