Outstanding Stories » An Act Of Kindness

“An Act Of Kindness” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Yuvraj Desai, Shree Vallabh Sanskar Dham, India.

An Act Of Kindness

Sheru, the king of jungle, died one day, and now the animals in the jungle did not have a king. There was no discipline in the jungle. All animals followed their own rules. Few animals began to say that when king was there, everything was well. Now it was difficult to live in the jungle. If any outsider comes to attack, what would happen to us?

Bholu bear came ahead with an idea. He said the animals, “We can hold an election, to select our king.” All of them agreed with Bholu bear, but the problem was that everyone thought them as a king. Pihu peacock thought of a way out and said, “Whoever wants to stand for election has to do some allotted work in a timely and good manner.” Everyone agreed with Pihu.

Every applicant was given work according to their skill. Robin fox was given the job to clear the dust from the forest. Monu monkey was asked to clear the spider webs. Ghanu elephant was given the job to fill the holes in the ground with stones. Renu rabbit was asked to clean the grass around the trees.

Few days passed. All the animals and birds gathered to see the progress. Renu, Monu and Robin had completed their work. But Ghanu elephant did not put stones in the hole. The question was raised about whose work was to be celebrated. Renu rabbit came up with an idea, lets vote for these applicants. Whoever gets the maximum votes will be our next king.

The next day, all the animals and birds gathered together, to vote. Voting was completed nicely, and the vote counting started. Ghanu was ahead in the counting and secured more votes. Finally, Ghanu was declared as the winner.

Everyone was surprised. At that time Eagle, the king of birds, said, “You all are surprised how Ghanu elephant won? Correct! The reason is that every day Ghanu brought stones near the hole according to his assignment, but he saw that the eagle’s eggs were in the hole. Ghanu gave up his wish to become king and saved the eagle’s egg by his caring act. As you know, in the jungle there are more birds than animals. So Ghanu got more votes and became the king of the jungle. Learning from Ghanu’s example, we the birds have decided to be kind to others, and to care for each other.”

After listening to this, everyone accepted Ghanu as the king. A simple act of kindness by Ghanu made him the leader by winning the hearts of his followers.

Moral: A random act of kindness, no matter how small, can make a great impact on your life, and the lives of people around you.