Once upon a time there lived a little boy named Yun Su near Fuzhou. His father died, and he was left alone with his mother. Their house was poor and empty. Sometimes it was impossible to find even a handful of rice.
The time had come for Yun Soo to study, and he had neither paper, nor ink, nor a brush for writing. However, Yun Soo firmly decided: “I will study!” And he began to figure out how to deceive the need.
The next morning he came to a rich neighbor and said: “I heard that you are looking for a worker for the house.” Take me! I’m not many years old, it’s true, but I don’t ask for much: just let me occasionally watch how your sons study, and I will be satisfied.
The rich man was happy: a free worker had come! And he agreed.
From morning to evening, Yun Su worked in the rich man's house. All the dirty and hard work was left to him. But on the other hand, Yun Su could occasionally look into the books from which the owner’s children studied. And sometimes I managed to listen to an entire lesson: the teacher would come, and Yun Soo would hide in the corner and listen. That's how I learned.
A year later I began to understand the words myself. But here’s the problem: I couldn’t write! There was nothing on it. Yun Soo thought: what should I do? And I came up with it.
Yun Su lived with his mother in a small house on the very seashore. The waves leveled the thin sea sand all day long. And so Yun Su took a long stick and came to the seashore. He quickly drew a word in the sand. A wave rolled in and washed everything away. I drew again - and again everything was washed away by another wave. So he could write endlessly without a brush or paper.
But now he began to miss books.
One day, Yun Su approached his rich master and said: “I worked for you for free, now I want to ask for payment.” However, if you allow me to read your books, I agree to work for you in the same way for another year.
The owner was sorry to lose such a profitable employee, and he allowed it.
Now Yun Soo had books. Very often he had to work until dark and study only at night. He was so poor that he could not even buy oil for a lamp.
However, Yun Soo did not give up. When the moon was shining, he read and wrote in the moonlight. And when there was no moon, Yun Su collected fireflies from the grass and put them in paper lanterns. In the faint light of live fireflies, stubborn Yun Soo continued to read at night.
Many years have passed. Yun Soo achieved his goal - he became a great scientist. And to this day people remember the tenacity of the poor little man Yun Soo.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru