One winter afternoon, a little boy sat below a ‘neem’ tree, next to a river. He was returning from school, and carried a large bag on his back.

He looked very sad. And as he sat staring at the water, big fat tears started dripping from his eyes creating little round ripples in the pond.

He had only been sitting there for a short while, when he saw a turtle swimming towards him. It was not very big, but it swam slowly.

By the time it reached the shore, the boy had stopped crying, but still looked rather sad. The boy knew that turtles don’t speak or understand human beings, yet he wanted to talk to someone and the turtle seemed the closest creature around.

"Hello, turtle," said the boy in a sad little voice. "Today my teacher gave me my report card. I’ve not done well, not well at all" sniffed the boy. "My mother will be so upset when she sees the results. I really love my mother, and did not want to make her sad. But now she will be. Maybe, she’ll even be angry. My mother wanted me to do so well in school. Of course I wanted it too, but the tests were so difficult. I know I should have studied earlier, but what will I do now?"

The turtle said nothing. She was listening very patiently as if she understood everything. "Perhaps…maybe I could…I know, I won’t show the marks to my mother. Then she will not be sad. Yes, that is what I’ll do, I’ll just keep quiet." The boy perked up at the thought of having found a solution to his problem, and with a slightly happier face, got up, and started to go home.

It was then that he heard someone say ‘Will that be the right thing to do?’. The boy stopped and looked around to see who was talking to him. There was no one but the turtle. The boy looked at the turtle carefully. She smiled a lovely smile that seemed to light up her face. Then she said ‘I think you should tell her the truth, and also tell her that you will do better next time.’