Once, there was a rich man. He had earned the money by doing hard labor. He had a son named Karim. He often used to say to his son, “Karim, you are my only son. All my wealth is yours. There is none to share the wealth you. You are supposed to increase wealth with hard labor and should not waste.”
“Don’t worry father! I will not waste money unnecessarily.” Karim would assure his father.
But his assurances were false. He had fallen into a company of bad friends. He used to waste money on drinking, gambling and enjoying dances.
His friends were very happy and used to flatter him for liberally spending money on them. He would also like their flattery and would be ready to spend more money on them.
When his father came to know about his bad habits, he was badly upset. He thought, “If Karim continues to waste money like this I would soon be penniless. So I will talk to him today to mend his ways.”
When Karim returned home, his father said, “My son! I have come to know that you waste money in bad company, stop doing all this and pay attention to the business. You will be spoiled like this. There is still time for you to put yourself on the right path.”
Karim nodded his head in affirmative. But he did not change his bad habits. He continued to waste money on gambling, drinking and enjoying the dance with his spoiled friends. Seeing his son sunk in bad habits, the father fell ill. His condition was going from bad to worse.
One day when he felt that his end was near, he called his son and said, “Karim, you are not on the right path yet. My life is on the verge of its end. This is my last advice to you. Don’t waste my hard-earned money; otherwise, you will always repent this.”
“Father, I will follow your advice, do not worry. I will improve myself,” said Karim with grief.
“You can think of your good or bad yourself. But if someday you find in trouble then open the door of that room. You will find some relief there,” saying this he pointed out towards the closed room.
After a few days, the rich man died. Karim felt sad for some time but soon he forgot and was lost in his old bad habits.
After the death of the father, the home becomes the place for their enjoyment. Being heavily drunk when Karim lost his senses, his friends would steal money from his shelf. Thus, he began to lose his money quickly.
Karim was not aware of the activities of his friends. They continued to cheat him by stealing his money.
Karim never doubted them and continued to spend recklessly on his friends. Soon his money finished. His friends stopped coming to his house. They even refused to talk to him.
Now Karim did not know what to do. He recollected the advice of his father and repented. Suddenly remembering about the closed room, he thought, “Perhaps father has kept money me for an emergency.” So he went up to the room.
On opening the room he was taken aback! There was a noose hanging from the roof. A paper was also attached to it. “Karim was desperate having lost all hope of money. He took the paper and began to start a new life, then this noose is meant for you. But before hanging test the capability of the noose if it is strong enough for your weight or not.”
“I will start a new life instead of hanging myself to death.” He came out of the room thinking about what he should do.
He kept on thinking for some time. Suddenly he felt very hungry. But there was nothing to eat in the house. He went to the market and sold his cap to buy some milk and bread to eat. He also felt thirsty. So he kept the milk and bread on a stone and went to a nearby well to drink the water. When a returned he saw a dog running away with his bread having spilled the milk. He felt shocked to see this.
Feeling too helpless to do anything he burst into tears. He was very hungry and had no money to buy food. So he thought, “Now there is no other way except asking friends for help.”
Despite, being very hungry, he walked towards his friends in the hope of getting the food. He reached one of his friends and said, “Hello friend! I am starving. Give me some food.” His friend said, “Karim, I am no longer your friends.”
Thereafter he went to another friend and asked for food. He too threw him out of his house. One by one he went to all his friends but none gave him food.
Desperately Karim returned home. He was in great despair and thought, “Now I should commit suicide by hanging. This is how I can get rid of my troubles.” Thinking this Karim pulled the rope of the noose to see whether it was strong enough to hold his weight. As he applied to force the rope broke up. With the breaking of the rope, a bag fell on the ground. Karim picked up the bag and quickly opened it.
He was surprised to see that the bag was full of gold coins. There was also a slip in the bag which read, “Do not finish your life. Start a fresh life with the help of this money. But first, you have to change your habits.”
Karim said to himself, “This time I promise to myself that I will leave all bad company anymore since all my friends have cheated me. Had I followed your advice earlier I would have been very rich today.”
Karim started his business afresh with the help of the wealth found in the blog. Soon his business flourished. He started earning a lot of money. His selfish friends came to meet him on knowing about his prosperity but Karim refused to entertain them. Now he had come to know the difference between right and wrong.
