The Merchant and the Ant
WANG SUN was a fabulously we a l t h y mer c h a n t . But he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. For years he struggled, battling poverty and creditors, dealing with clients and suppliers and bankers and sceptics.
He became rich, slowly and steadily. He now had a magnificent home, carriages, and wore garments and jewellery fit for a king.
One day, he heard that all his ships were lost at sea. Wang Sun had raised a lot of money from moneylenders and banks to outfit his ships for trade, and overnight, he lost everything to his creditors.
His home, his carriages, his magnificent garments and jeweller y, his servants and assistants, all disappeared as mist before the sunlight.
Wang Sun was now a broken man. “What shall I do,” he wailed, “I have lost everything. I cannot go on anymore. Let me kill myself.”
His wife, who was a very determined woman, said, “You shall do nothing of the sort. We will visit the wise old sage who lives amongst the h i l l s. Pe o p l e s ay he understands the ways of nature and the ways of man very well. Let us ask him for advice and see what he says.”
“Is he a moneylender? Is he a merchant?” said Wang Sun as he followed his wife up the hill. “How can he help me?” When the Wise Man of the Hills heard Wang Sun’s story, he laughed loud and long. Then he said, “Watch.”
He took a handful of sand and threw it over an ant crawling at his feet. The ant, after a brief struggle, came up out of the sand and again started about his business. The Wise Man again threw a heap of sand on the ant. The ant again struggled for a long time, then finally poked its head out of the heap of sand.
“No matter how many times I throw sand over this little fellow, he will struggle out of the heap and go about his business of collecting food. That is his nature. What is your nature, Wang Sun, my boy? You have struggled to reach a position of great wealth and power, but you let only one heap of sand defeat you? The ant does not understand adversity and defeat, no matter how many times it comes to him. He does what nature meant him to do. Are you a merchant by nature, Wang Sun? Then go, follow your nature and don’t come crying to me with little things.”
Wang Sun went back to the city with renewed hope. In time, he became rich again for he had discovered his nature. He never forgot the Wise Old Man of the Hills, whose name was Confucius. /© 2020 Amrita Bharati, Bharatiya 4230