The Richest Boy in the World
This is a story I wrote many years back — part of a range of local storybooks that Taleemabad produced for young children. You can find the complete catalog illustrated and designed here. Thank you to all the brilliant authors and illustrators who were part of this movement.
This story remained my favorite for a very long time — because it helped contrast the innocence children naturally possess. When this innocence is coupled with curiosity and imagination, magic happens.
But, as always — the adults must always play along too.
Learning Outcomes:
Reading: Medium Length (500 word) passage, with new words, e.g. granite, sank, corridor, neighbourhood.
Grammar: Countable nouns (chocolate, car), and Uncountable (milk, juice, happiness) nouns.
Pronunciation: Words with a soft c sound (cycle, race), hard c sound (cat, castle, car), soft g sound (giant, huge), and hard g sound (granite, gate).
Listening: Listen and understand a conversation between a customer -- who is placing an order -- and a cashier who is receiving it, all the way to the exchange of payment and the return of change.
Speaking: Practice conversing with a shopkeeper to place an order for a list of items.
The Richest Boy in the World.
On a sunny afternoon, when the crows had gone for a nap, and the worms were back in their holes, Jojo discovered a diamond.
It was there alright, wedged between the sand and granite.
“Who could it belong to?” he thought.
Jojo searched in vain for the owner, but they were nowhere to be found.
“I suppose that makes it mine,” he said.
That night, Jojo knew he had become the richest boy in the world.
“Imagine all the cars I’ll buy and the chocolates I’ll eat”, he mused.
“Oh and all the movies I’ll watch at the cinema and all the juice I’ll be able to drink.”
“I’ll build a castle out of candy and towers out of toffees!” he thought in excitement.
Jojo was a happy boy that night.
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The next morning, Jojo was up before his usual time. He ran down to the kitchen and made himself some lemonde. When it was time to put in the sugar, he put in more than usual.
“What’s up with you, young man? You look like you’ve got a lot of energy!”, said Mom.
“I’m the richest boy in the world!” replied Jojo, and before his mother could reply, he was already running out.
He paused in the corridor and said, “I’ll buy you all the cutlery you need, all the dishes that I broke, all the saucepans and spoons and clothes and jewelry that you ever wished for!”
“But what if I just want happiness?” asked Mom.
“I’ll buy you that too!” squealed Jojo, and with that, he was gone.
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It was an unusually busy day at the grocery shop. There were all kinds of things going on; the butcher was selling his meat, Babu was serving food, and Sheeba and Gopi were taking all kinds of needles and threads back to their shop.
Jojo parked his cycle outside and chained it to the pole. He got a cart and found himself in the aisles.
That day, Jojo bought more than he ever had.
There were the ice creams that he bought, one for every person in his neighborhood. Then there was the candy, a box of them for all his friends.
He brought a huge coat for Dadi, who often felt cold, and a giant teddy bear for Pinky..
He got a carpet, two cups for his mother, and a pack of cream for her favorite dish.
Before long, Jojo’s cart was full. “That’s enough for today,” he thought to himself and moved towards the cashier’s desk.
“Hello,” he said to the old cashier, craning his neck above the counter. The cashier looked down and, seeing him there, said, “Oh, hello, Jojo! Quite a lot of shopping today, eh?”
“Yes sir”, Jojo replied. “I’m the richest boy in the world.”
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Before long, the bill was done and the cashier announced, “Three thousand five hundred rupees, Jojo”.
“Thank you. I’d like to pay with a diamond”, replied Jojo.
Before the cashier could say anything, the diamond was out. It sat there on the table, shining under the lights.
The cashier picked it up and looked at it, and his heart sank. It wasn’t a diamond by any means.
It was simply a broken piece of glass.
Jojo put his arms on the counter and pulled himself up. “I know it’s very big”. He paused, “but if I can, I’d also like to buy some happiness, please. For my mother.”
The cashier looked at Jojo, and then at the glass, and then at Jojo again.
“But...happiness isn’t bought, Jojo. It is given!”, he said.
“Can you give me some, please?”, asked Jojo.
“Have as much as you want, Jojo”, said the cashier.
And with that, Jojo’s day was complete.
He ran across his neighborhood, with the old cashier struggling to keep up. That day, they gave the candy and ice cream to the children and the giant coat to Dadi. They even gave mithayi to Sheeba and Gopi, biscuits to the doodhwala at the dhaba., and put out some milk for the cats in the alley.
By the time Jojo and the cashier were done, it was already getting dark. The cashier walked Jojo to his door.
“Do you need to buy some more happiness?”, he asked Jojo.
Jojo paused and thought, and before he closed the gate and said goodbye, he had an answer:
“I think I have more than I need,” he said with a grin.