The Plum Stone

Mother had bought plums at the market. She washed them and arranged them on a plate. "We'll eat them after dinner," she said. Little Vanya had never eaten a plum before. He kept circling the plate. The plums were purple, shiny and smelled wonderful.

When nobody was in the room he could not resist. He took one plum and ate it. It was sweet and juicy, delicious!

Before dinner Mother counted the plums; one was missing. She told Father. At dinner Father asked: "Children, nobody ate one of the plums, did they?" Everyone said, "No." Vanya turned bright red, but he too said, "No, I didn't eat one."

Father shook his head. "It's clear someone ate it, but that's not the point. The real problem is this: whoever swallows a plum stone dies within a day. That's what worries me."

Vanya went white as a sheet and cried out: "No, I didn't swallow the stone, I threw it out of the window!"

Everyone started laughing. Vanya did not understand at first, then he did: his lie had come out. He began to cry.

Father took him on his lap. "Don't cry," he said, "eating a plum is no crime. But saying 'I didn't eat it' weighs more than eating a plum. Next time, if you want one, say so, and we'll eat together."

From that day on, whenever Vanya did something wrong, instead of hiding it in fear he learned to say, "I did it." And every time he found that telling the truth was not nearly as frightening as he had thought.