The Right Name on the Picture

Emma's class was making pictures for the hallway. Her friend Ruth had drawn a beautiful horse with a white star on its forehead. Emma had drawn a small pony, but one leg looked much too long.

At the end of the afternoon, their teacher collected the pictures. Ruth's name had rubbed off the back of her paper. The teacher held up the horse and asked Emma whether it was hers. Several children turned to look. Emma liked the thought of everyone believing she had drawn that wonderful horse.

For a moment she kept her hands in her lap. Then she shook her head and pointed to Ruth. She explained that her own picture was the pony with the long leg. The teacher wrote Ruth's name carefully on the horse and thanked Emma for telling the truth.

On the way to the coat hooks, Ruth asked to see Emma's pony. She noticed the carefully drawn mane and the little fence behind it. She offered to show Emma how to make the legs match. They spent a few minutes at the table with a clean sheet of paper.

Emma's second pony looked better, though it still did not look like Ruth's horse. When the pictures went into the hallway, Emma found both names where they belonged. She was glad that her picture told the truth about her work. A kind word from someone else feels good, but praise is never a good reason to claim what we did not do.