The Boy Who Couldn't
Do Anything Right
The Boy Who Couldn't
Do Anything Right
by Matt D.
Once upon a time in the land of China
lived an 11-year old boy named Lu Shan. He was a small boy with
big black eyes that looked like two puddles of ink on rice paper.
He was a quite boy with a great imagination. Sometimes while he
was doing his chores, he would pretend that he was a prince and
that he lived in the Imperial City. His house was in the shadows
of the Great Wall. He lived with his mother, his sister, his grandmother
and his grandfather. Lu was lucky enough to have a little brown
dog that slept with him on his hard wooden board. Every day he
had to do chores like fetching the water, collecting herbs, and
watching his baby siter.
One day his mom told Lu to get some water so that they could have cold water to drink. Lu got all the way to the well and realized that he forgot the bucket. When he got home his mom got very angry with him. The next day he had to baby-sit his sister but he fell fast a sleep and his sister got out side. Luckily his mom found her. He was having a very bad time. It seemed that he could not do anything right. He wondered if the great teacher Buddha had days like that. Lu's grandfather told Lu to get some herbs so he could make some tea. So Lu went on a journey to the Great Wall. Before he left his mom and grandmother give him a kiss on his forehead, and he brought with him only his dog. Lu started on this journey. As he was walking through the dark scary woods, he came across a little brown monkey with white stripes. He picked up the monkey and put it on his back. H e seemed to know that the monkey wouldn't hurt him. He carried the monkey on his back.
Finally he found the old tree that had
the character that his grandfather carved on the tree to help
him to remember that this tree was special. You see, Lu 's grandfather
was teaching him the art of finding herbs. Lu was very scared
because he couldn't remember everything, but his grandfather was
a very wise man and told him a wonderful proverb: "The journey
of a thousand miles starts with a single step." On his way
home, he runs into a dragon. The dog jumps onto the dragon and
starts biting the dragon. Lu holds on thightly to the monkey and
the herbs and runs home. Soon after, the also comes home. He was
not hurt.
It was a successful day. He understood what his grandfather taught
him and was ready to learn more.
