Sze Ma-Kwong

A long time ago in China, there lived a boy named Sze Ma-Kwong. He was a very clever and hardworking boy. He lived in a little village with his mother and father. He often went fishing at the river nearby. Every night, Sze Ma-Kwong studied very hard. He always wanted to be a great scholar. One sunny afternoon, Sze MaKwong finished his homework and went out to play with his friends in an open space outside their houses. There were a number of boys and girls gathered together. One boy suggested playing hide and seek. Everyone agreed. Sze Ma-Kwong was to be the seeker. So he turned his back and leaned his head against the wall. He shut his eyes and started counting. One, two, three .. Meanwhile, the rest of the children ran as fast as they could to hide. Some hid behind the bushes, some covered themselves with hay and some climbed up a tree. The place was completely silent. One could only hear the noise made by the birds. . Eight, nine, ten, said Sze Ma-Kwong, and turned round to look for the children who were hiding.

Just at that very moment, he heard someone crying out for help. Help help. All the other children immediately dashed out from their hiding places. Sze Ma-Kwong immediately went to look for the place where the crying voice came from. Finally he found that the voice came from a tall barrel sitting under a tree. (Barrels were made of clay in the olden days for storage of water in China). A little girl was crying out for help inside the barrel. No body knew at that time how she could be in the tall barrel. Everybody started to panic and did not know how to rescue the little girl. Sze Ma-Kwong thought for a little moment, then he looked round and found a stone. He picked it up and hit the barrel hard with it. The barrel broke into pieces and water gushed out from the barrel. The little girl was rescued by Sze Ma-Kwongs clever idea. The little girl told the rest of the children that she was hiding up in the tree, and that she had slipped and fallen into the barrel. When Sze Ma-Kwong grew up, he became a famous minister in the Royal Court in China.