The Farmer Boy

Once upon a time, there lived a Farmer Boy. The Boy worked for a rich farm owner in fields of grain. The work the Boy did was backbreaking and difficult, but the Boy was forced to endure it to earn his pay and survive. As the Boy was threshing grain one hard day, a Woodpecker dragged itself beside him. The Woodpecker was wounded and was slowly starving to death. Though it was the only food he had left, the Boy gave the Woodpecker a handful of grain to help it recover its strength. Thankful for the gift, the Woodpecker promised to return, leaving the area. As the days went by, the Boy forgot about the Woodpecker's promise and continued to work, slaving away and wallowing in pain. The Woodpecker returned one day and gifted the Boy with a hand plow, carved from wood. The plow, the Woodpecker explained, would bless any crop that was sown on its tilled soil with good fortune. However, the seeds would have to be watered with the sweat off the Boy's back. Thanking the Woodpecker, the Boy began to use the plow in his work. The plow helped him become the best fieldworker, allowing him to earn more pay from his boss. Eventually, the Boy had enough money to buy a farm of his own. However, at the farm, the Boy forgot the hardship that had led him there. Hiring many workers of his own, the Boy forgot his plow in the midst of his success. Though his workers helped him to be prosperous, the Boy had forgotten the very thing that had helped him come so far, his own work. Though the Boy became rich, he was not as rich as he could have been if he had still used his own plow.