As they walked along a field, they spotted a pair of shoes lying by the side of the path. It belonged to a poor farmer, working in the field nearby. The farmer had nearly finished his day's work and was almost getting ready to return home.
The student turned to the teacher and said:
"Let us play a cool prank with the poor man. Let us hide his shoes and then hide ourselves to see his panic and perplexity. I bet the poor man has only one pair of shoes and we will have some real fun watching him losing those shoes."
To this the teacher replied:
"My friend, we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of a poor person. You are from a rich family. Put a coin each in his shoes and let us hide ourselves. We will then watch how he reacts."
So the boy placed one coin each in the shoes and they hid themselves in the bush and waited for the farmer to return after work.
The farmer finished his work and came up to put on his shoes and coat.
As he put his first foot into the shoes, he felt something hard, bent down and looked for it and found a coin in it.
There was such a wonder and astonishment on his face. He did not know from where it came. He looked around and found no one.
Then he proceeded to put on the other shoe and found a coin in that too.
His surprise was doubled.
He was overcome with deep feelings of joy, wonder and excitement.
He fell on his knees, raised his eyes and hands to heaven and said a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
In that prayer he mentioned about his sick and helpless wife who stays home.
He mentioned about his children who have no bread to eat.
He thanked God for this timely help from some unknown hands which saved the whole family from starving and perishing.
The boy was deeply touched by this incident. His eyes were filled with tears. The teacher asked him how he felt now.
The boy said this has taught him a lesson which he would never forget:
IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE.
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