By Sofia Nasr

ALI was a little naughty boy who used to irritate, scare and play tricks on animals. He would never miss the chance of throwing stones if he ever saw a cat or dog in and around his house. Fortunately, up till now all cats and dogs managed to get away without being hurt.

Ali’s elder brother Ahmed didn’t like his brother’s habit, he would often tell him not to do so as these were also living beings. But it made no difference to Ali who just laughed.

One day, Ali saw a cat in their garden and he started throwing stones at her. She tried to run but Ali kept running behind her, trying to scare her.

Ahmed saw this from the window of his room and shouted, “Ali! Stop it! You will hurt the cat!”

“So what?” said Ali carelessly and kept on harassing the cat. Then he took a big stone lying near the flower pots and hurled it towards the cat. This time the cat couldn’t get away — she was hit and fell with a piercing cry. She tried to get up, but it seemed that one of her arms was injured and she was in intense pain. Ahmed came rushing and they both went closer to the cat.

“Look, what you have done to this innocent little creature! Shame on you!” said Ahmed angrily.

Seeing such a scene Ali was shocked, then tears started to roll down his eyes and he said, “I didn’t mean to hurt it. I was just trying to scare it!”

“We should immediately take it to the vet,” said Ahmed. Fortunately, the vet was not too far away, so they went to their mother and told everything. Before mum could react, Ali said, “Mum, I am really sorry, I know what I have done but I promise I will never hurt animals again as I have learnt my lesson, and I truly feel sorry for the cat.”

Their mother helped them put the cat in an empty box and gave them some money to take it to the vet.

After examining the cat the vet said, “Her arm is broken! She needs to stay here for a week.”

So Ali and Ahmed had to leave her there. Both walked back home sadly. Ali felt guilt, and he apologised to Ahmed… but he couldn’t change what had happened.

They reached their home with heavy hearts. Just then they heard something, it sounded like kittens. They both went to the corner of their garden and saw four little kittens.

It struck them that the cat Ali hit must be their mother, which made Ali even sadder. But he turned to Ahmed and said, “I am the culprit behind all this and this is my responsibility to take care of these kittens until their mum is reunited with them.”

Thus, for the whole week, Ali and Ahmed took care of the kittens, they brought milk and food for them, played with them and sometimes even brought them to their rooms. After a week when they went to pick the cat from the vet, Ali was really happy to see the cat healthy and able to walk easily.

The vet put the cat back in the box as she could attack strangers out of fear. Ali and Ahmed opened the box once they were near her kittens in the garden; the cat ran to her litter and caressed them.

After this Ali was never mean to animals and also stopped other kids from hurting them.

Many of us don’t realise that animals too are living beings and can feel pain like us. We should not be cruel to them and should take care to never trouble them in any way, unless of course we face a real threat from them. If someone doesn’t like cats or dogs, it is better to keep away from them than hurt them for no reason.