It was late and the sky was lit with stars. It seemed as if the whole world was asleep.  No one walked the streets except one. The Walker. So joyous, he seemed to have no care in the world. His company had closed a very important deal and he was headed home to tell his family about it. Everything was in place.

Only for a moment though because a moment later he felt as if someone was following him, he turned around to see a man who was wearing a neat black suit, pointy black shoes, a magician’s hat and had a red silk handkerchief tucked inside his jacket’s pocket. 
The man in black asked him his name. The walker replied in a barely audible voice but was cut off as if it was a rhetorical question and then the man in black started asking him about where he was going and several other personal questions. The walker didn’t hesitate at all, he was so happy with his life that he didn’t care and answered all of the questions. It was quite odd how they had never met before but were talking as if they had known each other for a long time.

The stranger told the walker that he wanted to help him. Help him be even happier. The man didn’t understand at first but after a while he enquired as to how will he help him? He didn’t even know him.
“I know enough to know that you need my help. You just have to trust me,” replied the stranger.

An awkward momentary silence filled the air. The Walker wondered what harm that stranger could possibly do. And thus the stranger gave him his first lesson that very moment and told him to do exactly as told.

The man went back to his apartment and when he woke up the next day, his maid was standing in front of him asking him to get up and have breakfast.  The man had a flashback from the previous night and the order to be disrespectful, impolite to everybody and not to care about the feelings of others. The man yelled and yelled at his maid without any reason until she went out crying. He felt bad internally but he couldn’t control his rage. He felt powerless and these feelings grew even more once he started insulting every random person he saw or met. A week passed and every single person in his life was upset with his attitude.

It was time for his second lesson and he went to the same place he had met the stranger that night. At first, he complained about how he didn’t feel right and how everyone seemed to hate him now but the stranger consoled him by saying that he needs to be patient and this time the stranger told him to make every decision for his own sake and never to think about other people.

The next day when he was about to make a business deal, his opponent offered him a bribe. The bribe seemed more favorable and effortless to him so he decided to accept and in the midst of the temptation of all that money he never, even for a second, thought about his morals or principles. He went home, feeling so cheerful and told his wife and children about the great deal he had done and how beneficial it would turn out to be. His wife was furious, she couldn’t believe her ears. She left him soon and took the children with her.

The man still couldn’t understand what was wrong. He went to the stranger to ask him and was given another lesson to be proud and arrogant and was told again to be patient and that success and fame were right around the corner.

The walker then decided to go to his office as the only thing he was left with was his company. As he was walking upstairs, he heard whispers coming from the conference room. He stood by the door and started listening to what his partners were talking about. The first man said to the other that they should give him (the walker) a little time off as he had not been concentrating on his work lately. The other man was about so say something when the door opened and the walker came in. He shouted at them and told them that he had listened to every word and that they had lost their minds. The two men’s dislike of the walker grew.

“Last I checked, it was pretty unethical to eavesdrop. I guess certain people don’t know their limits, or maybe they do and just choose to cross them. Anyway you need some time off and that’s final. You can come back after sometime. We will financially back your family until then.” said the second man to the Walker.

The walker was filled with so much anger that he rejected the offer altogether. He said, “I don’t need anyone’s help! I have more than enough to support my family.” His partners reminded him of the deals he had lost for the past month and that he had no money left. The pride and arrogance of the walker made him lose his last offer and his partners said that they have decided to let him go and he was fired.

“You are not welcome here anymore,” they proclaimed.

As now he had nothing left he decided to go to the stranger again to ask for better advice but this time he found no one at the rendezvous point. He stayed there for a couple of hours but no one came. He looked weary, disheartened and mostly like someone who had just missed his last train and had nowhere to go. He felt as if his whole life was falling apart, which it quite literally had. He was walking and he had no idea of where he would go.

And then suddenly his stomach made a weird sound as if he was about to vomit and he bent a little and then a hand came out of nowhere and supporting his weak body, took him to the nearby bench to sit.

The helping man was white from top to bottom and had a smiling face. He asked the walker what had happened to him. A few moments later the walker was in his senses and he told him that his company had gone bankrupt and because of which his wife and children had left him and that he was left with nothing but despair and loneliness. The white man offered his condolences. He asked for the whole story and after the walker was finished the white man smiled even wider. The walker asked why he was smiling.

The white man looked at him and told him that actually that stranger was the Devil.

“That was a devil, who saw the opportunity and took it. You were the happiest you have ever been and you had everything. But you were still greedy for more. The devil couldn’t bear the thought of you getting everything you want. He decided to spoil it all by deviating you from the right path. Which you did. You did everything he asked you to do and you never stopped to consider how against all morality it was. You were ready to bend all rules for your sake. You didn’t care what it was doing to your behaviour, your manners and your values. The lust of wealth and having more made you so blind that you couldn’t even see what you already had.

But now, you know what you did was wrong. The only way to fix everything is to restore your good manners, go to your family and friends and ask for their forgiveness. Because when you do good, only then you get good. Try to be a virtuous man again and do the right thing no matter what. I hope that from now on you will choose the right path for every step in your life.”  

The walker had no idea of who that person was, an angel or his fairy god-father. But he made him realize his mistakes. He realized how a single bad deed, leads to a million more. Finally, the walker understood how we should not let our greed take over our sanity and always be aware of the good and the bad. As we always encounter all types of people in our lives, the important thing is to remember who we are and not what they want us to be.