_{Image from contest announcement}

There was an old house at the edge of the village. When the first ray of the sun touched this house, two small children were sitting at the doorstep with a plate of rice on their hands. The elder one was Ravi, and the younger one was Meena, and they were siblings. They lived with their mother, as their father died when Meena was too young. Although they are poor, they have a big wealth—that is, their flock of ducks. They treated their ducks not as animals but as their own family.

Meena took a hand full of rice and slowly threw it into the doorstep, calling for ducks.

The flock of ducks came running to them happily.

When the yellow and white feathers shone with morning light, they looked at it happily. Next, Ravi also threw another part to the ducks, who were standing far away.

Ducks knew that both of them loved them.

"Come, little one, eat much and give us many eggs, then we can have a better life,” Meena told them, smiling.

Their clothes are old and torn, and their feet are bare. Some days they went to sleep with an empty stomach, but they never made their ducks hungry. They were indeed poor, but their hearts were full of kindness.

One dawn, a rich man passing their house noticed these two kind kids. He stopped for a moment and looked at how these two kids showed kindness to the ducks.

"Hey, you both take good care of your ducks," he asked.

"Yes, they are our wealth; if we care for them well, they also will care for us," Ravi responded proudly.

The man was happy with the answer of Ravi and bought a dozen eggs, paying a little extra, and said this is for the kindness you show your ducks.

With that extra money, Ravi bought fresh bread for their mother. That night, they all had their dinner together, happily.

As the days passed, their ducks grew stronger and laid many eggs. Slowly, their lives got better, little by little.

Even though they became rich, their kindness never changed. As usual, their first duty was feeding ducks early in the morning.

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