A Stitch In Time Saves Nine | Story
In days, when there were no fast means of communication
like
those of today, a fierce battle was going on
between two armies. A king wanted to send more instructions to the commander of
his army. He chose a royal messenger whom he trusted fully and who could make
his horse run at a breakneck spee .The
messenger also knew the seriousness of
the situation and wanted to act accordingly. He chose a horse that was famed to
run swiftest of all. So, he decided to commence his long journey straightaway
. But when he was about to depart,
one of his companions stopped him. Get it put on if you want to convey the
message in time." The messenger paid a deaf ear to his suggestion and
said, "I am in a hurry. Moreover, I am to go only a few miles and my horse
can take me so far without a shoe." Saying this, he whipped his horse and
the horse began to gallop like
a gale . On
the way, the second nail from the shoe went off but he continued his journey.
At last, all the nails from the shoe went off and the shoe fell down. He was
trying to make his horse run fast but the horse could run no longer. He said to
himself, “What an ill-luck! The horse is not running as fast as I want to make
it run. If I miss the message, the king will be annoyed and sentence me to
death.”
But soon the horse got dead tired. It fell down on
the ground with a thud and died. The rider was also injured. Now the destination
was not far. He began to run on foot. When he reached, he was informed that a
crushing defeat had been inflicted on their army due to the non-delivery of
latest instructions. In this way, he had lost many hours in saving a few
minutes.