The Ox Who Won the Wager

The Ox Who Won the Wager

Once there lived a farmer who had an extraordinarily strong ox. The animal helped him in the fields, carried heavy sacks, and could pull a cart where other oxen had already stopped from weariness.

The farmer was very proud of his helper.

One day, he boasted in the market square.

“My ox is so strong that he can pull a whole line of one hundred carts!”

People laughed.

“One hundred carts? Do not exaggerate!”

“I am not exaggerating,” the farmer replied. “I am even willing to make a wager.”

They agreed on a large sum of silver.

The next morning, one hundred empty carts were brought to the square and fastened one behind another. A crowd gathered. Everyone wanted to see whether one ox could really move such a long line.

The farmer was nervous. Suddenly he feared that if the ox did not move at once, people would laugh at them both.

So instead of encouraging his old friend kindly, he shouted sharply, “Come on! Move! Do not stand there, you lazy thing!”

The ox heard those words and froze.

Never before had his master spoken to him so roughly.

“Move!” the man shouted again.

But the ox did not take a single step.

The crowd began to murmur, and the farmer had to pay the silver he had lost.

On the way home, he walked with his head down.

“I do not understand,” he kept saying. “You have pulled heavier loads. Why did you not even try today?”

That evening, he brought the ox his feed. The ox looked at his master with large, calm eyes.

“I have worked beside you for many years,” said the ox. “You always spoke to me gently. But today, before everyone, you called me lazy, as though I had never helped you.”

The farmer lowered his head.

He understood what had happened.

“Forgive me,” he said. “I was afraid of losing, and I forgot that you are not a machine, but my helper. I will not speak to you like that again.”

The ox was quiet for a moment.

“Very well. Tomorrow let us return to the square. If you ask me kindly, I will show you what I can do.”

The next day, the farmer went to the market again.

People were surprised.

“Do you want to lose again?”

“No,” he smiled. “Today I want to correct my mistake.”

The one hundred carts were once again fastened into a long line.

The farmer decorated the ox’s neck with a small wreath of flowers, stroked him, and said quietly, “My friend, you are strong and reliable. Please help me. Show what you can do.”

The ox braced his hooves against the earth.

Once.

Again.

The wheels of the first cart creaked.

Then the second began to move, the third, the tenth—and soon the entire long line rolled across the square.

The crowd burst into cheers.

“Incredible!”

“He really did it!”

The ox calmly pulled all one hundred carts to the marked place and stopped.

The people returned the farmer’s lost money and added the winnings from the new wager.

But this time, the man was not happy about the silver.

He put his arms around the ox’s neck and said, “Today you taught me something more important than any prize.”

The ox flicked an ear.

“And what is that?”

“That a kind word is sometimes stronger than the loudest command.”

They went home together.

And from that time on, whenever the farmer wanted someone to do a difficult task, he first remembered the hundred carts and chose his words as carefully as a good craftsperson chooses tools.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨