A rich man had only one son. Due to peer influence, the son joined a bad group. He developed many bad habits.

The man was much worried about the habits of his son. He tried his best to mend his habits but he could not succeed. One day he thought of a plan to teach his son a lesson.

He went to market and purchased some fresh apples and a rotten one. He came back to his home and called his son. He asked his son to put all the apples along with the rotten one in the almirah (cupboard).

The son did the same. After some days, father asked his son to bring the apples out. As he opened the door of almirah he was surprised to note that all the apples had become rotten. He felt sad.

At this point his father told him to see how one rotten apple had spoilt all the rest. In the same way, he told him one bad companion could spoil all others. The father’s advice had the desired effect. The boy gave up bad company and became good again.

Moral of the story: Better alone than in bad companyCompiled by Nadine Murerwa, a pupil at Gs Gatenga