In a distant town there was a female toucan named Mia. Mia had a big house and she liked to invite a lot of people to her house, but Mia always wanted help with chores around the house because Mia was very lazy.

One day, while her friends were visiting her, Mia asked for their help with the chores and gave them a long list of things to clean. All of Mia’s friends were angry when she asked them for help because they were tired of helping her every day, over and over again, for five years.

Mateo, the monkey, said: – Enough! Why do we have to do everything for Mia? I don’t ask my friends to clean my house!

All of Mia’s other friends agreed with Mateo and decided not to visit her anymore if Mia kept asking for help with her chores.

They all left Mia’s house and went to their own houses. Mia was very sad because her friends left and she felt very lonely.

One day, Mia was sitting outside her house crying. The weather was bad and it was raining. A stranger walked in front of Mia’s house.

The stranger was an old capybara who looked at Mía and said:

– Why are you crying, toucan?

Mia looked at the capybara and said: – My friends don’t visit me anymore. They say I ask them to do too many things. I only ask you to clean my house!

The capybara looked at Mia and said: – Why do you ask them to clean your house? It’s your house, it’s your responsibility. Friends are for fun. Try to have fun with your friends.

Mia listened carefully and said: – What if I clean my house and invite my friends to dinner?

The capybara replied: – It’s a great idea!

Mia smiled and thanked the capybara.

Mia went into her house and cleaned the whole house.

Afterwards, Mia took a shower and decided to make cookies for her friends.

When the cookies were ready, Mia took them to her friends’ houses as gifts and invited them for dinner at her house.

At dinner time no one had come to her house. Then Mia felt sad and reflected that she had been rude, but she wanted her friends to understand that she changed.

Then, Mia heard a knock and she ran to the door and opened it.

Outside were his friends. Mia invited them in and brought dinner to the table.

All of Mia’s friends smiled and thanked her.

They had a wonderful dinner and Mia never took her friends for granted again.

Moral: Treat other people the way you want to be treated.

Media Attribution

• Illustrations by Lauren Hutchinson