$JES 203 First Step of Jainism Level 2 Book

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 73

THE ANGRY BOY
The Angry Boy
A little boy had a bad temper. He frequently had fights with his siblings and friends. His parents would receive many complaints about his behavior from school and friends. His parents thought long and hard of helping him understand that anger is not good. Finally, his parents came up with an idea. His father took him to the fence in the backyard and gave the boy a hammer and a bag of nails. His father told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had to drive 27 nails into the fence!
down. He discovered that it was easier to hold his temper than to walk to the fence and drive those nails in. Finally, the day came when the boy did not lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and his father suggested that he should now pull out one nail for each day
Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails that he needed to hammer in daily gradually went
that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were
THE FIRST STEP OF JAINISM
73