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The story of the cricket boy

The Cricket Boy(A Chinese Tale)A long time ago, cricket fighting caught on inthe imperial court, withthe emperor leading the fad. A local magistrate inHuayin, who wanted to winthe favor of the monarch, tried in every way to gethim the best fightingcrickets. He had a strategy for doing so: He managed to geta cricket thatwas very good at fighting. He then made his subordinates go to theheads of each village and force them to send in a constant supply of fightingcrickets.He would send to the imperial court the crickets that could beat the onehewas keeping. Theoretically, everything should have worked smoothly.However, asthe magistrate was extremely zealous to please the emperor, hemeted outharsh punishment on any village heads who failed to accomplish theirtasks. The village heads in turn shifted the burden to the poor villagers, who hadtosearch for the crickets. If they failed to catch them, they had to purchasethemfrom someone else, or they had to pay a levy in cash. The small insectssuddenly became a rare commodity. Speculatorshoarded good crickets, buyingthem at a bargain and selling them for anexorbitant price. Many village headsworked hand in hand with thespeculators to make profits. In so doing, theybankrupted many a family.Cheng Ming was one such villager. The head of hisvillage delegatedpart of his duties to him because he found Cheng Ming easy topush around.Cheng Ming did not want to bully his fellow villagers as the villagehead didhim, so he often had to pay cash out of his own pocket when he failedtocollect any competent crickets. Soon the little proper ties he had weredrainingaway, and he went into a severe depression. One day, he said to hiswife that hewanted to die."Death is easy, but what will our son do without you?" asked hiswife,glancing at their only son, sleeping on the kang. "Why can't we look forthecrickets ourselves instead of buying them? Perhaps we'll strike somegoodluck."Cheng Ming gave up the idea of suicide and went to searchforcrickets. Armed with a tiny basket of copper wires for catching crickets andanumber of small bamboo tubes for holding them, he went about thetedioustask. Each day he got up at dawn and did not return until late in theevening.He searched beneath brick debris, dike crevices, and in the weedsandbushes. Days went by, and he caught only a few mediocre crickets thatdidnot measure up to the magistrate's standards. His worries increased asthedead line drew closer and closer.The day for cricket delivery finally came, butCheng Ming could notproduce any good ones. He was clubbed a hundred timeson the buttocks, aform of corporal punishment in the ancient Chinese judicialsystem. When hewas released the next day, he could barely walk. The wound onhis buttocksconfined him to bed for days and further delayed his search forcrickets. Hethought of committing suicide again. His wife did not know what todo.

Then they heard about a hunchbacked fortune teller who was visitingthe village.Cheng Ming's wife went to see him. The fortune teller gave her apiece of paperwith a picture on it. It was a pavilion with a jiashan (rockgarden) behind it. Onthe bushes by the jiashan sat a fat male cricket. Besideit, however, lurked alarge toad, ready to catch the insect with its long,elastic tongue. When the wifegot home, she showed the paper to herhusband. Cheng Ming sprang up and jumped to the floor, forgetting the painin his buttocks."This is the fortune teller'shint at the location where I can find aperfect cricket to accomplish my task!" heexclaimed."But we don't have a pavilion in our village," his wife re mindedhim."Well, take a closer look and think. Doesn't the temple on the east sideof our village have a rock garden? That must be it." So saying, Cheng Minglimpedto the temple with the support of a make shift crutch. Sure enough,he saw thecricket, and the toad squatting nearby in the rock garden at theback of thetemple. He caught the big, black male cricket just before thetoad got hold of it.Back home, he carefully placed the cricket in a jar he hadprepared for it andstowed the jar away in a safe place. "Everything will beover tomorrow," he gavea sigh of relief and went to tell his best friends inthe village the goodnews.Cheng Ming's nine-year-old son was very curious. Seeing his fatherwasgone, he took the jar and wanted to have a peek at the cricket. Hewasremoving the lid carefully, when the big cricket jumped out andhoppedaway. Panicked, the boy tried to catch the fleeing cricket with his hands,butin a flurry, he accidentally squashed the insect when he finally got hold of it."Good heavens! What're you going to say to your father when hecomesback?" the mother said in distress and dread. Without a word, the boywent outof the room, tears in his eyes.Cheng Ming became distraught when he saw thedead cricket. Hecouldn't believe that all his hopes had been dashed in a second.He lookedaround for his son, vowing to teach the little scoundrel a good lesson.Hesearched inside and outside the house, only to locate him in a well atthecorner of the court yard. When he fished him out, the boy was already dead. The father's fury instantly gave way to sorrow. The grieved parents laid theirsonon the kang and lamented over his body the entire night.As Cheng Ming wasdressing his son for burial the next morning, he feltthe body still warm.Immediately he put the boy back on the kang, hopingthat he would revive.Gradually the boy came back to life, but to his parents'dismay, he wasunconscious, as if he were in a trance. The parents grieved again for the loss of their son. Suddenly theyheard a cricket chirping. The couple traced the sound toa small cricket onthe door step. The appearance of the cricket, however, dashedtheir hopes,for it was very small. "Well, it's better than nothing," Cheng Mingthought.He was about to catch it, when it jumped nimbly on to a wall, cheepingathim. He tip toed to ward it, but it showed no sign of fleeing. Instead,whenCheng Ming came a few steps closer, the little cricket jumped onto his

chest. Though small, the cricket looked smart and energetic. Cheng Mingplanned totake it to the village head. Uncertain of its capabilities, ChengMing could not goto sleep. He wanted to put the little cricket to the testbefore sending it to thevillage head. The next morning, Cheng Ming went to a young man from a richfamilyin his neighborhood, having heard him boasting about an "invincible"cricketthat he wanted to sell for a high price. When the young man showedhiscricket, Cheng Ming hesitated, because his little cricket seemed no matchforthis gigantic insect. To fight this monster would be to condemn his dwarf todeath."There's no way my little cricket could survive a confrontation withyourbig guy," Cheng Ming said to the young man, holding his jar tight. Theyoungman goaded and taunted him. At last, Cheng Ming decided to take arisk. "Well,it won't hurt to give a try. If the little cricket is a good-for-nothing,what's the useof keeping it anyway?" he thought.When they put the two crickets together in a jar, Cheng Ming's smallinsect seemed transfixed. No matter how the young manprodded it to fight,it simply would not budge. The young man burst into aguffaw, to the greatembarrassment of Cheng Ming. As the young man spurredthe little cricketon, it sud denly seemed to have run out of patience. With greatwrath, itcharged the giant opponent head on. The sudden burst of actionstunnedboth the young man and Cheng Ming. Before the little creature planteditssmall but sharp teeth into the neck of the big cricket, the terrified youngmanfished the big insect out of the jar just in time and called off the contest. Thelittle cricket chirped victoriously, and Cheng Ming felt exceedingly happyandproud.Cheng Ming and the young man were commenting on thelittlecricket's extraordinary prowess, when a big rooster rushed over to peckatthe little cricket in the jar. The little cricket hopped out of the jar in timetododge the attack. The rooster then went for it a second time, butsuddenlybegan to shake its head violently, screaming in agony. This suddenturn of events baffled Cheng Ming and the onlookers. When they took a closerlook,they could not believe their eyes: The little cricket was gnawing ontherooster's bloody comb. The story of a cricket fighting a rooster soonspreadthroughout the village and beyond. The next day, Cheng Ming, along withthe village head, sent the cricketto the magistrate and asked for a test fight withhis master cricket, but themagistrate re fused on the ground that Cheng Ming'scricket was too small."I don't think you have heard its rooster-fighting story,"Cheng Mingproclaimed with great pride. "You can't judge it only by itsappearance.""Nonsense, how can a cricket fight a rooster?" asked themagistrate.He ordered a big rooster brought to his office, thinking that ChengMingwould quit telling his tall tales when his cricket became the bird's snack. Thebattle between the little cricket and the rooster ended with the same result: The rooster sped away in great pain, the little cricket chirping triumphantlyon its

heels. The magistrate was first astonished and then pleased, thinking that hefinallyhad the very insect that could win him the emperor's favor. He had agoldencage manufactured for the little cricket. Placing it cautiously in thecage, he tookit to the emperor. The emperor pitted the little cricket against all his veterancombat antcrickets, and it defeated them one by one. What amused theemperor mostwas that the little creature could even dance to the tune of hiscourt music!Extremely pleased with the magic little creature, the emperorrewarded themagistrate liberally and promoted him to a higher position. Themagistrate,now a governor, in turn exempted Cheng Ming from his levies in cashas wellas crickets.A year later, Cheng Ming's son came out of his stupor. He satup andrubbed his eyes, to the great surprise and joy of his parents. The firstwordshe uttered to his jubilant parents were, "I'm so tired and hungry." After ahotmeal, he told them, "I dreamed that I had become a cricket, and I fought alotof other crickets. It was such fun! You know what? The greatest fun I hadwas myfight with a couple of roosters!

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11y ago
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5d ago

The moral of the story of the cricket boy is that talent and hard work can lead to success. The story encourages perseverance and determination in pursuing one's goals.

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10y ago

my mums so annoying she just sucked up my glass beads with the vacuum cleaner

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Who is the characters in the story of the cricket boy?

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When is the time of story the cricket boy?

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What time happen the setting of story a cricket boy?

The setting of the story "A Cricket Boy" is typically during the early 20th century in India and focuses on the life of a young cricket prodigy named Pradeep. The time period is important as it reflects the social norms and challenges faced during that era, particularly regarding sports and opportunities for young talents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.


What are the problems in The Story of a Cricket Boy?

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What is the main problem in the story of a cricket boy?

The main problem in the story of a cricket boy is that the boy's passion for playing cricket becomes a source of conflict with his father, who wants him to focus on his studies instead. The boy faces a dilemma between following his dreams and meeting his father's expectations.