Ray and His Kite
Ray was a silly boy. He liked to play with the boys at school; but he liked to be alone under the shade of some tree reading a fairy tale or dreaming daydreams better. There was one activity that he liked as well as his friends; that was flying a kite.
As soon as it was dark, without saying a word to anybody, he took his kite and lantern and went to a large, open area. He tied the lantern to the tail of his kite. Then he started flying the kite after several attempts. Up it went, higher and higher. He tied the string to a fence, and then he stood and gazed at his kite as it floated high up in the air.
While Ray was enjoying his kite, some people who were out on the street in the village saw a strange light in the sky. They gathered in groups to watch it. It was still for a few seconds; then it seemed to be jumping up and down; then it made long sweeps back and forth through the air.
“What can it be?” asked one person. “How strange,” said another. “It cannot be a comet because comets have tails,” said a third. “Perhaps it's a big firefly,” said another. At last some of the men decided to find out what this strange light was—whether it was a fairy dancing in the air, or something dropping from the sky. So, they started to get as close to it as they could.
While this was taking place, Ray had gotten tired of standing and was sitting on a fence behind a tree. He could see the men as they approached, but they did not see him. When they were directly under the light, and saw what it was, they looked at each other and said while laughing, “This is some boy's trick, and it has fooled us nicely. Let us keep the secret and have our share of the joke.” Then they laughed again and went back to the village. Some of the people there had not yet found out what that strange light was.
When the men had gone, Ray thought it was time for him to go, so he wound up his string, picked up his kite and lantern, and went home. His mother had been wondering where he was. When she heard what he had been doing, she hardly knew whether to laugh or scold, but I think she laughed and told him that it was time for him to go to bed.
Questions
Q1) Which one activity did Ray like ?
Q2) How is Ray able to fly his kite at night?
Q3) What do some of the people think Ray’s kite is when they see it?
Q4) Why do you think the men watching the kite didn't go and tell the rest of the villagers about it?
Q5) How would you have reacted if you saw a strange light floating in the sky at night?