The Star Child

Two woodcutters were passing through a pine forest on a winter day. Suddenly, they saw a bright star falling from heaven. They found it to be a little child. “The poor infant will die. I will take him home,” said one. Though poor, he brought up the child with love and care. Ten years passed by. The star child grew up to be a handsome boy with skin like ivory and hair like gold. But he was proud and selfish. One day, he was playing with his friends, when a beggar woman came. “Go away! You are ugly.” said the boy throwing stones at her. When the woodcutter scolded the boy he replied, “Don’t shout at me! You are not my father.” The beggar heard their story in amazement and cried, “You are the son I lost in the forest years ago.” “How can an ugly woman be my mother?” exclaimed the boy running away into the forest. He sat down beside a pond. Lo! When he looked in the water he saw that he had become as ugly as a toad! His cruelty has transformed his beauty into ugliness.