Books for kids

A father and son planted watermelon seeds in a field. They returned the next day to find that the field was covered with holes and that their seeds had been eaten. The peasants were upset but accepted what had happened and decided to plant more seeds in the field. This time, the father sent his son out at night to keep watch over the field.

As dawn approached, the young man heard two black crows talking:

“These seeds are delicious!” said the younger of the birds as it dug up some seeds.

“I agree!” answered the elder bird. “They are rich with oils, but digging them from the earth is not easy.”

“Perhaps we should go to the market in town instead,” suggested the younger crow. “There are plenty of watermelon seeds there – people eat watermelons and spit out the seeds on the ground.”

“We'll get trampled on if we go to the market in broad daylight,” warned the elder crow. “In the evening, all the seeds from the market are thrown away. The only people who understand the value of the seeds are foresters and melon-growers.”

“Why do foresters value watermelon seeds?” asked the younger crow in astonishment. “Watermelons don't grow in the forest.”

“They sow watermelon seeds in forest clearings, and grow huge plantations of them,” explained the elder crow. “If there is a forest fire, the juicy leaves will help prevent it spreading. The watermelons themselves cannot ripen in the forest, of course.”

Having heard the wise words of the crow, the young peasant did not hold back.

“This is our field,” he shouted. “Here you are, pecking at our soil, and our watermelons cannot grow.”

The crows were startled, and flew further away from the young man.

“We are not the problem,” replied the elder bird. “If your watermelons have rotted, it is not our fault, it is the rain. You should have put a protective board under the watermelons so they did not touch the damp earth. You have plenty of leaves, because you plant large seeds. You may think that large seeds mean large watermelons, but you are wrong. Big seeds will only yield leaves.”

“If you eat the seeds, there won't be any watermelons at all!” exclaimed the young man.

“We never spend more than two nights in any one place,” replied the crow. “We leave the rest to you. I must say, that growing watermelons is a very good idea. First of all, watermelons make for very fertile soil, and you can grow an excellent wheat harvest in the same field. Secondly, watermelon juice contains fructose, which is the healthiest form of sugar. Finally, if you ever run out of water, watermelons will quench your thirst.”

“You are not a crow – you're a watermelon expert!” exclaimed the young man, enraptured by the bird's wisdom.

“We been feeding in watermelon fields for over one hundred years. We have learned a lot in this time,” replied the elder crow in an important-sounding voice.

“Farewell then, for it is time for us to go,” added the younger bird.

As soon as the crows had disappeared, the young man ran home to collect some smaller watermelon seeds. He planted them into the holes left by the crows.

“I have not slept all night, but I didn't see any seed thieves,” said the young man to his father. “They must have moved on to a new field.”

The young man did everything which the crows had suggested, and the field yielded an excellent melon harvest. When the watermelons matured, the young man went out into the field.

“Excuse me watermelons,” he said, addressing the plants themselves. “I want to see the world, and I would like to start by knowing a little more about you.”

“Follow me,” replied the largest watermelon. It detached itself from its stalk and began to roll across the field. It rolled along the road, the young man following closely behind. Every so often, he would stop for a nap, eat some watermelon, and then set off again. With the watermelon for a travelling companion, neither thirst nor hunger were a problem.

“Is it really possible to eat nothing but watermelons?” asked the astonished young man.

“As long as we are fresh, then it is possible,” answered his striped friend. “Unfortunately, we lose our nutritional properties during storage.”

On one occasion, when the young man was feeling extremely cold, he thought to himself: “How I would love some bee's honey to keep me warm.”

“Make a hole in my rind and try my honey,” suggested the watermelon in response.

The youth did as the fruit had suggested, and drank the juices from inside the watermelon.

“I feel warmer and stronger,” conceded the young man. “Where did the sweet nectar inside you come from?”

“It is not difficult to make watermelon honey from fresh watermelon juice, and it has the same medicinal properties as bee's honey,” replied the watermelon.

The watermelon also offered the young man salted watermelons and hard watermelon sweets made from its rind.

“Watermelon sweets are a good cure for liver stones,” explained the watermelon.

One day, the young man was attacked by bandits. The head bandit ordered the young man to pay a ransom, but the traveller had no money.

“Don't worry, we'll get out of this,” said the watermelon. “I understand that the chief bandit has recently been very ill, and that his liver is in a terrible state. He has arranged a feast for today – so tomorrow his pain will be excruciating. Offer him some fresh watermelon. When his pain subsides, he will apologise to you.”

The young man again followed the watermelon's instructions. When the chief's pain had subsided, he spoke to the young man.

“I am not letting you go anywhere,” he said. “I want you to be my doctor.”

“All right,” replied the young man, “but one watermelon will not last very long. You will need to eat watermelon every day to keep your liver and kidneys healthy. I will need to plant a field of watermelons, and your bandits will have to help me clear a plot.

To begin with, the bandits complained, and many were exhausted by the hard work. Several even fled the group, but those who remained became excellent melon farmers.

Their large watermelons, with their thick, dark rind, became famous throughout the region. They sold out within minutes at the market. The young man, however, continued his journey with the magic watermelon. The fruit led him into the desert, before it suddenly dived into some bushes.

As the young man approached the bushes, he gasped with amazement. In front of him, he saw the same familiar-looking stems spread across the earth, and on each one sat small, round watermelons.

“How on earth can watermelons grow in the desert?” he asked in astonishment.

“These are my relatives, wild watermelons,” replied his friend. “Their juices provide desert travellers with something to drink. They only grow in low, flat areas of dry land which fill with water during the rains. As they grow, they separate themselves from their stalks and close up so they not dry out in the heat.”

The young man travelled for several years, and gathered many varieties of watermelon seeds on his journey – white, yellow, brown, red and black. In one village, he stopped to find a bed for the night.

“You may spend the night here,” said one guesthouse owner. “We have plenty of room, and maybe you can cheer up my daughter. She is clever and beautiful, but she is always sad.”

The moment the young man laid eyes on the melancholy beauty, he fell in love with her.

“I will help you,” said the magic watermelon. “Your beloved is sad and sleeps badly because she is lacking folic acid, which is an important vitamin. You must feed her watermelon often. I contain plenty of folic acid.”

The young man fed watermelon to ...

Read the whole story about MELON
in the book
'The World of Fruits"

The World of Fruits:
purchase online

This was fragment from the story about BANANA from the book on Healthy Food for kids: 'The World of Fruits', part I >>

For the Book II 'The World of Vegetables' visit project Talking Veggies: Vegetables-for-kids.com

For anyone interested in their child's well-being, “The Storyteller's Guide to Health” series is sure to be of value. Following each selection of delightful stories, games and activities you'll also find recipes for the vitamin-conscious kitchen. The recipes are simple, allowing children to prepare dishes themselves with only minimal supervision, and are also designed to preserve the largest possible share of vitamins and other nutrients in the final serving. Read fragments from our stories: fruits for children

© Maria Skrebtsova,
© Alexandra Lopatina,
Illustration s by Svetlana Jijina.