Mindset story: The 10th apple effect and the lesson about being grateful

There once was a very successful hunter that was well known across the whole kingdom. In the same kingdom, there was also a special species of deer that no one was able to catch. The king put out the biggest bounty there ever was for anyone that could bring at least one dear back dead or alive for him to mount as a trophy. The hunter decided to take up the king’s offer and before leaving on his quest stopped at the town square and loudly and mockingly as possible said “I’m grateful for this easy task. I really don’t understand how no one else could have caught this beast.”

The hunter went on his way tracking the deer. After two days of tracking, he suddenly realized that he lost his way deep inside the jungle. He used all his navigation skills but neither did he find any way out of the jungle nor could he find any food to eat for 8 days at a stretch. He started feeling so damn hungry that he could eat an entire elephant at one go. Disappointed, he lost all hope. And when he was ready to give up he suddenly noticed an apple tree. He collected as many apples as he could carry to feed him for the rest of his search.

As he ate the 1st apple, his joy knew no bounds and he just couldn’t stop feeling grateful and blessed. He thanked life. He thanked God. He could not believe his luck when he ate the 1st apple but he was less grateful while having the 2nd apple and even less grateful when he had the 5th apple. Somehow, with each passing apple, the hunger wouldn’t go away and the joy kept on reducing drastically. When he started eating the 10th apple he felt disgusted and dropped all the remaining apples and continued with his quest for the uncatchable deer.