There was a boy named Sipho. He lived with his grandmother.

Sipho had a friend called Thabo.

Sipho and Thabo loved soccer.

They played soccer every day when they came home from school.

Sipho's grandmother had a beautiful vegetable garden.

The boys often used to kick the ball so hard that it fell into grandmother's garden.

Grandmother told the boys, "Always make sure to close the gate every time you fetch your ball."

One day, while they were playing, the ball fell into the garden. They went to fetch it.

They forgot to close the gate.

The goat went into the garden and ate grandmother's spinach.

Later, grandmother went to the garden to fetch some spinach to prepare for dinner.

Grandmother found the gate open and her spinach gone.

"What have those boys done?" grandmother asked herself.

"Sipho!" she called with a furious voice. Sipho came running. "Grandmother?" he answered.

"What happened to my spinach?" she demanded to know.

Sipho was so scared that he could not talk. While they were standing in the garden, Thabo arrived.

"Thabo, do you know anything about my spinach?" asked grandmother.

"No, grandmother. I don't know anything about the spinach," replied Thabo.

"Did you two boys leave the gate open? I told you never to leave it open."

"No, grandmother!" said the boys with one voice.

The two boys started to blame each other. They began to argue.

Grandmother heard them arguing and called them.

Grandmother asked them what they were arguing about.

The boys told her the truth about the spinach.

They admitted to grandmother that they had left the gate open.

They were very sorry.

Grandmother was very kind.

In a calm voice she said, "I hope you two boys have learned your lesson. You must never leave the gate open again."