There was an orphan named ‘Big Boy’ in the village. He lost his parents when he was small, life was hard to him.

The people always mention that the city is a great place to visit. Despite the fact that the streets are filled with fun and joy, even the pavement bricks were made from gold! However, Big Boy never had a chance to pay a visit to the city as he grew up in a village.

Big Boy believed what he heard. Since then, he has been desired to go to the city. Yet, the city is far away from the village.

One day, Big Boy found out that there was a student that was trying to get to the city for the exam. He has an idea of following him. Hence, he silently hid himself in the cabin of the boat to the city. The people on the boat never knew about him until they departed. Yet, they did not force him off the boat as they thought that this poor little orphan was trying to get to the city and look for his relatives.

As they arrive, Big Boy jumped out of the boat happily and left without even thanking the people. He was so happy that he could finally be in the city to search and collect the gold bricks as what he heard. Searching for the whole day and going through the alleys, all he could see were tall buildings and carriages, not even a single sign of golden brick. He began to feel disappointed.

After a day without achievement, hunger strikes. He remembered himself stocking in the farm back when he was still in the village. At least he had a way of earning back there. What could he do here in the city?

Tired and hungry, he walked pass a house where its backdoor was opened. Big Boy got into the house, and asked for food from a woman. The woman did not pity him, and yelled “You’re a young man! Why should you beg for food instead of studying or working?”

“I lost my parents when I was a kid, no one was there to support me for studies. I did work, but if you could just hire me, I’d be glad.” replied by the Big Boy.

The woman did not sympathize on him but said “If you’re not going I’ll pour the hot water on you!”

He had no choice, but to leave the house with tears. Having nowhere to stay, he overnighted on the street. On the next morning, he woke up with tears as he thought of his background, without parents, occupation.

As he was sobbing beside the street, a wealthy man passed by. He asked about Big Boy’s story as he pity towards him. The wealthy man asked if Big Boy is willing to work for him in his kitchen. Without any consideration, Big Boy agreed to work for him.

When Big Boy was brought to the kitchen, he was stunned as he found out the woman who scolded him works for this wealthy man too. He was afraid as he got in.

When the old woman saw him, she said “I’m older than you. If you do anything wrong, I’ll hit and scold you.”

Big Boy never dared to even reply her. He began to be as hard-working as he could to serve the family. Yet, the old woman was still yelling at him. Fortunately, the master’s daughter found out about this and reminded the old woman. His life seemed a little better since then.

Big Boy’s bedroom was right beside the kitchen. When the rats stole all the food they could in the kitchen, they’d invade Big Boy’s bedroom. He was often bit, scratched by them as if he was their toy and as if his bedroom was their playground. Big Boy always said that “My life worsen when it comes to night”. As time goes by, everyone had new clothing but him. Fortunately, the master’s daughter handed him 100 dollars for clothes and salary. This was the first time Big Boy had seen such a large amount of money. He thanked the master’s daughter as he accepted her sympathy.

With this amount of money, Big Boy can get himself new clothing. He marched himself joyfully to the shop, and asked for new clothes.

The staff in the shop counted the amount of money and replied “You can’t buy new clothes with 100 dollars. That’s not enough. Perhaps you should go to the tailor to help sew up the holes on your clothe.”

Big Boy left the shop disappointedly. On his way back, he saw someone selling cats on the street. This reminded him about the rats. 100 dollars might not give him new clothing, but he could at least, buy a cat with that. Hence, he came up to the person and asked for the price. It costs him 50 dollars for a cat and so, he bought it.

He brought the cat back to the house, but was afraid that the old woman would yell at him. Therefore, he kept the cat silently in his room. Since then, there was no sign of rats anymore. He looked better now since he is able to sleep well with the help of the cat.

Big Boy’s master, the wealthy man has several boats. He’d take the boat overseas for business. The servants and maids in the house would give something to their master to bring out and earn on the interest. Some of them gave silk, some tea, and some gave pottery. Big Boy was the only one who had nothing. When the master asked him about this, he replied “I have no money. I have nothing but a cat.”

Master: “You can even earn from selling a cat. Give it a try.”

He went back to his room helplessly. Got his cat out from the worn out blanket, and his tears began to flow. He sent his cat up the boat, while the rest of the people laughed at me.

Without his cat, Big Boy’s life was tough like before. He had to suffer the music from the old woman during his work at day, and couldn’t sleep well at night. The old woman teased that “If you earned some money from that cat, why don’t you buy me a cane. My hand aches when I had to hit you with it.”

He suffers day and night and had thought about running back to his village. There was once he tried to run away early in the morning. Passing by several alleys, he couldn’t remember which way to go. He had no choice, but to come back to the house.

Meanwhile, the master left the country on boat. He went oversea to some foreign countries for his business. After a few months, he arrived at an interesting country. The master and shipman is fond of such business. Within a day, all their goods were sold out. However, there’s one thing left behind, which is Big Boy’s cat. The shipman reserved some of the exotic items and gave them to the emperor as gifts. The emperor was pleased and decided to organize a feast for them.

When they arrived at the palace, the emperor and empress welcomed them to the feast. However, they found themselves astounded by what they’ve seen. The plates were all empty! All the food was eaten by rats! These rats stood still and looked at the shipman fearlessly.

The emperor sighed “We apologize for what you have seen. Our guests were frightened by them, but we’re quite used to them. There are lots of rats in our country. Do you not have any rat in your country?”

The shipman was reminded by the emperor’s word. Big Boy gave him his cat previously, perhaps this is where the cat is useful of. “There are rats in my country too, but there’s an animal called ‘cat’ that the rats fear of. I have one on my boat, I bet the cat is the solution to your problem.”

The emperor was absolutely delighted when he heard this. “Really? If it is so, then I’ll take that animal at all cost!”

The shipman quickly went back to his boat and took the cat with him. They knew that the rats will only emerge when there is food, hence, they set up a feast to attract them. When the rats started jumping out of nowhere, the shipman released the cat immediately. As the rats saw the cat, they ran for their lives as if they saw a monster.

The emperor and empress were both delighted. Yet, they worried that the ‘cat’ is a baby tiger that could grow up to hurt people. But the shipman told them “Cats do not harm people. Do not worry.”

The empress held the cat up and put it on her legs. The cat rolls itself on her legs and the empress thought it was very cute.

The emperor kept the cat and gave lots of golden pearls in return. The golden pearls could worth up to hundred thousand dollars.

Since then, the cat became a ‘Royal Cat’ in the ‘Cat-less Country’. There is no sign of any rat in the palace ever since the cat was here. For this, the emperor and empress had been treating it like their greatest treasure.

When the shipman and master returned home, everyone’s got their profit. The house was filled with joyful spirit at the moment.

The shipman then grabbed a bag of golden pearl out from his pocket. The people thought that it belongs to the master, but they never know that it actually belongs to Big Boy! They are jealous and envied over him. Only the master was happy for him and he asked for Big Boy to come forth for his profit. The master said “From now on, we must call him Sir or Mister rather than calling his name.”

By that time, Big Boy was still doing his work. His clothe seemed even more worn out that it was. Without even washing his face, he was asked to get out. Looking at his image, the people laughed uncontrollably. “Mister Big Boy, your cat was sold and master had asked you to come forth for your reward.”

Big Boy thought that this was a joke, and he did not believe what he heard. Hence, the master came to him personally and he followed behind the master. The master gave him a seat, but thinking that this could be a joke, Big Boy asked to return to his work or else the old woman would be mad at him.

Master: “You won’t have to do such a thing anymore, Sir. You are even wealthier than I am for now.”

The shipman showed him the golden pearls on the table and told him what happened. Big Boy was stunned as he couldn’t tell himself that this is happening. After a few moments, he said to the master “I had to thank you, master. If it wasn’t for you I would not have this. I’d give half of my reward to you.”

The master refused his offer. Big Boy recalled that it was the master’s daughter who gave him the money to buy the cat. For that, he gave a few of the golden pearls to her. He gave some of his pearls to his friends, including the old woman who was always mad at him. Everyone was grateful towards him.

Big Boy is now a wealthy man himself! Yet, he decided to stay with the master. He was never ego even though he became a rich man. He’s treating the master and his friends politely. Since then, he’d go for his study every single day. As years gone by, he became a knowledgeable person.

Big Boy was a kid from a village, who came to the city in search of the golden bricks. He had been unfortunate that he nearly became a beggar. But with the wealthy man’s sympathy, he did not have to stay in the cold streets on the city in hunger. This is an unpredictable reward from his “business”. But as he became wealthy, he would still study and learn to become a knowledgeable person, and to become a polite person. This is what we call a true wealthy man.


Postscript:

There’s no free lunch

The main character in the story, Big Boy heard the rumours about the city while he was still in the village. But when he got the chance to visit the city, he found that those rumours are lies. If we wish to enjoy living, we must strive until we achieve victory.

However, we’d sometimes think like the way Big Boy did in the story. For example, sometimes the children would think that the teacher next class is a better teacher when they see that their friends next class have higher achievement than they do. For this, they’d hope to get a chance to be switched to that class the next semester. But when they got into that class, it is when they found out there’s actually no difference from their previous teacher. The only difference existing, is the amount of effort they put in their studies. Hence, we must not only see other people’s good achievement and follow what they do. What we should do, is to make that as our aim, and strive forward until we reach the aim.


Making the right choice at the right time

It is often that we weren’t clear of what’s more important from time to time. For example, we must put study as the first place during school time. Whereas if we put games at the first place, we’d probably lost the great opportunity to gain knowledge. How are we going to help ourselves and help the people around us without knowledge? Big Boy made a right choice at the right time in this story, but do you know when was his ‘right timing’ and what was his ‘right choice’? If you remember the master’s daughter giving him some money, you’ll know that buying a cat with that money is a right choice at that moment. If Big Boy were to buy new clothes or some other thing with that amount of money, the rats would still be existing. His problems weren’t solved at that point. On the other hand, if he bought a cat home, the rats would never return as the cat has become the solution of his problem!


To keep on fighting courageously, is the key to true happiness

Another good value that we must learn from Big Boy, is his spirit of fighting! He earned himself a lot of money from the cat, but still, he would never stop studying. He knew that money could be used up any day in the future, but knowledge and wisdom would stay in our mind forever. Hence, you must all give your best effort in your study no matter if it’s your favourite subject or the other way round. Ikeda Sensei often encouraged that “'Courageous' challenge is the way to absolute happiness. The happiness of life is the valuable challenges. A sluggish and calm life would never be enriched with the absolute happiness.”


Let’s fight courageously towards the challenges until victory is achieved!

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Heroism.

Labels: n. Story palace