Be Good to Your Enemies Story in English For Kids

Some of the best ways to teach moral values to young children are through stories. Stories enchant kids, so it is easy to impart knowledge through the medium of stories. The three stories in this article are all about doing good to others, even if they have tried to harm you in the past. The story tells us that our goodness can change evil into good and create a better world to live in. 

In this article, you will read about how you can be good to your enemies by helping them when they need you. Being good to those who hurt us will only make you noble and give you a strong character. Our good deeds are the only thing in our hands as we can not control how others treat us. But what others do should not affect the way we conduct ourselves morally.

Summaries of the Long Story in English

Under the title of "Be Good to Your Enemies," children will read three stories. The gist of all three stories is the same, i.e., we must not hurt those who hurt us. The three stories are as follows:

Summary of Sammy and Timmy Story

There was a good little boy named Sammy, who was good in all spheres of life. He scored well in his studies, was obedient to his parents, and was kind to everyone around him. He was loved dearly by all the grown-ups. Due to this, many boys felt jealous of Sammy. 

There was one boy in particular called Timmy, who was in the same class as Sammy, who was extremely jealous of Sammy. Timmy always liked to play, misbehaved with his parents, and did not do well in school. He always insulted Sammy in front of others, but Sammy never reacted. When Sammy turned eight, he received a beautiful pen from his parents as a gift. Sammy brought the pen to school for taking down notes, as the pen was very smooth to write. Timmy saw the pen and planned to steal it from Sammy. 

When Sammy went out for lunch, Timmy stole the pen from Sammy's bag. When Sammy found out that his pen was missing, he informed the class teacher about it. A hunt for the ben began, and the class monitor searched all bags to finally find the pen in Timmy's bag. Timmy started crying once his folly was brought to the light. Sammy felt bad for Timmy and asked the teacher not to take any action against Timmy as all Sammy wanted was to find the pen and not punish anyone. Timmy was moved by this act of Sammy and the two became fast friends after this incident and both were loved by one and all.

Summary of Tuan and Juan Story

Tuan was a good-natured farmer who owned small land and worked hard on the land to earn a livelihood for his family. Tuan was extremely helpful to anyone who was in need. He helped people who fell sick and attended to the families of the deceased in every way he could. Everyone loved Tuan due to his kind nature. Juan was Tuan's neighbor and was the only one around who hated Tuan. Juan was a lazy person and never worked hard on his land. This led to low productivity of crops, and Juan never managed to earn as much as Tuan.

One day, just before the harvest, Juan acted upon his burning jealousy and burnt Tuan’s crops in the night. One of the neighbors saw the fire and woke up Tuan. Everyone helped to douse the fire and when Tuan did some investigation on which direction the fire came from, he realized that it must have been set by Juan. Tuan did not raise this topic but decided to punish Juan if he repeated this act.

After a few days, Juan's son fell terribly ill, and the local doctor was unable to provide a cure to his disease. When Tuan got this news, he rode on his horse to a village ten miles away that had a much more experienced doctor. He brought the doctor along with him, and the doctor provided a remedy that cured Juan's son. Juan was stunned to know that despite knowing he burnt his crops, Tuan still helped him tremendously. He asked Tuan how he could get such a spirit to help someone who harmed him. Tuan answered that he always tried to do the right thing, irrespective of the person's behavior towards him in the past. After this, Tuan and Juan became thick friends, and Juan's character changed drastically. Juan started paying more attention to his crops and started earning more thereafter.

Summary of Tom and Stray Dogs Story

Tom was a pet dog in a wealthy family of Mrs. Havisham. Tom's mistress took great care of him, and in return, Tom tried his best to be loyal to his mistress and guard her mansion from burglars and thieves. He had a comfortable kennel to live in, and Mrs. Havisham provided him with good food all through the day.

The street dogs in his neighborhood were jealous of Tom's luck as they never got good stuff to eat on time. Their jealousy made them hurl insults and curse Tom from outside his mistress's gate. But Tom did not take all this to heart as he understood the plight of the poor dogs who struggled for food all day and did not have a luxurious life as his.

One day when Tom's mistress was taking him for a walk, he saw some boys throwing stones at the abuser dogs and many of the dogs were bleeding. Tom had a hefty build and loud voice so he decided to save the dogs from the boys and freed himself from his leash and ran towards the boy. His loud bark and huge figure scared the boys who left hitting the dogs and started running for their life.

The next day the abuser dogs, whom Tom saved from boys’ stones, gathered around Tom’s mistress’s house to gain Tom’s friendship. Tom’s kindness turned the abusers into his admirers and he earnt their love and respect.

Image of Be Good to Your Enemies

The moral of the Story Be Good to Your Enemies

From all three stories, we learn that we must always be good to others, even if they are our enemies. The story also tells us that:

• Being good can convert bad to good as seen in the case of Juan, Tom’s abusers, and Timmy.

• Our moral values should not get affected by how others behave toward us. We must always conduct ourselves in the best possible manner.

• One should not take advantage of someone's vulnerable situation (as Juan did when he burnt Tuan's farm while he was sleeping and unaware of his surroundings) because we always get back what we give to others.

Note to Parents

All the stories in this article have different things to teach us. Parents should talk about the story and mention some real-life situations where someone did something bad to someone they know and teach them not to retaliate in the same manner. Situations from real life will help children understand the story and its morals better. Though, parents should not inculcate in children the habit of ignoring bad deeds and bearing everything. There is a thin line between what is acceptable and what is not, and parents must bring that out to children appropriately.