The Race Horse

There was a horse. Good breed. Strong. Energetic. The horse was bought by a merchant who also traded donkeys as a part of his business. The merchant was very fond of his pastime activities. One of them was donkey race. One day he thought, ‘For a change let me run my horse in this race’. The result was obvious. The horse won by a huge margin.

The merchant kept doing this for a while. Initially the horse enjoyed the race not because of winning but because he enjoyed running. The horse would put extra effort to win by a bigger margin each time. Then the horse got tired of the silly race. Neither the merchant rewarded him, nor did the donkeys pose any challenge. (Donkeys!!!!!) So the horse started reducing his speed. He still won but by lesser margins (The horse could not even dream of losing from donkeys). But the merchant was very happy. He thought his donkeys improving in speed (what a fool!!!!).

One day a horse trader was passing by the merchant’s fields with a field of horses (race horses) to be sold in the market near the donkey-merchant’s house. He needed a place to rest his horses for the day. The horse-trader asked the donkey-merchant for his help and the donkey-merchant being a kind-hearted person, offered places for the horse-trader and his horses to rest. That night the horse-trader received news that the market will remain closed for next three days. So he requested the donkey-merchant to allow him to stay for that duration and the donkey-merchant did not refuse.

The next morning the donkey-merchant suggested "Let’s race some of your horses against mine". The horse-trader saw no harm in that. The donkey-merchant was confident that his horse runs very fast so he placed a huge bet on his horse. The race began. The donkey-merchant’s horse now competing against horses was very excited initially but then realized he had lost his speed, strength and confidence. Half-way through the race, he got scared of other horses and finally lost miserably. The horse was devastated at realizing his own value and his confidence was shattered. The merchant thought his horse is no longer good enough and is under-performing so thought to sell him off to the horse-trader to recover the money he lost in the bet. Due to the loss the donkey-merchant could not ask for a higher price for his horse. So he sold him to the horse-trader for a relatively small amount.

The horse-trader knew more about horses than the donkey-merchant. So he was happy to get a good horse for a small price. Three days later the horse-trader bid farewell to the donkey-merchant and left.

Few months later, the donkey-merchant received a parcel from the horse-trader. The parcel contained a letter, few photographs and a recent newspaper cutout and some cash. The letter read; "Hello my friend. I am very happy to let you know that the decision to buy that horse you few months back turned out to be one of my best decisions. With some training the horse turned into the ‘winning-beast on the track’ as they call it. It gives me immense pleasure to let you know that this horse has won at the grandest of all races. I have sent you some of his race-track photographs and a newspaper article on his latest success. I hope you would be as happy as I am.

Regards,
Your friend."

Having read the letter and the newspaper article the donkey-merchant realized what a fool he was. All the time he was comparing the horse with donkeys and making a donkey of himself in judging the horse. By the time he realized he had lost but it was very late by then.

Never judge anyone unfairly. With fair judgment you can bring out the best in someone.