🌿 The Garden of Surprises (Extended Story for A2–B1

Students)
Maria was a young girl who lived in a small village near the green mountains of Serra Clara.
Every morning, she woke up to the songs of birds that perched on the roof of her house. Their
home was small but full of love — a red-roofed cottage with a little kitchen that always smelled
of warm bread and cinnamon. Maria shared a bedroom with her younger brother, Paulo, who was
only five years old and full of questions.

Behind their house was a large garden filled with flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. Her mother
grew tomatoes, pumpkins, and herbs. Her father built wooden benches under the orange trees,
where the family often sat together in the evenings. But Maria’s favourite part of the garden was
a mysterious area in the back where wild grapevines grew thick and tall. For years, she noticed
an old wooden gate behind them, but it was always locked. Her parents said it had been there
since her grandfather’s time and was just an old part of the fence.

One morning, in early spring, Maria was helping her mother water the roses when she saw a
white rabbit run toward the vines. Curious, she followed it. To her surprise, the gate was open—
just slightly. Her heart beat fast. She looked around. No one saw her. Quietly, she stepped inside.

Beyond the gate, Maria found a secret garden unlike anything she had ever seen. It was larger
than her family's garden and full of color. The flowers were brighter, the trees taller, and the
wind softer. Strange birds sang in languages she didn’t understand. In the center of this magical
place was a fountain with a silver bird statue on top. The water sparkled as if touched by stars.

Maria approached the fountain. As she touched the silver bird, it whispered:

“To those who are kind, the garden will give.”

She jumped back. “Did you speak?” she asked aloud. But the garden was quiet again.

From that day, something magical began to happen. Whenever Maria did something kind —
helping her mother, playing gently with Paulo, sharing her lunch with a classmate — the garden
would reward her. One day she found a basket of ripe strawberries. Another day, after helping a
stray kitten find food, she discovered a beautiful book near the fountain with golden pages and
her name on the cover. The book contained stories she had never read, and the pages turned
themselves when she spoke to them.

Maria kept the garden a secret, but she felt happier and more peaceful each day. Her kindness
grew. She began to help more at home and be more patient with others at school.

One afternoon, she decided to tell her best friend, Lucia, about the garden. Lucia was clever and
funny, but she wasn’t always kind. She often teased Paulo and never helped her parents at home.
“You won’t believe what I found,” Maria said, and took Lucia to the grapevine.

They waited for a rabbit or a breeze — something to open the gate — but nothing happened. The
gate remained closed.

“Are you making this up?” Lucia said, folding her arms.

“No! It opens… but only when…” Maria hesitated. “Maybe it opens only to kind hearts.”

Lucia laughed. “That’s silly. Gardens don’t care if you're kind.”

Maria said nothing. She felt the magic inside her grow quiet, as if the garden could feel her
doubt.

Later that night, Maria worried she had made a mistake. But the next morning, the gate was open
again. She walked in, and the silver bird spoke once more:

“Kind hearts are always welcome. But selfish hearts must learn.”

Maria understood. The garden was not a place for secrets—it was a teacher. She decided not to
tell anyone else about it until they showed true kindness from their hearts.

Seasons passed. Maria kept visiting the garden, and her rewards became more special. A flute
that played by itself, a mirror that showed people's dreams, and seeds that grew into trees
overnight. But more importantly, she learned that the best reward was the happiness that
came from helping others.

One day, Paulo got very sick. He had a high fever, and their mother stayed by his bed all night.
Maria prayed in the garden, asking for help. The silver bird told her, “Love is the strongest
magic.”

Maria returned to the house and sang to Paulo, told him stories, and made him tea with herbs
from the garden. After a few days, Paulo smiled again. Maria cried with joy. The garden hadn’t
given her strawberries or books this time — it had reminded her that love is the most powerful
gift.

Years passed. Maria grew up and studied to become a teacher. She returned to her village to
teach children just like her. She never forgot the magical garden. She still visited it, but now she
came not for gifts, but for peace and memory. She planted trees there and wrote stories in the
golden book, which had more pages every time she visited.

Lucia, too, changed. One day, years later, she came to Maria’s house with a basket of fruit and
said, “I’m sorry for not believing you back then. I’ve learned a lot since.”

Maria smiled and invited her in.

And some say, when Lucia walked alone past the grapevine weeks later, she found the gate open.

✏️Comprehension and Prose Questions

🧠 1. Comprehension Questions (Literal Understanding)

(Students locate answers directly in the text.)

1. Who is Maria, and where does she live?

2. What is special about the area behind Maria’s house?
3. What did Maria see before the gate opened for the first time?
4. What did the silver bird at the fountain say to Maria?
5. What happened when Maria did kind things?
6. What did Maria find near the fountain after she helped a stray kitten?
7. Why didn’t the garden gate open for Lucia?
8. What did Maria learn from the garden?
9. What happened when Paulo got sick?
10. How did Maria help her brother get better?

💡 2. Inference Questions (Reading Between the Lines)

(Students infer meaning or feelings that are not directly stated.)

11. Why do you think the garden rewarded Maria only after she was kind?
12. What can we understand about the silver bird’s purpose?
13. Why didn’t Maria tell more people about the garden?
14. Why did the garden remain silent when Lucia was there?
15. What does the garden symbolize in Maria’s life?

❤️3. Character and Theme Questions

(Focus on personality, values, and lessons.)

16. Describe Maria’s character using evidence from the story.

17. How does Maria change from the beginning to the end of the story?
18. How does Lucia change over time?
19. What themes can you identify in the story? (e.g., kindness, growing up, magic, patience)
20. What does the story teach us about kindness?
🔄 4. Vocabulary and Language Use

(Encourages vocabulary recognition and context understanding.)

21. What does the phrase “Kind hearts are always welcome” mean?
22. Find and explain two adjectives used to describe the garden.
23. What does “sparkled as if touched by stars” suggest about the water?
24. What does the word “mysterious” mean in the sentence about the grapevines?
25. What does the silver bird represent in the story?

📚 5. Text Analysis and Author’s Purpose

(Focus on structure, message, and style.)

26. Why do you think the author used a magical garden to tell this story?
27. How does the writer build suspense in the first part of the story?
28. What is the effect of including seasons passing in the story?
29. How does the writer show the difference between Maria and Lucia?
30. Why is the ending important?

✍️6. Creative Response / Extension Questions

(Encourages students to engage with the story creatively or personally.)

31. Imagine you found a secret garden. What would you want it to give you?
32. Write a diary entry from Maria’s point of view the night she first found the garden.
33. Write a short paragraph about what you think Paulo will do when he grows up.
34. What would you do if you had a friend like Lucia?
35. Draw a picture or describe the magical garden in your own words.