Ming Saves the Day

Ming Saves the Day

Written by Mary-Anne Creasy Illustrated by Meredith Thomas

Ming Saves the Day

Ming Saves the Day Text type: Narrative Level: O (34) Word count: 1,620 Content vocabulary drought polluted scum spring Irregularly spelled words because built doubtful enough exhausted Key concepts • Water is a precious resource that is used by all of us in many different ways.

• People have developed many ways to access water.

Reading strategy Identifying who is speaking in the story Paired book The Question of Water

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Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing Designed by Derek Schneider Printed and bound in China through Colorcraft Ltd, Hong Kong Distributed in the USA by Okapi Educational Publishing Inc. Phone: 866-652-7436 Fax: 800-481-5499 Email: info@myokapi.com www.myokapi.com www.flying-start-to-literacy.com ISBN: 978-1-74320-109-1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 15 16 17 18 19

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Written by Mary-Anne Creasy Illustrated by Meredith Thomas

Contents Chapter 1

When will it rain?

4

Chapter 2

Sickness strikes the village

8

Chapter 3

A visit to the doctor

14

Chapter 4

Green plants

18

Chapter 5

Fresh water flows

22

A note from the author 28

Chapter 1

In the village where Ming lived, it hadn’t

When will it rain?

rained for a long, long time. The sun beat down, hot and hard, all day long. The village was covered in a thick brown dust, and the water supply was running low.

“Ming, do you remember when it used to rain?” asked Ming’s mother thoughtfully,

No one could remember the summer ever being so hot, or so dry.

as she made breakfast.

They both looked out the window at the scorched, dry land. It was early, but already so hot that Ming’s clothes stuck to her.

“Of course I do, Mom!” said Ming cheerfully.

“And I bet it will rain again soon.”

Ming’s mother just shook her head and sighed.

“I hope you’re right,” she said. “We’ve never had a drought last for this long before.”

4

5

The village had a small dam where all the

The villagers were worried that the water in

villagers got their water for drinking, cooking,

the dam might soon run out. But Ming

and growing food. The villagers had built

wasn’t. No matter how bad things got, she

a system of bamboo pipes so water could

always believed that everything would work

flow from the dam to the gardens where the

out in the end.

crops grew. A fresh stream had always flowed into the dam, keeping it full of water.

But without rain, the stream had dried up.

“Okay, Ming,” said her mother, taking her empty bowl. “It’s time to move the pipes and fetch the water. Off you go.”

Ming smiled, grabbed the buckets and pole, and ran out the door. First she had to collect water from the dam for her family, then she had to move the bamboo pipes around so that all of the different crops got enough water.

6

7

Chapter 2

When Ming reached the dam, she dipped her

Sickness strikes the village

buckets into the water. She noticed that it was not as clear as usual and had a greenish scum floating on top.

“Hmm,” she said to herself. “That’s strange.”

The next day, Ming was shaken awake by

Lifting the heavy buckets onto her shoulders,

her mother.

she headed back home.

“Ming, you need to get the water quickly this morning. Mr. Chen next door is not well, so you need to get some for him, too!”

She handed Ming the buckets and pole and opened the door. “Hurry, Ming!” she said anxiously.

8

9

Ming took a bucket to Mr. Chen first.

“Oh, thank you, Ming,” said Mrs. Chen.

“Don’t worry,” said Ming. “I’m sure he’ll get better soon.”

“My husband is so sick. He needs this water

Ming went next door and gave the other

badly.” She gave her husband a big cup of

bucket to her mother, who drank some water

water to drink.

thirstily. “Phew, it’s hot today, I needed that,”

“What’s wrong with Mr. Chen?” Ming asked.

“He has stomach pains, but we’re not really sure,” said Mrs. Chen. “A lot of the villagers

she said.

“Yeah,” said Ming. “I’d better go and move the pipes before it gets even hotter.”

are sick, though.”

10

11

Ming walked toward the village garden. The hot sun blazed down and brown dust swirled around her, getting into her eyes and mouth.

As she walked past the dam, Ming gazed at the water. Usually the water was so clear that she could see the rocks and pebbles at the bottom of the dam, but not today. Ming also noticed that the rock in the middle of the dam was almost entirely out of the

“Wow, the water level has gone right down,”

water. Usually water covered the rock.

said Ming to Mr. Tan, who was on his way to fill a bucket.

“I know. It is very worrying,” he replied.

“It will be okay, Mr. Tan. We’ll have enough water. There’s no need to worry.”

Mr. Tan smiled and shook his head. “I wish I was as positive as you, Ming.” And he watched as Ming skipped off to water the crops.

12

13

Chapter 3

A visit to the doctor

“Dr. Lee,” she panted, as he opened the door.

“My mother is sick. She has terrible stomach pains, just like half the people in our village.

Please, can you help her?”

When Ming woke the next morning, the sun

“It must be the water,” said Dr. Lee. “We

was high in the sky.

had the same problem in this village. With no fresh water coming into our dam, the

“Mom, why didn’t you wake me up?” she

water got polluted and it made everyone sick.”

called, sitting up in bed.

Her mother didn’t answer.

“Mom?” Ming rushed to her mother’s bed, where she still lay. She was clutching her stomach and groaning quietly.

14

“Ming, I need help. Get the doctor.”

“What should we do?” asked Ming.

Ming rushed out of the house and ran as fast

“For now, you must boil the water before you

as she could to the next village, where the

drink it or cook with it. That gets rid of the

doctor lived.

germs. Tell everyone in the village.”

15

“But that won’t solve your problem forever,”

“Did you find some water in your village?”

Dr. Lee continued. “Your village needs to

Ming asked Dr. Lee.

start looking for another way to get water, like we did.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ming.

“Yes, we did. We dug under some green plants, and we found a spring!”

“Thank you, Dr. Lee,” said Ming. “I’ll bet

“Look around,” said Dr. Lee, pointing at the

we can find a spring in our village, too!”

mountains in the distance. “We’re

And she ran home as quickly as she could.

surrounded by water – all the snow on the mountains! It’s melting all the time and it seeps through the rocks. Some of it goes underground. The land is very dry and bare, so if you see some healthy green plants, it could mean there’s water under the ground.”

16

17

Chapter 4

As Ming was walking home, exhausted, she

Green plants

peered into it. The water level had gone

passed the dam. She walked over and down even more and it was dark, green, and murky. She turned around and looked at the

Ming burst into the house where her mother

snow-capped mountains, far in the distance.

was still lying in bed and told her what the doctor had said.

“You’re going to be okay, Mom. You just need clean water. I’ll put some on to boil right now.”

Then Ming ran from house to house, spreading the word all over the village.

“I bet some water from those mountains is under our village somewhere,” she said.

“I should try to find some healthy green plants because there might be some water under the ground where they are growing.”

And that’s what she did.

18

19

Ming looked all over the village for a group

About ten minutes later, they arrived at the

of healthy green plants, but all the plants

spot. Sure enough, Mr. Tan was right. A

she found were dead or dying, shriveled by

group of lush, green leafy plants grew in the

the sun and covered in brown dust. The

middle of a patch of dry, dusty land.

only green plants were the crops, but they were getting water from the dam.

Ming smiled at Mr. Tan. “I told you everything would work out,” she said.

Ming sat down to think. A short while later, she heard a voice.

“Hello, Ming,” said Mr. Tan. “Hi, Mr. Tan,” she said. “I’m trying to think of where I might find some green plants growing in this dry ground.”

“It’s funny you should say that. I thought it was so strange, but I noticed some plants just like that growing on a hill not far from here.”

Ming looked up at Mr. Tan in surprise.

“Will you take me there?” she asked, excitedly.

20

21

Chapter 5

Fresh water flows After a few days, most of the villagers were feeling better. Ming asked everyone to meet her at the spot where the green plants grew.

Ming explained what Dr. Lee had told her, looking around at the villagers excitedly.

The villagers looked doubtful, but they began to dig under the plants. The sun climbed in the sky and the villagers panted and sweated, but Ming insisted they keep digging.

Then, finally, Mr. Tan yelled out, “I’ve found it!

Look, the soil is wet! There’s water down here.”

Everyone cheered.

“Now how do we get the water out of the ground?” asked Ming.

22

23

The villagers talked for a while and decided

Soon the water was flowing down the hill

to build a system of bamboo pipes leading

and into the village dam. All night and

from the underground water supply to the

all day it flowed. Slowly, the water in the

dam. That way, the village would have

dam rose and, as it rose, it became clearer

a fresh supply of water flowing into the

and cleaner.

dam again.

By the end of the week the dam was full.

The people all worked together. Some cut the bamboo, some split it in half, and some dug the channels to put the bamboo in.

They worked on and on and on. It was a huge job. But no one gave up.

24

25

The people gathered at the dam to marvel at their work. Each person scooped up a cup of fresh, clean water and drank it. When Ming arrived with her mother, the whole village cheered for her because she had helped them to find clean, fresh water.

“I told you everything would be all right,” said Ming, smiling broadly.

And it was. From that day on, the villagers stayed healthy and, even during the longest, hottest droughts, there was always a supply of fresh water in Ming’s village.

26

27

A note from the author

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28

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