Once upon a time there was a tap that was used to wash plates… which is to say he was a tap in a kitchen in a house in the countryside.

He didn’t see people very often, so to entertain himself he learned to speak – but he only ever talked to himself. He would tell himself stories about what his life would be like if people lived in his house.

 

One day, new owners bought the house – and they had a little daughter called Maria. The little girl didn’t have many friends nearby, for her house was quite far away from the village. So she would amuse herself by playing with the furniture and items in the house, and the thing she most liked to play with was the talking tap.

Maria would turn it on and off constantly to watch the water gush out or drip.The tap was delighted that he was involved in the game, but Maria spent a lot of time playing with him, and there was something about it that worried him…

One day, the tap said to Maria: “Hello Maria, don’t be frightened. I’m a talking tap and I learned to speak a long time ago.” Amazed, Maria went silent. So the tap kept talking: “It’s ok to play, Maria, just not with me.  The water I spout is very valuable and we mustn’t waste it.“

And that was when Maria, who was very alarmed to hear the tap talking to her, understood that she shouldn’t play with the water, for wasting water is the stupidest thing in the world.

THE END