m was the best at art in her school. Her drawings were displayed on the classroom walls, in the assembly hall, on notice boards and even in the principal’s office. Whenever any art competition was announced, Hadiya’s name was added to the list first.

Hadiya loved the attention she was getting, but slowly, pride began to grow in her heart.

One morning, some students were practising drawing sunflowers for their upcoming art competition, whose theme was “The beauty of flowers”. Their lines were uneven and the colours were not perfectly blended. Hadiya glanced at their canvases and laughed.

“Do you call this art? My ten-year-old cousin paints better than you!” she said arrogantly.

The students felt very embarrassed. One small boy said softly, “But we are still learning.”

She replied, “Talent can never be learnt. You either have it or you do not.”

Their art teacher was standing in the corner, hearing everything, but she said nothing and only smiled gently.

A week later, the art competition, “The beauty of flowers”, was officially announced. The winner’s painting would be sent to a national contest.

“I know that since we hardly have good artists in this school, I am obviously the winner!” she said proudly to her friend.

On the competition day, Hadiya sat with a fresh white canvas and her paints. She lifted her paintbrush, but suddenly froze, as if her mind had gone blank. She tried to draw a flower, but the strokes turned messy. She rubbed it off and tried again, but this time it was even worse.

She muttered, “Come on, Hadiya, it’s a piece of cake…”

She looked around nervously and saw others painting calmly. This made her even more anxious, and she began to panic. She was not satisfied with what she drew and painted. As a result, the canvas looked more like a mess than a proper painting. For the first time, she wanted to hide her work from the rest of the participants.

The next day, the results were announced. The art teacher did not call Hadiya’s name at all. Instead, she uncovered a large board with paintings displayed on it, without any names or signatures.

“These paintings were judged without knowing who painted them,” she said.

She pointed to one painting that was very dull and added, “This one was painted by someone very talented, but blinded by pride.”

Then she pointed to the winning painting and said, “This was painted by a budding artist with great humility.”

The painting was bright, full of colours and emotions.

She turned to the stude­nts and quoted, “Talent without humility loses its shine.”

Later, she revealed the names and the dull painting belonged to Hadiya. A few students laughed softly, and Hadiya felt the very pain she had once given to others.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 21st, 2026