A sincere man's promise
This is an authentic story about two friends. One day one young man said to his good friend, “I can see that one day you will become a great and rich man.”The other friend scoffed, “Yah! I will become a great man and a rich man!”
The first boy said, “Yes, I can see it. It is written on your forehead.”
The second one said, “All right, if I become a great and rich man, I will give you ten thousand rupees.”
“Do you promise that you will give me ten thousand rupees?” the first friend said. “Then write it down.”
So the second one wrote down, “I will give you ten thousand rupees if ever I become rich and great,” and he signed his name.
The young man preserved the note, but he never took his friend seriously. The agreement was all made by way of joke. But in ten or twelve years the man really did become rich and great. Over the years, both friends drifted apart and led their own lives. But still the one man preserved the note saying that his friend would give him ten thousand rupees, although he felt that since it was a joke, he would never receive the money.
After a few years the poor man fell seriously ill, and his life was about to end untimely. On the last day of his life, he called his son, who was only seven or eight years old, and said to him, “My son, inside that box there is something very precious which I have kept for you. Please bring me the box.”
The son was so sad that his father was dying that he didn’t want to bring anything. He did not feel that anything could be precious except his father’s life. But the father insisted, so the son went and got the box. Then the father said, “When I die…” and immediately the little boy and his mother started crying. But the father continued, “After I die, you go to this man and show him what he has written.” The wife and son looked at the paper and were surprised to see that it said he would give them ten thousand rupees. But at that time they could not think of anything but their beloved one who was about to leave them.
Soon the father died, and friendship is such that the rich man, who was once his best friend, did not even come to see him before he left this world. But after three or four weeks’ time the son took the note to the rich man. By that time the rich man had many servants and employees working for him. At first the man’s servants didn’t want to allow this little boy to bother him. But finally, when they saw he was only a little innocent boy, they allowed him.
The boy gave the rich man the note. The rich man read it and asked, “Did I write this?”
The boy said, “I do not know. My father, on the day of his death, gave it to me to give to you.” The son was practically crying.
The rich man summoned one of his secretaries and explained, “I promised this boy’s father many years ago that I would give him ten thousand rupees when I became rich and great. I can say that I have been rich for seven years; now you please calculate how much interest I have to give him in addition to the ten thousand rupees.”
The secretary told him, “Seven thousand rupees, which makes it seventeen thousand altogether.” The rich man immediately issued a check for seventeen thousand rupees and gave it to the little boy, saying, “Take this directly to your mother. Don’t go anywhere else first.”
This is the way one sincere man kept his promise.
