Have you ever met someone who just wouldn't listen, no matter what? Well, this story is about a child like that, a child with a very, very strong will!

This little one almost never did what their mother asked. If their mother said, "Please wear your warm coat, it's chilly!" the child would say, "Nope! I'm fine!" and run out without it. If she said, "Time to eat your vegetables, they're good for you!" the child would make a face and push the plate away. It was like their ears had little doors that slammed shut whenever Mom spoke.

Now, the grown-ups in those days believed that if children were too stubborn and didn't listen to their parents, things wouldn't go well for them. And for this child, sadly, that's what happened. Because they didn't listen about staying safe or eating well, they became very, very sick.

So sick, in fact, that they closed their eyes and didn't wake up again. Everyone was very sad. They placed the child in a little bed, a special one for sleeping under the soft earth, and covered them with a cozy blanket of soil.

But guess what happened the next morning? A tiny hand, and then a little arm, poked right out of the ground! Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle! The people who saw it were very surprised! "What's this?" they whispered. They tried to gently push the arm back under, but it just popped out again.

The child's mother knew. Oh, she knew. "That's my stubborn little one," she sighed, but with a little smile too, because she understood her child. She found a small, bendy twig from a nearby bush.

She went to the tiny arm that was sticking out and tapped it gently with the twig. "Now, now," she said softly, "it's time to rest. Be a good child and stay tucked in."

And believe it or not, the little arm slowly went back under the earth. And this time, it stayed there. The child was finally peaceful and quiet, resting under the ground. And maybe, just maybe, they finally decided it was a good idea to listen.

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