11 SWEET PORRIDGE

I

Once there was a little girl who lived with her mother. They were very poor. Sometimes they had no supper. Then they went to bed hungry.

One day the little girl went into the woods. She wanted wood for the fire.

She was so hungry and sad!

“Oh, I wish I had some sweet porridge! ”she said.

“I wish I had a pot full for mother and me. We could eat it all up.”

Just then she saw an old woman with a little black pot.

She said, “Little girl, why are you so sad? ”

“I am hungry, ”said the little girl. “My mother is hungry, too. We have nothing to eat. Oh, I wish we had some sweet porridge for our supper! ”

“I will help you, ”said the old woman, “Take this little black pot. When you want some sweet porridge, you must say, ‘Little pot, boil! ' The little pot will boil and boil and boil. You will have all the sweet porridge you want. When the little pot is full, you must say, ‘Little pot, stop! ' Then the little pot will stop boiling.”

The little girl thanked the old woman, and ran home with the little black pot. Then she made a fire with the wood and put the little black pot on the fire.

“Little pot, boil! ”she said.

The little pot boiled and boiled and boiled, until it was full of sweet porridge.

Then the little girl said, “Little pot, stop! ”The little pot stopped boiling.

She called her mother, and they ate all the sweet porridge they wanted.

The little girl told her mother about the old woman.

“Now, ”they said, “we are happy. We shall not be hungry any more.”

II

The next day the little girl went into the woods again. She was gone a long time.

“She will be hungry when she comes home, ”said her mother.

“I will boil the sweet porridge.”

So she put the little black pot on the fire. “Little pot, boil! ”she said.

The little pot boiled and boiled until it was full of sweet porridge.

The mother wanted the pot to stop boiling. But she forgot what to say. The pot boiled and boiled.

The porridge boiled over on to the stove. It ran all over the stove. Then it ran all over the floor. It flowed into the street.

It flowed on and on and on. The people all ran out of their houses.“Oh! Oh! Oh! ”They cried, “The sea has turned to porridge! It is flowing over the world! What shall we do? ”

No one knew how to make the little black pot stop boiling.

After a long time the little girl came home. The pot was boiling and boiling.

“Little pot, stop! ”said the little girl. And the little pot stopped.

But for many days after that the street was full of sweet porridge.

When people wanted to get to the other side, they had to eat their way across.

(Folk Tale)

Word list

supper: dinner, evening meal

porridge: a creamy kind of hot cereal made with oats

boil: when water or other liquid boils, it begins to bubble

You Practice

A) Answer the following questions.

1) Why did the little girl and her mother sometimes have no supper?

2) Why was the little girl looking for wood to make a fire?

3) Who did the little girl see in the woods?

4) What was special about the little, black pot?

5) What did the mother forget when she used the pot?

B) What happened? Complete the following sentences with five important things that happened in the story.

1) First, ________________________________________________________.

2) Then, _______________________________________________________.

3) Next, ________________________________________________________.

4) After that, ___________________________________________________.

5) Finally, _____________________________________________________.

C) Fill in the blanks—Read the sentences carefully and fill in the blanks with words from the story

1) The little girl lived with her m _ _ _ _ _.

2) The old woman gave the girl a black p _ _.

3) The pot made sweet p _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

4) Sweet porridge flowed into the s _ _ _ _ _.

5) People had to e _ _ their way across the street.