A short story for kids: The Uninvited and the Red Pouch
Once there was in the little town of Salvador, there lived a poor maiden woman named Melissa. She was a kind and gentle girl. Every day, she keeps herself busy doing house chores, planting vegetables, cleaning the backyard, and selling fruits and dried fish in the market.
One afternoon when Melissa got home, she was so tired. “Oh! I must take some rest,” she whispered.
She fell fast asleep after a while. It was already dark outside. It was already late in the evening, but Melissa was still sleeping.
Then somebody knocked on the door. Melissa woke up and wondered who was knocking this too late at night. She neither expected any visitor.
“Oh, geez! What time is it?”
“Am I dreaming? “
“No, I’m not! Oh! No!” Melissa was talking to herself as if she was out of her mind.
The knocking on the door continued. It was gloomy, dark outside. Kind Melissa opened the door unafraid of who was there outside.
Melissa turned on the light as she opened the door. There stood an old, weak woman. The woman wore hand-me-down dirty clothes, with a scary, witch-look face, and her head covered with a black, dusty shawl.
“Good evening, my child. Can I have a glass of water? I was too thirsty. I am sorry for disturbing you this too late at night,” the woman begged.
“Yes, please come inside and have a seat,” Melissa replied with open arms. She took a glass of water and brought it to the woman.
“Here is your glass of water. Please be comfortable. Are you hungry?”
“I have here a loaf of bread for my morning breakfast I bought from the shop just this afternoon. I can share this with you,” Melissa kindly offered the woman to eat.
“Oh, my child, thank you. You are such a kind, generous, and caring lovely girl,” the woman thanked Melissa and excitedly took a piece of the bread.
“You are welcome,” Melissa replied with a grin.
“If you would like, you could sleep here in my house until morning. It was already late and the night was too dark,” Melissa caringly asked the woman.
“Is it all right to stay here for just tonight?” The woman asked.
“Yes, it is very much all right for me,” excited Melissa answered.
Melissa offered her bed to the woman. She slept on the couch instead.
When Melissa was in her deep sleep, the woman got up and placed her hands over Melissa’s heart.
The woman’s hands gleamed with glittering lights. She smiled at innocent Melissa while watching her intently.
It was magical! The woman transformed into a spectacular, beautiful young fairy!
The night passed. Early in the morning, Melissa woke up and tried to find the woman she never expected to come into her house that too late at night. Unfortunately, she didn’t find her anymore.
Melissa kept on asking herself why the woman has gone unnoticeably and without even leaving her a single word.
On the table across the couch where she slept the whole night, Melissa saw a red pouch tied with golden ribbons. She slowly came near to it, touched the pouch and she felt some hard pebbles inside while her heartbeat gradually went fast.
She untied the delicately made golden ribbons on it. When she opened the pouch, Melissa was surprised.
In awe, she exclaimed and thanked the uninvited, old, weak woman she never knew entirely she was a heaven-sent gift to her. In Melissa’s mind, she thanked the woman profusely.
The red pouch tied with golden ribbons was full of gold! Melissa could not even believe that the old, weak woman left her such precious stones.
Melissa became the richest woman in her town. Despite her vast wealth, she stayed humble, kind and generous, helpful, and gentle especially to the poor and the weak. ▲
Joel G. Ebardo teaches English at Salvador National High School and is a reading coordinator of the school’s Tara Basa & SIKAD reading program. He graduated with a degree in Education (English) from PUP-Taguig and earned some Master’s academic units from PUP Open University. Joel is a former editor-in-chief of an official student publication of PUP-Taguig Campus.