Pride goes before a fall

This is a famous proverb "Pride goes before a fall"

There was a village once where lived a man, who believed that he was the wisest person in the village because he is the only learned person. The wise man was full of pride, arrogance, and vanity that he thought he was the wisest person in the whole world.

He used to say that he knows everything, no one can challenge him. His knowledge and intelligence were so high that the people of the village used to respect him very much and he was famous among them.

Every day he would walk around the village and tell everyone how wise he was and boasting that no one is as wise as he is. The man thought highly of himself as he was the only learned person in the village. Always he was seen wearing white clothes and basking in his own glory.

The village people used to come to him for solutions to their problems. Mostly they came asking him to provide solutions to practical issues like how to cure a stubborn cow, a poor harvest, or a snake in their garden. Sometimes they came with more philosophical questions such as “Why do we die?” and “Who created the world?”

The wise man would answer all their questions patiently and then he would end his answers with, no one is wiser than me. His good deeds were only for show and society was well aware of this. Even then, no one cared, so far he was giving solution to their problems.

Day by day, the wise man's arrogance grew more and more. Sometimes he wouldn't even attend to the villagers problem, instead he will be asking for the biggest animals and biggest harvest before he answers them. This annoyed the villagers.

One day a boy walked up to him and said he can prove to the wise man that he is wiser than him. I want to challenge you "he said"

The wise man laughed with pride and said "who are you? Who is your father." (still laughing).

The boy did not get disturbed; instead he smiled at the wise man and said with confidence "My name is Samuel and my father's name is Abraham" do you wish to know my mother's name? "He asked".

The wise man saw the boy's confidence and knew the boy wasn't joking with the challenge. Due to pride, the wise man agreed to the boy's challenge.

The wise man did not believe him because he thought that no one could challenge his intelligence. He had never been challenged by anyone before. Therefore, he accepted and said, "I am waiting for your challenge."

The boy started thinking for a moment and then said, "Yes I have a challenge for you."

The boy then continued, "If you are so intelligent then tell me which leg I will first move when I will walk? now let’s see who is actually more intelligent."

The wise man got puzzled and he thought that how can any human being know that another human being will move the left leg first and then the right leg. But he wanted to show that he is more intelligent than the boy so he said confidently, "You will move your left leg first."

The boy then smiled and moved his right leg first. He proved the wise man wrong. Then the boy walked away happily having won the challenge by tricking the wise man as it was not possible for anyone to know about the movement of legs of another person even before that person would move those legs.

The wise man realized that despite all his wisdom he was still fooled by the little boy. The following morning,he packed his things and left the village with shame.

Moral lesson:

Pride goes before a fall. We shouldn't be proud. Anyone who refuses to stop being proud will face the same fate as the wise man.

Thanks for reading ❤️❤️