Lazy Little Ratna

Hello, everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you today is my own creation. It is the story of a very lazy little girl called Ratna. She was so lazy that she did not even take a bath!

    Read on and find out what happens as a result of her laziness.

Lazy Little Ratna

    Once upon a time there was a little girl called Ratna. Ratna was a little six year old girl. She had nice long hair and she loved to play with her doll. The only problem was that she was a very lazy little girl.

    She never even helped her mother. Her mother always used to tell her to clean herself, but she never listened. She did not even take a bath! Her mother used to be so tired of telling her to take a bath. Whenever she called her Ratna would just run away and hide herself until her mother got tired of calling her.

    One day, she had run away just as always from her mother outside. She went a little way and she saw some girls about her age playing outside their house. They were playing houses and they had their dolls and other things like small cute clay pots and other things. They seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. Ratna decided to join them and she went over to ask them if she could join them.

    “Hello, can I play with you?” she asked.

    The girls turned around and looked at her. What they saw made them cringe. There stood before them the dirtiest girl they had ever seen. Her hair was standing out as if she had not combed her hair for days. Her face was dirty and had dirt streaks. Her dress was so dirty and her hands and feet had streaks of dirt as well. Worse of all she smelled so bad that the girls who were standing far from her were getting the smell. Even her doll was as dirty as her.

    “No, you can’t,” said the eldest of the girls.

    “Why not?” she asked.

    The girls looked at one another and then she eldest one spoke up.

    “Because you are so dirty and you smell so bad,” she said and they turned to continue playing.

    Ratna’s face fell. She wanted to play with them so badly. She saw how they were enjoying themselves. She walked home slowly dragging her feet and went straight to her mother.

    “Mother, am I so dirty?” she asked her.

    Her mother looked at her for a while.

    “Why do you think I have been shouting at you to clean yourself?” she replied. “What happened?”

    “I wanted to play with some girls in the neighbourhood and they wouldn’t let me play,” she said. “They said I was dirty and I smelled.”

    “Come with me,” her mother said and led her to a mirror.

    What Ratna saw in the mirror horrified her! She saw a very dirty little girl standing there with an equally dirty doll in her hand. Her mother was standing beside her and she looked so clean. She felt ashamed of herself. She wished she hadn’t been so lazy.

    “Mother, what should I do?” she asked her.

    “You will have to clean yourself first,” she replied. “Since you are so dirty let me give you a thorough bath. But you will have to promise me something.”

    “What, Mother?” Ratna asked.

    “You will have to promise me to take a bath everyday try to keep yourself as clean as possible,” her mother said. “Also, you will have to stop being lazy. If you promise me then and only then I will give you a bath.”

    “I promise, Mother,” she said in a small voice.

    And so her mother took her to the bathroom and rinsed and washed her hair and gave her a thorough bath until her skin shone like gold. Next she gave her nice clean clothes to wear and combed and plaited her hair. She looked a completely different girl!

    Next she took her dirty doll and washed that as well. Not only that she also washed the doll’s clothes and gave it some fresh clothes!

    Then, Ratna’s mother took her in front of the mirror and made her look at herself. Ratna was stunned at the change. There stood a very pretty little girl with a very clean doll in hands and there were dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. What a difference from the dirty little girl to a clean little girl.

    “Now, go and tell those girls you want to play with them,” said her mother, smiling. “They will not refuse.”

    “Are you sure, Mother?” Ratna asked, doubtfully.

   “I am quite sure,” her mother replied, still smiling. “You look so nice and pretty and you smell so nice now.”

    And so Ratna went to those girls once again and asked to play with them. The girls didn’t even recognize her and they let her play with them at once.

    From that day onwards, Ratna never dodged to take a bath. She has turned over a new leaf completely. She was no longer that lazy little girl. She was always ready to help her mother whenever she could. She had turned into a very sweet little girl.

    Next Monday I am going to tell you the story of a little girl with a lot of attitude. Be sure to read it.