You were not there

Once upon a time in a small village lived two brothers. The younger one was seven years old and the elder one was nine. The kids used to spend most of their time playing with each other in the forest.

One such evening while playing hide and seek, the elder brother ventured into the dark forest. His brother tried finding him everywhere but he could not. 

Afraid and reluctant, he eventually entered the forest to look for his brother. After many hours of ordeal, he finally spotted his elder brother trapped in a deep dry well screaming for help. The kid looked around to seek help from someone but there was no sign of any human in the vicinity. They were all alone there! Alarmed, he ran to the well where his brother was trapped to help him out. By now both of them had realized that they were completely on their own. 

The younger brother started looking around the well and found a piece of worn out rope. Without wasting another minute, he quickly dropped the rope inside the well and asked his brother to tie it around his waist. His elder brother did as he said, and the kid started pulling him up. Despite his full strength, the kid was hardly able to lift him off the bottom of the pit. His strength started wavering off pretty soon. After all he was just a 7-year-old kid.

Exhausted, the kid looked around again. It was pitch dark. There was no one around to help him out. He closed his eyes and decided to persevere as he had no choice. Then he started pulling the rope with all his strength. This time the rope moved a little. Motivated, this time he tried a little harder. Slowly his efforts and patience started paying off. After an hour of this taxing ordeal, he was finally able to rescue his brother.

Since it was already dark, both the boys immediately ran towards the village. They met their folks in the village, who had already started looking for them. When they narrated their story to the gathering, everyone was astonished. Each and every villager said, “How can a 7-year-old do that? It is just not possible.” No one trusted their version of the story, and grew suspicious of their account.

Finally, it was unanimously decided to take up the matter with the village elder - a wise old man, whom villagers used to approach for guidance and advice. The old man listened to story and smiled. A guy from the gathering shouted - “You only tell us how can a small boy of 7 years do that?”

To this, the old wise man retorted - “He could do that because you were not there to tell him that he cannot do it.”

The power lies within you! All you need to do is believe in yourself. Just don’t give up! Perseverance is the key to success.