The Wonderful Ball
Written and illustrated by Micheal Hardgrove

To see an illustrated version go to: http://hardgrove.freeservers.com/ball/index.html To read with illustrations

In China there lived,
A young boy named Jing,
Who liked to play rough,
With people and things.

Jing ran out the door,
Past where Mother stood,
And as he zoomed by,
She yelled, "Jing, be good!"

He saw an old dog,
Asleep by a hedge;
Jing found some old rope,
And tied up its legs.

Jing laughed like a clown,
To see the old dog,
Jump up and fall down.

Jing couldn't care less,
If it stayed that way;
Jing liked to play rough,
And he had to play.

Jing saw an old man,
As he ran through town;
Jing yelled, "Step aside,
Or I'll run you down!"

The Old Man stepped back,
And from a stone wall,
Magic'lly pulled out,
A colorful ball!

He threw it to Jing,
And Jing ran away,
Without saying, "Thanks;"
He had to go play.

Jing threw the bright ball,
As far as he could,
AND SOMEHOW THE BALL,
BOUNCED BACK WHERE HE STOOD!

Jing stared at the ball,
His eyes opened wide;
He threw it again,
And then tried to hide.

The wonderful ball,
Came right back again;
When Jing ran away,
The ball followed him.

So Jing caught the ball,
And saw seven words,
But he didn't know,
Which words the words were!

Could the words tell Jing,
How the ball bounced back?
His Mother would know!
Jing ran home to ask.

By this time the dog,
Jing tied up was free;
The dog chased him home;
Jing climbed up a tree.

The dog barked at Jing,
The rest of the day;
But when it got dark,
The dog went away.

Then Jing ran inside,
And to Mother's knees;
He said, "Mommy! Read
These words to me, please."

"These words," Mother said,
Are simple and true;
Whatever you do,
Bounces back to you."