One day, somebody told me a nice story about a broom. I admit that I liked it a lot in spite of being so simple, and I wouldn’t to lose it, so I’ll tell you.

There once was a Broom who lived in a very little and old house, shut up in a dark room with all the other objects. That was very uncomfortable, but the broom was happy, because everyday she helped her owner, an old blind lady, keep the house clean.

Everyday she was taken by the Old Lady and was softly swung against the floor. At first, the Broom was very proud of being useful to the old lady, but soon she started to get angry because the other objects made fun of her for always being dirty and full of balls of fluff.

Fed up with all their mean jokes, at night, the Broom asked the Mirror if she was ugly, The Mirror told her that even though all brooms were ugly she was the ugliest broom he had ever seen.

Hurt by his words, the Broom started crying, the Broom cried for weeks and weeks, begging to be changed and to become pretty. The Broom continued to cry until one day a Fairy came and asked her:

- What’s the matter? Why are you sad?
- Nothing, -said the Broom hiding her eyes- Leave me alone! Just leave me all alone!
- I didn’t come to make fun of you. I want to help you. -said the Fairy.
- Really? And how can you help me? Are you going to touch me with your magic wand and make me pretty and happy again? -laughed the Broom.
- I’m going to teach you a lesson. Beauty doesn’t make people happy
- You say that because you’re beautiful and nobody insults you! -sobbed the poor Broom.
- Stop crying and tell me… how do you want to look?
- I want to have leaves, as beautiful as a tree has, instead of these “hairs”… - said, tell Broom looking through the window.
- Well, you’ll tell me how you feel… -said the Fairy with a sad smile.

The next night, the Broom woke up with a big and beautiful bunch of leaves where her hard hair used to be. Full of joy she went to the Mirror and asked him if she was pretty. The Mirror, very surprised, told her that she was very beautiful. But, as he was saying that, the leaves began to fall and the wretch Broom had nothing on her head. She ran as fast as she could while away from the Mirror as it laughed at her misfortune. She found a hiding place and cried out at the top of her voice.

- What’s wrong? Why are you crying now? -asked the Fairy.
- You’re a cheat! You’ve made my new hair fall out!
- It wasn’t my fault, that’s on Nature. Trees can’t stop their leaves from falling…
- Help me, please! They’ll make fun of me again if I am not pretty! -interrupted the Broom.
- Oh…you haven’t learned anything…OK, I’ll give you another chance. -Answered the disappointed fairy. -How do you want to look this time?
- I’ve seen the ice. It’s so beautiful… I want it for myself. Would you help me?

When the Broom woke up the next night, she went to the Mirror again and asked him his opinion. The Mirror, surprised again, said the kindest words to her, but the ice soon began to melt. The Broom ran away before the Mirror could laugh.

- Wretched Fairy! You did it again. -said the Broom very indignantly.
- It wasn’t my fault. Nature says that ice melts. You can’t do anything about that.
- Help me, but don’t cheat me again, please. Don’t you see I’m desperate?

The Fairy sighed and asked her how she wanted to look. The Broom remembered that gold was very beautiful and valued, and decided that she wanted that, because it didn’t fall or melt. Then, the Fairy said her magical words, and the next night, the Broom went to see herself in the Mirror, to see the change. There and passed by all the objects so they could see her golden hair, they were very surprised and praised her for her beauty. The Broom felt very happy, because they were all her friends and invited her to all their parties.

Unluckily, a few days afterwards, a thief came into the house and stole all the gold from her hair. When she woke up the next morning, she didn’t notice, but all her “friends” avoided and ignored her. Then, the Broom saw the Old Lady crying loudly for the house was dirty and destroyed! The Broom asked all the objects about what had happened, but everybody looked at her with contempt so she decided to go to the Mirror and see for herself. When the Broom saw herself without hair, she saw that she was uglier than before. The Broom began to think and realised that she used to be much happier, more useful and those friends weren’t real friends. She was better off before although she was ugly.

Suddenly, the Fairy appeared by her side. The Broom said that she was very sorry of being so selfish. She begged to change again to be like before. The Fairy saw that she was telling the truth and she learned the lesson, she gave her desire.

So this way, the Broom had her hair again to help the Old Lady. She had already learned the lesson… how about you?