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Diligence and Gratitude Once upon a time， an important adviser to a certain king was on his way to a meeting with the king and other advisers. Out of the corner of his eye， he saw a dead mouse by the roadside. He said to those who were with him， Even from such small beginnings as this dead mouse， an energetic young fellow could build a fortune. If he worked hard and used his intelligence， he could start a business and support a wife and family. A passer-by heard the remark. He knew this was a famous adviser to the king， so he decided to follow his words. He picked up the dead mouse by the tail and went off with it. As luck would have it， before he had gone even a block， a shopkeeper stopped him. He said， My cat has been pestering me all morning. Ill give you two copper coins for that mouse. So it was done. With the two copper coins， he bought sweet cakes， and waited by the side of the road with them and some water. As he expected， some people who picked flowers for making garlands were returning from work. Since they were all hungry and thirsty， they agreed to buy sweet cakes and water for the price of a bunch of flowers from each of them. In the evening， the man sold the flowers in the city. With some of the money he bought more sweet cakes and returned the next day to sell to the flower pickers. This went on for a while， until one day there was a terrible storm， with heavy rains and high winds. While walking by the kings pleasure garden， he saw that many branches had been blown off the trees and were lying all around. So he offered to the kings gardener that he would clear it all away for him， if he could keep the branches. The lazy gardener quickly agreed. | 
