Laila’s Schoolbag

Art: Anna Lemos, 8, India

On Laila’s fifth birthday, her grandmother made her a schoolbag. 

They went to the Muttrah market to buy the materials. They bought pink velvet and silver lace. Grandmother added silver bells, buttons and even tassels to put on the corners of the bag. 

Laila’s grandmother worked with the local sewing group and some of the bags they made were on sale in the shops at Muscat airport! Laila was very proud of her grandmother.

Laila loved her new schoolbag. It was pink, and big and very strong. Grandmother had even embroidered Laila’s name in Arabic on the side. It was just perfect to carry her snack box, water bottle, school books, and pencil box. 

Laila lived close to her school in Muscat and walked to school each day.

On the first day of school, her teacher and friends all admired Laila’s new schoolbag. It looked beautiful as it stood in the corner of the classroom. Nobody else had a schoolbag like Laila’s. Not even the shops in Muscat had a similar bag. During break time, her friends gathered around Laila and took turns to hold it and feel its velvety fabric. They giggled as the bells tinkled. 

Art: Anna Lemos, 8, India

The next day, Laila took her sticker book to school and traded stickers with her friends. She liked sticker-trading so much that she decided to take her sticker book to school each day.

The following day, Laila took her silver anklets to school. They made a jangling sound and she let her friends take turns to wear them. They told her to bring the silver anklets to school every day.

The next day, Sayyida taught Laila to make chains from bendy twigs that they found on the school playground. Laila put the chains in one of the pockets of her schoolbag.

Laila put everything she treasured into her school bag.

By the end of the week, Laila had a lot of things in her schoolbag. Among other things, it had her Omani doll, a piece of her favourite homemade cheese, a parrot’s feather, a bar of chocolate- all melted and forgotten, a henna cone, pretty-shaped leaves, and colourful flowers that she had picked as she walked home from school.

The schoolbag grew heavier and heavier each day. As the flowers died and the cheese started to smell, the bag grew smellier too. 

YUCK! 

Laila’s friends didn’t want to trade stickers with her or play with anything that she carried in her bag.

One day, Laila carried her pet kitten to school in her schoolbag. The kitten popped out of the bag and rubbed its wet nose on the teacher’s feet. 

“Owww!” screamed the teacher as she jumped on her chair. 

“Miao!” cried the kitten as it jumped up too.

“Where did this kitten come from?” the teacher demanded.

Sayyida quietly pointed to Laila’s schoolbag as it stood in the corner of the room – a beautiful big bulging bag that looked as if it might burst at any moment. It had already lost two buttons. 

The teacher got down from the chair and smiled as she looked into Laila’s schoolbag and removed all of the things and laid them out on the desk for all the children to see. They huddled around and gasped as the things came out one by one.  
The kitten sniffed at everything that came out of Laila’s bag.

Holding the kitten in her hands, the teacher said, “Today’s lesson is about the things you should not carry in your schoolbag. A schoolbag is not a museum or a toy box or a flower basket. It is to be used only to carry school things.”

At home time, the teacher told Laila to take her bag home and clean it. She handed over Laila’s collection of ‘treasures’   in another bag and told her to keep them at home. The kitten walked home with Laila wearing a collar that the teacher had made from a colourful ribbon.  

Grandmother simply laughed when Laila told her what had happened at school, and then she helped Laila to wash her schoolbag and replaced the missing buttons. 

The next day Laila’s schoolbag didn’t smell anymore and looked quite new. On the way to school, Laila found a bright shiny stone. She picked it up and put it in her pocket!

Art: Alessandra Forabosco, 8, Italy

(An Original story by Aashoo. Protected by Copyright, 2014. Previously published by Al Roya Publications, Oman, with an Arabic translation.)