One by one...

One by one, all turned away their faces and the last one said out loudly, "Have you all heard what she had told us yesterday? She said; we are all horrid and she would tell her mum all about us. Let her do It then." And all the children Shouted In a chorus "Tell-Tale, Tell-Tale, Tell-Ta!e," and off ran Shyrose, with a bucketful of tears flowing from her eyes. She entered the door and saw her mum sitting on the chair with some knittng.

Her mother would usually come running to the door when she saw Shyrose crying and would pamper her and make her quiet. But today Shyrose had a different mum. She had no smile on her face. She was sad and ashamed to have a tell- tale daughter. Shyrose saw that her mother did not welcome her and thought that may be she hadn't heard her coming in, so she screamed louder. Yet, her mother took no notice. Shyrose went over to her mother saying "Mummy!

Mummy!" But she was shocked to hear her mother's stern voice, a voice which she rarely used, saying; "Don't disturb me, Shyrose, I am busy." "But mummy, the chldren always make me cry and they are horrid to me. They wouldn't even listen about my beautiful redball," .Her mother said sternly, "Shyrose do you ever try to look at your faults? Would all of them be horrid and bad to you? What do they have against you?" "Mummy they were bad to me. They all turned their backs to me", said Shyrose.

"Yes, Shyrose," said her mother, now in a softer and kinder tone. "I was talking to them and they told me that they all liked you, and would like you much better, if you weren't a tell tale. You have to admit it. You always come in running and bring up new tales. You call them horrid, when they are not, and so today, they were giving you a lesson by showing you what is horridness in the true sense. Do you understand, my dear?" Shyrose remained silent for a while and then spoke; "Yes, mummy.

It is true. They are nice. They love me but I call them by unkind names. Let me go to them and apologize." She ran out, having a beautiful smile on her face. It was a new Shyrose, a happy and kind Shyrose, who would never tell tales again. Previous…