Quote from The Empty Pot

The Empty Pot

by Demi

Henry Holt and Company, New York, New York      © 1990       32 pp.

A long time ago in China there was a boy named Ping who

loved flowers. Anything he planted burst into bloom. Up came

flowers, bushes, and even big fruit trees, as if by magic!

Everyone in the kingdom loved flowers too.

They planted them everywhere, and the air smelled like perfume.

The Emperor loved birds and animals, but flowers most of all,

and he tended his own garden every day.

But the Emperor was very old. He needed to choose a successor

to the throne. Who would his successor be?  

And how would the Emperor choose?

-- submitted by Jennifer Knight