MORAL STORIES

A LOVING AND LOVELY GIFT

It was Christmas Eve. A small girl came to a jeweller’s shop. She pointed to a fine necklace displayed in the shelf and said that she wanted to buy it. The jeweller asked whether she had the money to pay for it. “Yes, I have,” she said, laying a packet of small coins on his table. He noticed that it amounted to only about ten rupees whereas the necklace was valued at thirty thousand rupees. Out of curiosity, he asked her why she wanted the necklace. She told him that she wanted to give it as a Christmas gift to her loving sister, who is looking after her after the death of their parents. The coins were from her piggy bank, her collection since last Christmas. She had been watching this necklace in the showroom for several days and was eagerly awaiting Christmas to purchase and present it to her sister.

He was deeply moved by the admirable affection of the innocent infant. He readily packed the necklace and gave it to her in exchange for her coins. She jumped with joy and ran home. She presented the gift to her sister. The elder sister assumed that the girl had stolen the necklace and scolded her. She dragged the girl to the shop and asked whether the article was stolen from there. The jeweler told her that he had sold it to the girl and that she had made full payment for it.

It is remarked that during that Christmas, Jesus was born in the lives of all the three persons- the loving girl, the merciful jeweller and the truthful sister.

Dr. Resmy Susan Babu, M.D, Senior Resident in Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Kottayam, Kerala & Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.
This is story No. 64 in this site. Please click ‘older posts’ at bottom of page to read previous stories in this site.