Udrita Sarkar, a fourth-grade student, recounts the story of Raju, a greedy boy who faces a moral dilemma upon discovering a thousand rupees.
Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Raju in a village. He was a greedy person. One day, when Raju was sitting under a tree, he saw a thousand rupees on the ground. He took it and put it in his pocket. But then he saw another boy his age trying to find something. Curious Raju asked, “What happened, friend? Why are you so worried?”
“I cannot find my thousand rupees.” The boy replied.
Raju thought to himself, ‘If I tell him that I have not seen his money, then he will go from here and I will not get my prize’. So he said, “I have seen a thousand rupees here, but first you need to promise me that you will give me five hundred rupees; only then shall I give you your thousand rupees.”
The boy thought for a moment and refused the deal.
“If you do not give me five hundred rupees, then I will not give you your thousand rupees,” Raju replied angrily.
The boy smiled and said, “I am a prince, and I have come here to check people’s honesty and kindness in my kingdom, but you are a greedy person, so now I will punish you.”
Hearing this, Raju was shocked, and he begged for mercy.
But the prince remained unmoved and punished Raju with a 2-year imprisonment.
