The Bragger
by Stephen
Once there was a man named Mr. Wang who lived in a southern part of China. There were a small group of people living near each other. Some of the surrounding land was used for growing rice . But on Mr. Wang`s land, there were a lot of trees and many silk worms, so he considering joining his uncle's Silk Shop. Much of the land around this village was open plain with trees scattered all over with high grass and some bamboo stalks. Some grass was even up to his knees.
In this town, there was a lot of work to do and money to be made if you owned a shop. But Mr. Wang never did too much because he always talked about what he did, even if he did not do what he had to do. He even liked to talk about his uncle`s Silk Shop which was a very good business with a good, loyal customers and strong, beautiful silk.
One day his uncle died and left the Silk Shop to Mr. Wang because he had worked there. But he only went there when he had time just so he could say he worked there to everyone he knew. He was a tall man with a small beard and a strong body. But now, he owned a silk shop.
The New Year was coming in three months and people ordered more and more dresses for the very fancy banquets, and to show that they were rich. During this time, his wife wanted to have the best banquet for the New Year so she told all of her friends about it.Then she asked what she should get and where she should get it.
A few people told her to get the same things but from different places. She should catch fish from the mountains or fish from the lake eleven li away. Or she should go the north to collect bamboo shoots which were sweet or go to the south east to gather bamboo which was very thick. She thought about going to get the food but when she went out she just bragged.
Meanwhile her husband, Mr. Wang, did not go to his silk shop yet to check up on the master artisans. There were 10 master artisans as there was so much work. He needed to make sure they did everything. But he didn't check that the size of the sleeves was the latest style or the way they undid the silk worms cocoon.
Before they knew it, Chinese New Year had arrived. Mr. Wang`s wife had not even got any food. All of her friends were going to come for the banquet in three hours. Mr. Wang was no better: he did not even enter his shop to check on the master artisans who wove the silk into dresses and unraveled the cocoon of the silk worm.
When Mr.Wang`s wife`s friends came, she was embarrassed because she had a lot of guests and no food. When Mr. Wang went into his shop the next day, the sizes of all the clothes were wrong and only one of the ten major artisans was there.
And as he left, he shouted, "Talk does not cook rice!!!!!" Then Mr.Wang sat and looked at the bad dresses and the empty room. He sat and sobbed. When he calmed down, he finally thought about what he had done. He knew that he should have spent more time working than talking. He remembered the proverb, "Talk Does not Cook Rice."
