POOR SOPAKA

Once there was a boy by the name of Sopaka belonging to a very poor family. When this boy was only seven years oldhis father passed away and his mother married another man who was very cruel, wicked and unkind. He always beat, scolded and shouted at small Sopaka who was very kind, innocent and good. The step-father always thought, "This boy is a nuisance. He is good-for-nothing. I hate him but Icannot do anything to him because his mother loves him very much. What shall i do about him?" One evening he said: "Dear son, let us go for a walk." The boy was surprised that his step-father spoke to him so kindly and he thought, " My step-father never talked to me so kindly. But now he seems to be very good. Perhaps my mother may have asked him to be kind to me." So he readily went with his step-father.
The step-father took him to a cemetery where there were many smelly dead bodies here and there, tied Sopaka to one of them and left him there while the boy was crying, "Father, please father, don't tie me to this smelly and dirty dead body. Please, father, please. I am frightened, father." Sopaka began to cry as loudly as he could. But his step-father went away without caring for him. As the night became darker and darker Sopaka's fear increased. There was nobody in the cemetery and the boy was so frightened that his hair stood on end and drops of sweat began to roll down from his body until he was fully wet with sweat. When he heard the noises of jackals, tigers, leopards and other wild animals he began to cry still louder. When he know that he was all alone and there was nobody in this terrible place to help him, he saw a shining, noble looking and most handsome person with a very bright light coming towards him and heard him speak in a most sweet voice: "Sopaka, don't cry. I am here to help you, fear not." And in a moment, Sopaka, broke his help and stood before the Buddha in the Jetawana Temple.
Sopaka could not belive his eyes and ears. Although the Buddha was staying very far away from the cemetery, yet he heard Sopaka's cry and, creating a very bright light, sent it towards the boy and made the ropes break by his power. When this poor boy came to the Temple the Buddha bathed him, gave him some food to eat, clothes to wera and consoled him.
When the wicked step-father returned home Sopaka's mother asked him, "Where is my son?"
"I don't know," said the wicked man, "he came home before me and i thoght he was sleeping." But the mother could not sleep the whole night. She was crying and crying, thinking of Sopaka. Next day early in the morning she thought, The Buddha knows all, past, future and present. I must so to the Temple and asked the Buddha where my son is. So crying and weeping she went to the temple. Then the Buddha asked her, " Why sister, are you crying?"
"O Lord," said the lady,"I have only one son. Since last evening he is missing. My husband took him for a walk when he returned home he said that he did not know what had happened to my son."
"Don't worry sister. Your son is safe. Here he is," and so saying, the Buddha showed her Sopaka, now a monk, not as a boy. The mother was very happy to see her son again. After listening to the Buddha's teaching she thanked him very much and went away as a follower of the Buddha.