UNIT 7
LESSON 2: The Stonecutter Who Was Never Satisfied
On a hot summer day in China, a stonecutter worked long and hard swinging his hammer under the blazing sun. As he wiped the sweat from his brow, he thought to himself, “Surely the sun is the most powerful being in the world.” “I wish I could be the sun!” he cried
A fairy heard his wish and the sun he became. Without wasting a second, he began to send hot sunbeams down to the land. It was wonderful to shine so bright! Then a cloudcame drifting along and his light grew dim. How could that be? A cloud mightier than him! Now a white fluffy cloud was what he wanted to be.
That wish too was granted and he became a cloud, happy just to float through the blue Chinese sky. Then along came the wind. It fluttered and whirled around him and would not let him be! “If I can’t have my peace, then I’d rather blow free,” he declared. “I want to be a fierce wind!”
The fairy listened and once more she offered help. Now he twisted and twirled. He teased branches and chased leaves. He dashed here and there until he blew against a rock that stood in his way. He blew as hard as he could, but the stone didn’t move. “If I were a stone,” he thought, “no one would bother me. A stone is the best thing to be!”
So the fairy turned him into a big, heavy rock. He sat very still and watched time go by. Until one day a group of stonecutters came his way. They pounded away at him — just doing their job.
“Please, fairy!” he begged. “Being a stone is not what I want after all. From now on I want to be nobody else but me.” One last time, the stonecutter got his wish. He picked up his hammer and went back to work under the sweltering sun.
Words
stonecutter
to swing
hammer
blazing
to wipe
sweat
brow
surely
powerful
being
to wish
to cry
fairy
to become
to waste
sunbeams
to shine
bright
cloud
to drift
to grow dim
mightier
fluffy
granted
to float
along
to flutter
to whirl
will not let him be
peace
rather
to declare
fierce
to offer
to twist
to twirl
to tease
branches
to chase
leaves
to dash
to bother
to turn into
heavy
to go by
to pound
to beg
sweltering
