THE BOY WHO LEARNT HIS LESSON- Vanshika Rastogi

Once upon a time, there was a peaceful and small village called Damrupur. All the people lived happily there. The only problem in that village was a small boy. And, my my! What a mischievous boy he was!

He wandered here and there, throwing stones at the cattle of Ramu kaka and tickingthe hens of Ramesh dada. All of them were really fed up of him. His parents scoldedhim a lot, but, never he bothered to even listen to them!

Then finally, the villagers went to ‘The One’. He was the chief of them all. The chief agreed to help them and said a few magic words. “Badda bum bum. Abracadabra! Hocus Pocus. Himata potata doodle doo!”Slowly and steadily, the chief grew a tail, whiskers, lots of hair…the chief was becoming a fox! The villagers cheered. They knew that now their troubles were gone.

Evening fell. The chief fox travelled and travelled and soon saw the mischievous boyplaying with his mates. The chief waited for night. It soon fell. The mischievious boyran home. His parents were talking to each other.“What should we do?” exclaimed his mother.The father didn’t answer. The chief came out and explained them his plan. They nodded in agreement. Ah, everything will really be alright!

After dinner, the mischievious boy went to sleep. The chief waited patiently. Then,It was midnight. The boy slowly crept out of bed and was soon on the rocky lane.He went past many houses and then finally, stopped in front of a house. It was the house of the village miser. The chief had followed the boy and was tired. The culprit was about to be caught.

The mischievious boy went inside, into the barn and untied the rope of a small goat.The chief heard him say, “Ah, hah little goat. Now I’ll put you in such a place that you will be lost forever! Hah!

The chief gasped and went in front of the boy. He came into his original form.The boy opened his mouth to scream but no words came out. The chief told him to accompany him to his house. The boy quietly followed him, leaving the goat behind.They were soon in the chief’s house. “Why did you do this, young man?” Asked the chief.

“I’m sorry, chief.” replied the boy, silently.“You are surely forgiven but promise me that you won’t steal and disturb other villagersagain.”“I promise.”“Okay, but write that in the notebook in front of you. You are then free to go.”The boy slowly wrote his promise on the paper and left. He jumped and sang. He suddenly felt very light. Everything was now alright.

There was great rejoicing and the village lived happily ever after.P.S. If you want to know what happened to the boy, he became a moral education teacher and was respected the most!