Page 56 - English Expedition Class 4

The next morning, Shindo pretended to leave, but she hid beside the door of the
hut and peeked in. She saw the gourds turn into children.
As the children rushed out of the door, they nearly ran into Shindo. She was too
astonished to speak and so were the children. But after a moment, they went on with

their playing and then with the household chores.
When they were done, they started to climb back to the rafters.
‘No, no!’ cried Shindo. ‘You must not change back into gourds! You will be the
children I never had and I will love you and care for you.’

So, Shindo kept the children as her own. She was no longer lonely. The children
were so helpful that she soon became rich with many fields of vegetables and bananas
and flocks of sheep and goats.
That is, all were helpful but Kitete, who stayed by the fire with his simple smile.

Most of the time, Shindo didn’t mind. In fact, Kitete was really her favourite, because
he was like a sweet baby. But at times, when she was tired or unhappy about something
else, she would get annoyed at him and scold him.
One day, Shindo was out in the yard,

cutting vegetables for a stew.As she carried
the pot from the bright sunlight into the
hut, she tripped over Kitete. She fell and
10
the clay pot shattered . Vegetables and
water streamed everywhere. She scolded
him and said that he was nothing but a
calabash.
The very next moment that she

screamed, Kitete was no longer there. In
his place stood a gourd.
‘What have I done?’ cried Shindo as
the children crowded into the hut. ‘I didn’t

mean what I said! You’re not a calabash,
you’re my own darling son. Oh, children, please do something!’
The children looked at each other. Then over each other they climbed, scampering 11
up to the rafters. When the last child had been helped up by Shindo, they called out

one last time.
Ki-te-te, come help us!
We’ll work for our mother.
Come help us, Ki-te-te,

Our favourite brother!

10 shattered: broke into small pieces 11 scampering: moving quickly with small, light steps
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