This is good stuff for the 4th grade
The Mustard Seed
Retold by Marilyn McFarlane
1 The Buddha was walking on a dusty country road one day when he stopped at the edge of a river to splash cooling water on his face. When he finished washing, he looked up and saw an old woman kneeling beside him. Her clothes were ragged and her face was worn. Her arms were covered with sores.
2 "Oh, Master," she wailed. "I suffer so. Please help me."
3 "What troubles you?" the Buddha asked, looking at her with compassion in his eyes.
4 "Look at me! See my sad lot!" She touched her rags, and she pointed with skinny fingers to her blistered arms."I am poor, my clothes are torn, I am ill. Once I was prosperous, with a farm, and now I am old and have only a bowl of rice to eat. Won't you heal me and bring back my riches?"
5 "You have described life as it is," the Buddha answered."We are all born to suffering."
6 The old woman shook her head, weeping."No, no, I won't listen. I was not born to suffer."
7 The Buddha saw that she could not understand."Very well, I will help you," he said."You must do as I say."
8 "Anything, anything!" she gasped.
9 "Bring me a mustard seed."
10 She stared in astonishment."Only a mustard seed?"
11 "Yes. But the seed must come from a house that has never known sorrow, trouble, or suffering. I will take the seed and use it to banish all your misery."
12 "Thank you, Master, thank you!"
13 The old woman hobbled away, her bare feet shuffling in the dust. She was on her way to find a house without sorrow. The Buddha continued down the road.
14 Weeks later, he returned along the same road and came to the same place by the river, and there he saw the old woman again. She was scrubbing clothes in the river water and spreading them on rocks to dry in the sun, and while she washed, she sang a tune.
15 "Greetings," the Buddha said."Have you found the mustard seed?"
16 "No, Blessed One. Every house I visited had far more troubles than I have."
17 "And are you still seeking?"
18 "I'll do that later. I have met so many people who are less fortunate than I, I have to stop and help them. Right now I'm washing clothes for a poor family with sick children." Gently she placed a wet piece of cloth on a rock.
19 The Buddha smiled. He said, "You no longer need the mustard seed. Helping others is a great virtue. You are on the road to becoming a Buddha yourself."