Laura and the Geography Book

Laura lived in a remote village. Her family was poor and the income received by farming was not enough to feed seven members. Laura's father and mother were helpless. Even though they worked hard, the harvest they could obtain was not enough.

Laura, who was their only daughter was a bright child. She loved to read books. She borrowed books from their neighbour, who was a Geography teacher. Thus she read Geography books and liked them very much. However, her brothers jeered at her.
"Ho! The booky ! What can those stacks of paper do for us? Make us rich eh?"

"Oh! Yes, they can make us wealthy," said the furious sister. "I'll show you how to become rich!"

She continued to read books. Finally one day, she went out to the garden, dug her hands into the soil and examined it. Then she got it! She understood what she must do.

"Mom, Dad! This kind of soil is not suitable for farming."

"Then for what is it suitable?'

"For grass to grow! You see, as the books say, the layer of soil is thin, lots of sunlight and wind is there too."

The parents were surprised at their daughter's remarks. At first, they didn't like to get rid of their paddy field. Her brothers only laughed about this idea.

"The harvest was not high, because of the thin layer of soil. The lack of soil results in lack of food."

"So what we must do is plant some grass and breed cattle. We can make a dairy farm here. We can make milk bottles, cheese and butter. All of us must get together and work!"

So they agreed wither, grew grass and bred cattle. The grass grew surprisingly well. The parents, brothers and Laura took great care of the cattle.

As the days went by, they were able to get milk from the cows. They bottled the milk and announced about their product to the whole village. Some people wanted to try the milk and they delivered the milk to their homes. The quality of the product was so high that it was popular among people.

As Laura's family got enough money, they started producing cheese and butter too. Then lots of shopkeepers wanted to buy the dairy products. So they developed more with the money.

The father now being rich, sent all his children to school. He understood what learning about something can do. It can change a person's life completely. Thus Laura and her brothers went to school. Laura was very happy. Her brothers never ever called her 'Booky' or joked that a stack of papers can't do anything and it can't make anyone rich. Laura was not going to remind them or tease them about it either. They had learnt what books can do and that was what she wanted them to understand.