Kids Learning English

 

4th Standard English Term-III

I. The Mistaken Plate

Once upon a time, there lived made of brass and tin.  He used to travel across the rivers and mountains to sell.  He usually travelled with another merchant, who also sold things made of brass and tin.  They also used to buy things made of different metals to melt and use.  The second merchant was always greedy as he tried to pay as less as possible. 

One day, when they went to a town, they divided the streets of the town.  They did not want to disturb each other while selling.  They moved through the streets they had chosen and called, "Utensils made of brass and tin for sale!"

In an old house, there lived a woman and her granddaughter.  They were once a wealthy family but now lived in poverty.  They only had one plate left as a memory of their wealth.  The grandmother had kept the plate in memory of her husband.

The greedy merchant passed this house saying, "Utensils made of brass and tin for sale!"

The granddaughter heard him and said to her grand mother, "Ammama, please buy something for me."

She replied, "Kanna, we do not have money to buy anything.  We do not have anything to trade with."

The granddaughter said, "We have that one old plate that we don't use.  Let's see what the merchant will offer for it.  We can get something we can use."

Ammama called the merchant and showed him the plate.  She asked, "Will you take this plate and give any of your utensils?"

The man took the plate and scratched it with a needle.  He found that it was a plate made of gold.  He said, "What is it worth? Not even one rupee."

He threw the plate on the ground and walked away.

Both the merchants completed their streets.  They had decided that either of them could go to any house that the other did not sell in.  The other merchant passed the same old house and called, "Utensils made of brass and tin for sale!"

The little girl again asked her Ammama to check.

She said, "Kanna, the first merchant threw the plate and went away.  I have nothing else to offer."

The girl replied, "Grandma, that merchant was angry.  This merchant looks nice.  We may get something."

Ammama asked the girl to call the merchant and show the plate.  The merchant took the plate in his hands and found that it was made of gold.  He said, "I am not rich enough to buy this plate.  This is a gold plate."

Ammama said, "Are you sure? This is gold? The other merchant threw this on the ground and went away."

The merchant said, "I do not know why he did that.  If you wish to sell it, take all the dishes you want."

The little girl took some dishes of her choice but, the merchant was not happy.  So, he gave all his money, his donkey, his cart and his wares to Ammama.  He only kept eight rupees for the ferry home.

He quickly went towards the river.  He paid the eight rupees to the boatman to take him across the river.  Soon, the greedy merchant went back to the old house.  He called the girl and said, "I've changed my mind.  I will give you ten rupees for it."

Ammama said, "You considered the plate worthless, but another merchant has paid a huge price for it and took it."

Creativity Around Me

II. Bala Spins Magic

It was a hot afternoon in the quiet village of periya Negamam, near Pollachi.  The village has tiled roof houses.  Bala and his family lived in one such house.  He sat under a tree, waiting for his father.  He was going with Appa on a long journey.

A fly buzzed near his ear.  The pleasant shade of the tree along with the steady click-clack of the handlooms from the huts nearby made him feel sleepy.  He wondered if he could catch some sleep before Appa arrived.

Bala, like most of the children in his village, went to school but always wanted to learn more about things related to his family profession weaving.  Veera thatha had made math easy for Bala by using skeins of yarn in bunches, sometimes adding all the blue skeins and subtracting the yellow skeins and then doubling the reds and taking away the greens.  Bala thought, "This was a fun way to learn Math!"

Bala's family came from  long line of handloom weavers.  They had perfected the art of drawing, dying, warping and weaving the yarn.  But it was a hard work.  Unless Bala, his mother, father, sisters and cousins helped with the work, Appa could never weave the lengths, he needed.

Bala would often see Appa and Amma weave bundles of cotton into beautiful sarees with checks or patterns.  He hoped to weave someday.  He would also help Amma and sisters roll, press and pack the sarees.

Bala wondered, "Amma, why you never wear the beautiful sarees we make?"

Amma said, "I can do that only if we become a very rich family."

Bala woke up suddenly as he felt someone tap his head.

"Are you ready to go?", asked Appa.

"Yes Appa.", said Bala and started counting the bags around him.

Bala was going with Appa to Chennai to help him carry the sarees.  Appa said, "We will get a better price for the sarees, if we sell directly to ladies in Chennai than to traders in Pollachi or Coimbatore."

They walked to the bus stop and had to wait for nearly one hour for the bus.  It took them to Coimbatore junction, and from there they left to Chennai.  The train journey was not very comfortable.  "Don't worry Bala.  Our return will be more comfortable as we will be able to reserve tickets," said Appa.  They reached Chennai and went to Purasaiwalkam, where Appa's friend lived.

The next morning Appa was ready with places to go to sell the sarees.  As Bala was ne to city traffic, he held father tightly.

Soon, they reached a big house after what seemed like many hours.  The guard at the door let them in.  They sat in a big hall and unpacked the sarees.  A young boy saw them and called out saying, "Mom! There's a man with two bundles to meet you."

Appa was showing the sarees to the lady and trying to sell it to her.  He made each saree sound special and unique.  He even draped the saree over him to show the design.  Soon, the other boy asked, "Mom, can I ask the boy to come and play with me?" Mom said, OK.

"What is your name?" asked the boy.

"Periya Negamam Balakumaran," said Bala. "What's yours?"

"Nithin," said the boy.

Nithin's room was full of toys.  Nithin let Bala play with all the toys.  Most toys had some electrical control.  Since Bala's home does not have electricity, he did not know to plat with most of the toys.

In one corner, Bala saw a spinning wheel.  Now, this was a toy he knew to play with!

"Do you know what to do with it? I don't know to play with it," said Nithin.

"This is Rattai.  Do you have some cotton?", asked Bala.  Nithin did not have.

Bala dug Appa's bag to get some cotton.  Bala took the cotton fluff and attached it to the spinning wheel, and turned the wheel all the while.

"You can do magic!", shouted Nithin, "Can you teach me?"

"Not like that.  Do it this way.  Here, hold this.  Spin this!", said Bala.

Bala had a wide smile across his face.  Nithin struggled but soon learnt to spin.

Soon they stepped out.  Appa had sold many sarees to the lady.

"Mom! Mom! He taught me magic," said Nithin.

Nithin's Mom laughed and said, "Well naturally, his father is a magician too.  A weaving magician."

"Yes! I will tell all my friends in school that a magician from Periya Negamam taught me this magic."