500 Words 2024: read a finalist's story from the 5-7 category

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This story was chosen as a top 50 finalist for 500 Words 2024/25.

Remember, spelling, punctuation and grammar are not taken into account for a 500 Words story, therefore all the top 50 stories have been published how they were submitted.

Mango Trees In Multan by Ibrahim A.

Once upon a time there was a boy in Multan, Pakistan who was called Yusuf. He had warm, chocolate brown eyes and dark, black hair. He was tall and slim, with long arms. He enjoyed picking ripe, golden, yellow Chaunsa mangoes from the highest branches of the mango trees in his grandfathers farm. There was no other food he loved to eat. The enticing aroma from the sweet, soft, juicy, delectable mangoes, drew Yusuf to the mangoes in the summer.

On a hot summers day, Yusuf and his grandfather would sit under the shade of a mango tree and drink a cool, refreshing glass of mango lassi. The hot, dry weather of Multan is ideal for growing this national fruit of Pakistan. Mangoes also need lots of water to help them to grow and a drought, would be a colossal disaster.

One summer day, Yusuf was playing gully cricket with his friends, Shareef, Mohammed and Ali."It's so hot!", said Shareef. "I wish was there was a giant umbrella that we could play under!"Ali said, "don't be silly, there is no such thing as a giant umbrella."Yusuf and his friends sat down and thought, where else could they play cricket in the shade.Suddenly, Yusuf had an idea and said, "Let's play under one of my grandfathers mango trees!""What a great idea!" said Ali.So off they went to the mango farm. They found the biggest and widest mango tree, which gave shade from the hot, sweltering sun. But, there was one problem. The boys kept knocking mangoes off the tree and Yusuf's grandfather said they must go somewhere else. Seeing their sad faces, he told them to collect the fallen mangoes and made them some mango lassi to cheer them up. "Thank you, but we still have nowhere shady to play cricket", said Shareef.As the boys were leaving the kitchen, Yusuf excitedly shouted, "wait! I have an idea, pick up the mango pits."They collected the mango pits from the used mangoes and Yusuf and his friends asked his grandfather, "how do we plant our own mango trees?"His grandfather smiled at the boys and they happily planted the pits in pots and watered them. "In eight weeks, your mango trees will start growing."For the next eight weeks, the boys took care of their mango plants and they grew and grew each day. In springtime, they grew even faster and by the following summer, the trees were almost as tall as the boys."You can take them and plant them into the ground now." Said grandfather.The boys hurriedly set off and planted the pips in the street where they played cricket. As time went on, the trees got bigger and bigger. They provided shade to everyone in the street and people shared refreshing mango lassi on hot summer days. Yusuf and his friends were very happy they planted the mango trees.

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