(A wonderful story with a moral written by Shash, 11)

I’m ragged,
I’m lean,
I’m jagged,
I’m mean,
Guess what I am,
I’m the lima bean!

The little, mean lima bean sang confidently. He went to Bean Elementary School, along with Tommy Tucker, Green bean, Coffee bean, Tea leaf, and Jelly bean, but no one liked him at all. Full of dignity, confidence, and a big, big, mean mouth, he used to go along the hallways of the school singing the same song over and over again. If someone used to get in his way, he would push them aside and would yell at the top of his lungs ” BOG OFF!” and nobody could do anything but… well… bog off.

One day the students of Bean Elementary School gathered to make a plan. Why, you may ask? Because Lima bean was getting worse and worse by the minute. Just yesterday he had dropped a big heap of slime on Tea Leaf and she ran home crying. Now, it was getting personal, and the students decided to take major measures to check his behavior.

” Let’s beat some sense into him”, little Green bean said bravely.

“No way, let’s dunk his head underwater”, Little Jelly bean whispered.

“Shush guys, if we would do these mean things to him, then what would be the difference between him and us?”, Tommy Tucker said.

There were big cheers of approval from the students and Tommy Tucker said loud enough for everyone to hear, “LET’S TELL MRS. BEAN! LET’S TELL MRS. BEAN!”

The next day they went to Mrs. Bean and told them what bad things Lima bean had done to them and how often he used to call them names. Well, Mrs. Bean was very cross with Lima bean and called him over to her desk. She asked him if he was really behaving in that nasty and horrible manner. He admitted rather sulkily that he was, and he was sorry. Everybody forgave him and asked him to play tag with them. He said ‘yes’ and they played happily till sundown.

Moral: When someone is bullying you, don’t be bullied. Stick and stones can break your bones.