Slow and Steady Wins the Race

In a beautiful, peaceful town lived two friends, Abdullah and Khalid. They went to the same school and sat in the same class, but they studied in very different ways.

Abdullah was hardworking and patient. He was not especially quick at lessons, but he had one great strength: he never left his work for tomorrow. Whatever he had to do that day, he finished that day. Even if he studied only a little, he studied every day. His rule was: "Slowly, but steadily!"

Khalid, on the other hand, was very clever and sharp. Any lesson at school stuck in his mind quickly. Whatever the teacher taught, Khalid understood it in minutes. But Khalid had one big fault: laziness. He put off everything.

Whenever Abdullah said, "Khalid, come on, let's prepare for the exams together this evening. The syllabus is long."

Khalid would laugh and answer, "Oh, Abdullah, you worry about nothing! There are still two whole months before the exams. I could finish the entire syllabus in just two days. You go and waste your time. I'm going to play and rest."

Abdullah smiled at his friend's words and quietly carried on with his preparation. Every day he finished one chapter, made notes on it and went over the lesson again.

Time flew by, and before they knew it the annual exams were here.

Only two days before the exams, Khalid opened his books. But when he saw the syllabus for every subject, his heart sank. There was so much that it was impossible to finish in two days. He stayed up at night trying to study, but his mind was tired and nothing stuck. Out of fear and panic, he even began to forget the important lessons.

Abdullah, meanwhile, was perfectly calm. He had finished his whole syllabus on time and was now only revising, without any worry. He went to bed early and reached school fresh the next morning.

Exam day came. As soon as he got his paper, Abdullah calmly wrote the best answers to all the questions. Khalid, however, sat worried, staring at the paper. Because of his laziness he had not covered the whole syllabus, and many of the questions were things he had never studied. He wrote half-finished answers and walked out sad.

A few days later the results were announced, and Abdullah had come first in the class. Everyone praised his hard work. Khalid stood there, ashamed, looking at his low marks.

Khalid came to Abdullah, took his hand and said, "Abdullah, today I understood that being clever is not enough. I fell behind because of my laziness and my habit of putting things off. You taught me that the one who works on time and does not give in to laziness is the one who truly succeeds."

Abdullah hugged his friend and said, "It's alright, Khalid! From now on, remember..."