Listen carefully as the story is read out to you by your teacher. Follow the story as it is being read out to you. Pay attention to the pronunciation, the expression and the punctuation in the story. Also, imagine the story as it is being read out to you.

This incident occurs in Mark Twain's novel entitled, 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.' After playing and fighting with other boys, Tom has come home late at night. His aunt, with whom he lives, sees the terrible state of his clothes and decides to turn his Saturday holiday into a day of hard labour.

Read how Tom cleverly turns his boring task into a pleasant one.

Saturday morning came. The summer world was full of life. There was a song in every heart and cheerfulness on every face.The trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. The hill beyond the village was covered with green vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to seem a wonderland of joy.

Tom appeared on the pavement with a bucket of whitewash and a brush. He looked at the fence, and at the uninspiring sight, all gladness left him. He had to whitewash thirty yards of broad fence, nine feet high. Life to him seemed meaningless. He began to think of the fun he had  planned for this day and his sorrows multiplied. Soon the free boys would come and ridicule him for having to work. He thought of an excellent idea.

He took up his brush and went calmly to work. Ben Rogers came into view presently. He was the very boy of all boys whose ridicule he had been dreading. Ben was eating an apple, and seemed to be in high spirits. Tom went on whitewashing, and paid no attention to him. Ben stared at him for a moment and then said,"You are in trouble, aren't you?"

There was no answer. Tom surveyed his last month touch with the eye of an artist, gave his brush another gentle sweep, and inspected the result as before. Ben went up and stood by the side of Tom. Tom's mouth watered for the apple but he stuck to his work.

Ben said, "Hello, you've got to work, hey?"

Tom turned round suddenly and said, "Oh, it's you, Ben! I did not notice."

"I'm going swimming, Tom," said Ben. "Don't you wish you could come? But of course, you  prefer to work, don't you?"

Tom looked at him for a while and said, "What do you call work?"

"Why, isn't that work?"

Tom resumed his whitewashing and answered carelessly, "Well, perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't; but it suits Tom Sawyer."

"Do you mean to say, Tom, that you like it?"

The brush continued to move. "Like it?" said Tom. "Well, I don't see why I should not like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"

That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom swept his brush back and forth softly like an artist. Then he stepped back to note the effect. He added a touch here and there, and criticized the effect again. Ben watched every movement and got more and more interested. Presently he said, "Tom, let me whitewash a little."

Tom was about to consent; but he changed his mind. "No! No! You see, Aunt Polly is very particular about this fence. It must be done very carefully. I don't suppose there is one boy in a thousand, may be, two thousand, who can do it the right way."

"Is that so? Let me try, only just a little. I would let you if you were me, Tom." 

"Ben, I would like to, honestly; but Aunt Polly would not like it. Jim wanted to do it, but she wouldn't let him. Sid wanted to do it, and she wouldn't let Sid. You see this is the front fence and Aunt Polly is very particular about it. Now don't you see how I am caught? If you were to try whitewashing this fence and anything went wrong...."

"Oh, Tom, I'll be very careful. Now let me try . I'll give you half of my apple."

"Well-no, Ben, I can't let you. I am afraid...."

"I'll give you all of it."

Tom gave up the brush, pretending to do so half-heartedly. And while Ben worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel, swinging his legs, eating his apple, and laying plots to take in other boys.

Boys came along every little while. They came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was tired out, Tom had promised the next chance to Billy Fisher doe a kite. And when Billy retired, Johnny Miller bought the next chance for a dead rat and a string  to swing it with. Thus, the work went on, hour after hour. By the middle of the afternoon, Tom was rolling in wealth. He had, in addition to the things mentioned above, twelve marbles, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a key that wouldn't unlock anything , a piece of chalk, a tin soldier, six fire-crackers, a little cat with only one eye, a dog-collar, the handle of a knife, and a number of other things of the kind. While others bore his burdens for him, he had a nice, idle time all the while and plenty of company, and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it. It was just magnificent! If he had  not run out of whitewash he would have robbed every boy in the village of his proudest possessions.

Tom said to himself that life was beautiful after all. He had discovered a great law of human action without knowing it-namely, that in order to make a man or boy desire a thing it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain. Tom was happy with the possessions that had come into his hands, and then got up and walked home to report to Aunt Polly.

"It's all done, Aunt, the whole fence," he said to her.

"Tom, I hate your lies," said Aunt Polly and marched out to see for herself.

"Oh, Tom," she said in surprise when she saw the fence, "You can work when you want to, only you hardly ever want to." She took him home and gave him the best apple she had, and allowed him to go and play.

Saturday : a day of holiday in Western countries

cheerfulness : happiness

fragrance : pleasant smell (of flowers)

vegetation : plants, etc.

full of life : lively

pavement : the side of a street; footpath

fence : barrier around a field or garden

uninspiring : dull

ridicule : make fun of

multiplied : increased

in high spirits : happy and excited

surveyed : looked carefully at

inspected : examined

criticized : evaluated

paticular : careful

dread : fear 

resume : start again

consent : permission

barrel : a round container

magnificent : splendid, remarkable