Page 84 - English Expedition Class 4

two feet high when a goat entered the garden and ate all the leaves. Only the main
stem and two thin branches remained.
‘Never mind,’ said Grandfather, seeing that Rakesh was upset. ‘It will grow again,
cherry trees are tough.’

Towards the end of the rainy season new leaves appeared on the tree. Then a woman,
9
10
cutting grass, scrambled down the hillside, her scythe swishing through the heavy
11
monsoon foliage . She did not try to avoid the tree: one sweep, and the cherry tree
was cut in two.
When Grandfather saw what had happened, he went after the woman and scolded
her; but the damage could not be repaired.
‘Maybe it will die now,’ said Rakesh.
‘Maybe,’ said Grandfather.

But the cherry tree had no intention of dying.
By the time summer came round again, it had sent out several new shoots with
tender green leaves. Rakesh had grown taller too. He was eight now.
That monsoon Rakesh went home to his village, to help his father and mother with

the planting and ploughing and sowing. He was thinner but stronger when he came
back to Grandfather’s house at the end of the rains, to find that the cherry tree had
grown another foot. It was now up to his chest.
12
One day he found a bright green praying mantis perched on a branch, peering at
him with bulging eyes. Rakesh let it remain there. It was the cherry tree’s first visitor.
The next visitor was a hairy caterpillar, who started making a meal of the leaves.
Rakesh removed it quickly and dropped it on a heap of dry leaves.
‘Come back when you’re a butterfly,’ he said.

Winter came early. The cherry tree bent low with the weight of snow.
In February it was Rakesh’s birthday. He was nine, and the tree was three, but
almost as tall as Rakesh.
One morning, when the sun came out, Grandfather came into the garden to absorb

the warmth of the sun. He stopped in front of the cherry tree, stared at it for a few
moments, and then called out, ‘Rakesh! Come and look! Come quickly before it falls!’
13
Rakesh and Grandfather gazed at the tree as though it had performed a miracle.
There was a pale pink blossom at the end of a branch.

The following year there were more blossoms. And suddenly the tree was taller
than Rakesh, even though it was less than half his age. And then it was taller than
Grandfather, who was older than some of the oak trees.

9 scrambled: made way clumsily 12 praying mantis: a grasshopper-like insect
10 scythe: a crescent-shaped tool used for cutting crops 13 gazed: (here) looked at something for a long time with
11 foliage: leaves admiration
74