Once, there lived a childless couple in a small town. One day, when the couple was praying in the church, the wife looked up and saw beautiful paintings of the angels. She said to her husband, “When we have a baby, I wish he had golden hair like an angel.”
Soon, their wish was fulfilled and they were blessed with a beautiful golden-haired baby-boy. The couple named their boy, Charlie.
The father was a drummer and he played joyful songs on his drum. Charlie grew up to be everyone’s favourite, because of his cheerful and helpful nature. He also had a lovely voice and played upon the drums beautifully.
Though Charlie’s mother wanted him to sing in the church choir, his father wanted him to do something great and gain fame instead of being a mere drummer like him. Charlie said, “I want to be a soldier, wear a uniform and serve my country.”
One day, Charlie heard an announcement that their country was going to war and the King wanted all the young men to join the army. Charlie was overjoyed.
Life in the battlefield was very difficult. The soldiers had to go without food and sleep under the open sky in rain or mist. During such times, Charlie would laugh and play upon his drum. On the day of the final battle, the sun was not out and the air was cold. Many soldiers were injured and some were dying. To boost everyone’s morale, Charlie picked up his drum, and started shouting, “We must not lose hope. March forward! Let us destroy our enemy.”
Charlie continued to play up on his drums even when the command changed to ‘Retreat’.
The soldiers felt energised, listening to Charlie’s encouraging drum-roll and continued to move forward. They destroyed everything that lay on their path and won the battle. Charlie had become everybody’s hero. The soldiers hailed him as their saviour and sang songs of victory as Charlie beat the drum out loud.
A few days later, Charlie returned home wearing a silver cross on his chest. His parents hugged and kissed him. They were so proud of their son.
The whole town said, “Who would have thought that our drummer boy would help in the winning of the war with his drums?”
Thus, Charlie, the brave drummer boy, turned out to be an angel as his mother had wished.
