In a forest lived a squirrel.
The squirrel was very lazy and would spend most of its time sleeping or playing pranks on other animals and making fun of them.
There was an ant who was the squirrel’s neighbor. The squirrel would always make fun of the ant by saying “ Why do you always work like a slave. Why don’t you enjoy your life like me”. “ Just look at me. I enjoy my life to the fullest. What do you get by working so hard ? ”.
The ant did not speak anything as she knew there was no point talking to the squirrel.
One day there was an announcement in the forest that there would be heavy rains for the next few days. The ant decided to stock up on food so that she will have enough food to survive the harsh climate. She thought that as soon as the rain ended she may not be able to go hunting for food and hence decided to store sufficient food to last for a few months. She had food in her store room but still decided to store more food.
The ant was busy stocking up food and the squirrel as usual was playing and doing nothing.
Within a couple of days it started raining very heavily in the forest. It rained and rained. Days went by, then weeks went by, but still the rain did not stop.
The ant was safely staying at home and was not worrying much because she had sufficient food to last for a few months.
One day the ant was sipping her tea sitting by the window and enjoying the rain when she saw the squirrel running from tree to tree.
She thought the squirrel would be upto some mischief and just ignored it.
Next day when the ant was just relaxing on her couch she heard a soft thud. She ran to the window and peeped outside and she saw the squirrel lying on the ground. At first she thought the squirrel was as usual playing pranks. But she noticed that it was raining very heavily and the squirrel was not moving an inch. She got a bit worried and took her umbrella and went near the squirrel. When she reached near, she noticed that the squirrel was lying there unconscious. She hurriedly dragged the squirrel to her house. Covered him with a blanket and when the squirrel gained consciousness, she gave a hot cup of coffee to drink.
The squirrel felt ashamed of his previous behavior towards the ant and hung his head down in shame and asked for forgiveness. The ant told the squirrel that she has forgiven him and that we should always be prepared for the worst and hard work pays. She then shared her food with the squirrel until the end of rains and the squirrel changed from being lazy to being prepared and helping others.
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Suraj V M 