Aku and her ice cream
Agnes Gyening-Asiedu
Offei Tettey Eugene

One day, mother was cooking. She called, "Abena, Ajua, Akwasi, Aku, food is ready! Bring your plates!"

Mother gave each of them some fufu. She gave them some soup. Then she gave them some meat. She said to them, "Go and sit down and eat."

1

Aku looked at her fufu. She looked at her soup. Then she looked at her meat. She put her plate down angrily and cried. Mother asked, "Aku, what is wrong with you?"

"My meat is the smallest," Aku cried. "But you are the youngest," mother said.

2

Aku cried harder. She threw herself on the ground. Mother did not want Aku to cry. She called loudly, "Abena, Ajua, Akwasi, bring your food quickly!"

The children brought their food. "Now Aku, pick the meat you like," mother said.

3

Aku smiled happily. She looked hard at Akwasi's meat and thought, "Akwasi's meat is big."

She looked hard at Ajua's meat, and thought, "Ajua's meat is bigger."

She looked hard at Abena's meat. Abena's meat was the biggest. She said to mother, "I want Abena's meat."

4

"Abena, give your meat to Aku and take hers," mother said. Abena was unhappy. But she did not want to disobey mother. So she gave her meat to Aku.

"Mmmm, this meat will be sweet," Aku said. She sat on a stool and ate happily.

5

Pii! Pii! It was the ice cream man outside. He rode a big bicycle with a small horn.

Aku loved ice cream. "Abena, get my bag," mother said. "I want to buy ice cream for all of you." Abena brought mother's bag.

6

"Four ice creams, please," mother said to the ice cream man. She paid and gave each child an ice cream.

"One, two, three, four," counted Aku. She looked at her ice cream. It was small. She looked hard at Akwasi's ice cream. It was smaller than hers.

7

She looked harder at Ajua's ice cream. It was the smallest of all. She was happy. "My ice cream is the biggest," she thought.

"Wait," she thought. "I must see Abena's ice cream too." She moved closer to Abena. Then she opened her mouth wide and cried.

8

"What is the matter, Aku?" mother asked.

"Abena's ice cream is bigger than mine," she cried. Mother said, "Aku you are a greedy girl!"

Aku cried harder. She threw herself on the ground. Mother was unhappy. She did not want Aku to cry.

9

Mother said to Abena, "Please give your ice cream to Aku and take hers."

Abena was unhappy, but she did not want to disobey mother. She gave the ice cream to Aku. Aku's eyes shone with happiness. She looked at the big ice cream and smiled.

10

"Mmmm, this ice cream looks good," said Aku. She opened her mouth wide and took a big bite.

"Ajiish!" she shouted suddenly and spat out the ice cream.

"What is the matter now?" mother asked. "This ice cream is bitter," wailed Aku.

11

Mother took Aku's ice cream and bit into it. She frowned. "There is something wrong with this. It is spoilt," she said.

Then mother added, "Sorry Aku, you cannot have another one. Now do you see that it is bad to be greedy?"

12
You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
Aku and her ice cream
Author - Agnes Gyening-Asiedu
Translation - Agnes Gyening-Asiedu
Illustration - Offei Tettey Eugene
Language - English
Level - Longer paragraphs