The Habits and Their Owners

This little story will be included in my upcoming book, "The Little Folks Companion"~

The Habits and Their Owners

By a Lady

Once upon a time, there was a pair of jolly twin boys, named Robbie and Georgie.

On their first birthday they received a visit from their fairy godmother. She was dressed in a long green gown and was very beautiful. At first the boys were afraid of her, till she began to speak in a sweet voice.

She called them by their names, and said, “Today, my dears, I am going to give you each a special gift, that will be your very own for as long as you live. This gift is called a habit, and it is special because you get to decide what kind of habit it will be. If you always obey your parents as they teach you good things, your habit will make your life easy, no matter what hard things you have to do. But, if you are careless and do not learn to obey, your habit will make your life very hard indeed.”

With these words, the fairy left as quickly as she had come. Robbie and Georgie were quite astonished, but could not tell anyone what had happened. One-year olds are too small to be able to speak, you know.

As frequently happens, the two boys grew and grew, and learned many new things. They had forgotten all about the gift they had received on their first birthday, but their gift had not forgotten them.

Although both Robbie and Georgie were dear little boys, if one closely observed them in their daily life, a marked difference between them would be seen.

Robbie was quick to obey, and did so cheerfully, while Georgie would take his own sweet time to do what Mother or Father told him to do.

Robbie put his things away, and was able to find them when he wanted them. His face was contented and sweet, and his body full of energy, for he learned that: “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Georgie, poor boy, was constantly losing his playthings, and even blamed Robbie for taking them sometimes! When his mother asked him to perform a simple task, he would say, “I’m tired!” much to her dismay.

And dare I say, the reason was, that Georgie would not and could not bring himself to go to bed on time, for he was just too busy playing.

Well, habits grow as quickly as little boys, and my goodness, if there was not such a difference between our little twin’s habits when they were eight years old! If we could put on our fairy glasses, we should see the strangest thing, for Robbie’s habit had grown into a sort of golden bubble, and seemed to be almost lifting him off the ground. Georgie’s habit had the appearance of a leaden octopus, holding him down with its tentacle-like arms.

On the very day of their eighth birthday, they were visited again by their fairy godmother, this time wearing a gown of glowing white, and even more beautiful then before.

“Well, Robbie and Georgie, let us see what has become of those gifts I gave you!”

And with this, she pulled out a magnificent mirror, and showed the boys their reflections. Each was quite surprised by what he saw, and Georgie began to weep.

“Oh, Fairy Godmother, is there no hope for me, that I might be rid of this horrid thing?” he asked.

“Yes, my dear Georgie,” the fairy responded, “ ‘Where there is yet life, there is yet hope’; but I must warn you that the only way to be rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good habit! It took a long time for your habit to become what you have made it, and may be a long while before it becomes a helping thing such as Robbie’s.”

“I believe in you, however,” she continued, “And know that you can do it if you will try very hard. And you will not be alone in changing your habit, for if you ask for help, your loving Heavenly Father will send you all the help you require.”

“Oh, thank you so much!” cried Georgie, his eyes shining through his tears.

“And I will help you, too,” promised Robbie, in his sincere way, for Georgie was not a bad boy by any means.

So our story ends, and I will let you, dear reader, decide what happened to our little Georgie. Did he change his habit from a bad one to a good, after all? What do you think he did?

The End