Author: Anita Bacha

Once there was a little boy who lived with his poor, widowed mother in a far away village.

His name was Hari. During school holidays he had no friend with whom to play. His mother was a loving woman and played with him when she was not busy with her household chores. One day, however, she fell ill and Hari became very lonely. His mother consoled him and told him to go out and play with Krishna.

‘Who is Krishna?’ Hari asked his mother.

‘Krishna is the friend of all!’

Hari rushed out eagerly calling ‘Krishna! Krishna!’

‘Hello!’ said a cow herd boy coming from behind a tree ‘why are you calling my name?’

“Let’s play!’ Hari uttered with joy.

They played together during the school holidays.

Back to school, Hari told the school master about his new friend, Krishna. The school master listened to his story but did not believe a word of it.

Soon it was the birthday of the school master. Hari became very sad; he had no money to buy him a birthday present. His mother then reminded him of his friend Krishna.

‘Go and talk to your friend Krishna’ she told Hari, ‘he will surely help you!’

Hari did as he was told and Krishna gave him a pot of butter milk.

‘Here! This is a birthday present for your school master!’ 

Unfortunately, the school master was not happy with the present. He scorned at it and asked his servant to throw the milk curd away. The servant complied but amazingly, the pot was filled with milk curd again. After several attempts to empty the pot, he ran to the school master to tell him about the incredible happening.

‘What!’ the school master exclaimed ‘it must be a magic pot!’ He immediately summoned Hari and asked him about the source of the pot.

When Hari replied that his friend Krishna gave it to him, the school master asked him to take him to Krishna immediately.

‘I want to see your friend!’ he exclaimed.

 The school master followed Hari to the place where he met Krishna. At the top of his voice, Hari called for his friend but Krishna did not appear. Then from behind a tree, they heard another voice:

‘Why are you calling me Hari ?’

Hari recognized the voice of his friend Krishna. He replied:

‘My school master wants to see you.’

‘The school master cannot see me, Hari because no one can see me unless he believes in me!’ said the voice gently but firmly.

The school master was bowled over. He returned to the school with his tail between his legs.

Anita Bacha

This short story is about faith and belief, my dear friends. I first heard it when I was a kid and,from my mom, a great devotee of the Indian God Lord Krishna. As a matter of fact, HARI is another name of Lord KRISHNA but my mom was very smart at story telling. Only later in life I found out her ingenuity in teaching me the use of words.

Anita Bacha