On the third day Jian Ho again returned to the dry streambed. Again he saw the grass had grown. For five days this went on. Jian Ho and his mother were deeply grateful for the miraculous patch of grass.
But on the sixth day Jian Ho woke and yawned, "Oh, it is so far to walk to my spot." Then he smiled, for he had an idea. He would go to the patch again, but this time he would dig up the magic grass by the roots and bring it back to plant beside their house.
He hiked back into the hills to his patch and worked there for hours, digging up the earth and roots. Suddenly he found, buried in the soil, a beautiful white pearl tinged with pink. Jian Ho held it gently in his palm, watching it gleam in the midday sun. Then he put it in his pocket and finished his work.
That night Jian Ho showed the pearl to his mother. "It's so lovely," she said as she rolled the gem between her fingertips.
"We can sell it!" Jian Ho said happily.
"No, let us keep it for a while," said the mother. "It will be nice to have something so beautiful with us." She put the pearl in the rice jar, and Jian Ho went out to plant his grass.
The next morning Jian Ho awoke early, eager to see his new patch of grass. But when he ran to the window, he saw that the grass was withered and dying. "Oh, I am a fool," he cried. "I have destroyed that which was good. If only I had not been so lazy."