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MORAL TALE (2)     THE CHEAT
The true Story of a student
Once upon a time there was a young student called Ahmed. He was younger than a lot of the other guys and was also a bit too shy to speak much in class. We could say he was intelligent, but a little insecure. We must however admit that he was also quite lazy and always left things until the last minute! 
One Tuesday, to his surprise, their teacher gave them an important reading test. In fact the teacher had warned them the day before, but sadly Ahmed had not been listening. He felt a slight panic attack beginning to develop. Oh dear! He did not want to fail the test, but his confidence was disappearing fast.
They sat in rows while their teacher handed out the papers. Obediently they switched off their mobiles (well, most of them). They listened to her explain how long the test would take (45minutes) and how many sections there were (5). Of course she emphasized that they must not look at each other's papers, even though they
were sitting very close together. They nodded their heads and moved a little apart.
The test began. The teacher watched as the guys got their heads down and worked hard at answering the questions. In his seat, Ahmed also struggled through the questions, concentrating hard on not looking at Sultan's paper. (We haven't mentioned Sultan so far in this story, In fact he is Ahmed's best friend. Unlike Ahmed he is not really shy and not really insecure. Although he is just as lazy, he is usually much better at
exams.) 
Time moved on. Guys were finishing; guys were leaving. Gradually the room became emptier and emptier. Ahmed was finding the end of the paper difficult. It was the part where you have to decide which word goes best in the space; a,b,c or d. There were only four others left in the room now. Ahmed felt tired and depressed. His eyes strayed to Sultan's desk; there was the last page with its line of answers. Ahmed looked down at his own paper. Surely the teacher wouldn't notice? He checked his answers quickly against Sultan's and changed four of his to read the same. As he looked up, the teacher's hand was there, collecting his paper in. He felt a little afraid, but she was till smiling. 'O.K.'. she said, as he explained the crossed out ones were wrong "I'll make a note"
The next day the teacher arrived in the class with the result sheet in her hand. As she turned to Ahmed, one of the others said 'You know he cheated' 'Yes, she replied "I know, but I have a special message for Ahmed and everybody should listen, this is what she said 
'At the end of the test, Ahmed looked at Sultan's paper and changed four of his answers. I didn't say anything, but I watched quietly. Ahmed, the truth is you changed four right answers into four wrong ones!!! He scored 58,which is a fail mark. If he had relied on his own brain, he would have scored 62 and passed!'
The other guys laughed and laughed and poor Ahmed was red with shame. He held his head in his hands and pleaded 'Oh let me do another test. If I hadn't changed those four I would have passed. What a fool I am" Ever after that Ahmed made sure he didn't look at anyone else's paper. He learned that cheating doesn't pay and he learned to rely on himself, which are two very big lessons in life. Lessons for Ahmed and for all the class.


The names in this tale have been changed to protect the guilty!