There was a little girl named Harshini. One Christmas Eve, something magical happened — Santa Claus came to visit her. But this was not the jolly, cheerful Santa that everyone imagined. This Santa seemed troubled and worried.

Santa took Harshini on a ride in his flying chariot, pulled by his magical reindeer. They flew all the way to the North Pole, where Santa lived. Harshini was amazed by everything she saw there. Santa showed her his wishing tree. “This tree,” he said, “can grant any wish I want.”

Then he showed her his magical well. “This well has special water. I drink from it every day, so I never, ever get sick.”

Then he pointed to his flying chariot and reindeer. “With these, I can fly all over the world and deliver gifts to children everywhere. I can also poke the clouds to make the rain come down.”

And then he showed her a bucket that was always full of gold coins. “So I have all the money in the world,” he said.

Harshini looked around in amazement. “You silly man!” she said. “You have a flying chariot. You have a wishing tree to wish for everything. You have magical water that keeps you healthy. And you have endless money. Why on earth are you unhappy?”

Santa sighed deeply. “I am very, very worried,” he said. “You see, there are priests all over the world. They pray and pray and pray. And if they pray too much, they can get magical powers. And if they get magical powers, they might come and take away my tree, my well, and my chariot!”

“What sort of silly logic is that?” said Harshini.

“So,” Santa continued, “whenever I see a priest praying too much, I go and poke them and disturb them so they cannot pray too much. That is my trick.”

“You are a crazy person!” said Harshini. “You have everything in the world and you are still not happy?”

“No, no,” said Santa, shaking his head. “I am very worried. Somebody will take these things from me.”

Then Santa told her about something else that was worrying him. “There is a person who lives at the South Pole,” he said. “His name is Elf. And this Elf has a magical cow. This magical cow has all the power in the world. It can give you money. It can grant any wish. I want to steal that cow.”

“Why do you want to steal it?” asked Harshini. “You already have a wishing tree!”

“Because,” said Santa, “if this Elf has the cow, he could become very powerful and come and steal everything I have!”

Harshini did not understand the logic at all. But she said, “Okay, I will go with you if it makes you happy.”

So they flew all the way to the South Pole and tried to steal the magical cow. But the Elf caught them in the act. He grabbed Santa Claus and gave him a good scolding. “What are you doing?” cried the Elf. “Why are you trying to steal my cow?”

Santa explained his fear. The Elf shook his head. “I have no interest in taking anything from you,” he said. “I already have the cow. The problem with you, Santa, is that you can never be happy because you are always worried. You are never satisfied with what you have. You could take my cow, you could take all the gold, all the fleece, everything — and you would still never be happy. Because you will always want more, and you will always be afraid of losing what you have.”

The Elf looked Santa in the eyes and said, “The trick to being happy is to be happy with what you have. Stop wanting more and more and more. Do you understand, you silly, silly Santa? Now get out of here!”

Santa was shaken. He flew back to the North Pole, muttering, “Wow, I got saved. Now I understand.” But even then, he never truly understood.

Harshini, however, truly understood. She realised there was no point in being sad and always wanting more things. You should be happy with what you have.

Santa sent her back home. And when she walked through her front door, she was smiling from ear to ear. Her daddy looked up in surprise. “What is happening, Harshini? Why are you so happy?”

“Daddy,” she said, “I am so happy because I have everything. I have my parents. I have a beautiful house. I am healthy. I can watch TV when I want, within my time limit. I go to a nice school. I have friends. I am happy. I should be happy with what I have and not be sad about the things I don’t have.”

And so Harshini learned the most important lesson of all: true happiness does not come from having more. It comes from being grateful for what you already have.