Text Leveling System

The Funny Little Woman

RDQ:	362	Max Word/Sent	37	Total Words	882		Diff Words	273
Lex	580	Ave Word/.Sent	11	Hi Freq occurs	546	61.9%	Hi freq	122	44.7%
AR	2.4	Long Sentences	11.4	Low Freq occurs	30	3.4%	Low freq	14	5.1%

Long ago in Old Japan there lived a funny little
woman who liked to laugh "Tee-he-he-he" and who
liked to make dumplings out of rice.]]
One morning as she was patting and shaping the
rice flour one of the dumplings started to roll. It
rolled across the table; it rolled to the edge of the
table and then fell right to the earthen floor.
"Stop" cried the woman. But the dumpling
rolled and rolled until it rolled down a hole.]]
"Ungrateful dumpling" scolded the woman
and she knelt and reached for it.
But just then the earth gave away and head over
heels she tumbled and tumbled]]
until she found herself on a most unusual road.
It was a hilly road lined with statues of the gods.
"My dumpling! My dumpling! Where is my
dumpling?" she shouted as she ran.]]
Soon she came to one of the statues.
"Jizo Sama did you see my dumpling?"
"Yes I saw your dumpling roll by three minutes
ago but you better not follow it because the
wicked oni live at the other end of the road."
"Oh tee-he-he-he" laughed the funny little woman.
"I'm not afraid of the oni." And she kept running 
down the road crying "My dumpling! My dumpling!
Has anybody seen my dumpling?"
"I have" said a very stern Jizo. "It rolled by me
just two minutes ago. But don't run after it for you
will surely meet a wicked oni."
"Oh tee-he-he-he" laughed the little woman. "I'm
not afraid of the wicked oni." And she ran even faster
shouting "My dumpling! My dumpling! Has
anybody seen my dumpling?"]]
Soon she came to another Jizo and asked: "Dear
Jizo have you seen my dumpling?"
"It rolled by just one minute ago but hurry and
hide behind me for here comes the wicked oni!"
The wicked oni stopped and bowed to Jizo.
"Good day Jizo Sama!"
And very politely Jizo said "Good day."
Sniff sniff sniff. "Jizo Sama" cried the wicked oni
"I smell the smell of humankind!"
"Oh" said Jizo "you only smell the breeze off the
river."
"No no" said the wicked oni. "I smell the -"
"Tee-he-he-he." The little woman could not keep
from laughing."Tee-he-he-he."]]
Then the wicked on put one large arm behind Jizo
and pulled the little woman out!
"What are you going to do with the little woman?"
asked Jizo. "You won't hurt her will you?"]]
"Hurt her! I should say not" said the wicked oni.
"I'm going to take her home and have her cook for
all of us."
"Tee-he-he-he" laughed the little woman as the 
wicked oni took her down the road to a wide river.
He put her into a boat and took her across the river
to a strange house.]]
In the kitchen he gave her a large wooden paddle. 
"Now this is how you must cook our rice" said the 
wicked oni. "First put one just one grain of rice in 
this pot. Stir it with this magic paddle and you will 
soon have a potful."
"Tee-he-he-he" laughed the little woman. "That's 
easy."
And soon after the wicked oni left she tried it out. 
One grain of rice and then stir! And as she stirred the 
one grain became two two became four then eight
sixteen thirty-two sixty-four one hundred and 
twenty-eight two hundred and fifty-six -and the 
pot was full!]]
"Tee-he-he-he" she laughed. "What fun I shall 
have making rice dumplings."
The weeks and months passed as the little woman 
kept busy cooking rice for the wicked oni. (For oni 
eat more rice than most people!)]]
One afternoon she grew lonely for her little house
and decided to return. First she tucked the magic
paddle in her belt then she went out the door. She
looked to left and right - there were no oni to be seen.]]
She ran to the river stopped and looked behind - 
still there were no oni. Now quietly she got into the 
boat; then away she went.
Since the river was wide she had only reached the
middle when the oni returned and found her missing.]]
Soon the oni were all on the bank watching her.
Now because oni do not swim they thought of a 
plan to stop her. All of them got on their knees and
drank the water from the river!]]
When the little woman found the boat stuck in the
mud she was too frightened to laugh so she jumped 
from the boat and began running. Her feet stuck in
the mud her hands stuck in the mud and she fell in
the mud!]]
"Tee-he-he-he Tee-he-he-he Tee-he-he-he " roared
the oni. The little woman made a funny sight! Of 
course when the laughed the water fell from
their mouths back into the river so the little woman
jumped in the boat and away she went.]]
After that the little woman was very happy for
with her magic paddle she could make more rice
dumplings faster than ever. So she sold them and
soon became the richest woman in all of Japan.
"Tee-he-he-he-he!"]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Some Long/Complex

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Integral Setting - Cultural/Regional

Foreign words

Topic

Monsters

Cooking

Magic

*Home Arts & Food

Low Frequency Words

dumpling	dumplings	earthen	humankind	jizo
knelt	oni	potful	shaping	statues
stern	stirred	surely	ungrateful