The Two Melons

The Two Melons





“The Two Melons” from “TALES OF WONDER EVERY CHILD
SHOULD KNOW” Edited by KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN and NORA

ARCHIBALD SMITH.

This eBook was prepared and arranged by


WorldCom Edu Inc.

Seoul, Korea












Web: www.wcbooks.co.kr

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The Two Melons






























An honest and poor old woman was


washing clothes at a pool, when a bird that



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a hunter had disabled by a shot in the


wing, fell down into the water before her.












She gently took up the bird, carried it home


with her, dressed its wound, and fed it until




5 it was well, when it soared away.






Some days later it returned, put before her



an oval seed, and departed again.








3

The woman planted the seed in her yard



and when it came up she recognized the



leaf as that of a melon. She made a trellis


for it, and gradually a fruit formed on it,




5 and grew to great size.





4

Toward the end of the year, the old dame



was unable to pay her debts, and her


poverty so weighed upon her that she



became ill.































5

Sitting one day at her door, feverish and


tired, she saw that the melon was ripe, and



looked luscious; so she determined to try


its unknown quality.













6

Taking a knife, she severed the melon from



its stalk, and was surprised to hear it chink


in her hands. On cutting it in two, she



found it full of silver and gold pieces, with




5 which she paid her debts and bought

supplies for many days.





7

Among her neighbors was a busybody who


craftily found out how the old woman had



so suddenly become rich.







Thinking there was no good reason why she




5 should not herself be equally fortunate, she

washed clothes at the pool, keeping a



sharp lookout for birds until she managed


to hit and maim one of a flock that was



flitting over the water.








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She then took the disabled bird home, and


treated it with care till its wing healed and



it flew away.







Shortly afterward it came back with a seed




5 in its beak, laid it before her, and again

took flight. The woman quickly planted the



seed, saw it come up and spread its leaves,


made a trellis for it, and had the



gratification of seeing a melon form on its



10 stalk.



9

In prospect of her future wealth, she ate



rich food, bought fine garments, and got so


deeply into debt that, before the end of the



year, she was harried by duns. But the




5 melon grew apace, and she was delighted

to find that, as it ripened, it became of vast



size, and that when she shook it there was


a great rattling inside.













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At the end of the year she cut it down, and


divided it, expecting it to be a coffer of



coins; but there crawled out of it two old,


lame, hungry beggars, who told her they










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would remain and eat at her table as long


as they lived.













































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