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Count

One day,Meenaand Mithuwere returninghomeaftercoilecting

firewood.
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Theyhacjto passthe villageschooion the way.Rajuwentto this school.Meena

decidedto stop at the schooland see whatwas happening.
and l\,iithu

i\leenaand Miihulikedthe storyso muchthat they listenediill the very end.

lVleena
wishedso muchthat she couldgo to school,too.

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"* *iJ,rt h0nie, R a j uw a s p r " o u d il ey i i i n gi h e i nf a t h e ra b o u ta l l t h e t h i n q s

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i i r ei e a r nat t s c n c o l .
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"Girlsonly needto
"Youare neededat hometo helpMother,"
said her father.
"You
don'tneedto go to
cook,cleanand lookafterthe house,"addedher mother.
schoolfor that!"

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PoorMeena!That nightshe stoodsadlyat the window.The schoolbuildingwas

shiningin the moonlight.
How she wishedshe couldstudy!

The nextmorning,Meenawatchedsadlyas Rajuand hrsfrrendsv'rentto sehooi

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She remennbered
her dreamand sat downto think.Somehow,she rnrust
nrakeit
cometrue.But how?

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Then Meenahad a wonderfulidea.She wouldsend Mithuto school.And he

wouldcome backand teachher everything
he learntthere!

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Aridthen he flew backhorneand tauqhthleena.".

17

when Meenaand Mithuwere busy,a thiefcame creepingup the

Thatafternoon,
wall.He stoleone of the chickensand ran off.

Z I

Meenawas puzzled.She lookedall around,and that'swhen she saw the thief

runningaway."Thief,thiefl"shoutedMeena,as she and Mithuran afterhim.

7.

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S o o n ,h a l ft h e v i l l a g eh a dj o i n e di n t h e c h a s e .

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'l-lief,
lVlithuirttothe tlrief'sear.
thief,"squavoiked
"l-i:-*
that he fell backwardrntothe paddyfieid.
marrwas so *qcareC

7_'fu

The villageheadmanwas very proudof Meena.He askedher how she had

noticedthe thiefand Meenaexplainedthat she had countedthe chickensand
f o u n do n e m i s s i n g .

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The headmanthen congratulated

Meena'sparentsfor sendingsuch a clevergirl
to school.When Meena'sparentssaidthat Meenadid not go to school,the
villagerswere amazed."Everychildshouldgo to school,"saidthe headman.

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"my marrieddaughterlivesfar away,but she can writerne

"Yes,"saida neighbour,
"lV1y
ietters,becauseI sent her to school." educateddaughterruns her own
"l
poultrybusiness,"
said an old womanproudly. wentto schooland can lookafter
my baby better,"addeda shy,youngmother.

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T'["itr-:y
!i','leta'r;a-enl":, m;iC* a b,i,-;,-.lei;isi*r'l
decrCed rl-ialiv'l*ei'ifiifli(]i1i1j
lr:it**1 1i-19r,gry i.iext Cteu,r
rl

Fveryonewas stilipuzzleel
aboutone thing.Who had taughtlVleena
to count?
"A frien,l,"
saiejMeenaand giggledas Mithuannouncedproudiy,"fiy narneis s..4lthu!"

i Th* nextday was Meena'sfirstclayat school.She was so happy

She hacicaucl'rta chickenthiefand nradeher drearncometrue!

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Meenaand Mithusay,"Everychildmustgo to school!"

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34

Solvethis puzzleby placingthe pointof your pencilon dot number 1 and drawinga line to
dot number2. Then draw anotherlineto dot number3 and
so on, untilyou have connectedall the dots.After you have done this, you
may use your crayonsto color this surprisepicture.

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*-i-=-1*-"-=-

Other titles in this series

1. Dividingthe Mango
2 . Will MeenaLeaveSchool?
3 . Who's Afraid of the Bully?
4 . Savinga Life
Meena'sThreeWishes
o.
Say No to Dowry
7 . TooYoungto Marry
B . TakeCare of Girls
9. I Love School
1 0 . It's Got to Be a Boy!
1 1 . Meenain the City
1 2 . A Girl'sStory

unicef@
Resiondl Otlice

AlsoAvailable
" Meena Educational Package
*Video cassettes
* Radio Series

for Soudr Ata

For details contact:

UNICEFRegionalOffice for South Asia
P.O.Box 5815,LekhnathMarg
Kathmandu,Nepal.
Tel:977-1-417082
Email: nshahzadi@unicef.org
rosa@unicef.org
www.unicef.org
Copyright@2002