An old lady lived with her 12-year-old granddaughter, Mary. Mary did not go to school as her grandmother did not have enough money to pay her school fees. Although Mary’s grandmother was educated herself and tried her best to teach Mary how to read and write, Mary was stubborn and refused to learn anything. This made her grandmother unhappy as she could not force Mary to learn.
One day, Mary’s grandmother took a stroll through the woods and Mary suddenly felt uncomfortable when she realised her grandmother had been away for too long. Her grandmother lovingly called her ‘Marychicks’, but now it seemed all dull at home.
‘Anyway,’ Mary thought, ‘Grandmother will be home for dinner soon from the woods.’
But grandmother did not return at all. It was past dinnertime and Mary started to feel anxious. She decided to go out and look for her.
She took a stout stick from the corner of a room and headed out into the deep dark woods in search of her grandmother. She kept walking for an hour when she suddenly came to a halt. She could hear her grandmother calling for help!
A man’s voice, which Mary did not recognise, said, “Hahaha! No one will save you!” Mary grew angry when she heard this. She took the stout stick and hit the man hard on his head.
The man tumbled down, and a bag slung on his shoulder fell with him; soon the contents were all over the ground. Mary gasped in horror when she saw the contents, which were tiaras, gold jewellery, bracelets, anklets, earrings, nose rings and more. The man she had hit with the stick was an international thief!
She turned around and saw her grandmother suffocating as she was bound by thick ropes and there was a rag cloth tied around her eyes. She tugged at the ropes and untied her grandmother, setting her free. Mary quickly told her grandmother what happened.
They bundled all the jewellery into the big bag and tied the thief onto a tree with the ropes. After all this strenuous work, they headed home. As soon as they reached home, Mary called the police and informed them. Soon the police came and took the jewellery and thief away and thanked Mary for catching the thief.
After a few days, Mary asked her grandmother, “Why did you go for a walk in the woods so late at night?” Grandmother said, “Mary, I was upset that you refused to educate yourself despite my wanting to teach you.”
Mary thought long and hard and vowed, “I shall learn so much that you shall be proud of me.”
From that day on, she started learning from her grandmother to read and write.
