The Rice Dinner
by Katie C.

Once upon a time, there were two sisters. The older one's name was Qui Lin, and the younger one's name was Ch'in Lin. One day, their father took
them aside and announced, "I will give one of you five silk gowns. The contest is, you have to make a rice dinner that is better than your sister's."
They both looked at each other, then Qui Lin started plotting to herself about how to make the best rice dinner. The next day, Qui Lin went into the
best rice field there was, but she couldn't find any rice! She saw a rabbit who was caught in a trap.
"Oh dear!" She exclaimed, "I must help him." She helped the rabbit, and all of a sudden, he talked!
"Qui Lin," he said in a soft voice, "you have saved me. Now I will do you a favor."
He disappeared, and suddenly rice started to grow! Qui Lin carefully found the best rice she could find, and pulled it out slowly. After she had lots of rice, which took her two hours, she headed home.
A couple of hours later Ch'in Lin came to the same rice field and found no rice. Then she saw the rabbit stuck in the trap.
"Oh you dumb creature, you are so clumsy." The rabbit then got out of the trap, disappeared, and rice started growing, but it was bad rice. After ten minutes, she headed home with a couple of broken pieces of rice.
At home, Qui Lin was making the preparations before cooking the rice while Ch'in Lin just started doing the cooking.
After they were both finished, the father asked, "Who's dinner shall we do first?"
"Oh, mine father, mine!" shouted Ch'in Lin.
"All right." said the father. The top of the dinner table was scattered all about with dishes and chopsticks, and when she poured the tea, it went
all over the place. The worst thing about it was that the rice was horrible.
Afterwards, the father got new guests to eat at Qui Lin's dinner. Qui Lin was very neat with everything, and the rice was the best food that anyone at the table had ever had. Qui Lin got the five silk gowns, and the news of her dinner spread like wildfire. After a while the prince heard about it and had to come taste it for himself. Ch'in Lin heard about it and locked Qui Lin in her room. Then Ch'in Lin told the prince that she had made the food, and she stole some of Qui Lin's rice and served it to the prince.
While Ch'in Lin was doing this, Qui Lin was patiently tying a rope together. After she was finished, she climbed out of the window and went to the dining room where the prince was. She tried to explain that she really
made the dinner, but Ch'in Lin made her prove it, so Qui Lin asked if they could have another contest. Their father agreed to it. They did the same
things they had done before and everyone liked Qui Lin's meal the best. The prince was so happy, and asked her to be his wife. She said yes.
Afterwards the father said to Ch'in Lin, "Patience and the mulberry leaf become a silk gown."

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