The Poor Old Woman

Hello, everyone.

    Today I am going to tell you a folktale of India.

    Once upon a time, there was an old woman in India. She was very poor. So poor that she could not afford to buy a lamp or a candle to light her little hut.

    Again this story was told to me when I was a little girl by my Aunt Aisha.

    Read on and find out she got out of her poverty.

The Poor Old Woman

    Once upon a time there was an old woman in India. She was so poor that she could not afford to buy a lamp or a candle to light her little hut. She had a spinning wheel which she used to spin thread with. Since she did not have any source of light it became very difficult for her to spin at night.

    Now there was a lady staying next to her hut. It was quite a big house. Now this lady used to light a lamp at night.  The lamp used to throw some light out of the window. The old woman used to go and spin near the window of that house.

    But the lady of the house did not like it one bit when the old woman used to do that. She felt very jealous and closed the window so as the old woman did not get any light.  She felt very sad that her neighbour treated her like that. So she used to take the spinning wheel and go on top of the hill and spin there in moonlight or if there was no moon in the faint light of the stars.

   One day, she took her spinning wheel and started to spin in the light of the window. As usual as soon as the lady of the big house saw that she closed the window.  So she took her spinning wheel and went to the top of the hill.

  

 As she was spinning away, suddenly four people appeared before her. The old lady looked up and saw them. She was surprised to see them because nobody came to this side of the hill at night. They were all old men.

    “Hello,” she greeted them, cheerfully.

    “Hello,” they greeted her back and asked, “why are you spinning here?”

    “Oh I like the moonlight,” she lied, not wanting to say anything about her neighbour.

    “But it is rather cold here,” one of them said and asked. “Don’t you feel cold?”  

    “Well, I do,” she replied. “I am covering myself with a thick shawl. So I don’t feel very cold.”

    “Do you like winter?” one of them asked.

    “Oh yes,” she replied. “In winter everything looks so nice because it is covered in snow. Everything looks white and beautiful.”

    “How about spring?” another old man asked.

    “Oh, I love spring,” she said, “the world looks so beautiful. The colourful flowers and the birds singing in the trees, it makes me very happy.”

    “What about summer?” the third old man asked.

    “The summer is beautiful, too,” she said. “The sun is always shining. The children play outside and they are so happy.”

    “How do you find autumn?” the fourth old man asked.

    “Oh autumn is lovely too,” she replied. “All the leaves turn such lovely colours then they fall and everything looks so nice. But why are you asking me all this?”

    “Well, you see,” the first one replied. “We are the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. We just wanted to know how you liked all the weathers.”

    “Oh, I see,” said old woman, taken aback.

    “Now since you like all the weathers,” Winter said, “we would like you to have these. Take them home and keep them somewhere safe.”

    Then they gave her twigs and leaves. They gave her enough to take them in her shawl. Then, they went away as suddenly as they had appeared.

    Now, the old woman was very much surprised that someone would give twigs and leaves for a gift but she did not say anything. When she had finished her spinning she took her spinning wheel and all the twigs and leaves and went home. She just tossed them in a corner of her hut and went to sleep.

    The next day she woke up bright and early as was her custom. Now when she woke up she got the surprise of her life!

    Now, you see what happened was that all the twigs and leaves had turned into gold and precious stones!

    The old woman could not believe her eyes. She rubbed them hard and looked again but they were still there. She was delighted. She took some of the gold and went to town and bought herself a lamp and some clothes. Now there was no need for her to work so hard.

    A few days passed. Her neighbour got curious when she saw that the old woman never went to spin near her window or on the hill at night. So one day, she went to her house.

    “Hello, how are you?” she greeted the old woman.

    “Hello, I am fine, thank you,” the old woman greeted back, very much surprised the she had come to her. Normally she did not even talk to her.

    After a bit if chatting, she asked about her wealth.

    The old woman was very polite and told her everything.

    Now this lady was very greedy. When she heard the old woman’s story she decided to go and do as her neighbour.

    So that day, she took a spinning wheel and went up the hill and started to spin. She sat there spinning for a very long time and she was getting frustrated now. She kept looking out for those old men.

    After some time these four men did appear.

    “Hello,” they greeted her. “How come you are spinning here?”

    “Hello,” the lady greeted back getting very excited and lied, “I like to come here and spin.”

    “But it is very cold,” one of them said and asked “Do you like cold weather?”

    “Oh no,” she said, “I hate cold weather, you can’t even go out. There is snow everywhere and it becomes difficult to walk in it.”

    “What about summer?” the other old man asked.

    “In the summer it is so hot,” she replied. “You just sweat so much and then you become sticky.”

    “How about spring?” one of them asked.

    “Spring is not so bad,” she replied, “but I don’t like it so much. The birds are so noisy and the children make so much noise playing outside.”

     “What about autumn?” one of them asked.

    “Autumn is not so good either,” she answered, arrogantly. “The leaves are falling everywhere and it is such a nuisance.”

    The four old man were frowning now.

    “Here take these,” one of them said and gave her enough twigs and leaves to carry in her shawl and disappeared just as they had come.

    The lady was delighted. She took her spinning wheel and all the leaves and twigs and went home. She kept them in a corner of her house expecting them to turn to gold and precious stones. She could hardly sleep with excitement. She was thinking all the time what she would do with all the wealth. At long last she did go to sleep but she woke up very early to see what she had got.

    But when she looked in the corner where she had kept all the twigs and leaves she got the shock of her life!

    Instead of gold and precious stones there were all kinds of snakes and insects! And they were all coming after her.

    She ran away as fast as she could, screaming. She never returned there again.

    So you see the old woman was a kind soul and she had been rewarded and the other lady was greedy and her greed had made her selfish and she had to pay for it!