“Where is my little bird? Come my dear son,” said the mother.

“Yes mom, I am here,” replied Sousou.

“Listen Sousou, I want to be honest with you. Lately I noticed that you only think about yourself,” said the mother.

“How is that?” replied Sousou.

The mother said : “I will give you an example. When we are having lunch, you eat everything and don’t think about the rest of the family.”

“I like food,” replied Sousou.

The mother said : “We all like food, but we should also think about the others, shouldn’t we ?”

“Yes, you’re right,” replied Sousou.

The mother said : “Your behavior makes you seem selfish.” “You only think about yourself,” she added.

“Everyone should think about himself,” replied Sousou.

The mother said : “I know Sousou, but everyone should also think about the others.”

“Alright, what do you want me to do now ?” asked Sousou.

The mother replied : “I just want you to think about the others, do you get me ?”

“Yes mom, I do,” said Sousou.

A few hours later, the father got home and told his wife : “I saw you talking to our son Sousou in the morning. What’s up ?”

The mother said : “ I was telling him that he is selfish and greedy.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. Yesterday, when we were having lunch, he put the whole plate in front of him without thinking about the rest of the family,” replied the father.

The mother asked the father : “why didn’t you warn him about his bad behavior ?”

“In fact, I pitied him, I felt that he was very hungry,” answered the father.

The mother said : “But this is unbearable ! I warned him yesterday about his selfishness.”

“Good work, I don’t like my children to be selfish and greedy,” replied the father.

The mother said : “He promised me to think about the others.”

“Let’s test him then,” replied the father.

The mother asked : “What shall we do, dear husband ?”

“I will send him a big packet of peanuts through the post as a gift from his grandfather, and we will see his reaction,” said the father.

A few hours later, someone knocked at the door. Sousou opened it. It was the postman holding a packet for him.
“It must be from my grandfather. What’s in it ?” asked Sousou.

The postman said : “I don’t know, open it and see.” And he left.

“Now that the postman left, I will open the packet and no one will see me,” said Sousou.

He opened it and said : “ Wow ! Peanuts ! How delicious they are, and how generous my grandfather is.” “I will eat them all before my brother comes and asks me to give him some of them,” he added.

Meanwhile, the father arrived and saw Sousou devouring the peanuts.

“What are you doing Sousou ?” asked the father.

Sousou replied : “Uhmmm, nothing. I am playing here on the branch.”

“What are you eating ?” asked the father.

Sousou replied : “Nothing. I found a fresh leaf on this branch so I ate it.”

“That’s what it’s all about ?” asked the father.

Sousou answered : “Yes, dad.”

Meanwhile, Sousou’s brother picked up ten pieces of peanuts from the ground. He was very happy and called his brother Sousou : “Come and take your part !”

“My part of what ?” asked Sousou.

Sousou’s brother said : “I found ten pieces of peanuts under this branch. Take five pieces and I will eat the other five.”

“Five pieces for me ?” asked Sousou.

“Yes, for you,” answered his brother.

At that moment, Sousou started to cry.

“Why are you crying?” asked the brother.

The father said : “I know why. Those pieces fell from him while he was devouring the big packet of peanuts he got by post.”

“Yes, that’s right, I wanted to eat them all by myself,” said Sousou.

The father said to Sousou’s brother : “You picked up the peanuts that Sousou dropped by mistake, and thought of him before yourself.” “You are such a noble son !” he added.

Sousou started to apologize and said : “I will not be selfish anymore. Believe me, I will not.”

The father said : “I don’t know what to say. I have to ask your mother first.” “What do you say, dear wife, shall we forgive him ?” he added.

The mother said : “Alright.”

“We forgive you Sousou,” said the father.

The mother said : “Your father was the one who sent you the packet of peanuts to test you.”

Sousou replied : “How simple I am ! I learnt a good lesson, one that will change my life.” “Thank you,” he added.