Story Contest 2018 #1 - Outstanding Stories (Sub-junior) » One Bowl of Rice

“One Bowl of Rice” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Aishani Pandey, India.

One Bowl of Rice

Once upon a time, there lived a poor man, named Ali, in the small town of Agra with his wife and two kids. He was a carpenter, and used to repair wooden things for people in the town. He was so poor that it was becoming hard for him to survive with his family.

There also lived a king in the town who was very rich and intelligent. His intelligence was admired by all the people around him.

Every week on Thursday, King used to go and meet his public and hear their complaints and concerns. When Ali came to know about this visit, he made up his mind to go and meet the king. As soon as he saw the king, he started shouting” your majesty, you are the best… your majesty, you are the best”. Suddenly he could grab the attention of the king, and was asked by king’s men to go near and share his problem.

Ali came in front of the king and started crying loudly, he asked the king if he can get some money so that he can start his business and start earning for his family. He told the king every day he can earn hardly anything, which is not even enough for his family of 4.

The kind replied “What will I receive back”,

The Man said “what do you want? You have many things, and you are so rich”.

Then King said “Why, I also deserve things in return”.

So the poor man said “OK!.. I only have a small bowl of rice which I can give you immediately, nothing else.

King was happy to see the innocence of Ali, and happily agreed to take that bowl of rice.

Instead of giving one full bowl of rice, which Ali had, he gave only 4 particles of rice to the king and said “Your Majesty, I am left with only this much rice”.

King, was amazed to see Ali and his deeds. He silently picked up the bowl with 4 piece of rice and went away.

Ali, thought that King has not given anything, good that he has not shared full bowl of rice with him. He went back and started doing his daily activities.

In the evening when he returned home he saw a sack of rice lying near his bed. He pushed the sack and saw the rice, he suddenly saw something very shiny in the sack. When he looked at it carefully, he saw 4 Gold Coins in the sack. Then poor man realised his fault and started thinking, “if he would have shared full bowl of rice with the king he would have received full sack of coins instead of these 4.

He regretted his decision and realised that he was paid back for his own deeds. He went back to the king and said “Sorry”…king was happy that Ali has realised his mistake and finally gave him money to start business of his own.