“Do not play around the well,” a Chinese mother tells her sons, who don’t always listen to her.
Sure enough, one day they are playing by the well and Chang, the second born son, falls in. His brother runs to tell his mother, who sends him for help, and Chang is soon rescued. The boys stay away from the well for a while, but they return one day and the honored first son falls into the well. Chang runs to tell his mother that Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo – which is his brother’s honorable name, as the cherished firstborn – has fallen into the well, but the long tiresome name is so hard to keep repeating, Chang begins to worry they will not make it in time! Also available in a book and CD set, read by actress Marcia Gay Harden.
