(1) The students at Tomoe school loved climbing trees. Little Totto-chan’s favourite tree was at…

(1) The students at Tomoe school loved climbing trees. Little Totto-chan’s favourite tree was at the edge of the ground near the fence. It was a large tree and slippery to climb, but if you climbed it skillfully, you could get to a fork — an intersection of branches — about six feet from the ground. The fork was as comfortable as a hammock. Totto used to go there during lunch break or after school. She would sit and look off into the distance or up at the sky, and sometimes watch the people go by below. (2) Her friend, Yasuaki-chan, was born with weak legs and she had never climbed a tree. She would look at the other children with yearning in her eyes as they climbed trees joyfully. “I’m going to get Yasuaki to climb the tree!” Totto said to herself. She shared the plan with Yasuaki. When Totto reached the school the next day, she found Yasuaki waiting by the flower beds in the ground. It would be an ideal time to carry out their plan as it was summer vacation, the grounds were open to children but no one else would be around. It would be deserted. (3) When Yasuaki saw Totto, she hurried towards her, dragging her legs and holding her arms out in front to steady herself. Totto led Yasuaki to the tree and then ran to the maintenance room and got a ladder, which she dragged over to the tree. She leaned it against the trunk of the tree so that it reached the fork. She climbed up quickly and, holding the top of the ladder called down to Yasuaki, “Alright, try climbing up!” (4) Yasuaki’s arms and legs were so weak that she could not even get on the first rung of the ladder without help. So Totto hurried down the ladder backward and tried pushing Yasuaki up from behind. But she was so small and slender that all she could do was to hold Yasuaki let alone keep the ladder steady. Totto realised that it was going to be more difficult than she had thought. What should she do? (5) “Wait! I’ve got an idea!” she exclaimed. She ran back to the maintenance room and discovered a stepladder. It would remain steady and she would not have to hold it. Totto dragged the stepladder over, amazed at her own strength and was delighted to find that it almost reached the fork. Yasuaki took her foot off the bottom rung and stood beside the ladder, her head bowed. She was disconsolate. “Now, don’t worry,” Totto said in a big-sisterly voice. “This isn’t going to wobble.” She pointed at the stepladder. (6) Yasuaki looked nervously at the stepladder that Totto got. Then she looked at Totto, who was already ahead of her on the stepladder, drenched in perspiration. Yasuaki was sweating profusely too. She looked up at the tree. With determination, she placed a foot on the first step. (7) Neither of them was conscious of the time it took Yasuaki to reach the top of the stepladder. The hot summer sun beat down, but they had no thoughts for anything except getting Yasuaki to the top of the stepladder. Yasuaki struggled with all her might, and finally reached the top. (8) But from there it was difficult. Totto jumped onto the fork, but no matter how much she tried, she could not get Yasuaki onto the tree from the stepladder. She suddenly felt like crying. She had wanted so badly to invite Yasuaki on to the tree. (9) But she did not cry. She was afraid that if she did, Yasuaki might start crying, too. Instead, she took hold of Yasuaki and tried to pull her over. If any grown-ups had seen what she was doing, they would have let out a scream. It must have looked terribly dangerous. (10) But Yasuaki trusted Totto completely. With her tiny hands clutching Yasuaki’s, Totto pulled with all her might. From time to time, a large cloud would mercifully protect them from the blistering sun. At last, the two stood face to face on the tree. Yasuaki was able to see vistas she had never glimpsed before. “So this is what it’s like to climb a tree”, she said happily. They stayed on the tree for a long time and talked about all sorts of things. The cicadas were singing and the two children were so happy. (Adapted from: Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, translated by Dorothy Britton)