The Thief and His Mother

A boy stole a book from school and showed it to his mother. Instead of scolding him, she praised him.

As he grew, he became a thief. One day he was caught and sentenced to death.

He asked to whisper to his mother—and bit off her ear.

“If you had punished me earlier,” he said, “I wouldn’t be here now.”

Moral: Letting bad behavior go unchecked leads to worse in the future.

Translation and audio listening