She was too Small

    Hello, everyone.

    Today I am going to tell you the story of very short little girl.

    Read on find out how she made other to stop teasing her about her height.

SHE WAS TOO SMALL

    Alice was an eleven year old little girl. She was kind and helpful. As a matter of fact, she was a very nice little girl. She was also very friendly, but she had a problem! A big problem! She was short.

    Whenever she wanted to play with the other children, they always told her she could not play with them, that is, games like volleyball or basketball. And she loved these games. But she just could not get anybody to play with her. Whenever she asked anybody if she could play basketball or volleyball or any such game, she always got a ready answer, “No, you are too short to play.” And nobody took her on their team.

    That really made her sad and angry. She wished that she would be tall. The same thing happened at home. Both her older brothers told her she could not play with them and that really upset her and made her feel lonely. Then, she would go away and read a book or help her mum in the kitchen.

    What really made things worse were that sometimes the other children would call her ‘Shorty’ and she hated that.

    “Can I play volleyball with you?” Alice would ask.

    “No, you can’t, Shorty.” Was the answer she would get and she would turn away in disappointment.

    One day, she came home looking very down in the dumps.

   “What’s the matter?” asked her mother.

    “Nothing,” she replied, sitting down at the dining table, putting her hands under her chin.

    “Then, why are you looking like you’ve just lost your favourite book?” her mother asked again.

    “Well, it’s like this. Whenever I want to play with the other children, they always tell me I’m too short or too small to play with them. So, if I want to play outdoor games I don’t have anybody to play with and that makes me feel odd one out and it also makes me feel lonely,” she said dolefully. “And they tease me so!”

    “Hmm! I see. So that is the problem,” her mother said, thoughtfully. “Well, the first thing you should know is that being short should not be a handicap to you in any way. Some of the greatest leaders were very short.”

    “Really!” asked Alice in amazement, her eyes growing as big as saucers.

    “Yes,” replied her mother. “Haven’t you heard the story of David and Goliath? Goliath was a giant and yet David managed to defeat him in spite of his size. If you cannot play games with the other children that does not mean that you cannot do anything else. You can use your brains for something else that will make the other children stop teasing you and also that will make them respect you. See!”

   “Oh, thank you, Mother! I see what you mean. I’ll try to do what you told me to do,” said Alice, cheering up.

    The opportunity came the very next day for Alice to show her brains.

    Miss McNamara, their class teacher, came to the class, holding some papers in her hands.

    “Children, I have some very exciting news for you,” she said. “We are going to have interschool’s quiz. Whoever wins this quiz gets a trophy and one thousand pounds. Also, that child gets to go in the National League of Quiz.”

    The children all got excited and started to talk at once. The teacher banged the table with a ruler to silence them.

    “Please, be quiet, everybody,” she said. “If you want to take part in this quiz, you’d better let me know by tomorrow. Then, you will take home some forms to fill and sign by your parents. But, before you take the forms you will have to take a test here in the school to see if you are competent enough to participate or not. Has everybody understood? If you have any questions please ask me now.”

    All the children were excited, especially, Alice. She knew she had a chance of being chosen. After all she had a lot of general knowledge, because when nobody wanted her to play with them she would take up a book and read. She had also become a member at a local library. She would bring books on sorts of topics including of different animals and different countries. What she loved most was to read about ancient times. For example, she would read about ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece and many, many more.

   So now, she felt very confident that if she tried hard enough, she could get through her test and get to go to take part in the quiz.

    As soon as she got home, she went to her mother.

    “Mother, there is an inter-school’s quiz,” she said, excitedly. “Our teacher will take the names of all the children who to take part, tomorrow.”

    “Why, that’s wonderful! Of course,” her mother replied.

    “Tomorrow, I will let my teacher know that I want to take part. Then, she’ll give me a test, if I pass the test I’ll have to fill a form and then I’ll be able to take part in the quiz. Oh, Mum! How I wish I’d win! Then, I could show the other children that just because I am short does not mean that I’m dumb as they make me out to be,” she said, excitedly.

    Her mother laughed.

    “Of course, you’ll win. What with all the books that you are always reading,” she said.

    And so, Alice went away to go through her books. She just couldn’t wait for the next day to come.

    Next day, when her class-teacher came into the classroom and asked the children to raise their hands if they wanted to take part in the quiz, Alice was the first one to raise it. The teacher took down their names and told them to be in the conference room during the games period. Except for Alice, the few children who had volunteered to be in the quiz groaned when they heard they had to miss their games, but they had no choice.

    In the games period all the children who wanted to take part trouped to the conference room. There, they found some children from other classes already seated. They were shown to their seats and then when all the children had come the test began. Alice found the test very easy, while she found some children chewing their pencils and looking very thoughtful.

    Alice was the first one to finish her paper. When everyone had finished, the teacher announced that they would get the results the  next day.

  Alice woke up very early the next day. She could hardly eat her breakfast as she was so excited she wanted to know the results so badly. She was hardly able to sit still in the classroom.

     After midmorning break Mrs. Collins, their headmistress came to their class with a paper in her hand.

    Alice sat up straight! She did not want to miss anything that the headmistress had to say.

    “Good morning, children,” she said.

    “Good morning, Ma’am,” replied the children.

    “I have brought you the results of the quiz test,” she said.

    All the children sat up straight, except Alice, who had been sitting up straight from the very moment that she had seen the headmistress come into the class.

    “In your class only Alice and Patrick have passed the test. And so, only these two will be able to participate in the quiz. Both of you will come to my office at lunch time and collect your forms. Please, be sure to get them filled by tomorrow. The quiz is going to take place after two weeks and I’ll have to submit them before then,” she said and with that left the class.

   There was silence in the class when the headmistress had left. Alice’s face glowed with pride as she looked around her. She could see many disappointed faces. The only other happy face that she could see was of Patrick.

    That day, she couldn’t wait to tell her mum and dad. As soon as she reached home, she ran straight to her mother, her father was not back from work as yet.

    “Mum, Mum, I have passed my test and I have been chosen to take part in the quiz. Look, I have brought the form for you or Dad to fill!” She said, excitedly.

   “That is very exciting, Dear,” her mother said, very pleased. “When is the test?”

   “It’s after two weeks,” answered Alice.

    “Well, you’ll have to work very hard indeed, my dear,” her mother said.

    “I know, Mum,” said Alice. Then, she added, “I will try my best to make you and Dad very proud of me.”

    “I know you will,” said her mother, smiling. “Now, would you like to have some lemonade? You must be very thirsty after all that excitement,” she teased Alice.

   Alice grinned and said, “Oh yes, Mum. Thank you.”

   And so for the next two weeks, Alice was seen buried in books of all sorts, she brought from the library.

    The quiz had been organized in one of the other schools. All the participants had been told to be there at 9.00 a.m. sharp.

    Alice woke up very early. She got dressed and had her breakfast and went to school. They had been told the school bus would take them to the other school. Alice waited patiently. And soon she and Patrick were summoned to go to the bus. Soon the bus took them and the other pupils from other classes to the other school.

    Once there they were led to the assembly hall. There the children were told to take their seats. Seven desks on each side were arranged opposite to each other, and in the middle was the table at which sat three judges.

    Alice took her seat with a beating heart. Her hands were sweating and she crossed her fingers and prayed that she would be able to answer all the questions.

    At 9.15 sharp, the quiz began. There were all sorts of questions. Some of them were very hard and some children were unable to answer them and then the same question was taken to the opposing team and they were told to answer. But, sometimes, even the opposite team was unable to answer, in which case nobody got any marks of course. But, there about three or four questions that the opposite team was unable to answer and Alice answered them. Because of this, Alice’s team won.

    Her team got a cup and each of the winners got ten pounds and because, Alice had answered so many questions, she got an additional ten pounds!

    Alice was overjoyed!

     Now, she wouldn’t mind if anybody called her ‘Shorty’! She had shown everybody that although she was not tall, she had a lot of brains. When her mother and father and her two brothers heard that she had won, they were very proud of her!