Cook and Count

A Rice story- a traditional folk story, retold. (To make the story more real, have on  hand- 5 Kg. rice. Optional)

Once upon a time in ancient China there was an emperor who was very greedy. Greedy means you want more than you need.

Every year the emperor took nearly all the farmers’ rice to keep in his royal granary. The people were very hungry but they were afraid to complain. One year there was too much rain; in fact there was a flood. There wasn’t enough rice for the people to eat that year and they were very hungry.

One day a little boy named “Mingming” noticed a hole in the royal granary. Rice was pouring out of the hole in a steady stream. Mingming quickly found a basket to catch the stream of rice. Suddenly a guard shouted at him,

“What are you doing with the emperor’s rice?”

Mingming was very frightened but he managed to say:

“I am trying to save the emperors’ rice.”

The guard didn’t believe him so he took Mingming with the basket of rice to see the emperor. When Mingming explained that he was saving the emperor’s rice for him, the emperor believed Mingming and wanted to reward him.

“Tell me what you would like for your reward” said the emperor.

“If you please,” said Mingming, “I would like just one grain of rice for today.”

“Is that all?” roared the emperor, thinking the boy wasn’t very clever.

“If you please”, said Mingming, “I would like double that amount tomorrow.”

“Is that all?” roared the emperor.

“If you please, “ said Mingming, “ I would like double the amount each day but only for one month."

“Is that all?” Roared the emperor.

“Yes, if you please,” said Mingming.

Now the emperor started to like Mingming, but he didn’t think he was very clever. He thought the boy should have asked for more rice. Nevertheless he gave him one grain of rice on that first day. The next day the boy received two grains of rice. The third day he got (double two grains) four grains. On the fourth day he got (double four grains) eight grains of rice. On the fifth day he got (double eight) sixteen grains of rice. On the sixth day he got (double 16) thirty-two grains of rice. On the seventh day he got (double thirty two) sixty-four grains of rice. On the eighth day he got (double sixty four) 128 grains of rice. On the ninth day he got (double 128) two hundred and fifty six grains of rice. On the tenth day he got (double 256) five hundred and twelve grains of rice, about one handful.
On the eleventh day he got (double 512) 1,024 grains of rice.
On the twelfth day he got (double 1,024) 2,048 grains of rice. And so it went.

Now the amounts of rice were starting to be very large so the emperor had to send it in a basket.

Day thirteen, double 2,048 is 4,096 grains of rice.

Day fourteen, double 4,069 is 8,192 grains of rice.

Day fifteen, double 8,192 is 16,384.

Now the emperor had to send a horse to deliver the heavy baskets of rice.

Day sixteen, double 16,384 is 32,768 grains of rice!

Day seventeen, double 32,769 is 65,536 grains of rice.

Now the emperor was amazed at how much rice he was giving Mingming. And so it went, each day more and more rice left the royal granary and more and more rice was given to Mingming, who shared it with the villagers. But they couldn’t eat it all! They began to store the rice they didn’t need for another time. Each day more and more rice came to their storage place.

By the thirtieth day, the imperial granary was empty and all the rice was at the village. The Emperor was very surprised that the number of grains had increased so fast and that all his rice was gone. He began to think that Mingming was very clever indeed. But he was also worried.

“What will I eat now that all my rice is gone?” he cried?

Mingming said, “Don’t worry. I will give you enough rice to eat until the next harvest. You must promise, however, not to take too much rice from the harvest in the future. The villagers need to eat, too.”

“I promise,” said the Emperor

Activity

This story is much more entertaining if you give the child some rice on a tray and let him/her count out the grains as you read the story. You might like to use empty egg cartons to keep the amounts separate. Or you can cut circles of scrap material, put the rice for each day in the circle and do it up in a parcel with a rubber band. Of course you won’t get to the end - but the child will get the picture before you use up all your rice.

You can also weigh the rice when you get a handful. Then you don’t have to do quite so much counting!