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Night fell across the land. The sun
lay down behind the horizon; people went into their homes to rest and
silence filled the valley. Up on the top of the mountain, Yong-Hu and Ho-Shing,
two pandas, curled up at the bottom of the bamboo canes and closed their
eyes. Ho-Shing fell asleep quickly, as he normally did, but Yong-Hu lay
awake. His mind was filled with thoughts about the day’s events and what
tomorrow might bring.
CROAK! CROAK! CROAK! Yong-Hu heard a
toad calling. He opened his eyes. He didn’t know there were toads in the
stream that ran near the bamboo forest. CROAK! CROAK! CROAK! He enjoyed
listening to the noise. He imagined a large green toad with brown
speckles, sitting on a lotus pad, calling to the other toads in the area.
CROAK! CROAK! CROAK!
After an hour, Yong-Hu was beginning
to tire. He wanted to go to sleep. He closed his eyes and got comfortable.
He was just about asleep when he heard, CROAK! CROAK! CROAK! He didn’t
want to listen to the toad any longer. He wanted it to be quiet, but the
toad had other ideas. The whole night long it went, CROAK! CROAK! CROAK!
Yong-Hu lay awake, tossing and turning. He put his furry paws over his
ears, but he could still hear the toad croaking. CROAK! CROAK! CROAK!
When the sun rose behind the
mountains, the toad stopped. Yong-Hu yawned and fell asleep. He was
awakened a few minutes later by Ho-Shing. "Yong-Hu, it is time to get up.
You can’t sleep the whole day away. I see some new bamboo shoots that look
delicious. We talked about exploring some of the caves today. Yong-Hu,
wake up!" Ho-Shing shook the sleepy panda.
"I don’t want to get up. I’m tired,"
Yong-Hu complained.
"Why are you tired? We went to bed
early," Ho-Shing wondered.
"It was the toad," Yong-Hu mumbled.
Not understanding what he was
saying, Ho-Shing continued to shake his friend. "Get up, Yong-Hu."
Yong-Hu, seeing he was going to get
no peace, sat up. He stretched and opened his eyes. "I’m tired, Ho-Shing."
"Let’s eat something. You’ll feel
better after nibbling on a few bamboo leaves," Ho-Shing encouraged the
tired bear. He stood up and pulled a few leaves off. "Here. Eat these,"
Ho-Shing said, handing him the leaves. Yong-Hu munched away on them. He
did feel a little better but he yawned all the time. "Why don’t we go and
find those caves now," Ho-Shing stated. "We’ll have a wonderful time. I
hear there are precious jewels and gold in the caves, embedded in the
walls. Maybe we shall find something beautiful."
He stood up and pulled Yong-Hu up.
"Come on."
The two bears walked towards the
cave. Yong-Hu stumbled a lot. When they got to the stream, he splashed
water on his face. "That feels better," he said, waking up a little bit.
"Where are those caves?" he asked, trying to act interested. All he really
wanted to do was go back to the forest and sleep.
"They are up here," Ho-Shing said,
galloping up the mountainside. "There they are," he said, stopping to
point them out.
Soon they were at the entrance to
the cave. "It’s dark in there," Yong-Hu said.
"It’s not that dark. We’ll be just
fine," Ho-Shing assured him. They walked into the cave. "Look at the walls
of the caves. Do you see the emeralds, rubies, and amethyst?"
Yong-Hu looked. It was rather
pretty. He reached up to touch them. "How can we get them out?" he asked.
"We can’t. We are just here to
admire them, not to take them home. What would we do with jewels?" Ho-Shing
asked.
Yong-Hu shrugged his furry
shoulders. "Gold," he said, seeing a sparkly substance on the other side
of the cave. "We’ve found gold!"
"Why, you are right, Yong-Hu. That
is gold. Very good," Ho-Shing said.
"Can we take the gold?" he asked.
"No, it doesn’t belong to us. It
belongs to the cave. The jewels and gold are part of who and what the cave
is. We must not disturb it," a wise Ho-Shing said.
After a while they left the cave.
Yong-Hu had begun to yawn and Ho-Shing thought it might be better if he
had some fresh air. They sat outside the cave, looking down on the valley.
The sun was warm and there was only a gentle breeze. Yong-Hu began to get
very sleep. He lay down on a rock. "I just want to rest for a short
while," he told Ho-Shing.
"Yong-Hu? What is wrong with you?
Why are you so tired?" he asked, but Yong-Hu was already asleep. Ho-Shing
shook him. "Wake up."
Yong-Hu rolled over and yawned. He
was not a happy panda. He wanted to sleep. "Lets go home, Ho-Shing. I want
to sleep."
"I give up," said Ho-Shing. "All
right. We’ll go home."
The two pandas went back to the
bamboo forest. Yong-Hu was so tired that he lay right down and fell
asleep. When the sun set, he was still sleeping. Ho-Shing lay down next to
him. Yong-Hu was snoring, but that didn’t bother Ho-Shing. Just then he
heard, CROAK! CROAK! CROAK! It was the toad again. Like Yong-Hu the night
before, Ho-Shing at first enjoyed listening to the toad. CROAK! CROAK!
CROAK! He tried to imagine it sitting in the stream, catching flies with
its long sticky tongue. When Ho-Shing wanted to fall asleep, he couldn’t.
The toad was making too much noise. CROAK! CROAK! CROAK! It went like that
all night long. Ho-Shing lay awake all night long. When the sun rose
behind the mountain the next morning, he was finally able to fall asleep
because the toad hopped away.
"Time to get up," called Yong-Hu. He
was feeling good. He’d slept the whole night and felt refreshed and filled
with energy.
But Ho-Shing didn’t feel that way.
He was sleepy. He was tired. "Leave me alone. I want to sleep," he said to
Yong-Hu.
Yong-Hu remembered how he’d felt the
day before. He remembered how tired he’d been, so he let Ho-Shing sleep
for several hours before waking him up. That night the pandas didn’t hear
the toad croak. It had hopped off to another place in the stream. Both
pandas were relieved. They lay there talking, ready to go to sleep when
suddenly they heard, CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!
"Oh no. A cricket!" sighed Ho-Shing,
knowing both of them would lay awake all night long! |
