A family of little larks lived with their mother in a nest in a cornfield. When the corn was ripe, the mother lark watched carefully to see if there were any sign of the reapers' coming. For she knew that when they came their sharp knives would cut down the nest and hurt the baby larks. So every day, when she went out for food, she told the little larks to look and listen very carefully to everything that went on, and to tell her all they saw and heard when she came home.
One day when she came home, the little larks were frightened.
"Oh, Mother, dear Mother," they said, "you must move us away tonight! The farmer was in the field today, and he said, The corn is ready to cut; we must call in the neighbors to help.' Then he told his son to go out tonight and ask all the neighbors to come and reap the corn tomorrow."
The mother lark laughed. "Don't be frightened," she said; "if he waits for his neighbors to reap the corn, we will have plenty of time to move. Tell me what he says tomorrow."
The next night the little larks were trembling with fear. The moment their mother got home they cried out, "Mother, you must move us tonight! The farmer came today and said, The corn is getting too ripe. We cannot wait for our neighbors. We must ask our relatives to help us. Then he called his son and told him to ask all the uncles and cousins to come tomorrow and cut the corn. Shall we not move tonight?"
"Don't worry," said the mother lark. The uncles and cousins have plenty of reaping to do for themselves. We'll not move yet."
The third night, when the mother lark came home, the baby larks said, "Mother, dear, the farmer came to the field today. When he looked at the corn, he was quite angry. He said, 'This will never do! The corn is getting too ripe. It's no use to wait for our relatives. We will have to cut this corn ourselves.' Then he called his son and said, 'Go out tonight and hire reapers. Tomorrow we will begin to cut.'"
"Well," said the mother, "that is another story. When a man begins to do
his own work instead of asking somebody else to do it, things get done. I
will move you out tonight."
Vocabulary
careful
cornfield
farmer
fear
frighten
hire
hurt
knife
neghbor
reaper
relative
ripe
work
Sentence Completion I
Sentence Completion II
Reading Comprehension
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