|
|
 | | From: | JPF | | Subject: | Four Wives | | Date: | Mon, 10 Jan 2005 15:01:55 GMT |
|
|
 | There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He
loved the 4th wife the most
and adorned her with rich robes and treated her
to delicacies. He took great
care of her and gave her nothing but the best.
He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's very
proud of her and always wanted
to show off her to his friends. However, the
merchant is always in great fear
that she might run away with some other men.
He too, loved his 2nd wife. She is a very
considerate person, always patient and
in fact is the merchant's confidante.
Whenever the merchant faced some
problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she
would always help him out and
tide him through difficult times.
Now, the merchant's 1st wife is a very loyal
partner and has made great
contributions in maintaining his wealth and
business as well as taking care
of the household. However, the merchant did
not love the first wife and
although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice
of her.
One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he
knew that he was going to die
soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told
himself, "Now I have 4 wives
with me. But when I die, I'll be alone. How lonely
I'll be!"
Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most,
endowed you with the finest
clothing and showered great care over you. Now
that I'm dying, will you follow
me and keep me company?"
"No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked
away without another word. The
answer cut like a sharp knife right into the
merchant's heart.
The sad merchant then asked the 3rd wife, "I
have loved you so much for all
my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and
keep me company?"
"No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is so good
over here! I'm going to remarry
when you die!" The merchant's heart sank and turned
cold.
He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to
you for help and you've always
helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I
die, will you follow me and
keep me company?"
"I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!"
replied the 2nd wife. "At the very
most, I can only send you to your grave."
The answer came like a bolt of
thunder and the merchant was devastated.
Then a voice called out : "I'll leave with you.
I'll follow you no matter where
you go." The merchant looked up and there was his
first wife. She was so skinny,
almost like she suffered from malnutrition.
Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I should have
taken much better care of you
while I could have!"
Actually, we all have 4 wives in our lives .......
The 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time
and effort we lavish in making
it look good, it'll leave with us when we die.
Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and
wealth. When we die, they all go
to others.
The 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter
how close they had been there
for us when we're alive, the furthest they can stay
by us is up to the grave.
The 1st wife is in fact our soul, often
neglected in our pursuit of material
wealth and sensual pleasure. Guess what? It is
actually the only thing that
follows us wherever we go. Perhaps it's a good idea
to cultivate and strengthen
it now rather than to wait until we're on our death
bed to lament.
|
|
|
