Page 8 - 繪本-已轉檔

He wiped the tears from his eyes and surrendered the bone to the strange creature.

Poverty snatched the bone from Jonek’s shaking hand and began eagerly gnawing every last

scrap of meat. Seeing a small hole at the rounded end of the bone, she placed a skeletal

hand inside, then another; then, like a ghostly snake, she slid inside the bone so that she

could better suck at the juicy marrow hidden in the hollow.

Jonek suddenly had an idea. He found a short twig in the grass at his feet and jammed the

twig into the hole, trapping Poverty inside the bone. Then he threw the bone out across the

river and watched it splash into the water and sink beneath the murky surface.

As soon as the bone disappeared from sight, Jonek felt peace in his heart, as if a great

weight had been lifted for the first time in many years.

Jonek turned away from the river and cast the apparition from his mind forever. He began

to whistle a happy tune and, for the first time that he could remember, he began to feel

optimistic about the future.

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