Marius, the studious apple

When morning came, he carefully packed his belongings in his backpack and stepped on the school bus. A big surprise awaited him as soon as he entered the classroom: the other fruit and vegetables had placed a small flower pot with a green plant on his desk. He stared at it in wonder. They then replied: “We are not friends with you, so we brought you this plant to hang out”.

But as soon as the eggplant teacher walked in the classroom, they all set on their desks and kept quiet. She went mad to see the plant but, realizing what they were up to, did not say a single word about it. Instead she waited for everyone to finish writing the test. Shortly after handing over his paper Marius went home and burst into tears, realizing even that he had become the laughingstock of the class and that everybody was making fun of him.

The next day the students were astounded with what awaited them in the classroom: a beautiful flower was to be found on each and every desk, according to the grade they had achieved in the test. So the class was filled with beautiful orchids, red roses and fragrant pinks. The only one not to receive a flower was Marius.

The teacher then told them: “Instead of grades, I thought of bringing you beautiful flowers. The only one not to receive a flower is Marius, as you all knew he would get the highest grade and took care of his reward yesterday”.

The students went so red with shame to hear her words that they immediately apologized to Marius. And he, in turn, learned his most prized lesson, never to take pride in his high grades again....