Page 31 - Spider Magazine for Kids (January 2020)
P. 31

refreshment in this faraway place, each


              woodcutter rewarded him with a piece

              of wood.


                   By evening, Jaidutt had collected

              a large pile of wood in exchange for

              the chickpeas. He was able to sell it


              at the timber market for two rupees.

              Overjoyed, he returned home and

              showed his earnings to his mother and


              grandmother. They praised him for

              his good sense. Greatly encouraged,


              Jaidutt decided to save one rupee

              to buy more chickpeas.


                   This became his daily routine. He                                        a a att   u u u t      a e t

              prepared two pounds of chickpeas                                      l             k        a      ndr           l l ldd

              every morning, sat under the tree                                      nss...


              with them and a pot of cold water,                                     e e ettt         l                         .

              and exchanged them for wood. He                                          y careful saving and shrewd d
                                                                                                                       d hhh
                                                                                                 f l
              then sold enough wood to buy what                                 selling, he soon became an important

              his family needed and saved the rest.                             timber merchant. This allowed him

              In two months’ time, he had stocked                               to put aside enough money to get


              up several cartfuls of wood.                                      into the cloth trade. Then he took

                   It so happened that for the next                             to dealing in grain. After two years,


              twelve days, rain poured down so                                  Jaidutt was known as one of the city’s

              heavily that the woodcutters could not                            leading merchants.

              go to the forest. After the fourth day,                                Now it’s time to pay Somadev back,


              there was a serious shortage of firewood  he thought. He asked a goldsmith to

              in the city. The price for wood rose so                           make a rat of gold, with ruby eyes and





                     Barricade: 1, Bill the Pillbug: 0.   That was some hard                 Not very shrewd—clever—
                                                             timber—wood.
                                                                                                    to use his head.





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