Eater
Once upon a time, long long ago, there
lived a young girl who's name was Ming Lee. She was a beautiful, smart, and
cheerful girl, but she had one problem. She didn't have any friends. The reason
she didn't have any friends is because she was a princess who lived in the
biggest house in the valley. A princess wasn't allowed to go into the village
to play.
So sometimes Ming Lee was lonely. One day while she was sitting in her room
nibbling on a crunchy carrot, a small worm crawled on to the mat where she was
sitting. Ming Lee jumped up dropping her carrot.
The worm was the most ugly thing she
had ever seen. It was long and wiggly, the color of cream, had a lot of legs,
and a horn on its tail. Ming Lee was just about to scream when her maid walked
into the room and screamed for her.
"Eek!" Her maid screamed and ran back out
of the room.
Ming Lee took another look at the ugly worm that now
sat on the mat eating the green leaves on top of her carrot. Its little front
legs were holding a piece of leaf and munching just as fast as its little mouth
would go. Ming Lee looked closer at the worm as it ate all the green carrot top
and saw that maybe it wasn't too ugly, if you look at it in a nice way.
She took a sheet of paper and drew windows and doors
on it. Then she folded the paper into a box. The house didn't look quite right
until she found a red, pointed lid to put over the house.
Then Ming Lee picked up the wiggly worm and put it
in the box.
That night after dinner she lifted the red lid off
the house and put the wiggly worm in her hand to eat. The worm ate the whole carrot top Ming Lee had brought. She was
surprised at how much the little worm could eat. The next morning Ming Lee went into the court yard and gathered a
hand full of leaves. She put the wiggly
worm in her hand and it ate most of the leaves. She shook her head in wonder
and put the rest of the leaves in the little house so the worm could eat all
day.
Before long,
Ming Lee's wiggly worm got very big and fat. She laughed.
"What should I call you?" she said to the
worm. "I'll call you Eater."
Every morning Ming Lee went into the court yard and
gathered leaves for Eater. Then she put Eater in her hand so he could eat the
leaves. She put the rest of the leaves in Eater's house.
Pretty soon Eater got so big that Ming Lee could put
him on her shoulder and walk through the house. This was the most fun of all. When she walked up to the weaver
and he saw Eater on her shoulder he yelled, "Eek!"
When she walked up to the king and queen they both
yelled, "Eek!"
When she went into the kitchen and showed the cook,
the cook screamed, "Eek!"
When Ming Lee saw the maid cleaning, she let Eater
hang from her finger to show her the new trick Eater could do. The maid
screamed. "Eek!" and ran out of the room.
Ming Lee laughed.
Before long Ming Lee had made everyone in the big
house scream. This made Ming Lee jump with joy. Every one who saw Eater's fat
ugly body screamed. She took Eater
every where she went in her pocket just in case she might find someone new in
her big house to scare. She pulled Eater out of her pocket to show the man who
took care of the horses and he screamed, "Eek!"
But before long, every one in her house knew what
Ming Lee might pull out of her pocket. No one acted scared of Eater. It wasn't
fun any more. Ming Lee stopped carrying him in her pocket. Soon she forgot
Eater was in his house. She forgot to feed Eater for a whole week.
Then one day Ming Lee was given a carrot on her
plate to eat. She remembered Eater. Right away she went into the court yard and
found a big, shinny, green leaf and took it to Eater. But when she lifted the
red lid off the house, Eater was gone. The only thing in the house was a white egg-shape ball. Ming Lee picked up the
ball and looked closely at it. She could see Eater laying inside, but he wasn't
moving. He lay inside a lot of fine white threads. Ming Lee shook the white,
egg-shaped ball, but Eater didn't move.
She ran to the king and showed him the white,
egg-shaped ball with Eater inside.
The king said with a sigh, "It is dead."
She ran into the kitchen and showed the white ball
to the cook. "The worm is dead," the cook said.
Ming Lee cried. "But I meant to feed him. I
really did." She took Eater back to her room and set the white egg-shaped
ball into his little house. She sat all day pretending to weave and sew but she
wasn't interested in anything. She felt
ashamed that she forgot to feed Eater. It is my fault he is dead, she thought.
I wish I could tell Eater I am sorry.
"I will tell him I am sorry." She walked
over to the little house she had made and said, "I know you can't hear me
Eater, but I want you to know I am very sorry."
When Ming Lee lifted the lid and looked into the
house she saw that the white egg-shaped ball was broken and crawling out was…
"Oh, oh. .. a tiny white butterfly.
The butterfly flew up and landed in Ming Lee's hand. Ming Lee picked up
the shinny, green leaf and set it in her hand next to the butterfly. It took a little bite but then
flew up and around her head.
"Eater!" She cried. "Your
alive."
"Oh, come on Eater," Ming Lee said,
"We must show everyone how beautiful you are now."
So Ming Lee took Eater around to show all the people
in her big house. She showed them the white, egg-shaped ball that Eater had
came out of too. When she showed it to the weaver, he pulled at the ball and a
soft thread began to unwind from it. He scratched his head. "This will
make very nice cloth," he said. "Yes, I am sure it will. Let's show
the king. The weaver showed the white, egg-shaped ball to the king. When Ming
Lee showed the king and queen Eater's new white wings they smiled happily. Ming
Lee was glad too because she knew she had the most beautiful butterfly in the
world.
The end
If you believe in fairy tales then you might believe
that this was how the people of China first learned how to make silk cloth and
why caterpillars that weave cocoons with silk thread are still called a
silkworms, instead of silk caterpillars. You might also believe that when people die they turn into butterflies too,
but you might be wrong. Good people turn into angels.