Once upon a time there was a little Malay maiden who lived in the forest
with her father and mother and baby sister. They dwelt very happily
together, until one day Coora's father decided to clear the ground on
the edge of the forest and have a rice plantation, as many of his
neighbors were doing.
So one morning early after breakfast he started out with his axe on his
shoulder to cut down the trees and make a clearing.
"O Father, let me go with you!" begged Coora. "I do so want to see the
plantation grow from the very beginning."
But her father said No, she must stay at home until the trees were
felled.
"And after that may I go with you?" asked Coora. And her father promised
that it should be so.
The days went by and at last the trees were all felled in the clearing.
When Coora heard this she jumped up and down on her little bare brown
feet until her anklets tinkled, and cried, "O Father! Now I may go with
you to the clearing, may I not? For so you promised."
But again her father shook his head and said, "No, Coora, not yet. You
must wait until the fallen timber has been burned off. Then you shall go
with your mother and me to the planting of the rice."
Coora was very much disappointed, and the big tears stood in her eyes.
But she only said, "Do you promise that I may help plant the rice,
really and truly?"