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Finders keepers
Mr and Mrs Ahmed had a daughter and a son named Alina and Ali. They belonged to a middle class family. Ali was five years old whereas Alina was just four.
Ali was always pleased when he was invited by his mother to go with her on her frequent visits to her friends or shopping. He was thrilled when she took him to the gardens where he could sail the boat his father made for him on the pond. His mother must, at times, have found it difficult to keep a check on him as he never seemed to walk quietly by her side, but always wanted to run on ahead to find some new excitement.
One beautiful day his mother called him from play and said: “Come along, Ali. I am going shopping.”
“Yippie!” Ali always liked to go shopping with his mother because though Ali’s mother did not always take him to the toy shop, there was always a wee chance that she might take him to the toy shop where there were rows and rows of lovely toys that would thrill any boy’s heart. There were little cars, trains, trumpets, boats, and lots more.
Anyway, here was an invitation that could not be missed. The day was one when the sun was shining and a slight breeze made it a pleasure to be out. Ali was thinking of all the things he wanted. There were some things he would like, which he was sure he would get by a casual visit to the toy shop. Right now he wanted a pair of roller skates. The tiny balance in his pocket money account was totally insufficient to meet the cost. His birthday was still far away, so the chances of getting roller skates were very remote. Unless something unexpected happened, skates would have to wait.
The unexpected did happen. As his mother, his sister Alina and Ali himself set out on the shopping expedition. Ali as usual ran on ahead while Alina walked beside her mother.
As Ali crossed the road to the market, his eyes fell upon something lying on the road. He quickly ran forward and picked it up and to his great surprise he found it was a purse full of money. He rushed back to his mother and sister full of joy, believing that he was on a winning streak and could not only become the owner of the roller skates but a lot of other things that were on his list.
His joy was short-lived. His mother took charge of the newly acquired wealth and said: “Now, Ali, first of all we will look inside the purse to see if there are any means of identification so that we can return it to the owner. If not, we will hand it over to the police.”
There was nothing in the purse to identify the owner, so the little party went to the police station. When they arrived, there was a lady talking to a police officer and telling him that she had lost her purse. She seemed so upset that she was almost in tears. Mrs Ahmed said: “Excuse me, but my son has just found a purse. Perhaps it is the one you have dropped.”
“Oh, yes,” the lady said, “That is the one.” The lady was overjoyed at getting her purse back. She turned to him and took some money out and handed it over to Ali as a reward. Mrs Ahmed said that he did not need that at all for doing what was right. But the lady insisted.
Now Ali and his mother had a little talk: “Finders are not keepers Ali,” she said. “Keeping by finding is a form of stealing. Holding on to somebody else’s property is not only wrong, it’s unkind because the misfortune to lose something which is valuable brings misery to the owner, as it would to us had we lost it. So remember, always treat others as we would like them to treat us.”
The reward was more than enough to buy the roller skates.
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