One Morning Genghis Khan, the great king and warrior,
rode out into the woods to have a day's sport. Many of his
friends were with him. They rode out gayly, carrying their
bows and arrows. Behind them came the servants with
the hounds.
It was a merry hunting party. The woods rang with their
shouts and laughter.
They expected to carry much game home in the evening.
On the king's wrist sat his favorite hawk, for in those
days hawks were trained to hunt. At a word from
their masters they would fly high up into the air,
and look around for prey.
If they chanced to see a deer or a rabbit, they would
swoop down upon it swift as any arrow. All day long
Genghis Khan and his huntsmen rode through the woods.
But they did not find as much game as they expected.
Toward evening they started for home.
The king had often ridden through the woods, and he knew all
the paths. So while the rest of the party took the nearest way,
he went by a longer road through a valley between two mountains.
The day had been warm, and the king was very thirsty.
His pet hawk left his wrist and flown away. It would be
sure to find its way home.
The king rode slowly along. He had once seen a spring
of clear water near this pathway. If he could only find it now!
But the hot days of summer had dried up all the mountain brooks.
At last, to his joy, he saw some water trickling down over
the edge of a rock. He knew that there was a spring farther up.
In the wet season, a swift stream of water always poured down
here; but now it came only one drop at a time.
The king leaped from his horse. He took a little silver cup
from his hunting bag. He held it so as to catch the slowly
falling drops. It took a long time to fill the cup; and
the king was so thirsty that he could hardly wait. At last
it was nearly full. He put the cup to his lips, and was about to drink.
All at once there was a whirring sound in the air, and the cup
was knocked from his hands. The water was all spilled upon the ground.
The king looked up to see who had done this thing.It was his pet hawk.
The hawk flew back and forth a few times, and then alighted among
the rocks by the spring. The king picked up the cup, and again held
it to catch the trickling drops. This time he did not wait so long.
When the cup was half full, he lifted it toward his mouth.
But before it had touched his lips, the hawk swooped down again,
and knocked it from his hands. And now the king began to grow angry.
He tried again, and for the third time the hawk kept him from drinking.
The king was now very angry indeed."How do you dare to act so?"
he cried. "If I had you in my hands, I would wring your neck!"
Then he filled his cup again. But before he tried to drink,
he drew his sword. "Now, Sir Hawk," he said, "that is the last time."
He had hardly spoken before the hawk swooped down
and knocked the cup from his hand. But the king was looking for this.
With a quick sweep of the sword he struck the bird as it passed.
The next moment the poor hawk lay bleeding and dying at its
master's feet. "That is what you get for your pains," said Genghis Khan.
But when he looked for his cup, he found that it had fallen
between two rocks, where he could not reach it.
"At any rate, I will have a drink from that spring," he said to himself.
With that he began to climb the steep bank to the place from
which the water trickled. It was hard work, and the higher
he climbed, the thirstier he became. At last he reached
the place. There indeed was a pool of water; but what was that
lying in the pool, and almost filling it? It was a huge, dead snake of
the most poisonous kind. The king stopped. He forgot his thirst.
He thought only of the poor dead bird lying on the ground
below him.
"The hawk saved my life!" he cried, "and how did I repay him?
He was my best friend,and I have killed him." He clambered down
the bank. He took the bird up gently, and laid it in his hunting bag.
Then he mounted his horse and rode swiftly home. He said to himself,
Moral of the Story:
"I have learned a sad lesson today, and that is, never
to do anything in anger, Please dont do any thing in anger,
which later on you have to repent for it. Be calm down
and control your anger-
Author : Unknown
Great moral and I have always lived by that. I also tell my two sons the same thing everyday before they leave for school..." Do not do anything in anger...always stay calm, no matter what!
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