Table of Contents

Sample Pages Preview

The ten leaves were eaten up by the four growing silkworms and I still could find no replacements. The four little silkworms were so hungry that they didn't stop moving around and looking for food. It made our hearts ache, while there was nothing we could do. My daughter shed tears and picked tender leaves to feed them. But the silkworms didn't even taste them.
　　Without mulberryleaves, they would rather starve to death. Finally, a third-grade little boy in the yard told me that he knew where to find a mulberry tree. He said he had been there and it was a long bus ride to get there. "I don't care. Just take me there!"I said. In the hot midday, the boy and I got on the bus. My daughter stayed home looking after the four silkworms.
　　It took four or five stops to get there. We got off the bus and turned into an alleyway and there was the tree! However, what did it look like? The trunk, branches and twigs were still there, but not a single leaf! I had never seen a bare mulberry tree like that. The poor tree must have been picked bare by many people through spring and summer! Even the buds on the treetops were picked!
　　Then, I thought that in such a big city, there might be many children like my daughter shedding tears for their silkworms. The city provided them with many things, except green mulberry trees. Even for those who were lucky enough to find one in a corner, just like me, it was not enough. How many children were staring at it! You would only find it a bare one when you finally find it.
　　What could I say to my daughter if I returned without any leaves? Would the four silkworms be starving to death? Ah! If that happens, how bad would she feel! What is the good of me being a father ifl can't find anyleaves?
　　"flunk about it. Is there any way to find some mulberry leaves?"I asked theliffle boy with a miserablelook.
　　"Let's take a taxi to the botanical garden. There, we can buy mulberry leaves,"he suggested. I was overjoyed on hearing this. Yes, there must be mulberry leaves in the botanical garden. I must go there no matter how far it is, for the sake of the lives of the four silkvvorms. So I called a taxi, with the little boy, and set off directly to the botanical garden on the outskirts of the city.
　　Sure enough, we bought plenty of fresh and green mulberry leaves in the botanical garden which were enough to feed the four silkworms in their entire lives. The little boy told me to put the leaves in a food bag and store it in the fridge, like storing vegetables, ensuring that the silkworms could eat fresh leaves throughout the summer. I said: "Yeah, yeah, you are so clever.
　　Why didn't I think of that?"
　　……