In a village filled with green, grassy fields, lived a farmer named Mr. Putter. Mr. Putter loved his little rice plants very, very much. Every morning, he would go out to his field and look at them. "Grow, little plants, grow!" he'd whisper.

But Mr. Putter was a little bit impatient. He wanted his rice plants to be the tallest and the best, and he wanted it to happen super fast! He would visit them many times a day. "Are you taller yet?" he'd ask, bending down close. The tiny green shoots just swayed gently in the breeze. They seemed to be growing so slowly.

One sunny afternoon, Mr. Putter had an idea. "Aha!" he thought. "If I help them a little, they will grow much quicker!"

So, he walked into his field, row by row. He went to the first little rice plant. Very carefully, he took hold of its tiny green top and pulled it up just a little bit. "There!" he said, pleased. "Now you're taller!" He did this to the next plant, and the next, and the next, all through his field. Pull, pull, pull, just a tiny bit for each one.

It was hard work! By the time he was finished, Mr. Putter was very tired, but also very proud. "My plants are much taller now!" he told his son, Barnaby, when he got home. "I helped them grow today!"

The next morning, Barnaby went to look at the rice field. Oh dear! All the little rice plants that Mr. Putter had "helped" were not standing tall and green. Instead, they were all droopy and sad-looking. Their leaves were turning a bit brown. By pulling them up, Mr. Putter had loosened their tiny roots from the soil, and now they couldn't get the water and food they needed.

Mr. Putter came out and saw his poor, wilted plants. He learned that day that little plants, just like little children, need time to grow strong all by themselves. Sometimes, trying to rush things doesn't help at all.

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