Don't ever stop doing good, even if it’s not appreciated at that time

[Taang Sianpu]

A woman
baked chapati for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry
passerby. She kept the extra chapati on the window sill, for whosoever
would take it away. Everyday, a hunchback came and took away the
chapati. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following
words as he went his way: "The evil you do remains with you: The good
you do, comes back to you!" This went on, day after day. Everyday, the
hunchback came, picked up the chapati and uttered the words: "The evil
you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" The
woman felt irritated. "Not a word of gratitude," she said to herself...

"Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?"
One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with
him. "I shall get rid of this hunchback," she said. And what did she
do? She added poison to the chapatti she prepared for him! As she was
about to keep it on the window sill, her hands trembled. "What is this I
am doing?" she said. Immediately, she threw the chapati into the fire,
prepared another one and kept it on the window sill. As usual, the
hunchback came, picked up the chapati and muttered the words: "The evil
you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" The
hunchback proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in
the mind of the woman.

Everyday, as the woman placed the chapati on the window sill, she offered
a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune.
For many months, she had no news of him.. She prayed for his safe return.
That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was
surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had grown thin and
lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry, starved and weak.
As he saw his mother, he said, "Mom, it's a miracle I'm here. While I was
but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but
just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food,
and he was kind enough to give me a whole chapati. As he gave it to me,
he said, "This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your
need is greater than mine!" " As the mother heard those words, her face
turned pale.

She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned
chapati that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire,
it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life!
It was then that she realized the significance of the words: "The evil you
do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" Do good and
Don't ever stop doing good,
even if it’s not appreciated at that time.