Lord Bao And The Stone (Chinese Folktale)

                                     

Hundreds of years ago a man lived in south China . He was a government official. He was so honest and fair , people loved him and they called him "Lord Bao".
One day during his routine visit to a town Lord Bao found a little boy who was crying badly. 

''Why are you crying my child'' ?  Kind hearted Lord Bao asked the young boy.
''Sir, I use to sell oil to earn my livings.  I have lost all my money." 
 ''How ?", asked Lord Bao.
"In the afternoon I felt tired , I put my  the money next to me and put my head on this stone and fell asleep'' the boy said pointing towards a stone.  
''When I got up I found out that my money wasn't here.'',he added. 
                                                
''Oh! So the stone has stolen your money, it is the thief.'' ,said Lord Bao. He lifted the stone with his hands and screamed,''Where is the money of this little boy , give it back! '   People who heard him shouting laughed and whispered in each others ears, '' How can a stone steal the money? Lord Bao has gone crazy."                     

 ''How dare you people call me crazy? Now each one of you will pay fine of one cent.'' Lord Bao ordered one of his men to collect the coins in a bag. 

While the people were putting their coins in the bag , Lord Bao was checking every coin by himself. 
"He is the thief , catch him!", suddenly Lord Bao pointed his finger towards a man and shouted. 

"But how can be you so sure that he is the thief ?", Someone  questioned Lord Bao.
''See! the coin has oil on it and the boy is an oil seller, he must be having  oil on his hands therefore there is oil on the coins too. This is little boy's coin.'' , said Lord Bao.
All the people gathered around the man..... he got scared and took out all the boy's money which he had stolen. 

Bao returned all the collected coins. The little boy got his money back and thanked Lord Bao. People praised Bao for his intelligence.

                                                                                                       Chinese Folktale
                                                                     Retold by - Aunt Mary

JINN IS AFRAID OF .............. ?

Bobby was going back  home after playing . When he was on his way suddenly a shiny beautiful stone drew his attention. It was triangle shaped stone . Bobby had never seen a stone like that . He picked up that stone rubbed it by his hands and guess what ? From the stone smoke started coming out and a"JINN" appeared in front of the little boy . Bobby got so scared and stunned. The Jinn said to Bobby," No sir you don't need to be scared I will not harm you .You have let me out of this stone so now I am your servant and will help you out in every task!" ."But my parents will not allow me to keep a Jinn in my home!", Bobby said .
                      " Do not worry sir, I am only visible to you, any other person would not be able to see me ", the Jinn answered. " O.k then you can come with me ". Bobby was too happy that he had a Jinn as a helper now . He took the Jinn home . After having his evening snacks he went to his room with the Jinn and said to him, " Mr. Jinn can you help me to clean my wardrobe ?".  "Yes why not sir?", Jinn answered. And the untidy and messy wardrobe became so clean and tidy within few minutes .   
                  "Could you please help me to change the bed sheet and pillow covers ?", Bobby asked. "Yes sir, it will be my pleasure!", said the Jinn . The work was done . Jinn did several jobs including the resetting of the toy shelf, cleaning the flower pot, polishing the shoes etc.  Mom will be so happy to see my room she always says that, " Your room is a mess!", Bobby thought happily . 

 Now it was time to do the home work . Bobby had to solve ten very difficult sums . He asked Mr. Jinn, "Can you help me with my home work ?". " Of course , I will! " , Mr. Jinn said with a lovely smile on his face." Tell me in which subject  you want me to help you ?", Jinn asked. "Well you have to help me to solve few sums in Maths" , Bobby said and turned back to open his bag . He took out his note book and looked for Jinn but he was not there . 
                    Mr. Jinn ! 
                    Mr Jinn where are you ? 
There was no sign of Mr. Jinn . "Ah ! Maths !! Even a Jinn is afraid of Maths!!" , a very disappointed Bobby started doing the sums .                                                                                              -Aunt Mary