The Magic Pearl
By Griff A.
Once upon a time, there was a dragon, named Ching, and his friend, Ping, a panda bear . They lived in a cave just outside a bamboo forest.
One day, Ping, the panda, was out eating bamboo. Inside one of the pieces of bamboo he saw a very shiny, white object. He picked it up. He called his friend, Ching, the dragon, over to look at it.
Ching said, "What in the world is that?"
Suddenly there was a loud bang and the unusual object said, "I am a magical pearl and I will serve you at all times."
Ping said, "If you are stolen will you serve the thief?"
"No, I will not. You are my masters," the pearl said.
Ching said, "So, you are magical?"
"Of course," the pearl said. So they kept the pearl.
A few weeks later, the Emperor of China heard that Ching and Ping had discovered a magic pearl and were having great fortune. So, the Emperor sent his guards to fetch the magical pearl and bring it back to him. One night the guards crept over to Ching and Ping's cave and stole the pearl.
The next morning Ching and Ping realized the pearl was missing and they were very upset. They looked all over for it.
The Emperor's workers were loading his luggage and the pearl into a boat to take to his summer palace. The Emperor was on the boat when the pearl became red-hot, started to burn a hole in the boat, and caused the boat to sink.
When Ching and Ping find out what happened they rushed to the lake. As they got there the pearl rose up from the water and said, "If I can't be with my real masters, I will not help anyone at all."
As it said that it shot into the sky and became what is now know as the wishing star. Later, the pearl decided that it would grant everyone's wish except for greedy people like the Emperor.
The moral of this tale is: Greed will get you nowhere in life.
The End