There was a carpenter named Fuad living in a village. His mother had been deceased for a long time, and he had an elderly father named Ya’qoub living with Fuad. Ya’qoub was extremely weak, so he could not even walk in a regular manner.
As for Ya’qoub, he was extremely weak because Fuad did not give him any food. He would give his father a porcelain plate and put in the plate an extremely small quantity of rice. Fuad was a wicked man and always evil to his father always.
Fuad had a son named Mamdouh. He was fourteen years old. He was a polite, extremely good child who loved his grandfather Ya’qoub very much and respected him greatly. He did not love his father because of his behavior and way of dealing with his grandfather Ya’qoub. His father was treating his grandfather with great harshness, and Mamdouh hated that.
One day, the grandfather was eating his food from the porcelain plate that his son Fuad had given him. The plate fell from the grandfather Ya’qoub, and naturally, the plate broke into small pieces, and naturally, the food fell on the ground. Fuad was working in the neighboring room when he heard what happened. When he saw what happened, Fuad became extremely angry at his father and shouted at him with many bad words. The elderly man felt severe sadness because of what happened and felt regret, for Fuad’s words had affected him deeply.
Mamdouh saw what happened between his father and his grandfather and did not like at all what his father had done to his grandfather. His father was dealing with his grandfather in an extremely bad manner. At the same time, he felt fear of speaking to his father about what he had done and felt sadness for his grandfather, but he was too weak to confront his father and stand before him in what he did to his grandfather.
The next day, Mamdouh took some of his father’s carpentry tools and cut some wood, and began to make a wooden plate. When his father saw him during his work, he asked him what he was doing. Mamdouh answered that he was making a wooden plate for his grandfather. Fuad asked him, “A wooden plate, why?”
Mamdouh said to him, “I am making a wooden plate for you, oh my father, for when you grow old and become an elderly man like my grandfather, you will need this plate for your food, because the porcelain plate breaks easily, unlike the wooden plate. So, most likely, I will do as you did and scold you severely if you break the porcelain plate. Therefore, I wanted to make a wooden plate to give it to you so that it does not break and I do not get angry.”
He felt severe shock when he heard from his small son. At that moment, he only realized his mistake and remembered how his father Ya’qoub had cared for him during his childhood, and now that he had become elderly, he was dealing with him with great harshness. Fuad felt severe sadness because of his bad behavior toward his father and began to address his mistake. Since that time, he transformed into another person who was much better.
Since that day, Fuad treated his father with great respect and began to give him food and drink generously. He had learned the lesson from his small son, the owner of fourteen years. He knew that a human must honor his parents at all times, and it is the son’s duty to respect his parents’ rights and treat them in a good manner.
Translated from the story: A Father Learns A Lesson From His Son