Motivational speaker Lou Warke tells the story of the 7-cow wife.

A Fiji Islands king had an unattractive daughter.

It was the custom to offer a cow as dowry to the father of a potential new bride. The king’s offers weren’t coming in by the droves and he was worried that no one would ever marry his daughter.

One day a prince, the most eligible bachelor in the entire kingdom, visited from an adjoining island. In fact, he was so eligible, he owned his own island.

The prince saw the king’s daughter and immediately fell in love. He offered 7 cows for the king’s daughter. The king would have been content with 1 cow.

“No, I insist on 7,” said the prince.

“1 will do,” countered the King.

This continued until the prince said, “It’s 7 cows or the deal is off!”

The king couldn’t believe his good fortune. No one had ever offered 7 cows for a new bride. He married off his unattractive daughter and gained a 7-cow dowry.

Months later, the chief had his guys paddle him over to visit his daughter and new son-in-law on the other island. As they docked, a beautiful woman came to greet the king and his entourage.

The king introduced himself and said “I am here to visit my daughter.”

The beautiful woman said, “Father, don’t you recognize me?”

The prince treated his new bride like a 7-cow wife which she became.

My friend Pat Barry told me this story on the way to his cabin on Lake Tie in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies in the beautiful province of British Columbia. He told me about a young man named Wayne who was dating his youngest daughter Katie.

Pat had shared the “7-cow story” with Wayne, making it clear that Katie deserved to be treated like a “7-cow wife.”

The story had an impact. Months later, Wayne nervously presented Pat with a gift, a tile slate on which 7 cows were mounted. He had custom-made the gift for his future father-in-law as he asked for Pat’s permission to marry Katie.

Touched by the gift, Pat felt honored that Wayne had remembered the story.

He embraced his new son-in-law-to-be and said he would be privileged to give his daughter’s hand in marriage and blessed to have a son-in-law like Wayne in his family.

Here’s an important question on Thanksgiving: Think what you can do to make the special people in your life feel like the 7-cow people that they are.

Michael Aun is recipient of the George Morrisey Life