Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/173

Rh "But your teacher says you run away, go to the see-saw, play in the water, climb trees, throw stones at the little birds all day and will not study.

"You are using your time as I have used the nice new cloth—cutting it up in useless little pieces. I once thought you were a wise child, but you are not. You are very foolish."

Kong-Hwa cried and felt sad, while his mother talked, and then he said, "I will go back to school to-morrow. Now can you mend the cloth or make another piece, Mü-Ts'ing?"

"I will wait and see if you really mean to be a good boy," said his mother.

The next morning he arose early, took his books, and went directly to school; but in a few days he was as bad as before.

The school children and the neighbors complained about the boy who did so much mischief. His mother had only the one little son, and as they came to her with complaints, she felt that she could almost die with grief.

She lay awake all night thinking, "What can I do to teach my boy the good? Who can give a boy lessons if not his own mother? Oh, I must think of some way."

Next morning Kong-Hwa was up at the usual time