The boy who cried dumplings.

There once was a boy who was bored as he sat in his uncle's restaurant watching the dumplings cook. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, "Dumplings! Dumplings! The dumplings are burning!"

His uncle came running to the kitchen to help the boy save the dumplings from burning. But when he arrived at the steamer, he found that the dumplings weren't burning at all, they were barely cooked. The boy laughed at the sight of his uncle's angry face.

"Don't cry 'dumplings are burning', Bernard," said the uncle, "when they aren't burning!" Hey went grumbling back into the dining room.

Later, the boy sang out again, "Dumplings! Dumplings! The dumplings are burning!" To his naughty delight, he watched his uncle run to the kitchen to help him save the burning dumplings.

When the uncle saw no dumplings were being cooked, he sternly said, "Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don't cry 'dumplings' when there are NO dumplings cooking!"

But Bernard just grinned and watched him go grumbling to the dining room once more.

Later, he fell asleep while cooking some dumplings. When he awoke, the air was thick with smoke. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, "Dumplings! Dumplings!"

But the uncle thought he was trying to fool him again, and so he didn't come.

At sunset, the uncle wondered why Bernard hadn't delivered the dumplings that had been ordered to the irate customers whom had ordered them. He went to the kitchen to find the boy. He found him weeping.

The uncle was surprised at what he saw.

There was a huge plate of perfectly cooked dumplings.

Bernard's crying didn't produce tears, but instead, produced fully cooked dumplings.

"The dumplings really were burning! The dumplings were ruined! I cried out, "Dumplings!" Why didn't you come?"

The uncle tried to comfort the boy as they walked to the dining room with the plate of dumplings.

"We'll forget about those few burned dumplings," he said, putting his arm around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth! But nobody cares, as long as his tears are cooked dumplings."

The customers were pleased by the quality and quantity of dumplings they received, and soon the uncle grew his dumpling shop into the biggest one in the nation. Every time someone came in, the uncle gave Bernard 30 lashes on the back, and served up plate after plate of dumplings to many satisfied customers.

Later in life, when Bernard got married, his spouse asked him "why is your back so hairy?"

Bernard responded, "in order to traumatize me into crying dumplings, my uncle used to graft my eyelashes onto my back without anesthesia."

Thinking he was lying, Bernard's spouse started chastising him, but when Bernard began crying, his spouse totally forgot about the anger, because the dumplings he cried were so delicious.