SEVENTEEN-year-old Naimat was the son of a poor farmer, but he was an extraordinarily intelligent child. He could solve even the hardest puzzles and was always in search of new things.

Near his house was a beautiful jungle. It had many fruits, ponds, flowers and birds singing merrily. There was a place in the jungle where he liked to spend his time playing with his friends, the animals of the jungle.

Daily after returning from school he would take a meal, have some rest and go out for a walk in the jungle. One day while he was on his way to his usual hangout, he saw a neem tree. The tree seemed to be fine but had a hole in the trunk. Naimat went near it and saw something stuck in the hole. He took it out, sat on a clean place and opened it. He realised that it was a map but he got really puzzled as the map was neither in English nor in Urdu, but in French. Not knowing the language, he couldn’t do anything with it.

After a few days on his way back from school, Naimat went to an expert in languages and got the map translated. The expert told him that the map was of a passage to a hidden treasure and then wrote down the details of the instructions in Urdu for Naimat. Thanking him for his help, Naimat set out on a journey to find this treasure.

The map’s first guideline made it clear that only a brave and powerful person can reach the treasure. As he was determined to achieve his goal, he didn’t stop there and read out the instructions.

The first instruction was to cross the river nearby without any boat or bridge. Naimat fearlessly acted as instructed and swam across it in spite of facing difficulty. The next instruction was to cross a bridge which had broken floorboards and crocodiles in the water underneath it. As the bridge was very old and broken in places, Naimat had difficulty in preventing himself from falling, but he finally managed to cross it.

The map further instructed him to cross a big scissor that was continuously snapping. Despite getting a few bruises and wounds, Naimat continued his struggle and crossed it as well. Exactly as the map had guided, he found many keys and chose one of them. As he moved further, he came across a place with many locked doors.

Confused, Naimat looked at the map for some help. Scanning through the map and its directions, he realised that the key in his hand would unlock one of the doors that would finally lead him to the treasure. After a few failed attempts, he was able to open a locked door.

The map then instructed him to dig the ground in front of a pillar. Naimat started digging and after he had dug very deep, he found two bags — one was full of money and the other was full of gold, jewellery and coins.

Holding the treasure in his hands, he was immensely happy. He rushed back home and showed it to his father while giving him an account of everything. His father felt extremely proud of his son, appreciated Naimat for his bravery and resilience.

To achieve something, one has to struggle and one should not become disappointed despite all the failures and the difficulties one may face.