The value of children's literature lies in its strength to make children see life through the lens of stories... I recently translated a story that left an indelible impression on my mind --such stories can mould the malleable minds of young children.
One such story is-- A king who is keen in celebrating festivals in a unique way, announced that an exhibition will be held during Holi festival and people must bring most valuable things to display. Based on his choice, the best one would win a prize. So, people got valuable gems, gold ornaments, silver antique pieces to display. When the King started looking around, he found a picture of a woman feeding food to her five children and it read mother. One young girl came forward and told him that ‘there is nothing more valuable than a mother in the whole world’. The king was impressed and he presented her hundred gold coins as the prize.
The next year, the King announced that this time people must bring the most worthless things to exhibit. The people took stones, thrash, thorny bush. As the King started looking through them, he found a picture of a woman begging for food named mother. He was startled and annoyed and asked who displayed this picture. The same young girl came forward and said it was she who drew it. “Oh earlier you displayed a mother’s picture as the most valuable, now you display the same as the most worthless one?” he asked angrily.
“Pardon me O King, but that earlier picture was that of a mother who was feeding food to her children, but this mother is that mother who is not cared for by her children, she is begging for food as none of her children is ready to feed her. Even though everybody knows that there is no God higher than one’s mother, some children feel that a mother is worthless’.
Seeing the bitter truth in her words, the king not only presented her gold coins again but passed an order that those who neglect their parents will be punished severely.
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