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    Park, Linda Sue - A Single Shard - Clarion Books, 2001

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    Guilherme Ferreira
    Tree-ear finds a bag filled with rice after alerting a farmer whose rice container was leaking. He waits until the farmer is gone before gathering the spilled rice. Tree-ear questions if this was stealing or a good deed. He discusses it with his friend Crane-man, who lives with him under a bridge. Crane-man says work gives dignity while stealing takes it away. He tells Tree-ear to consider what kind of man the farmer was based on their interaction. Tree-ear determines the farmer was impatient but laughed easily, even at himself, and would not have minded Tree-ear waiting before telling him about the leak.

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    Park, Linda Sue - A Single Shard - Clarion Books, 2001

    Uploaded by

    Guilherme Ferreira
    36 views2 pages
    Tree-ear finds a bag filled with rice after alerting a farmer whose rice container was leaking. He waits until the farmer is gone before gathering the spilled rice. Tree-ear questions if this was stealing or a good deed. He discusses it with his friend Crane-man, who lives with him under a bridge. Crane-man says work gives dignity while stealing takes it away. He tells Tree-ear to consider what kind of man the farmer was based on their interaction. Tree-ear determines the farmer was impatient but laughed easily, even at himself, and would not have minded Tree-ear waiting before telling him about the leak.

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    Tree-ear finds a bag filled with rice after alerting a farmer whose rice container was leaking. He waits until the farmer is gone before gathering the spilled rice. Tree-ear questions if this was stealing or a good deed. He discusses it with his friend Crane-man, who lives with him under a bridge. Crane-man says work gives dignity while stealing takes it away. He tells Tree-ear to consider what kind of man the farmer was based on their interaction. Tree-ear determines the farmer was impatient but laughed easily, even at himself, and would not have minded Tree-ear waiting before telling him about the leak.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    36 views2 pages

    Park, Linda Sue - A Single Shard - Clarion Books, 2001

    Uploaded by

    Guilherme Ferreira
    Tree-ear finds a bag filled with rice after alerting a farmer whose rice container was leaking. He waits until the farmer is gone before gathering the spilled rice. Tree-ear questions if this was stealing or a good deed. He discusses it with his friend Crane-man, who lives with him under a bridge. Crane-man says work gives dignity while stealing takes it away. He tells Tree-ear to consider what kind of man the farmer was based on their interaction. Tree-ear determines the farmer was impatient but laughed easily, even at himself, and would not have minded Tree-ear waiting before telling him about the leak.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    Chapter 1

    "Eh, Tree-ear! Have you hungered well today?" Crane-man called out as Tree-ear drew near the bridge.
    The well-fed of the village greeted each other politely by saying, "Have you eaten well today?" Tree-ear
    and his friend turned the greeting inside out for their own little joke.
    Tree-ear squeezed the bulging pouch that he wore at his waist. He had meant to hold back the good news,
    but the excitement spilled out of him. "Crane-man! A good thing that you greeted me so just now, for later
    today we will have to use the proper words!" He held the bag high. Tree-ear was delighted when Cranemans eyes widened in surprise. He knew that Crane-man would guess at onceonly one thing could give
    a bag that kind of smooth fullness. Not carrot-tops or chicken bones, which protruded in odd lumps. No, the
    bag was filled with rice. Crane-man raised his walking crutch in a salute. "Come, my young friend! Tell me
    how you came by such a fortunea tale worth hearing, no doubt!"
    Tree-ear had been trotting along the road on his early-morning perusal of the village rubbish heaps. Ahead
    of him a man carried a heavy load on a jiggeh, an open-framed backpack made of branches. On the jiggeh
    was a large woven-straw container, the kind commonly used to carry rice.
    Tree-ear knew that the rice must be from last years crop; in the fields surrounding the village this seasons
    rice had only just begun to grow. It would be many months before the rice was harvested and the poor
    allowed to glean the fallen grain from the bare fields. Only then would they taste the pure flavor of rice and
    feel its solid goodness in their bellies. Just looking at the straw box made water rush into Tree- ears mouth.
    The man had paused in the road and hoisted the wooden jiggeh higher on his back, shifting the
    cumbersome weight. As Tree-ear stared, rice began to trickle out of a hole in the straw box. The trickle
    thickened and became a stream. Oblivious, the man continued on his way.
    For a few short moments Tree-ears thoughts wrestled with one another. Tell himquickly! Before he loses
    too much rice! No! Dont say anythingyou will be able to pick up the fallen rice after he rounds the bend .
    Tree-ear made his decision. He waited until the man had reached the bend in the road, then ran to catch
    him.
    "Honorable sir," Tree-ear said, panting and bowing. "As I walked behind you, I noticed that you are marking
    your path with rice!" The farmer turned and saw the trail of rice. A well-built man with a broad suntanned
    face, he pushed his straw hat back, scratched his head, and laughed ruefully. "Impatience," said the farmer.
    "I should have had this container woven with a double wall. But it would have taken more time. Now I pay
    for not waiting a bit longer." He struggled out of the jiggehs straps and inspected the container. He prodded
    the straw to close the gap but to no avail, so he threw his arms up in mock despair. Tree-ear grinned. He
    liked the farmers easygoing nature. "Fetch me a few leaves, boy," said the farmer. Tree-ear complied, and
    the man stuffed them into the container as a temporary patch.
    The farmer squatted to don the jiggeh. As he started walking, he called over his shoulder. "Good deserves
    good, urchin. The rice on the ground is yours if you can be troubled to gather it." "Many thanks, kind sir!"
    Tree-ear bowed, very pleased with himself. He had made a lucky guess, and his waist pouch would soon
    be filled with rice.
    Tree-ear had learned from Crane-mans example. Foraging in the woods and rubbish heaps, gathering
    fallen grain-heads in the autumnthese were honorable ways to garner a meal, requiring time and work.

    Park, Linda Sue _ A Single Shard Clarion Books, 2001

    But stealing and begging, Crane-man said, made a man no better than a dog.
    "Work gives a man dignity, stealing takes it away," he often said.
    Following Crane-mans advice was not always easy for Tree-ear. Today, for example. Was it stealing, to
    wait as Tree-ear had for more rice to fall before alerting the man that his rice bag was leaking? Did a good
    deed balance a bad one? Tree-ear often pondered these kinds of questions, alone or in discussion with
    Crane-man.
    "Such questions serve in two ways," Crane-man had explained. "They keep a mans mind sharpand his
    thoughts off his empty stomach." Now, as always, he seemed to know Tree-ears thoughts without hearing
    them spoken. "Tell me about this farmer," he said. "What kind of man was he?" Tree-ear considered the
    question for several moments, stirring his memory. At last, he answered, "One who lacks patiencehe said
    it himself. He had not wanted to wait for a sturdier container to be built. And he could not bee bothered to
    pick up the fallen rice." Tree- ear paused. "But he laughed easily, even at himself." "If he were here now,
    and heard you tell of waiting a little longer before speaking, what do you think he would say or do?" "He
    would laugh," Tree-ear said, surprising himself with the speed of his response. Then, more slowly, "I
    think . . . he would not have minded." Crane-man nodded, satisfied. And Tree-ear thought of something his
    friend often said: Scholars read the great words of the world. But you and I must learn to read the world
    itself.
    Tree-ear was so called after the mushroom that grew in wrinkled half- circles on dead or fallen tree trunks,
    emerging from the rotten wood without benefit of parent seed. A good name for an orphan, Crane-man
    said. If ever Tree-ear had had another name, he no longer remembered it, nor the family that might have
    named him so.
    Tree-ear shared the space under the bridge with Crane-manor rather, Crane-man shared it with him.
    After all, Crane-man had been there first, and would not be leaving anytime soon. The shriveled and
    twisted calf and foot he had been born with made sure of that.
    Tree-ear knew the story of his friends name. "When they saw my leg at birth, it was thought I would not
    survive," Crane-man had said. "Then, as I went through life on one leg, it was said that I was like a crane.
    But besides standing on one leg, cranes are also a symbol of long life." True enough, Crane-man added.
    He had outlived all his family and, unable to work, had been forced to sell his possessions one by one,
    including, at last, the roof over his head. Thus it was that he had come to live under the bridge.

    Park, Linda Sue _ A Single Shard Clarion Books, 2001

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