Earth
Scene 14 – "The Rural Village"
Labeeb walked for a long time without noticing, because he forgets everything and loses track of time when he wanders and admires the breathtaking beauty of nature—especially when the storm rages and thunder booms, for Labeeb simply cannot resist it.
This time, however, he realized he was lost. He continued walking, hoping to find someone to ask for directions, and soon he reached the outskirts of a town.
He saw a group of boys his age, but he did not want to ask them, fearing they might see that he was lost—and more importantly, he worried about some coins he had hidden in his pocket.
Soon, he noticed an old man. Labeeb approached him with a smile, trusting that this person would show him the way and would neither steal nor harm him—after all, he seemed like a "kind old man," didn't he?
Labeeb smiled and said:
"Hello, sir."
The old man smiled back and replied:
"Hello, my little one. How are you?"
Labeeb:
"I'm fine… but I'm lost and want to get back to my grandfather's house. Could you help me?"
Old man:
"No doubt you came from the nearest village, because traveling from the other villages on foot would take at least four or five days… I will show you the way back."_
As Labeeb focused all his attention on the old man guiding him, the wicked old man slipped his hand into Labeeb's pocket and stole his coins.
Labeeb:
"Thank you… thank you very much."
He walked and walked until his village appeared not far away.
He said:
"What a kind old man… he helped me, and without him, I would not have returned home."
Suddenly, he touched his pocket and found nothing—his coins, which he had been saving for a long time to buy the most precious thing in his eyes, were gone—stolen.
He realized that the old man had taken them while showing him the way,
and Labeeb was shocked by another possibility and a mistaken thought: his innocent view that all elders were kind.
Labeeb, full of sorrow and sadness, said:
"I wanted to buy one of the most precious things with them."
Narrator:
"Labeeb… what do you think the most precious things are? What was it that he wanted to buy, I wonder?"