Sara, a little girl studying in class five, was presented with a ‘glass jar’ as a gift on her 10th birthday. Sara opened the wrapper and saw candies of all kinds tightly fitted inside the jar. It seemed as if the candies were more and space was less. This was a gift from her grandparents who advised her to always share her candies with her friends and give it to the poor too.

Sara was excited and overjoyed as she started eating the candies. The candies tasted different than the usual from market. They were more delicious. One day she took the whole jar to school and showed it to her friends. She shared the sweets with her friends and teachers.

The taste delighted everyone. When she was on her way back home from school, she distributed five candies to every poor child begging on the road side. After giving the candies, she felt sad and thought the jar would get empty soon.

When Sara reached home, threw her bag on the bed, took out the jar and started counting the candies. They turned out to be 800! She was happy as there were many still left. In a short while, the door bell rang. It was a bagger at the door, asking for food. Sara’s mum called her and said lunch was not ready so she should give some of her candies to the beggar; Sara counted 50 candies and gave to the poor guy.

In the evening, another poor boy came and asked for something to eat, she took out 50 and gave it to him. Sara was now obsessed with counting her candies. She took out the jar and again counted, they were still 800. Surprised, Sara counted again and again. They were 800. She thought she might have counted them wrong earlier.

The next day, when she was going to the school, some street children knocked on the car window when it stopped at a signal, asking for something. She couldn’t turn them away so she distributed her candies to them. The day passed normally, anyone who knew she had candies would ask Sara and she would give without being hesitant.

 While coming home, she recalled the number of candies she distributed was 200. ‘I am still left with 600,’ she rejoiced. After lunch, she sat on her bed and started counting them again. They turned out to be 800!

Enthralled, she took out 50 candies, gave them to her mum and counted again. They were 800. She then realised that the jar was magical; no matter how much she took out from the jar, it still had 800 candies which were never going to finish.

She slept happily thinking that her life’s biggest wish has been fulfilled. The next morning she got up, looked at her jar and smiled. She started to feel selfish and thought that if anyone came to know about her never-ending candies, the jar will be stolen so she decided to never share them with anyone anymore so that no one would ever come to know about her ‘sweet little secret.’

She hid her jar inside a box and would secretly eat the candies herself. That night, a poor guy came begging to their door. Mum called Sara to give some of the candies like she had been doing. Sara refused by saying only few candies were left and that she would be sharing them with her friends in school. The poor guy went back empty-handed. Sara continued to eat her candies happily.

After a week, on a Sunday night, she took out the jar, expecting it to be full of candies like always. Her jaw dropped open when she saw only one candy remaining. She rubbed her eyes as she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

‘How is it possible?’ she thought and lay on her bed thinking deeply. At last, she came to the conclusion that the jar was magical only as long as she was selfless, humane and kind … and she kept sharing the candies. It would replace the number of candies she gave to others. The day she became selfish, the magic also vanished. She cried sadly and promised herself that she would never become selfish about the things God bestowed upon her in abundance.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 2nd, 2015