A Millionaire’s Secret – Give A Piece Of Straw

A rich man born out of giving!

There is a Japanese folk tale about the power of giving and it exemplifies how we can get the most wonderful of gifts when we’re gifting things to others and are positive about what we have already got.

Here is the story.

A long time ago, there lived a penniless young farmer. Nothing that he did turned out to be profitable. He was completely impoverished without any money, without anyone to help and nothing to eat. One night, totally at his wit’s end, he went to a shrine and sat near the altar and pleaded to Gods to show him what to do.

“I have always been sincere and industrious, but all my industriousness never became beneficial to me. Where have I gone wrong?”

He fell asleep near the altar just after he put the question. When he woke up in the morning, he saw in front of him one of the Gods he had seen in his dream, with a bright golden light around him. The God’s voice reverberated in his mind.

“After you wake up in the morning, value that which you have in your hand and keep giving it fully to others as you move forward,” the God told him.

The farmer opened his eyes. There were many things that he wanted to ask but he managed to pull himself up and tried to remove the confusion of the strange dream. But there seemed to be a piece of straw in his hand. It must have remained stuck on his dress while he worked in his land.

He almost threw it away, but stopped short of doing it recollecting what God had said about it. He seated himself again and stared at the straw in his hand.

He sat for a while unable to comprehend what all that meant. He did not know how a piece of straw can turn out to be useful. Then he saw a wasp hovering around. After a while the wasp settled on one end of his straw. He caught it and with the help of a thread from his clothes, tied it to the straw. And with a wasp at the end of his straw, he went on his way.

He had only walked for a few minutes before he saw a little boy and his mother coming from the other direction. The boy was crying. As he said hello, the boy noticed the wasp moving on the straw that the farmer was holding. He stopped crying and asked for the straw. The farmer nearly declined but then he remembered about the God’s message that he needed to treasure what he had but also remembered that he was to give it away to others. So, he offered the straw to the boy. The mother was very appreciative as now the boy stopped crying and began smiling. The mother offered the farmer three tangerines.

The farmer moved on. As he proceeded, he felt hungry. He was about to eat the tangerines when he again remembered that what was important was giving things to others, not giving it to himself.

As he went over a steep hill, he saw a merchant sitting down on the ground by a tree. Next to him was a wooden box. The farmer said hello to the merchant. He seemed to be exhausted. The merchant saw the tangerines in the farmer’s hand and asked if he minded giving him the tangerines. He said he was so thirsty.

The farmer was as thirsty as the trader as he had been walking for long on that hot day. Nevertheless, he offered the tangerines to the trader, who then ate all the three tangerines and felt recharged. He felt very happy about the help rendered to him and opened the wooden box that was by his side. Inside the box were rolls of silk that was dyed with hand. The merchant gifted the farmer one roll and proceeded on his way.

The farmer proceeded again through the same route. He finally found a rivulet from which he drank water and felt restored. He felt more energetic and comfortable and went on.

He walked for some more time but did not come across anyone else. He felt that the silk might be that which would bring him something good. So he chose to go to a town in the vicinity and trade the fabric.

But as soon as he turned the corner, he found a group of soldiers. One of them, who appeared to be the leader of the group, was standing near a horse that had fallen on the ground. The leader of the soldiers was saying something to the men of his group.

“This horse would not last long. We just have to leave it. Just take care of it and catch up.” He jumped up on another horse and galloped off disappearing out of sight.

The remaining soldiers were left discussing what to do about it. They were reluctant to kill the animal but they did not have much of a choice. At last one of them took out a sword.

The farmer pleaded with them not to do that. He said he was ready to look after the animal. He said they can have the bolt of silk for letting him care for the horse. They agreed to the deal and left the place quickly.

The farmer stood there with the horse that was in its death throes. He felt he might have got it all wrong and that he was not destined to be wealthy. Then he thought of the river that he had come across on the way.

He made his way to the river and once there stripped off his shirt and dipped it in water to be able to feed the horse. He made his way back to the horse again and fed it by squeezing out the water into its mouth. After the water trickled in for a while, the horse reacted and soon became conscious. The farmer was then able to pull it up and make it stand.

The horse finally stood up on its legs so the farmer could take the horse to the stream. As the horse took more water and ate some fresh green grass around the stream, it soon began to regain strength.

Now the farmer had a horse! They set off again together, this time the man had to run to keep up. The horse was actually leading the way. They ran together for miles. As the sun starting to go down, the horse finally stopped in front of a large house. As the farmer caught up, the horse pushed him with his nose to the entrance of the house.

When the farmer moved towards it, the gates opened and an old man came out of the house. The old man had dashed out of the house and he looked wan. He spotted the horse and the farmer, both just in front of the house.

The man queried the farmer what he wanted. The farmer replied that he was in need of a place to retire for the night. The old man in his turn said that he had to go to the town on an important matter and requested the farmer to be in charge of the house till such time that he returned. He said that his returning might get delayed.

The old man looked as if he was in a hurry, so the farmer told him he can take his horse. The old man was very grateful about it and immediately left with the horse. As he left, he said something totally unexpected to the farmer.

“If I am not back in three years, this house becomes yours.”

As you probably guessed, the old man never returned.

The farmer stayed in the big house for the remainder of his life with a land that yielded a rich harvest and had friendly neighbours. And he always remembered to give away whatever he had.

Thank you for reading this story. And what do you think it is all about?

Maybe there is a key to something. When we can turn our ‘getting game’ into a ‘giving game’, our life often flows bringing more abundance. But it is not always easy to practice the old wisdom in our real life.

Here are some of the interesting distinctions we can find in this story :

* When we give the things that others want, they usually value it more than we value it while when we are trying to ’sell’ something (because fundamentally, we want to get something from the deal), they compare the value with our asking price and try to pay less.

* When there is no lasting attachment to the things we own, we will see that we have wider chances since we are able to free ourselves from what we have.

* When we are down and out with the problems of life, instead of worrying about the negativities if we kept focus more on giving others and caring for them, life would surely bring glad tidings later.

* If we try to turn into cash what we have accumulated, because of the conviction that “this is all it would get” thinking that if we do not encash it, we will lose, our life will stand still. Instead, why don’t we keep on giving more and more irrespective of what we have or whether we are actually rich or not.

Gifting is an inherent part of the lives of most winners. When we are ready to give first, we have better chances of living a life of perfection, ease and growth.

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