The Thief and His Mother

by Aesop

A SCHOOLBOY stole a horn-book from one of his schoolfellows and brought it home to his Mother. Instead of chastising him, she rather encouraged him in the deed. In the course of time, the boy, now grown into a man, began to steal things of greater value, until, at last, being caught in the very act, he was brought before a judge and sentenced to be hung. As he was being led to the scaffold, the mother bowed herself to the ground with grief. A neighbor seeing her thus, said to her: It is too late for you to moan and sob now. If you had been as much grieved when he committed his first theft, you would have corrected him in time, and thus saved youself this sorrowful day.

Moral:
Nip evil in the bud.