Talk Does Not Cook Rice
By Marisa :-)
Once, long ago, there was a woman who thought she was rich.
She had a large house with five courtyards!
Her house also had beautiful Chinese characters
on the front wall that wished her a wealthy and promising life. 
She even had a pagoda dedicated to her!
She had a kind husband who's name was
Chung but she was not goodto him.
The woman made him do everything for her including the cooking!
One day the woman, whose name was Ching, dressed in a fine
silken gown with jade sequins and a fancy collar and went out to
the market to gossip with her friends; or even to chat with
anyone who wanted to talk.
She got home just after a beautiful sunset, that she missed, to
find that her husband was struck with a high fever. A little later,
he died. Ching considered burying him at once and then finding
a new husband to cook and clean.
"Yes", she thought I think I will find another husband right now.
She dressed herself in her finest outfit the next day, which was
a pale blue silk dress with a gold lace collar and
red sequins at the end of the sleeves.
It was also trimmed with red and gold silk at the bottom of the skirt.
She hoped she could attract a new husband but she failed.
While Ching was at the market, she looked at some of the things
that were on sale there, in the hope of finding something
that would attract a man for her to marry.
Of course she looked mainly at dresses!
She saw a pole of dresses in all the colors of the rainbow
but no, she thought I need something expensive and beautiful.
Then, she saw a ruby red dress with glittering gold around the collar and sleeves.
The skirt of the dress was flowing with gold stars like
those in the clear night sky at the Spring Festaval "Yes", she said, "this is the dress!"
Then she caught a sight of something else: a purple dress with a golden
sash and red trims. The skirt was glimmering with
silky blue stars sewn on. There also were pieces of jade sewn on it!
There was a red and gold silk scarf to go with it. "This is 
the dress for me!" Ching thought. She bought it,
but it did nothing but spend her money.
She was so busy gossiping with her friends,
that she totally forgot about eating!
A week later,Ching realized that she was starving.
She went out and bought
rice but she didn't know how to cook it.
She tried but she did not like the taste of it,
so she dumped it out.
The next day she could barely walk
because her body needed food. She didn't even get to her
neighbors to ask for food because she was so weak.
She had too busy talking at the market every day.
Ching had nobody to call to get her help and she was stuck
in bed dying. Later Ching was dead from lack of food.
The moral of the story is: Talk Does NOT Cook Rice!
