Wishes Granted
Once upon a time, in a small village in India, lived Subal, a thin and sickly man. His son, Sushil, was a naughty child and always bothered the villagers.
Subal, suffering from rheumatism, couldn't easily run after Sushil.
— Ah, my son is too naughty, Vikram. What can I do? My rheumatism is too bad, and he's as agile as a monkey.
— Isn't that Sushil? — Hehehe! — Hey, bring back my hen! — No!
Their Wishes
One morning, Sushil lay in bed, thinking.
— I have a math test, but I don't want to go. — Sushil, wake up! Son, you'll have to go to school soon. — Nah. Dad, I don't think I can go. I have a terrible stomach ache. — Stomach ache? Poor child, is it that bad?
Sushil nodded, happily thinking his trick was working.
— Well, then you can't go to school today. — Yay! — You'll also miss Boss's birthday fireworks. What a shame.
He left the room, leaving Sushil startled. He had been looking forward to going to Boss's to eat jalebi and see the fireworks.
— Here, drink this medicine. It will help you. — Dad, I'm fine. My stomach ache is gone. Woohoo! — If it comes back, you'd better drink this now.
Poor Sushil, compelled, drank the whole bowl of nasty concoction. Subal left and locked him inside.
— Dad, what are you doing? — It would be better if you stayed in bed all day and rested.
Sushil knocked on the door, but to no avail. He cried bitterly.
— I wish I were older. I could do anything, anything I wanted.
Outside, Subal kept thinking.
— Sushil doesn't know how lucky he is to be young. I was too spoiled by my parents and never learned. I wish I were young again. I'd study all day and get only good grades.
An Unexpected Change
The day passed, and in the evening, Subal and Sushil quietly went to bed. That night, the fairy of their wishes visited them.
— I've heard your wishes, and since you desire it so much, I will grant them.
The next day, Subal woke up feeling very strange.
— Hmm, why are my clothes so loose? Oh, what? Is this really my body? — Sushil!
He ran to Sushil's room worried, but instead of his son, he found an old man sitting in bed.
— Oh, oh, oh! These clothes are tight. What happened to me? — Sushil? Ah! Now I understand.
Sushil, amazed to see Subal so young, listened to his explanation with great wonder.
— Well, our wishes have been granted. We can do anything we want.
Life as a Child
— Don't shout so loud! I feel so full of energy. I can't sit and study like this. I'm going fishing. — Fish? No! Since you're a child, you must go to school. — What? Go on, I'm the adult here, so do as I say.
Subal was stunned, but shyly got dressed and left.
— Now, what should I do? Oh, I know! I'll climb the tallest tree in the village.
So he went to the center of the village, where a giant fig tree grew. As he walked, his legs ached and trembled.
— Maybe it's because it's a new body. It will take time to get used to it.
But once he arrived, he was just more tired.
— It's not that big. I can do this.
He started to climb slowly, struggling with each movement.
— Just one more. Finally!
He sat on the lowest branch of the tree, gasping and puffing so loudly that the sound attracted other people.
— Mohan, Shila!
But his friends didn't recognize him and just laughed at him. People started to giggle seeing an old man sitting in the tree.
— Ohoho! — The crowd started to laugh. So did his friends.
Annoyed, he painfully got up and limped away.
Life as an Old Man
Arriving home, he found Subal sitting inside.
— Why are you back so early? I only did half an hour. I'm starving. Please give me something to eat. — Hmm? Why would I? I'm not hungry. That's why.
So Sushil limped to the kitchen and started to cook.
— Put more of that in. And less carrot, I don't like carrots. Faster, faster, I'm very hungry. — Oh, be quiet and let me cook.
Sushil was already tired by mealtime, but Subal delightedly gobbled everything up and licked the plate clean.
— Mmm, wasn't that delicious? Silly little child.
The next morning, Sushil went out to gorge himself on some sweets.
— Oh! These look wonderful. Let's take a bite. Mmm. It's so sweet!
He had thought of taking some for Subal too, but now he changed his mind. Sushil's tastes had changed with his age, without him realizing it.
Meanwhile, at school, Subal was bored listening to the lessons.
— Subal, why aren't you paying attention? — Because I already know everything you want to teach us. — Then why don't you tell me what we were talking about earlier? — Hmm. He's my science teacher and there's a tree on the board. Well, you were talking about the importance of plants and how they give us oxygen. Right? — No!
— Subal, we are in art class now. Not science. And you were supposed to draw this plant. Go and stand outside until lessons are over. — Oh, dear.
On the other hand, Sushil kept walking around, quite bothered.
— Maybe a cool dip will do me good.
He had barely entered the water up to his waist when he started to feel a terrible cold.
— Brrr! That's too cold!
So he struggled out of the water and went back home. He caught a terrible cold and the water worsened his rheumatism.
School ended, and Subal was returning home, very disheartened. Suddenly, he saw some of his friends standing and discussing something. He went to them and listened carefully.
— Oh, I don't agree with you at all. Don't you think you're being a bit harsh?
The old men stared at the child who bravely joined the discussion. Subal had completely forgotten that he was still a child, and his friends didn't recognize him.
— Whose child are you? You have no manners at all. Go away, don't meddle with old people.
Subal hurried home, afraid of being scolded again. When he arrived, it was already dark.
— Am I home? No, forgive me. It's too hard for me to cook. — Well, you're not cooking for me anyway. Rest. — It's no use.
— There's nothing here. It seems I'll starve tonight.
Lessons Learned
That night, they thought about the last two bad days.
— It's awful. I can't swim, climb, I can't walk without stumbling. My body aches all over and I haven't eaten anything sweet in so long. I hate this. I'd rather talk to my friends about important things than with Sushil's classmates about stickers. School is boring when you already know everything and I'm too small to cook for myself.
— I wish, I wish...
Back to Normal
— Let's go back to normal!
— It seems you've realized what you truly wished for. From here, I will make you return to normal.
The next morning, Subal woke up with a familiar ache in his body.
— No! What is this? — Ah! — Dad?
Sushil ran to his father's room.
— Dad, what happened? — Sushil, I'm back to normal! — Oho! And you too! — What? Yay! Dad, I'm going to school! I have to see my friends again!
So, Sushil quickly left the house. Subal, on the other hand, went straight to the kitchen to make himself a warm breakfast.
— How strange everything seems, but now I know what it's like to be a child again. I should probably be gentler with Sushil.
At school, Sushil was happy to be surrounded by friends.
— How silly I was! I love being a child, but I'll have to stop bothering Dad. It's awful to be as old as him. Now I understand.
The Moral of the Story
And so the story ends. The saying, "before you judge someone, put yourself in their shoes," means a lot. Because you never know what someone else is going through. Be content and happy with what you have and who you are, as Subal and Sushil finally learned.
