Reflection from Sunday School
Dear Readers,
From now on, I’ll be writing most blogs through short stories. I took this decision because I believe stories can share a message and captivate the reader at the same time. Feel free to give feedback in the comments.
Here’s the first story:-
Amongst the mountains lived a young girl named Nidhi.
She had heard of a precious stone called 'Diranma'.
It could give powers to the owner and strengthen them in some way. Nidhi had been fascinated with the stone ever since she heard about it. One day, she told her parents, “Mumma, Papa, I want to look for Diranma!”. “Are you out of your mind!” exclaimed her mother. “It’s too dangerous, sweetheart,” said her father.
She didn’t listen to her parents. At midnight, she woke up and packed a sack containing five loaves of bread, two apples, some cashews, some water and a sleeping bag. She ventured out in the dark. After walking for a few hours, still determined to find the stone, she found herself in a forest.
There, she encountered a hunter and asked, “Do you know where Diranma is?” She asked, hoping he’d know the answer. “I do, but I advise you not to look for it. For I once was like you, looking for the precious stone. The consequences make the action hard not to regret,” he stated. “Please, I’m desperate!” begged Nidhi. “Since you want it so bad, I’ll give you a map, but never say I didn’t warn you”, said the hunter as he searched his pocket and gave a folded map leading to the stone. “Thank you so much!” exclaimed Nidhi as she took the map and opened it immediately. She followed the directions and walked for hours before munching on a loaf of bread and drinking some water.
Days went by, and she still hadn’t reached the gate leading to the stone yet. She was almost out of supplies. Soon, all her hard work paid off as she saw a beautiful gate. “Finally!”, she exclaimed at the sight of it. There stood a guard, watching her. He approached her and stated, “You need to pay one-third of your soul to enter. It will be paid back to you if you leave this gate without the precious stone, Diranma.” She thought, "I’m only giving one-third of my soul, not much." “Okay, but how do I give it to you?”, she asked. “We will take it ourselves.” stated the guard as he strangely moved his hands, chanting some prayer. As soon as his ritual ended, Nidhi felt less excited about the stone. “Thank you.”, she said as she went inside the gate and walked for a few minutes.
Soon she saw an overflowing river that was too deep. She didn't know about swimming. Fortunately, she saw a fisherman sitting on his boat with a fishing rod in the middle of the river. “Can you please drop me off the other side?”, she asked. “You’ll have to give me one-third of your soul. I’ll give it back if you come without Diranma.”, the fisherman stated. ‘I’ll still have one-third of my soul left’, she thought and agreed to pay one-third of her soul to the fisherman. “All right”, he said. He rowed to the side where Nidhi was and told her to get on the boat.
Nidhi was feeling less excited about the stone than ever. She hopped on the boat and soon reached the other side of the river. She saw a huge palace. A guard was standing, so she approached him and asked, “Can I enter this palace?” “You will have to pay a quarter of your soul.”, stated the guard. She cared the least at this point and just gave it to him like it was nothing but a piece of wood. The palace doors opened just like that. Nidhi found her curiosity strained about how it opened. She just walked in. There was The Diranma, placed on a huge table. But the remaining part of her soul rejected it. It longed for her parents, her friends, and her family. She thought for a while and headed back without the stone. She got all the pieces of her soul back. And when she reached the guard, he said, “I will teleport you back to your home now!” “Huh?”, Nidhi exclaimed.
But before she knew it, she was home with her parents. She hugged them tight and shrieked, “I missed you. I missed you a lot!” Her parents, eyes filled with tears, replied, “We missed you too!” “I went looking for the stone, but it was not worth it!”, said teared up Nidhi. She learnt that her loved ones were more important than any other stone in the world.
Written by-
Aria Gupta
Grade VI
Gyanshree School
