There once was a man who was very talented. He had a special place in his brain that he would often visit. He called it ‘the world of imagination’. Whenever he was out of ideas, he would visit the place in his brain and get plenty of ideas. But, after a few years, he took the place for granted. 

One day, as he was taking a trip in his imaginative world, he saw that the pencil tree which gave him the awesome skills to write was dehydrated. The tree said, “Water me! Water me with your stories and literature”.

But the man answered, “Hmmm…… You do seem dehydrated. I will water you later after a trip down this path.”

The man moved on. He saw that a big paint bottle was leaking. It was the paint bottle that gave him the ability to paint beautifully. He thought to himself, “I have to fix it by painting something. I will do that afterwards.”

He went on and on till he realized there was no end to that world of his imagination. When he returned, he saw the bottle of paint was empty. He snapped out of his dream-like state and tried to draw something. He could not do it! He made a mess of everything, and the result was really ugly.

He thought to himself, ‘maybe the pencil tree is still alive.’ He went to the world of his imagination and searched for the tree. But instead, he found a scrunched pencil in its place. Again, the man snapped out of his world and tried to write something. But he could not get any idea. He tried to enter the world again, but the door to the world wouldn’t budge! 

He thought to himself – ‘If only I had done what this world of imagination pleased, I would not have lost its trust. Now, I have to start all over again, by gaining trust and planting the skill seeds. Oh! What have I done!?’

Moral: You may THINK all you want. But without ACTION it’s meaningless. 

// This fictional story has been penned by 11-year-old Mannah Rachel John and has been chosen for publication on our platform from the weekly submissions //