Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Ali in a small village. His father, Karimuddin, was a farmer who owned a small piece of land and a few cows. Life was not easy for him, as it was hard to make both ends meet. He could not afford many helpers, so he worked in the fields himself with Ali and just one farmhand.

Ali had four younger siblings. Being the eldest, he had many responsibilities. Every day at dawn, he went to the tube well to water the fields. After that, he fed the cows and chickens, and then went to school. At noon, after school, he would take lunch for his father and the helper.

One chilly afternoon, as Ali was returning from school with some of his classmates, he passed the paddock and saw a middle-aged man standing by the roadside, talking to a crowd. The man was selling lottery........

© Dawn Young Magazine