Long ago, a king was getting old and he had no sons to take over the throne(宝座). He loved to1plants, so he put up a notice: "Each boy can get a seed from me. In six2, the boy with the best plant would be the one to take over the throne."
Excitedly, huge crowds of boys came to the palace to get the seeds. Jun was one of them. After3home, Jun put the seed with rich black soil (土壤) into a good pot(罐).Day after day, Jun took good care of it. Chen was the4boy to say that his seed was spouting (发芽).Soon, everybody's seed sprouted except that of Jun. Other boys5Jun. When something was empty, they would say that it was" as empty as Jun's pot". Half a year passed and all the boys took their plants to the palace.
"My pot is empty!6should I do?" Jun said sadly to his parents.
"Take it to the king," his parents said. "You has done the best you could."
So, Jun carried his pot to the palace. When the king7Jun's pot,he said, "You brought me an empty pot?"
Jun said, "Your Majesty, I tried8best. I took very good care of it,9 it just didn't grow!"
To everyone's10, the king said aloud, "I don't know where you got your seeds. There is no way anything could grow from my seeds. I had cooked all of them." Then, he smiled at Jun…Jun took over the throne!
