The next spring Hung-bu and his family were glad to see the birds return, for it meant the end of another long, hard winter. One warm day a lone swallow perched on their roof and chirped loudly. It then flew in a circle around the yard several times, dropped a seed at Hung-bu’s feet and flew away. Hung-bu and his family carefully planted the seed and looked forward to harvesting gourds in the autumn.

The seed, a gift from the Queen Swallow to repay Hung-bu’s kindness, grew quickly into a vine and soon there were three small gourds on it. Hung-bu and his wife were surprised at how fast and big the gourds grew. By autumn, when the gourds were ripe enough to eat, they were so big that Hung-bu and his children had to use a saw to cut them.

 

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