The Hidden Treasure
    - You will enjoy reading this 40-page picture novel, 
                                     guaranteed.



    Grandpa told his Canadian-born grandchildren an old folklore from China:
 (The actual page is 11 x 8.5. The reduced pages show picture samples only.)
   
    Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived in a poor village all by himself. The old man had three sons. After the three sons married, moved away and had families of their own, they never thought much about the old man any more.

    According to old Chinese tradition, it was a son’s duty to take care of his aging parents, and to sweep the ancestors’ tombstones to pay them respect every year. Without sons, a family’s name would not continue and that family would be finished. That is why Chinese families had to have sons. And that is why a woman who bore sons could speak in a loud voice while a woman with no sons would hang her head low. The more sons a family had, the prouder they were.

    Aged parents always lived with their sons. If there were a number of sons in the family, the parents either lived with one of them while the others provided food and money, or the parents took turns moving from one son’s house to another.

    But in this old man’s case, none of his sons or daughters-in-law wanted him. They thought the old man would soon need care and become a burden to them.

    The neighbour was worried that the old man was dying, so he ran to tell the three sons that their father refused to let go of his life without telling them about this hidden treasure.

    In no time, all three sons and their wives dashed over to the old man’s house.

    Everyone wished to be the first to hear about their inheritance. To show the old man how dutiful they were, they brought with them a lot of fine food, good wine and expensive medicine. 

    As soon as they arrived, the daughters-in-law bustled about, seeing to their father-in-law’s comfort. The first one wasted no time making a fire in the wood burning stove. The second one lit the oil lamp. The third one wrapped the old man up in a blanket and warmed his feet with a hot water bottle.

    His sons all sat by the old man’s bedside. The first son propped his father up with pillows and rubbed his hands to help his blood circulate. The second son fed him warm wine to help him sweat and get better. The third son sweetened his medicine with sugar to make it easier for him to swallow. 

     All the hustle and bustle and thoughtful care revived the old man’s fading spirits. He found himself half-sitting up in bed with his three attentive sons and their dutiful wives around him, seeing to his every need.

What about the rest of the story? The rest is supposed to be the hidden treasure. Go to your school library or a local public library and ask for it.