WESTERN UNIVERSITY

SUBJECT: READING SILK

Professo
r:
CHHI
Student: M
NameKIMLY ID
LY PANHAPICH 0013683

Year
2022-
2023
 Contents
 Unit 1: The Boy Who Drew Cats by Lafcadio Hearn...........................Page1

 Unit 2: The Open Window by Saki.......................................................Page2

 Unit 3: Shoes for Hector by Nicholasa..................................................Page3

 Unit4: The Golden Touch by Nathaniel Hawthorne..............................Page4

 Unit5: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant........................................Page6

 Unit6: Kaddo’s Wallby byA West Africa Folktale.................................Page7

 Unit7: The Comebackby byElizabeth Van Steenwyk............................Page8

 Unit8: God Sees the Truth, But Waitsby Leo Tolstoy............................Page9

Summary a story
A poor farmer and his wife live with their large family in a small
village in Japan. They find it difficult to feed all their children and they have
to help with chores around the farm. However, their youngest child is not
eligible for voluntary work because he is too smart. His parents think he will
create a better priest than a farmer, so they take him to the old priest in the
village temple and ask the priest to take the boy as his ally. The priest is very
impressed with the boy’s intelligence and agrees to teach the boy to be a
priest. Although the boy excelled as a student, he had the irresistible habit of
drawing cats everywhere, including the margins of books, the temple’s
pillars, and all its screens. Finally, one day, the priest advises the boy to be
an artist because he’s not a good priest, but he gives the boy some advice,
that is to “Avoid big places at night; keep it small!” The boy leaves the
temple without really understanding this advice. He is afraid to go home
because he has disappointed his parents, so he travels to the next village
because he remembers that there is a big temple there, where he can
continue his education. When the boy arrives, he notes that everything is
covered in dust and no one is there. This means that the priests want to help
clean up. He sees some big white screens and decides to draw cats while he
waits. Later, he feels sleepy; However, he realizes that he is in a big place
and remembers the priest’s advice, so he finds a small cabinet where he can
sleep. As he rises, he sees a large “goblin style” dead on the “floor” larger
than a cow. He notices that the cats he drew on the wall have blood-red in
their mouths. He now understands the teachings of the priest and soon
becomes a famous artist.

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 Unit 2: The Open Window by Saki

Summary a story
Framton is not a social man so his sister has set up him to know
heracquaintances.He arrives at her acquaintance’s house, Mrs Sappleton. Her
niece, Vera, greets him. She entertains him till the aunt arrives to greet him.
During this encounter, we learn a few things about the Sappletons.When talking
to Vera, Framton reveals to her about his lack of social skills. Thus, she starts
telling him about the story of the open window. She says it was a great tragedy
which took place in her aunt’s life.The open window summary explains the great
tragedy that took place three years ago. Vera points at the large French window
which was open even in the chilly weather. Thus, she begins to tell all about
it.Mrs Sappleton’s husband and her two brothers left through the same window
for hunting. However, she says the earth swallowed them up as they never
returned. Thus, her aunt still in grief keeps the window open waiting for them to
return.She describes the same exact way in which they left. Her husband was
carrying a white coat. At this point, her aunt comes in to greet Framton. She
apologizes for being late and hopes Vera amused him meanwhile.After that, to
Framton’s shock, Mrs Sappleton makes a remark on the open window. She tells
him it is open as she is waiting for her husband and brothers to return from a
hunting trip.This convinces Framton even more of Vera’s story. He is shocked to
see her still fixated on their death. Moreover, Mrs Sappleton continues looking at
the open window anticipating their return.But, what shocks Framton the most is
the arrival of three men in hunting attire. They approach the house and Framton
is convinced they are ghosts. Thus, he runs away frantically.Finally, we see Vera
has a story for this as well. Framton’s reaction confuses Mrs Sappleton. But she
assures her that Framton got scared of the hunting dog because he has a phobia
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of dogs.Thus, we look at how Vera is so good at spinning tales. She utilizes the
situation at hand and is quick to whip tales back to back without any hesitation.

Unit 3 : Shoes for Hector by Nicholasa

Summary a story
Hector is embarrassed to wear his uncle’s shoes because they are orange-
colored and I have tall heels and long, narrow ,pointed toes. Hector know that
has been a long time since those shoes were ‘in style”. There is a conflict
between Hector and his family. It can also be a strong struggle difference of
opinion between people. Hector is graduating "as the valedictorian, and that
means he will have to present a speech", and he does not have enough money
to afford a new pair of cool shoes. Uncle Luis offers to lend Hector his shoes,
but Hector totally is repulsed by them, he said they looked like a mile long
with pinty tips, just like "Mata Cucarachas". At the end there was no escape, he
had to wear the shoes, once he was in the auditorium, they called his name. he
is in the graduation and has to say the speech. He doesn’t want to wear the
shoes because he thinks everyone will at his shoes. When he was giving the
speech he was really worried that people would look at his shoes. After the
ceremony nobody mentioned his shoes "nobody noticed them," and everyone
was congratulating him for his speech and everything. He realized that the
shoes he was wearing didn't even matter. After his back home, he desire to take
of his uncle shoes and buy a new one that money is come form his gift.

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Unit 4 : The Golden Touch by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Summary a story
Long back in ancient Greece, there lived a king named Midas. He was
known to have a lot of wealth in his kingdom but in spite of having so much
treasure, the king was never satisfied and happy. He was always greedy and
wished for more wealth and treasure. One day when the King was in his
treasure room and was counting all the gold coins, he was visited by a Greek
God named Dionysus. He offered a wish to King Midas for some of his good
deeds. The King became so greedy for gold that without wasting any time he
quickly made a wish to turn everything that he would touch into gold. His wish
was granted by the Greek God which made the King extremely happy and
delighted. He quickly went to his garden and touched an apple tree which
turned into gold instantly. He became so excited with joy that he went on
touching all the things around him to turn them into gold. His happiness knew
no bounds. After a while, the king was hungry and thought of going inside the
palace to have his meal. But sadly, he was unable to eat anything as whatever
he touched turned into gold instantly. At last, had to starve in hunger and soon
he became frustrated with his situation. King Midas also had a sweet and
lovely daughter named Marigold, whom he loved very much. Upon seeing her
father in trouble, the daughter ran toward him to comfort her father. But as
soon as she threw her arms around her father, the daughter turned into
gold. King Midas was shocked in pain and unbearable grief. He sat there
crying in regret upon seeing his daughter turn into gold. He soon realized that
his greed was the biggest mistake and he, himself is responsible for all this.
King Midas cried and begged the Greek God to take his wish back and bring
back his daughter. Soon after, the Greek God appeared in front of him. Feeling
sorry for King Midas’ situation, he took the golden touch wish back from him.
The Greek God also instructed him to take a dip in the palace’s pond and pour

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that water over all the things he wished to restore to their previous state. He
obeyed and did everything that was instructed by the Greek God. Soon he
sprinkled the pond water on Marigold, and she quickly returned to her normal
state. The King was overjoyed to get his beloved daughter back and thanked
the Greek God. He took a pledge to not become greedy towards anything ever
again.

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 Unit 5: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

Summary a story
Matilda was a young and pretty lady. She was born into a family of
clerks. She was simple and had married a pretty office clerk. She dared not to
visit his friendly schoolmate’s house which was richly furnished. One day Mr
Loisel and Mme. Loisel get an invitation to dinner from the Minister of Public
Instruction.The husband got elected to get the select invitation but the wife got
irritated because she didn’t have proper clothes and jewelry to wear. Her
husband gave her money to buy a dress. At her husband’s suggestion, Mme.
Loisel went to Mme Forestier’s house and she got ready to lend her entire
jewelry. However, she borrowed only a diamond necklace.Mme Loisel danced
at the; ball with enthusiasm. She looked pretty. It made her swell with joy. Her
husband wrapped her shoulders in poor wraps. They hired a carriage and
reached home and instantly she noticed that the necklace was missing.They
had looked all around but they didn’t find it, then Loisel found a chaplet of r
diamonds in a shop. It looked exactly like the lost necklace and they bought it
for thirty-six thousand francs.They handed the jewel to Mme Forestier but she
did not open it. But it took them ten years to repay the borrowed amount from
which they bought the necklace.The Loisels sent away the maid and lived in a
rented room in an attic. They led quite a humble and poor life for few years.
Thus they repaid their loan. One day Mrs. Loisel happened to meet Mme
Forestier while they were taking a walk. Mme Forestier revealed that her false
necklace was only worth five hundred francs.

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 Unit 6 : Kaddo’s Wall by A West Africa Folktale

Summary a story
Kaddo' s Wall is about a man who is very rich. He has giant fields with a lot of
corn. He has so much corn that he doesn't know what to do with it. He decides to
ask his town for advice. The people say that he should give the corn to the poor or
that he could give it to people who had a bad harvest and have nothing to plant.
None of these ideas satisfy Kaddo. Then he gets an idea. He will make flour, add
water to it, and make mortar. With the mortar he will make bricks and build a
wall.He will use the mortar to stick the bricks together. He builds the wall to shut
out the complaints of the people. The author includes that Kaddo tells the people to
stop there complaints and the people say that he just shouldn't shut out the advice
with a wall of flour. He hires 100 workers to build it. After the wall is built, Kaddo
is very proud. Whenever a person would come to ask for advice, he would get up
and sit on his wall before talking to them. The year after, everyone's harvests failed,
including Kaddo's. He started to eat his wall because it was his only food source.
Little by little, Kaddo slowly ate the wall. Every day it got a little smaller until it
was gone. Kaddo had to do something. Kado is so selfish that he decides to build a
wall around him to isolate himself from everyone. The result is that Kado ends up
dying alone and sad. From this we can conclude that Kado's death was a
consequence of his selfish actions.

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Unit 7 : The Comeback by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk
Summary a story
Laurie was a top ice-skater, who all her topped opponents since ten.
Unluckily, a car accident left her right knee badly damaged, which led to her
absence from the rink for six months. Finally recovering from the injury, she
was back, waiting anxiously in the empty dressing room for the competition.
What made her even more nervous was that she was told by her teammate
Kathy that an equally strong athlete was also in the competition. Desperate to
win the competition and prove herself, she decided to take a chance trying the
most challenging. Poor Jinny quite accidentally lost the music tape for the
competition, which equally mattered to her performance, and had to go without
it. Coincidentally (happening by coincidence) for Laurie, she happened to spot
Jinny’s tape of music behind the leg of the dressing table, with the initials
written in white in the corner. She could take a advantage of the chance and
beat Jinny, thus defending her championship. However, after what seemed like
years of inner struggle, the principle/idea of fair play took the upper hand, and
she turned the tape in to the sound engineer. With a combination of excellent
skills and inner peace, she did present a stunningly perfect performance and
ended up winning the competition. She did make a successful comeback, what
made her comeback more rewarding was her right decision about Jinny’s tape

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of music. without Coincidentally written take advantage of defending tape
stunningly comeback.

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Unit 8: God Sees the Truth, But Waits by Leo Tolstoy
Summary a story
'God Sees the Truth, But Waits'' begins as Aksionov readies himself to
head to the Nizhny Fair. His wife does not want him to go as she has had a
dream where he returns and takes off his cap, displaying grey hair. He had
previously been described as a man who used to drink and was riotous but had
changed his behavior once he got married. He laughs off the concerns of his
wife and says he will be able to see all of his goods at the fair and will bring
her some presents.He sets off and meets up with another merchant he knows.
The two have tea together and then stay in adjoining rooms at an inn. The next
morning Aksionov leaves early in the morning to avoid traveling in the heat of
the day.After twenty-five miles, Aksionov stops to have his horses fed. Two
soldiers approach him, and Aksionov asks them to join him for tea. A police
officer questions him, and Aksionov learns that the merchant he had met up
with the day before has been murdered. The soldiers tell him that he must be
guilty because they were the only two people there. The police officer and
soldiers search Aksionov's belongings and find a bloody knife.Aksionov is
arrested. The townspeople in Aksionov’s town tell the police that he used to be
prone to drink but that he has mended his ways and is a good person.
Aksionov's wife is able, after much trouble, to see her husband. He tells her
they must appeal to the czar, but she says that she already had and was denied.
His wife then asks him if he is guilty in a manner that lets Aksionov know that
she, too, believes he committed the murder. The two say goodbye for the last
time.Aksionov says to himself, ''It seems that only God can know the truth; it is
to Him alone we must appeal and from Him alone expect mercy.'' He gives up
on his appeals and is flogged and then sent toSiberia for 26 years to work.
There he loses his vitality and does not speak much. His hair turns grey. He
learns to make boots and uses the money he makes from them to buy the book,
The Lives of the Saints. Aksionov has a strong reputation. His fellow convicts

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called him ''Grandfather'' and the ''Saint.'' The guards trust him.A fresh band of
convicts arrives in Siberia including a man named Semyonich. Aksionov
begins to suspect that Semyonich was actually the person who killed the
merchant. One day, he sees a hole that Semyonich has dug in order to escape.
Aksionov is questioned when this hole is found, but he does not accuse
Semyonich even though he knows he is the one who dug it. He is tempted to
tell but tells the officials that God does not desire him to. Semyonich comes in
the night to confess to Aksionov and begs his forgiveness. Semyonich says that
seeing the good man who took the fall for his crime is harder for him to handle
than the flogging was. Aksionov tells him that God will forgive him and tells
him that perhaps he is actually a better person than he, himself, is. At this
point, Aksionov’s heart grows light and he no longer has any desire to leave
Siberia. Semyonich confesses, but by the time they come to release Aksionov,
he is already dead.

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