Prevod

A boy took a schoolmate’s writing tablet from school and brought it to his mother. Far from scolding him, she praised him. The next time, he stole a cloak and brought it to her, and she approved all the more. As the boy grew older, he went on to greater crimes, until one day he was caught, bound with his arms behind his back, and led away to the executioner. His mother followed him, beating her breast, and the young man said, “I want to whisper something in my mother’s ear.” When she came close, he quickly seized her ear and cut it off. She accused him of being a wicked son, but he said, “If you had punished me when I first stole that tablet and brought it to you, I would never have come to this, nor would I now be led away to my death.” The story shows that what goes unchecked at the beginning grows into something worse.