Story on It never pays to overreach oneself

It never pays to overreach oneself

Short Story on "It never pays to overreach oneself" (to do something beyond one’s reach or power)

The story is of a rich merchant who had the uncontrollable desire to rise higher than all others in rice business. People called him successful because his rice godowns increased from five to ten in a few years and the profits from his sales rose tremendously. One year there was a bumper (full and large) rice crop in the country, and even after exports lots of rice was left behind. This was a bright chance, and the merchant bought plenty of rice at cheap rates and stored it in all his godowns. He was now hoping to earn fabulous profits in coming years by selling his stores when rice was in short supply.educationsight.blogspot.com It so happened that the government approached the above merchant to sell his stored rice to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait at quite high rates. He was going to earn a profit of a few million rupees in a few days. But, he refused to supply his rice for onward shipment saying that he would be earning a few billion later.

God or luck willed it otherwise. There were heavy rains soon after and the nearby river was in high flood, and it overflowed its banks. Now all the godowns of the merchant got flooded as there was water everywhere around. All his stored rice got spoilt, and all his plans came to nothing. This is how his planning and action proved the truth of the saying that it never pays to overreach oneself.

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