The Book-Worm (Part 1)
Once there was a kind little, 10 year old boy named Karthik. He was an avid reader and was in grade 4. He loved reading books. He had loving parents, 1 small sister and 1 small brother, but still.. Books were his real friends. One day, he found a book called: “Royals and Dragons: A Collection of Fantasies.” He read the blurb, it read:
“If you want to get lost in the world of fantasy, read this book. You get to go through a portal, which teleports you through ages like: Stone-Age, Medieval Times and the time between 1600–1900. Many stories have morals,proverbs and central ideas.A beautiful way to pass your time!”
He opened the book. He read many stories, but here is the best one:
THE MYTH OF THE GOLDEN SWANS
Once in a calm and beautiful kingdom, lived a handsome and witty king and a beautiful and sweet queen. They ruled the kingdom like a pro. One day, one of the fishermen came to the court and exclaimed “Your Highness! Yesterday evening, I went to the banks of the river to fish. Over there, I saw 2 golden swans!” “What?! I order whoever gets 4 feathers off each swan will get 70,000 gold coins and the post of the chief minister in the court.” There was a silence and after sometime, a loud murmur. Many men and women tried, but none of the feathers was real. Then one day, a peasant decided to try. She went to the river bank where they were found. In the evening, she fed them some wheat seeds. And slowly bent a bit forward and plucked 8 feathers. She presented the feather to the king and queen. They found it was real. She revealed that they were good fairies reborn and given a boon that their skin would gleam. They were punished as they had broken some rules of the Fairy Land. The peasant girl was offered 70,000 gold coins and the post of the chief minister. And the end of the story is that the swans lived happily and the chief minister bought a new house. Moral of the story is : Lies are short-lived.
The story ends here. He kept the book, in search of new books.
The end (part 2 coming soon!..)
