Story time: A misunderstanding

Meena was a small girl who had lost her mother when she was ten years old. Without her mother, Meena felt very sad. Her father was also very worried about her.

One day, her father came home with a beautiful lady. There was a big question on Meena's mind. She thought, "why has she come with a big suitcase? Is she going to stay with us for ever?"

Father introduced this lady to Meena and said, "my sweet darling, here is your new mother. Please call her 'Amma' from today". But Meena was so nervous that she ran away from her father and started crying, hiding in a corner of the room. She recalled her late mother and murmured, "Oh...Amma this stepmother will be very rude to me...., she will hurt me...., she will ask me to do all the work at home...., sweep the floor...., wash the dishes.... She will give me very little to eat."

One day, when Meena came home from school, she saw that her room had been arranged and looked spick and span. She was surprised to see a big yellow teddy bear placed on her bed. Some of her favourite dishes were there for lunch. Meena thought, "who has done all these? Could it be the stepmother? I don't think she will do such a thing to make me happy".

Several days later, Meena fell down and injured her leg. Hearing Meena's cry, her stepmother came running to her and helped her to stand up. She applied some medicine on Meena's leg. Meena noticed that a nice pink frock was being sewn for her by her stepmother.

One day, the stepmother came to Meena and asked, "my darling, why do you look so worried? Why don't you play with me? I love you very much, my child, I do everything for you. Normally, stepmothers treat their stepchildren badly, but I'll never do that to you."

Meena was thrilled to hear those kind words. She thought, "I was wrong all these days. I misunderstood my stepmother, she is nice. She loves me and looks after me well". For the first time, Meena kissed her stepmother and said, "I love you, Amma". Smiling pleasantly, the stepmother wiped her own eyes.

Thereafter, they lived happily as mother and daughter.

Sent by Duwani Kanchana de Silva, Katana.

The delicious dragon fruit

In the picture on right three-year-old Savith Kariyawasam is standing in front of a tree. Do you know what this tree is? It's a dragon fruit tree. This dragon fruit plantation is in Bulathsinhala, a village in the Kalutara district; the plantation belongs to Savith's father.

The dragon fruit is new to this country and is very expensive. These fruits are sold to supermarkets and exported to rich countries.

The best five-star hotels in our country and all over the world serve dragon fruit to their guests. The fruit is also served on the best airlines (planes) to travellers.

The dragon fruit has a very interesting history. It belongs to the cactus (plural-cacti) family. Millions of years ago, cacti plants originated or began to grow in the deserts of Mexico and the drier part of the North American continent. These plants adapted (got used) to the dry weather in the deserts.

They dropped their leaves and made themselves waterproof, with a wax coating around, to prevent the loss of water to the air. During millions of years, the dragon fruit seeds were taken thousands of miles south, into the wet Amazon forests of the South American continent.

How did they get there? The seeds were dispersed by birds; birds ate the fruit and flew away, and dropped the seeds further and further south, until they reached the Amazon. Seeing that the fruit was tasty, people began to grow the tree in their home gardens.

Its cultivation was carried out on a large-scale in Guatemala in South America. From Guatemala, it has been taken to all the rich countries, including USA and the European countries, while Israel is another large producer. In the East, it is grown in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, among other countries.

The present type of dragon fruit, unlike the cacti of Mexico, loves water and scientists say it's a water-loving plant. The dragon fruit tree is an epiphyte or climbing type of plant (holding on to other plants) and in the Amazon, has been seen growing up to 40 feet high.

The tree seen in the picture has nothing to hold on to, to climb up. So, it has spread itself on a tyre, at the top of a concrete post. This way, the fruits can also be plucked, easily. The dragon fruit is very delicious (tasty) like the kiwi fruit.

The pulp of the fruit is white, yellow, red or pink; all have black seeds inside. The dragon fruit pulp is also used to make cooling drinks, jams and sweets. It is also very good to eat and makes the body healthy and strong, Dr. Thilak T. Ranasinghe, Director of Agriculture of the Western Province said.

by Elmo Leonard.