Sweet berries [short story]

Title

Creator

Cruz, Quirico A.

Language

English

Year

1939

Subject

Short stories, Philippine (English)

Philippine fiction (English)

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Benito and Alfonso were leisurely trudging along the road to school. Suddenly Alfonso started to eat some red berries that grew on a large vine climbing on a tree along the roadside even his schoolmate, Benito, told him that it is not the kind of fruit that should be eaten. Alfonso is still fine not until he began to have a pain in his stomach, and suffered from the slightly poisonous wild berries.

Fulltext

Febrnary, 1939 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 67 HEAL TH AND SAFETY SECTION Sweet ·Berries • By QUIRICO A. CRUZ* TWO schoolboys, Benito and Alfonso, were leisurely trudging along the road to school. They lived in a barrio, and the school was far from their homes. "Let us walk faster. We might be late," eaid Benito. "It is still early. We don'.t need to hurry. There is plenty of time yet," replied Alfonso. "Look'!" he added pointing to some red berries that grew on a large vine climbing on a tree along the roadside. "Those are berries. They are ripe and must be very nice to eat." sweet. He tasted another. "See? Try some. They are sweet." "No, thank you. I'll try some next time." Alfol_lso continued eating the . berries. After a while they ·went on. They reached ichool just on time. When the morning · exercises were finished, Alf on so began to feel unea~y. He began to ·have a pain in his stomach. "What is the matter?" asked the teacher. "My stomach," said Alfonso: "It hurts me." · "What did you eat for your breakfast?" "No, they are not good to eat," s a i d B e n i t o. "Father told me It is not safe to eat unknown fruits. "He ate some berries on the way to school," said Beni..to. "The that that kind of fruit should not be eaten." "I have eaten berries like those before. Let us try some," insisted Alfonso. ''We'd better not. Are you sure· they are good to eat?" "I'm sure they are. I'll show you that they ~re," said Alfonso, as he picked some of the ripe berries. He tasted one. It was * Assistant Principal, Gregol'io del Pilar Elementary School, Manila. - berries must be the cause of his stomach trouble." "Did you? Really?" asked Mr. Santos. "Yes, sir," Alfonso replied. By this time Alfonso was feeling worse. Drops of perspir.ation gathered over his face and body. Mr. Santos took him to the school clinic. Fortunately the school doctor was in. The doctor examined him and found he (Please turn to page 67.) SWEET BERRIES (Continued from page 67) was suffering from the slightly poisonous wild berries. Treatment was administered,· but it took a c·ouple of days before he became well. "I'll surely never do .anything like that again," said Alfonso. "I have learned that it is not safe to eat unknown fruits."

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