A story for children

Sheikh Tamar arrived this time panting: the sweat was streaming down his face and neck, and dust covered his shoes and clothes, for our friend was coming this time from a very distant journey indeed... That day I had prepared some orange juice, so I hurried to him with a glass of cold juice and sat down beside him to question him and listen to his delightful talk.

He rested a little, emptied the cold glass down his throat, then wiped his mouth and mustache, looked at me with a contented smile, and said: Do you know where I have come from just now?

I said: No — but from a distant journey, of course.

— Yes, more distant than you can imagine, for I have come from the land of China.

I was delighted at what I heard, and looked at my dear friend, begging him to hurry and tell me about that land. So he said:

— I did not know that my journey would carry me to the land of China, that land so strange in its people and in the nature of its soil; and the strangest thing in it is the little children, who differ from our friends here in their small bodies, their yellow color, and the shape of their faces and eyes... I made many friends there, among them 'Cheng' and his brothers, a band of lively little ones who love work, and the theater, and play...

As for the work that 'Cheng' does, it is among the strangest things I have seen in all my many journeys. He lives with his parents and brothers in 'Chai,' a quiet city surrounded by broad rice fields, over which the warm golden sun shines. The little friends spend their days at school, just as our friends here do; and on holidays they all set out for the farm.

This farm has a lovely story. 'Cheng' used to spend the holidays at home with his brothers, between playing and jumping about. One day he went with his father to the outskirts of the city, where the father's vast farms lie, worked by dozens of peasants... When 'Cheng' came back from this visit he was turning over something new in his mind: he had felt the happiness of the peasants and their tranquil life in the bosom of nature, in the open air and the warm rays of the sun. So he asked his father to give him a small corner of his land to work with his brothers... The father marveled at this idea, but his love for his sons and his trust in them made him agree to 'Cheng's' proposal and fulfill his hopes: he gave him a small plot of land to work on his own. 'Cheng' gathered his brothers, and they agreed among themselves that each would take on a

share of the work: this one would look after raising the chickens, that one would feed the rabbits, and another would till the soil. In a short time the red earth had become a green paradise, where the small green seedlings sprouted, and among its corners the chickens and the gentle rabbits roamed.

The number of these animals was small at first, but it kept growing thanks to the efforts of the hard-working brothers.

When the father visited his farms, his sons invited him to see the fruit of their labors. He could not believe what his eyes beheld, for he had thought that only peasants could carry out such work... Tears flowed from him for sheer joy; he went up to the eldest of his sons and said: I shall add another piece of land to this farm, and you may enlarge your work, and invite your friends to see what you are doing.

It so happened that I arrived in 'Chai' on the very day 'Cheng' and his brothers invited their friends to spend a day at the farm, and I was among the friends invited; and I do not remember passing a happier day than that day in all my life. The little ones arrived early at the farm, each carrying his day's provisions; the brothers slaughtered some chickens and rabbits, and we sat cooking the delicious meats and roasting them, cutting the fresh, good vegetables all around us, and we ate an appetizing lunch. Before we bade the farm farewell, all the friends resolved to look for a piece of land, or a small orchard, on which to set up a farm where they would spend the holidays and raise the small animals.

Tamar finished this sentence, shook the dust from his trousers, straightened his tall red cap, then shook my hand in farewell and vanished swiftly among the oak trees.