The Inchcape Rock

          There was in the rocky coast of Scotland a submarine rock in the sea called the lnchcape Rock. Many ships struck against it and sank. A pious priest placed a buoy on the rock and tied a bell to it. The bell rang as the waves moved the buoy. The warning sound of this bell helped the sailors to know the perilous rock. So they blessed the good priest for his benevolent work.

          One day a pirate ship becalmed near that rocky coast owing to the absence of wind. The pirate, Ralph the Rover heard the sound of the bell and noticed it from a distance. He was told that the bell was placed there by a good priest. His object was to warn sailors in storms about the presence of a dangerous submerged rock. So to spite the good priest he rowed over to the rock, and then cut the bell loose. “Down sank the bell with a gurgling sound,” The wind rose and the wicked pirate sailed away.

          Years afterwards the pirate, after long voyages in distant seas, sailed back to the same coast of Scotland. The, sea was stormy and covered with a thick sea-fog. There was no warning bell. So the pirate could not know where, lie was. Suddenly there was a shock and crash the ship had struck on the inch-cape Rock. At the moment of his death the pirate cursed himself for his folly.

Moral: Wickedness is punished in the long run.