Story 1
In olden times, there was a royal messenger. He was faithful but hasty by temperament. One day, the king ordered him to convey an important message to the commander of his army. The king asked him to deliver the message swiftly. He set out on his journey at once. At the time of departure, he noticed that a nail from one of the shoes of the horse was missing. As he was in haste, he neglected it. He made his horse gallop. When he had covered half of the distance, he realized that the horse was limping. He got off the horse to see the problem. To his grief, he discovered that one of the shoes of the horse had gone off. In embarrassment, he made the horse run even faster. After some time, the horse fell down and died: The messenger ran wildly. At last, he reached the battlefield but he was too late. The king’s army had been defeated because of no delivery of the message. He cursed himself for not being careful about the nail but it was too late to mend.
Story 2
One time a messenger was to carry a few important instructions as of the king to the commander of the army, in the battle-field. As he was going to start, he found that one nail was missing from the shoe of the horse. He did not care about that. As he wanted to save time, he set off at once. On the way, the second nail from the shoes went off, but the messenger continued his journey. At last, all the nails slipped off and the shoe fell down. Now the horse could run no longer. It was getting late. The messenger was much worried. He tried to make his horse run faster and faster. Soon the horse was tired. It fell down and was dead. The rider was also wounded. The destination was not far. He began to run on foot. But it was too late. When he reached the battle-field, their army had been defeated by the enemy. So in saving a few minutes, the messenger lost many hours.
Moral:
- A Stitch in time saves nine