Story
Ariel
Learns to Care
By Jyoti Bharwani
Values:
Respect for other people, patience, non-violence, love, kindness
It
was a cold, gloomy November morning. Ariel and her brother Timothy
were playing at home together while their mother was finishing
her chores in the kitchen.
Ariel,
an active and often careless five year old, loved to play all
the time. Timothy, who was three years older, was a quiet and
kind boy who liked to play patiently and carefully with his
toys. That day was a typical day in the children's house.
After
breakfast, the children's mother had asked them to play with
their own toys for an hour or so while she cleared the kitchen
and tidied the house.
Timothy
had run upstairs quickly to play with his Lego model. He had
just started to build a jet plane from a new Lego kit that his
father had bought him. It would be a long task involving concentration,
patience and care. One small mistake and his jet could turn
out unbalanced and wonky! As he began he could sense his sister
eyeing him build his jet.
Ariel
had indeed come upstairs feeling lonely. She didn't know what
to do with herself that day, and she wanted some company. "Perhaps
my brother will play with me", she thought. When she went
in to Timothy's room she found him deep in concentration making
a Lego toy which resembled a house.
"What
are you making?" she quizzed him.
"I'm
building a plane!" replied Timothy happily.
Ariel
sighed. "Does that mean you can't play with me? I'm bored."
"Not
right now, Ariel. Why don't you go and play with your dolls?
When I've finished this model it's going to look fantastic.
Dad will be so proud of me. He said we can build a display shelf
in my room to keep it safe."
"Oh,
Timothy, please play with me, I'm bored!" pleaded Ariel.
Timothy
wanted to block out the noise, "Not now!" he replied
firmly. He quickly put his head down and carried on building.
Ariel
wandered around the room, and plonked herself down on the bed.
She felt rejected and angry. She watched her brother, and an
hour later he had finished.
"I
can't believe I've done it!" he exclaimed aloud. "I
can't wait to show mum and dad."
As
Ariel watched she felt jealous that Timothy had something so
grand to show their father, and knew she could not build a model
like that. A terrible thought crept into her mind as her anger
grew. She ran over to the Lego model, and with a single swoop
she grabbed it and threw it to the floor. The Lego smashed in
to many pieces. Timothy looked on shocked. Immediately he burst
in to a flood of tears.
"Muuuuum!"
he screamed.
Their
mother raced up the stairs and into the room. She saw the Lego
pieces on the floor and Timothy sobbing on the bed. Ariel's
eyes were fixed on the floor. Even before Timothy spoke, their
mother realised what had happened.
"Mum,
Ariel broke my model. It took me a whole hour to build it!"
cried Timothy.
"Ariel,
why did you do that to Timothy's model?" their mother asked.
Ariel
knew she had done the wrong thing, and felt bad. She burst into
tears and ran to her room. Mother comforted Timothy and helped
him to pick up the pieces. Then she helped him to carefully
re-build the plane. As they worked together side by side, Timothy
explained that he had asked Ariel not to touch the model.
"Timothy,
do you know why Ariel did this?" asked his mum.
"She's
jealous that I can build a model and she can't. I guess you
give me lots of attention when I do something so good,"
sighed Timothy.
"Did
she want to play with you?" asked mum.
Timothy
had to admit that his sister had been bored. Mum finished helping
him, and then went to find Ariel. "Ariel you know you shouldn't
break your brother's toys on purpose, even if you had wanted
him to play with you. What you did was very unkind and mean."
Ariel
kept quiet, although deep inside she knew she was wrong.
The
next day, after school, Ariel came home to a pretty little box
wrapped in green spotted paper. "This present is for you
Ariel," smiled her mother, "go ahead and open it!"
Ariel
ripped off the paper to discover a wonderful Lego model of a
pink butterfly. She grinned from ear to ear.
"Look
it's for 5-7 year olds," beamed her mum. "Come on,
we can build it together after you have both had your tea."
The
two of them spent some time building the butterfly. Ariel was
delighted that she could make it. When finished, it looked great.
Timothy came to look. "Wow, Ariel! I didn't know you could
build something so difficult."
Ariel
grinned. She also suddenly remembered how she had ruined her
brother's plane the day before. "Oh, Timothy, I'm sorry
I broke your model yesterday. Now I know how much I love my
butterfly. I would cry too if you broke it. You won't, will
you?"
"Don't
worry Ariel; I'm not going to touch it. I'm glad you understand
how much you really hurt me though."
"I
promise not to break any of your toys again." pronounced
Ariel.
From
that day on, Ariel did make an effort not to break anyone's
toys again.
Questions
1. How did you feel when you heard the story?
2. Does this story remind you of anything from your life?
3. In what ways were Timothy and Ariel different?
4. How did Ariel feel when Timothy was too busy to play with
her?
5. What did Ariel do and why?
6. How did Ariel feel after she had wrecked the Lego model?
7. What lesson did Ariel learn?
8. How could Ariel have behaved instead?
9. What name would you give the story?
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