You cannot please everyone

You cannot please everyone story

A man and son were leading a buffalo to the market. Someone seeing them pass by called out to the man, “ Why don’t you ride?” the man then sat on the buffalo while his son walked alongside.

Soon they passed an old woman who called out to the man, “Why are you so lazy? You are a big strong man. Why don’t you walk and let your son ride instead?”

The man got down from the buffalo and told his son to ride.

Just before they reached the town, an old man working in the fields called out to them, “it’s not right for a boy to ride while his father walks.”

The man then sat on the buffalo behind his son. They had not gone very far when someone else called out to them, “Why are you so cruel? How can a buffalo carry two persons?”

Both the man and his son jumped off the buffalo. They cut a branch off a tree and tied the buffalo’s feet to it. They carried the branch between them.

When they entered the town, some children called out laughingly to them, “How can you carry a buffalo? The buffalo should carry you.” The buffalo was frightened by the noise. It was able to set itself free and it ran away as fast as it could. The man and his son never saw the buffalo again.

As they were walking home, the man said to his son, “We’ve learned a good lesson today. You can never hope to please everyone no matter how hard you try!”

Taken From : Step by Step (Azhar Arsyad)