13. THE COMMANDER AND HIS HORSE
Storytelling is as old as man. It has been one of the greatest sources of preaching moral values because every story is written with some moral purpose. All the prophets, the saints, religious scholars and teachers have been adopting it as a source of preaching any kind of morality. If one follows the lesson preached in the story, one can avoid many perils and problems. The story “The Commander and His Horse” also gives us a sublime moral lesson.
Once, a king ordered his messenger to convey an important message to his commander in a battlefield. The messenger started on a horse for the battlefield. Soon he found that a nail in one of his horse’s front shoes had come off. As he was in a hurry, he did not care for it. He wanted to reach the battlefield as soon as possible. He galloped the horse.
After some time, the horse started limping. But the messenger did not take any notice and tried to make the horse run fast. But, the horse felt extreme pain in his foot. He fell down and died very soon. Now, the messenger had to run fast toward the battlefield. But when he reached there, he learnt that the commander had lost the battle. He was very sad and repented over his mistake. The story teaches us that we must correct a wrong in time to avoid any harm.
Moral:
1. A stitch in time saves nine.
2. It is no use crying over spilt milk.
3. Haste without wisdom is destructive.
IMPORTANT POINTS TO BE KEPT IN MIND:
- Never use the moral lesson as the title of the story. The title must be pure title. It should be “The Commander and His Horse” or “A Commander and His Horse”, “The Messenger and His Horse”, “A Messenger and His Horse.” Whatever the title you have read, follow that specific title.
- Most of the moral stories have more than one moral lesson. Sometimes, the students try to write more than one moral lesson. In doing so, they make mistakes. I would advise them to write the specific moral lesson in which they have been asked to write a story.
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