Early to Rise

An old man and a boy lived in a hut. The old man had taken the young boy as an apprentice. He was a carpenter, and he trained the boy to make things out of wood. Each morning, they would get supplies in town. They used the supplies to make items to sell.

The old man knew that some day the boy would be left alone. He wanted to teach him all he could, and so one day he decided to send the boy to town for supplies all by himself.

The old man woke the boy up at 5:00 in the morning and sent him on his way. The boy came home with all of his supplies, but he was exhausted. The next morning, he woke the boy up at 5:00 and sent him to town. The boy came home again with all he needed. On the third morning, the old man woke him again at 5:00. The boy wondered why the old man was doing this.

The next morning, the old man did not wake the boy. The boy woke up on his own. He didn’t wake up until 8:00 in the morning and he did not get to town until 9:00 A.M. By the time he got to town, there were no supplies left. The wood pile had been picked over. Saddened, the boy returned home with little. He realized the lesson that the old man had been trying to teach him.