Box Full of Chocolates

Third prize winner of Spin-A-Tale contest

Once upon a time there lived two friends Ramesh and Ganesh. Both were very close to one another. They were inseparable. One day Ramesh spotted a juicy chocolate bar in a shop.

He wanted it desperately. The very thought of it made his mouth water. As he was dreaming about the chocolate, came his close friend Ganesh. Ramesh, that day had a new writing pencil. Ganesh saw that Pencil and liked it very much. He asked Ramesh the cost of it.

Though the cost of the pencil was only rupees two, he lied that is was of very superior quality and had cost him rupees ten. Ganesh liked the pencil so much that he emptied his whole savings of the past 10 months and paid Ramesh. Ganesh became the proud owner of the pencil and Ramesh spent that money on the chocolate bar.

As days passed by, Ganesh began doing very well in his studies. He attributed this to the pencil, which his dear friend Ramesh was kind enough to sell. But Ganesh’s performance at school started falling. He could not see his dear friend in the eye.

Every time Ganesh spoke of their friendship, Ramesh turned his face away as this led him to remember the pencil incident. His health too turned bad and he was forced to stay away from school many a day because of some ailment or other.

He soon realised he could not hold back the truth about the pencil from Ganesh. It was Ganesh’s birthday. He bought a present for Ganesh and gave it to him at the party. He lingered around till the last guest had left. He pulled Ganesh close to him and blurted out the truth. He hugged him and sobbed. He begged him for forgiveness.

Ganesh reminded Ramesh that the pencil had brought him a lot of luck though he has paid five times more than the actual rate, and asked him not to feel so strongly about it. Ramesh felt he has shed a very heavy load from his heart and skipped all the way home tossing the return gift given to him by Ganesh.

He reached home and felt how light and happy he felt after his confession. He pulled the blankets over him and had a good sleep. He got up early and it seemed like the old times when he used to look forward to meeting Ganesh.

As he was lacing his shoes, he saw the return gift of Ramesh and opened it. It was a box full of chocolates! The same chocolate for which he had lied to his dear friend! He mouthed one and it tasted even better now! He carried it to school to share it with Ganesh and other friends.

There was marked change in Ramesh from that day. He started faring well in studies and he kept perfect health. And he could be with Ganesh as he was in the past, a true friend.

507 words | 5 minutes
Readability: Grade 4 (9-10 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: your pages
Tags: #health, #pencil, #chocolate, #truth

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