The Proud Little Grain of Wheat

Name: The Proud Little Grain of Wheat
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett

A proud little grain of wheat sits crowded in a dark sack in the granary with many other grains, complaining about its confinement to a learned, quiet grain beside it that thinks more than it talks. The proud grain demands to know why it cannot sing like the birds nesting in the roof, and the learned grain explains it has no voice and nowhere to put one. The learned grain recounts watching two noisy boys, Lionel and Vivian, through a thin place in the sack, including their barrage of questions to their mamma about who made the cake, the cook, and themselves, ending with the revelation that flour—and thus cake—is made of wheat. The proud grain declares that if it is ever made into cake, it will be so rich no one will dare eat it. A man and boy move the sack, and the learned grain senses something is about to happen, recalling dimly that a relation of hers was once sown. The proud grain rages against being sown into "common earth," insisting it is no common grain, but it is carried off in the farmer's pouch regardless, since the farmer cannot hear its voice. Thrown into a ploughed field on an early spring day, the proud grain lands near the learned grain, which predicts they will be covered with earth, swell, and burst open. The proud grain again refuses to accept this fate, but it happens exactly as foretold: rain and sun cause both grains to swell until their skins split, and they push up through the soil as green blades. As a blade, the proud grain enjoys a season of company—gold and green beetles, gossiping birds, and a golden butterfly that lands on it, feeding its vanity. The learned blade repeatedly cautions it against boasting. The proud blade grows taller than the others and eventually produces an ear of grain at its top, which it proclaims a crown, though the learned blade corrects it: it is merely an ear of wheat. As summer advances and the wheat turns golden, the proud ear insists it will not be cut down, but a reaping-machine cuts it regardless; it is bundled, stacked, and carried to the barn. Threshers arrive with a red threshing-machine, and the wheat is threshed back into many grains, which the proud grain regards as evidence of its own grandeur—now multiplied fiftyfold. The farmer's wife sends the sack to the mill via Jerry, a coloured servant, so she can make cake for "them two children from Washington city," who prove to be Lionel and Vivian, now a little older, who beg to ride along and ask Jerry unanswerable questions about what turns the mill wheel and the water. At the mill, the wheat is ground into fine white flour, which the proud grain welcomes, preferring whiteness to green or gold. Back home, the flour is beaten with eggs, sugar, and butter into a rich cake batter, and the proud flour delights in this "grand company," believing itself finally rich as it always wished. Baked in a hot oven despite some discomfort, it emerges as a cake that draws admiring remarks from everyone in the kitchen. Set out on a glass cake-stand surrounded by leaves for a gathering, the cake feels honored, imagining all the seated guests have come to admire it—until Vivian and Lionel enter in freshly brushed, clean clothes and take the two small chairs beside the table. Vivian stares at the cake with unsettling intensity, unnerving it, then someone cuts a slice. The cake protests silently that it is too rich and not meant for boys, but Vivian lifts the slice, opens his mouth wide to show two rows of little sharp teeth, and eats it before it can finish exclaiming "Good gra—cious." The text ends there, noting this was the end of its airs and graces.

By Frances Hodgson Burnett · First published 1918 · Genre: Children's Literature, Fable, Fantasy · 5,332 words

First lines

There once was a little grain of wheat which was very proud indeed. The first thing it remembered was being very much crowded and jostled by a great many other grains of wheat, all living in the same sack in the granary. It was quite dark in the sack, and no one could move about, and so there was nothing to be done but to sit still and talk and think. The proud little grain of wheat talked a great deal, but did not think quite so much, while its next neighbour thought a great deal and only talked when it was asked questions it could answer. It used to say that when it thought a great deal it could remember things which it seemed to have heard a long time ago.

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The Proud Little Grain of Wheat is listed on Textopian as a short story by Frances Hodgson Burnett, dated 1918 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Date: 1918 CE
Language: English
Genres: Children's Literature, Fable, Fantasy, Allegory, Literary Fiction
Length: 5,332 words
Structure: 1 section, 153 paragraphs
Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)

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Similar titles

Genres

Children's Literature — The book is aimed at a young audience, featuring simple language and moral lessons suitable for children.
Fable — The story conveys moral lessons through the experiences of the proud grain of wheat, similar to traditional fables.
Fantasy — The anthropomorphism of the grain of wheat and its conversations with other grains create a fantastical narrative.
Allegory — The story serves as an allegory for personal growth, humility, and the journey of life.