00:00The
00:27Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Weiss
00:35Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young duck named Ping. Ping lived with his mother
00:41and his father, and two sisters and three brothers, and eleven aunts and seven uncles
00:47and forty-two cousins. Their home was a boat with two wise eyes on the Yangtze River. Each
00:56morning as the sun rose from the east, Ping and his mother and his father, and sisters
01:02and brothers, and aunts and uncles and his forty-two cousins, all marched one by one
01:08down a little bridge to the shore of the Yangtze River. All day they would hunt for snails
01:17and little fishes and other pleasant things to eat, but in the evening as the sun set
01:22in the west, La-la-la-la-lay, would call the master of the boat, quickly Ping and all
01:29his many family would come scurrying. Quickly they would march one by one up over the little
01:35bridge and onto the wise-eyed boat which was their home on the Yangtze River. Ping was
01:41always careful, very, very careful not to be last, because the last duck to cross over
01:48the bridge always got a spank on the back. But one afternoon as the shadows grew long,
01:57Ping did not hear the call because at that moment Ping was wrong side up trying to catch
02:02a little fish. By the time Ping was right side up, his mother and his father and his
02:13aunts were already marching one by one up over the bridge. By the time Ping neared the
02:19shore, his uncles and his cousins were marching over, and by the time Ping reached the shore,
02:26the last of his forty-two cousins had crossed the bridge. Ping knew he would be the last,
02:32the very last duck if he crossed the bridge. Ping did not want to be spanked. So he hid.
02:42Ping hid behind the grasses, and as the dark came and the pale moon shone in the sky, Ping
02:49watched the wise-eyed boat slowly sail away down the Yangtze River.
02:58All night long, Ping slept near the grasses on the bank of the river with his head tucked
03:03under his wing, and when the sun rose up from the east, Ping found he was all alone on the
03:09Yangtze River. There was no father or mother, no sisters or brothers, no aunts or uncles,
03:20and no forty-two cousins to go fishing with Ping. So Ping started out to find them,
03:26swimming down the yellow waters of the Yangtze River. As the sun rose higher in the sky,
03:33boats came, big boats and little boats, fishing boats and beggars' boats, houseboats and raft
03:40boats, and all these boats had eyes to see with, but nowhere could Ping see the wise-eyed
03:47boat which was his home. Then came a boat full of strange, dark fishing birds. Ping
03:56saw them diving for fish for their master. As each bird brought a fish to its master,
04:02he would give it a little piece of fish for pay.
04:09Closer and closer swooped the fishing birds near Ping. Now Ping could see shining rings
04:15around their necks, rings of metal made so tight the birds could never swallow the big
04:21fish they were catching. Swoop, splash, splash, the ringed birds were dashing here and there
04:31all about Ping. So down he ducked and swam under the yellow water of the Yangtze River.
04:41When Ping came up to the top of the water far away from the fishing birds,
04:46he found little crumbs floating, tender little rice cake crumbs which made a path to a houseboat.
04:53As Ping ate these crumbs, he came nearer and nearer to the houseboat. Then,
05:01splash! There in the water was a boy, a little boy with a barrel on his back, which was tied
05:10to a rope from the boat just as all boat boys on the Yangtze River are tied to their boats.
05:16In the boy's hand was a rice cake.
05:18Oh, ow-oo! cried the little boy, and up dashed Ping and snatched at the rice cake.
05:28Quickly, the boy grabbed Ping and held him tight. Quack, quack, quack, quack! cried Ping.
05:35Oh, ow-oo! yelled the little boy. Ping and the boy made such a splashing and such a noise
05:43Ping and the boy made such a splashing and such a noise that the boy's father came running,
05:50and the boy's mother came running, and the boy's sister and brother came running,
05:55and they all looked over the edge of the boat at Ping and at the boy splashing in the water
06:00of the Yangtze River. Then the boy's father and mother pulled at the rope which was tied
06:08to the barrel on the little boy's back. They pulled and they pulled,
06:13and up came Ping and the boy onto the houseboat.
06:21Ah, a duck dinner has come to us, said the boy's father.
06:26I will cook him with rice at sunset tonight, said the boy's mother.
06:31No, no! My nice duck is too beautiful to eat, cried the little boy.
06:38But down came a basket all over Ping, and he could see no more of the boy or the boat or the sky or
06:47the beautiful yellow water of the Yangtze River. All day long Ping could see only the thin lines
06:54of sun which shone through the cracks in the basket, and Ping was very sad.
07:00After a long while, Ping heard the sound of oars and felt the jerk, jerk, jerk of the boat as it
07:07was rowed down the Yangtze River. Soon the lines of sunshine which came through the cracks of the
07:13basket turned to rows, and Ping knew the sun was setting in the west. Ping heard footsteps
07:20coming near to him. The basket was quickly lifted, and the little boy's hands were holding Ping.
07:32Quickly, quietly, the boy dropped Ping over the side of the boat, and Ping slipped into the water,
07:40the beautiful yellow water of the Yangtze River. Then Ping heard this sound, and he
07:47heard the sound of the boat. Ping looked, and there near the bank of the river was the wise-eyed
08:01boat which was Ping's home, and Ping saw his mother and his father and his aunts all marching
08:08one by one up over the little bridge. Swiftly, Ping turned and swam, paddling toward the shore.
08:16Now Ping could see his uncles marching one by one. Paddle, paddle, Ping hurried toward the shore.
08:24Ping saw his cousins marching one by one. Paddle, paddle, Ping neared the shore, but as Ping reached
08:32the shore, the last of Ping's 42 cousins marched over the bridge, and Ping knew that he was late
08:40again. But up marched Ping, up over the little bridge, and spank came the spank on Ping's back.
08:54Then at last, Ping was back with his mother and his father and two sisters and three brothers
09:00and 11 aunts and seven uncles and 42 cousins, home again on the wise-eyed boat on the Yangtze River.
09:10I hope you enjoyed that story. If you would like to see these books uploaded daily, go ahead and
09:19subscribe, and don't forget to check out all the other stories that are already uploaded.
09:23Thank you so much for watching.
