The Old Widow’s Gift
Very long ago, in China, there was a powerful King. He wanted to build a beautiful big temple to the Goddess of Heaven. It would be the most beautiful temple in the world.
Now the King needed a lot of money to build this temple. So he called on the rich lords and merchants and landowners to help. They were to bring their gifts of money or jewels to the King’s officers.
These officers stood in front of the palace and waited for the people to come with their gifts. They had big pots and bags for putting the gifts in.
One by one the people came. They were afraid of the King, so they decided to bring a lot of money for his temple. They brought bags of silver and gold. The King’s officers smiled at these rich gifts.
And old widow came along. She was very poor and was dressed in rags. She took five copper coins out of her handkerchief.
“These are for the temple of the Goddess,” she said. “I hope you will accept them.” But the King’s officer laughed loudly.
“What!” they said. “Only five copper coins! Do you know, old woman, that others have given bags of silver and gold ?”
Then the officers threw away the five copper coins which rolled into a muddy ditch nearby.
So the building of the temple began. With so much money, the King could have the best of everything. He ordered gold roof for the temple, and the finest marble for the floors. But a strange thing happened.
Every time the temple was nearly ready, something went wrong. First the roof feel in.
Next the walls cracked.
Last of all the floors split.
The King and his officers couldn’t understand why this was happening. They were very worried.
Then one night, the King had a dream. In the dream, he saw a Goddess of Heaven.
She said to him,”The temple will never be finished, because I am very angry. Your officers threw away the five copper coins of the widow. Her gift is the most valuable of all. She had worked so hard to earn that coins. If your officers do not find the widow’s coins, the temple will fall to pieces.”
When the King woke up, he went to the officers as fast as he could. He ordered them to look for the coins.
They searched for a long time in the muddy ditch. They had to go on their hands and knees in the mud.
At last they found the five copper coins. They took them back to the King who put them carefully in a box beside the gold and silver coins.
It was not long before the temple was ready. It was the most beautiful temple in the world.
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