A long time ago in China there was boy named Ping who loved flowers. Anything he planted burst into bloom.
Up came flowers, bushes, and even big fruit trees, as if by magic!
Everyone in the kingdom loved flowers, too.
They planted them everywhere, and the air smelled like perfume.

The Emperor loved birds and animals, but flowers most of all, and he tended his own garden every day.
But the Emperor was very old. He needed to choose a successor to the throne.
All the children in the land were to come to the palace.
There they would be given special flower seeds by the Emperor.

"Whoever can show me their best flowers in a year's time will succeed me to the throne," said the emperor.
This news created great excitement throughout the land!
Children swarmed to the palace to get their flower seeds.

When Ping received his seed from the Emperor, he was the happiest child of all.
He was sure he could grow the most beautiful flower. Ping filled a flowerpot with rich soil.
He planted the seed in it very carefully. He watered it every day.
He couldn't wait to see it sprout, grow, and blossom into a beautiful flower!

Day after day passed, but nothing grew in his pot. Ping was very worried.
He put new soil into a bigger pot. Then he transferred the seed into the rich black soil.
Another two months he waited. Still nothing happened. By and by, the whole year passed.

Spring came, and all the children put on their best clothes to greet the Emperor.
They rushed to the palace with their beautiful flowers, eagerly hoping to be chosen.
Ping was ashamed of his empty pot.
He thought the other children would laugh at him because for once he couldn't get a flower to grow.
His clever friend ran by, holding a great big plant.

"Ping!" he said, "You're not really going to the emperor with an empty pot, are you?
Couldn't you grow a great big flower like mine?"

"I've grown lots of flowers better than yours," Ping said. "It's just this seed that won't grow." Ping's father overheard this and said,
"You did your best, and your best is good enough to present to the Emperor."

Holding the empty pot in his hands, Ping went straight away to the palace.
The Emperor was looking at the flowers slowly, one by one.
How beautiful all the flowers were! But the Emperor was frowning and did not say a word.
Finally he came to Ping. The Emperor asked him, "Why did you bring an empty pot?"

Ping started to cry and replied, "I planted the seed you gave me and I watered it every day, but it didn't sprout.
I put it in a better pot with better soil, but still it didn't sprout!
I tended it all year long, but nothing grew. So today I had to bring an empty pot without a flower.
It was the best I could do."

When the Emperor heard these words, a smile slowly spread over his face.
Then he exclaimed to one and all, "I have found the one person worthy of being Emperor!"
He turned to the other children. "I do not know where you got your seeds from," he said.
"The seeds I gave you had all been cooked. So it was impossible for any of them to grow.
I admire Ping's great courage to appear before me with the empty truth,
and now I reward him and make him Emperor of all the land!"

Leona had been listening to this story.
"I guess the moral of THAT story is, it really pays to tell the truth," she said.
"And that as long as you've done your best, you've done enough."