6-1 A Good Scrooge III
Everything in my house is over ten years old. P
My father always taught me to take good care of my things and not throw them away if they could still be used. P
This was true of everything, even down to something as simple as the stump of a pencil. P
A few days had passed since we had talked about the bicycle, P
when I saw my father carrying a bicycle on his way home from work. P
"Father. Who is this bicycle for?" P
"Someone threw this bicycle away, so I thought I could bring it home and fix it up for you." P
When I realized that my father was just going to fix some old bike for me and not buy me a new one, I said, P
"I don't want that old bike! I already told all my friends that you were going to buy me a new one!" P
I was very upset, and I knew that my friends would tease me about only having an old, used bicycle. P
6-2 A Good Scrooge IV
"You're just a cheapskate!" P
I was so mad that my father was always giving me fixed-up used things instead of new ones. P
I kept staring at the sky to keep my tears from springing out of my eyes. P
"Son. Do you want to go somewhere with me? Won't you please come with me? P
Father held my hand and we rode on the village bus. P
We soon arrived at a garbage dump. P
There were piles and piles of old junk everywhere, P
everything from old refrigerators to bicycles was on those piles. P
But most of the things in the piles seemed fine. P
It just needed a little fixing up and they would work again almost as good as new. P
My father said, "Don't you think all of these things could be fixed easily and used again? P
Wouldn't leaving them here be a terrible waste? P
There is a saying: 'One man's trash is another man's treasure.' P
There is nothing wrong with fixing things up and reusing them. P
6-3 A Good Scrooge V
On our way home, we met the old woman who sold grain in front of the pharmacy. P
"Hello, my friend! And thank you so much for the washing machine! P
It's so much easier to wash my clothes now. Thanks again!" P
And the old woman thanked my father over and over again. P
When I saw how happy the old woman was with her new old washing machine, P
I was ashamed that I wasn't more grateful for the bicycle my father had offered me. P
So I pulled myself together and said, P
"Hey, dad? I think I'd like to ride that bicycle you brought back after all. P
Only… could you at least paint it a bright new color so it doesn't look quite as old as it does?" P
My father smiled and said, "Of course, son." P
6-4 Looking at the Rooftop I
One day, on a small farm, a rooster was pecking at seeds in the yard. P
A bull came up to him and said, P
"I work very hard in the fields every day, and all I get to eat is some lousy hay. P
All you do is walk around pecking at seeds and eating all day. P
Don't you think this situation is unfair?" P
But the chicken replied coldly, P
"Mr. Bull, how can you say that? P
What I do is more important than what you do, P
because I let everyone know when it's morning with my loud voice. P
What is more important than letting everyone know that it is the start of a new day?" P
Hearing this, the dog stood up and said, P
"I guard this house day and night without ever getting a good night sleep, P
and all I get to eat are the leftovers from the kitchen. P
How can you possibly think that telling people when it's morning is more important than guarding the house?" P
6-5 Looking at the Rooftop II
The rooster replied angrily, "Who asked you, Dog? P
Why don't you butt into someone else's conversation?" P
This made the dog angry, and he started barking at the rooster. P
His loud barks startled the rooster, but instead of becoming afraid, P
the rooster teased the dog and said, P
"Is that as loud as you can bark, Dog? How could your tiny bark ever wake up anyone? P
My 'cock-a-doodle-doo' always wakes up everyone! P
So obviously, what I do is more important than what you do, Dog." P
This made the dog even angrier, and he snarled at the rooster. P
"That's nonsense! My bark is not little!" P
Enjoying his own wit, the rooster replied, "You're right, Dog. P
It is even tinier than that!" P
6-6 Looking at the Rooftop III
And the rooster laughed and laughed at the angry dog. P
The dog became so angry that he tried to bite the rooster. P
But the rooster just flew up onto the rooftop and looked down at the dog. P
"Hey, Dog! Why don't you come and get me? If you have learned to fly, that is!" P
But the poor dog couldn't fly, so he just kept barking at the rooster. P
Even the bull began to laugh at the scene, and was glad he'd stuck around for the entertainment. P
6-7 Three-Year Bridge I
Once upon a time, there was a bridge called the Three-Year Bridge. P
It was called the Three-Year Bridge because of a legend, P
which said that anyone who fell on the bridge would live for just three years after that day. P
One day, an old man was crossing the bridge on his way home. P
A rabbit hopped out in front of the old man and scared him, P
and the old man tripped and fell on the Three-Year Bridge. P
As he fell, he shouted, "Good Lord! I am as good as dead!" P
The old man cried and pounded his fists on the ground. P
He cried for a long time, and then returned home very depressed. P
He said to his wife, "Honey, I will only live for three years from now! P
I have fallen down on the Three-Year Bridge! P
Why, of all places, did I have to fall there?" P
The old man worried so much that he became very ill. P
After hearing the news of his fall, a clever neighborhood boy came to pay him a visit. P
6-8 Three-Year Bridge II
The boy asked the old man, "What are you so worried about? P
Let's just go back to the Three-Year Bridge." P
Confused the old man asked, "Why should we go back there?" P
"So that you can fall down again." P
"What? You want me to fall down again? Are you trying to kill me?" P
The old man was very upset. P
"Sir, when you fall once, legend says you will live for three years from that day? P
If this is true, then falling twice will make you live for six years, P
and falling three times will give you nine years of life. P
Doesn't this make sense, sir?" P
The old man thought about the boy's words, and decided that they were quite sensible. P
"Yes! You are quite right! I'll go back to the bridge right away and fall down again!" P
Now, every time the old man passed the Three-Year Bridge he made sure to fall down at least once for good measure. P
"Ha! I have fallen more than fifty times, so I should live at least another 150 years!" P
Soon, the first three years passed, and the old man did not die. P
Thanks to falling down on the Three-Year Bridge, and the clever neighborhood boy, P
the old man lived a very long life. P
6-9 Magic Cask I
Once upon a time, there was a poor farmer in a village. P
The farmer worked very hard and was able to buy a piece of land from a greedy, rich man. P
The farmer was only able to buy the land because no one else wanted it, P
and the greedy rich man sold it to him very cheaply, just to be rid of it. P
No one wanted this land because there were too many rocks on it, P
and it would be too hard to farm. P
But the farmer wasn’t afraid of hard work, P
and he woke up early each morning to dig up the rocks so that he could farm the land. P
One day, while the farmer was digging, his hoe hit something hard that wasn’t a rock. P
When the farmer dug deeper, he found a large cask. P
Even though the cask had been buried and he had hit it with his hoe, P
it didn’t have a single scratch on it. P
After the day's work was done, the farmer put his hoe inside the cask and brought it home. P
The next day, the farmer reached inside the cask to get the hoe. P
But when he did, he found a second hoe inside the cask. P
6-10 Magic Cask II
The farmer took the hoe out of the cask. P
Now he had two hoes that were each identical. P
"Wow! This must be a magic cask!" P
The farmer wanted to test the cask's magic, and pulled a coin out of his pocket. P
He put the coin in the cask and waited. P
When he reached in for the coin, sure enough, he found a second coin in the cask with the first. P
Realizing what the cask could do, the farmer kept putting more coins in it, P
and in no time the farmer was very rich. P
The story of the farmer's good fortune soon spread throughout the village, P
until even the greedy, rich man heard it. P
As soon as he heard the story, the greedy, rich man hurried over to pay the farmer a visit. P
6-11 Magic Cask III
"Hello, Farmer. Would you mind telling me where you found your new magic cask there?" P
"I dug it out of my field." P
"Well, I'm sorry to say that I sold you the field only, and not the cask. P
You'll have to give me back my cask at once." P
"I can't do that. It belongs to me." P
The farmer and the rich man argued and argued, P
and neither of them could convince the other that the cask was his. P
So they decided the only thing to do was to go to the local magistrate and let him decide who's cask it was. P
But when the magistrate heard that the cask was magic, P
he wanted the cask for himself. P
"Should neighbors who used to live so peacefully together fight over such a measly cask? P
The cask will be kept here so that the two of you can live peacefully once more. P
Is this not a wise decision?" P
6-12 Magic Cask IV
This was not what the farmer and the rich man had expected, P
but as it was now in the hands of the magistrate, P
they could do nothing but return home, empty handed. P
But instead of keeping the cask at the office as he had promised, P
the magistrate stole the cask and took it home. P
That night, the magistrate's father came out into the main hall and stumbled across the magic cask. P
"What is this? A new cask? Let me see if there is anything good to eat inside it." P
The father bent over the cask, lost his balance, and fell right in! P
"Dear me! Come and help me!" P
6-13 Magic Cask V
When he heard his father's calls for help, the magistrate came running into the main hall. P
He reached in and helped his father out of the cask. P
But after he did, he heard a second father inside the cask calling for help. P
"What are you waiting for? Get me out of here now!" P
He rescued his second father, but the shouting continued because there was another father still inside the cask. P
In no time, the magistrate had pulled ten fathers from the cask. P
And still, there were more fathers waiting to be rescued from the cask. P
Soon, the room was filled with hundreds of fathers, each one insisting that he was the REAL father! P
6-14 Old Green House I
In my neighborhood, our mailman is named Andrew, and I like him a lot. P
Everyone in the neighborhood likes him too, because he is always so nice to everyone. P
He is always happy and always delivers the mail with a big smile. P
One day, when Andrew had parked his motorcycle, he saw me staring at it and asked, P
"Do you want to sit on it?" P
Excitedly, I quickly responded, "Yes, please!" P
He lifted me up high and sat me down on the motorcycle. P
I asked him if we could go for a ride, but he said, "Umm, not right now. Maybe next time." P
6-15 Old Green House II
Impatiently, I asked, "When?" P
And he responded, "When a certain letter is delivered to the old lady at the old green house." P
"Really? Do you promise?" P
We hooked pinkies together and made a pinky promise. P
I hoped that the letter would come quickly so that I could finally ride on Andrew's motorcycle. P
A few days later, when I was playing soccer with my friends on the street, I spotted Andrew. P
But Andrew didn't seem to be his usual happy self. P
"Andrew, are you sick?" P
"No, I'm not. I'm just sorry for the old lady in the green house. P
"Did you give a letter to the old lady today?" P
"Umm, not yet…" P
6-16 Old Green House III
"From who is she expecting this letter?" P
"She is expecting a letter from her youngest son who is serving in the army." P
And with a sad face, Andrew went back to work. P
Andrew and I waited and waited for the old lady's letter, but it would not come. P
"How come the old lady's son hasn't sent a letter yet? P
It's his fault that I can't get a ride on your motorcycle!" P
Another week passed. P
As usual, Andrew delivered the mail, calling out with his happy voice. P
But whenever I talked about the old lady, Andrew would become depressed. P
"Hey, Andrew. Did you give the old lady her letter yet? P
"No, not yet. She was waiting for me at her front gate today, too." P
6-17 Old Green House IV
And I realized that I really didn't want to ride Andrew's motorcycle as much as I wanted the old lady to finally get a letter from her son. P
Mother's Day was coming up, so I wrote a letter to my own mother and put it in the mailbox. P
A few days later, on the way home from school, I saw a new mailman delivering the mail. P
"Excuse me, sir. Where is Andrew today?" P
"Oh, he went to his hometown to visit his mother, but he should be back tomorrow." P
6-18 Old Green House V
The next day at school, I heard that the old lady had received a letter. P
On my way home, I kept looking for Andrew, but he wasn't working again. P
The other mailman was taking his place again, so I asked him if the old lady had received a letter. P
He responded, "Ah! The old lady in the old green house? P
Yes, she did. In fact, she received three letters." P
"Three letters?" P
"Yes. And I heard one of them even had a photo in it for her. P
She was very happy with her letters." P
Ah! Finally the old lady's youngest son had sent her a letter! P
And finally I can get a ride on Andrew's motorcycle! P
The next day Andrew came back as our mailman and I finally got to ride on his motorcycle. P
6-19 Apple Blossoms I
Ruby's mother's hometown is in a region famous for its apples. P
Last Children's Day, Ruby went there for a visit. P
There were many beautiful, pink apple blossoms surrounded by green leaves. P
The whole village smelled of sweet apples. P
In an orchard where the apple trees blossomed, Ruby asked, P
"Grandmother, why do these trees bear such especially beautiful apples?" P
"Well," said her grandmother, "bees fly from flower to flower and transport pollen from one flower to another. P
But as farmers, we also must take care of our trees by giving them water and plenty of room to grow nice and tall. P
Also, we remove all of the bad apples from the tree early, leaving only the good ones to fully ripen. P
This is called 'weeding out the fruit', and we do it during the month of June. P
Would you like to try your hand at 'weeding out' the apples?" P
6-20 Apple Blossoms II
"Yes, I would love to help you, Grandmother. P
I want to help the trees bear sweet-tasting apples." P
The next day, Ruby went to the orchard with her parents and grandparents. P
In the apple orchard, people were already hard at work, weeding out the apples. P
'Looking around, I saw the bees and the people working in harmony to help the sweet apples grow. P
As I looked into the tree before me, I saw six small apples that were clustered in one spot. P
And I began separating bad ones from the good ones. P
My grandmother told me to weed out only the less colorful apples.' P
While weeding out the apples that Ruby could reach, P
she asked her father about the things that were puzzling her. P
"Father, why do apples like to grow in the hot summer?" P
And father replied, "Like all fruit, apples need the sun to grow. P
During the long, hot, summer days, they grow and grow, which makes them extra sweet and delicious. P
That is why we eat apples during the fall when the long, summer days are over and the apples are at their best." P
'That day, I learned to love apples and the sunny, clear blue skies of my mother's hometown.' P