Long ago, there lived a king named Ashoka. He was a great scholar. The king always believed in honesty and hard work. The king always desired to see the people in his kingdom to work honestly and follow the principles. The king's favorite proverb was- work is worship.
One day, king Ashoka decided to find out whether the people in his kingdom followed his ideals or not. So, he called some of his ministers and said, "Travel around the kingdom and find out what jobs the people have undertaken, and whether they are performing their duties sincerely or not. Find the person who knows the secret of hard work, and bring him to me. But no one should know that you have been sent by me." "As you wish, you’re Majesty!" said the courtiers and took leave of the king.
"The king has given us a difficult task to perform," said one of the ministers."Let's start right away." "But many people know that we are the king's ministers," said another. "The people may identify us." Among them there was a minister name Rama and he suggested, "Let's disguise ourselves as tribal men." So, they all dressed up as tribal men, boarded a bullock cart and set out on their way.
They came across a woodcutter, who was cutting trees with his big axe.” Let’s talk to him," said Rama to the fellow ministers. They stopped their bullock cart and walked up to the woodcutter. "O woodcutter, do you like your job?" The woodcutter paused for a while and flung his axe aside and said with gloomy face,” Not at all! I do it because this work has been inherited by my ancestors." Rama and his fellow ministers boarded their bullock cart and proceeded on their path. After travelling few more miles, and they came upon a washer man. Rama walked up to the washer man. "Hello, dear washer man," he said. "It seems you are enjoying your work!" The washer man became angry and began to beat the clothes harder. "Is this work enjoyable?" he retorted. "It's a punishment for me. When I was a child, I did not show much interest in studying. I never listened to my parents and never worked hard. So, I could not qualify for a good job. Now my family is dependent on me and I have to do this job to feed them."
Rama went back and boarded his bullock cart. They continued their journey and after going a few miles, they saw a young man who was studying seriously. "What are you doing, young man?" asked Rama. The young man replied humbly "I am a teacher". I am reading this book so that I can teach my students tomorrow. It gives me great satisfaction to spread my knowledge.
"Can you explain me the secret of hard work?" asked Rama. "Of course I can!" replied the teacher. "Work is worship! No matter what you do, you must love it and do it sincerely." Rama and his group took the teacher to the king. After listening what the ministers said the king was pleased by the teacher and said, I'm going to built a big school for you and your students. Many people took inspiration from this incident, and ever since then hard work and sincerity was deeply valued by the people of the kingdom.
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