Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Jonas' Surprise
Found Treasure
Reading Comprehension for April 8
There once was a poor farmer struggling to support his family in a small village in Lithuania. This was back in the 1930's. Something extraordinary happened to him early in the spring of 1934. We do not know much else about him, not even his name, but for the sake of the story we will call him Jonas Vincentas Litvak.
Now Jonas had a plot of land for farming. Let's assume that he grew grain and beets to sell at a market. One of his daily chores would be to tend to the field. He probably plowed with the help of a donkey. When large stones were unearthed, he heaped them outside the borders of the field. It was backbreaking work, but he did it without complaining. He planted seed and watched for it to grow.
The morning of April 8, Jonas went about his chores as usual. It was just another ordinary day. He had more work to do in the field. He had run across the stump of a large, old tree right where he needed to plant sugar beets. He had planted wheat and barley in the fall, leaving space for the spring planting of sugar beets. How had he missed that stump?
Poor Jonas chopped at it with his ax. He chained his donkey to it and tried to get the donkey to drag the stump free from the soil. He worked, struggled, and perspired. Jonas was getting very dirty, but he was determined to remove that stump before he did anything else.
That is when the extraordinary thing-the thing that never happens to poor farmers-happened to Jonas. Up came the stump out of the ground. Down in the gaping hole, a huge chest was revealed. Jonas rubbed his weary eyes and strained for a better look. Yes, it was definitely a chest. What was it doing in his field?
He scratched his head. What should he do? The chest looked old and heavy. He glanced furtively around. Then he ran to the farmhouse to get help.
"Ona! Ona! Come quick!" he shouted to his wife.
Ona Marija Litvak raised her head. She was mending Jonas' work clothes. "What is it?" she asked anxiously. "Is something wrong?"
"No! I have dug up a great big something, and I need your help," he told her, panting after the hard run.
