It was Halloween night, and the streets were full of children dressed as ghosts, witches and monsters. Among them was Martin, a boy who loved playing pranks. He and his friends Claudia and Pol met with a bag of sweets and plenty of ideas for surprising everyone they saw.
“Tonight we’ll play the best pranks ever!” Martin said with a laugh. He wanted to hide behind trees, throw confetti and tap people with icy hands when they were not looking.
At first, it seemed funny. They startled Mrs Anna with a monster mask and threw confetti at a younger boy named John, who burst into tears. Martin did not stop. “It’s only a joke!” he kept saying.
Everything changed when they reached Sylvia’s house. Sylvia was very frightened of monsters. Martin jumped in front of her wearing a terrifying mask and shouted as loudly as he could. Sylvia froze and began to cry.
Her mother came outside, hugged her and said calmly, “Pranks can be fun, but they stop being fun when they hurt someone. Sylvia is very frightened. How would you feel if someone did the same to you?”
Martin stood still and thought. He had believed that everyone was enjoying themselves, but now he understood that his jokes were causing pain. He apologised to Sylvia and the other children.
Then the friends invented kinder surprises. They hid sweets for other children to find and made cardboard skeletons dance. This time, everyone truly laughed, and the night became a cheerful celebration.
From that day on, Martin knew that a good joke makes everyone laugh and never hurts or frightens anyone.
Moral: a prank is no longer funny when it causes harm.
