Magical Swan

• Nishtha Bhatt, Grade 3
• Short Story
• 2013

"It's already 9 am, come on Simon!!" Said Katy (Simon's wife). Simon always woke up very late and was very lazy. Because he was rich, he showed off all the time. He never did any work, he just told his servants to do all the jobs. He had a huge farm and heaps of servants.

One day a servant told his fellow workers that don't do so hard work guys because our boss never comes to visit his farm and sleeps in all the time, then why do we have to worry about his farm and crops. All his friends agreed and told the others to stop working.

Once they all stopped work, they started to laugh and chat. They got crops, vegetables and fruits for themselves from the Simon's farm. By that day all workers started to come late and soon the whole farm was empty.

Katy forced Simon to go to the farm and see if everything is alright. Finally Simon agreed and went to visit his farm. He was shocked to see the whole farm empty!!!

In no time he became poor. Simon had a poor friend who now became rich because of his hard working days he spent in his small farm. On a sunny hot afternoon Simon met his friend Leo and asked him how he became rich.

Leo was very kind and didn't want to tell Simon that he was lazy so he said a lie. "Oh!! do you want to know how I became rich then why didn't you asked me before?" "Well, there is a magical swan that does magic and grows people's crops, but very hard to find. He always comes vary early in the morning at dawn. You have to catch him before he disappears and he will fulfill your wish.

"That's not a problem, I will surely find him. He woke at 5 am everyday to see if the swan was there. On his first day he waited for his servants but they came very late!!! Now the servants were scared of Simon because he always visited the farm. One day a person who was supposed to milk the cow was cheating and Simon had spotted him. He was taking one of the milk pot for him!!! Once he was spied Simon was very angry at the cow milker. Now he became doing the right job. Simon spotted a few more cheaters but they became doing the right job too. Everything was back to normal and Simon became wealthy again.

It was a stormy rainy night when Leo came to Simon's house for a chat. When he came Simon asked him where is your magical swan. I couldn't find him for months. I just wasted my time on it. "Oh it's not wastage but investment of your time. There is no such thing as a magical swan. Your hard work did all the magic and you became wealthy so it means that you are the magical swan. Before you were careless and lazy but now look at you!! You wake up early, work hard with your employees and spotted cheaters. If you help yourself then God also helps you and this rain is proof of that. Now this rain will grow your crops very well.

Simon realized his mistake and thanked Leo for his help. Then after Simon and Katy both worked hard and lived happily ever after.