Learn English Through Story Level 3 | The Green Coat | Graded Reader

[00:00:00]Once there was a man named Sung who found a coat on the road and kept it for 3 years before it caused him any trouble.

[00:00:08]He had found it on a cold morning on the road between two villages.

[00:00:12]It was a good coat, dark green, heavy wool with all its buttons.

[00:00:18]He had looked left and looked right and seen nobody. He had picked it up and carried it home and hung it on the hook by the door. And in the winter it kept him warm.

[00:00:30]And that was that.

[00:00:32]His wife asked where he had got it. He told her he found it on the road. She said nothing more.

[00:00:39]It was a good coat.

[00:00:41]Three years passed. Sung wore the coat every winter.

[00:00:45]It was the warmest coat he had ever owned. On very cold mornings he sometimes thought about the person who had lost it and felt a small discomfort that he pushed away quickly because the coat was warm and the morning was cold.

[00:01:01]And he had found it on an empty road and that was that.

[00:01:05]Then one afternoon a man came to the village asking questions.

[00:01:11]He was a tall man with a thin face.

[00:01:14]And he went from door to door asking if anyone had found a dark green coat on the road 3 years ago. Sung's neighbor came to tell him about this because neighbors always do. Sung sat in his house for a while. He looked at the coat on the hook. Then he put on a different coat and went to find the man.

[00:01:34]"I heard you are looking for a coat." he said. The man looked at him.

[00:01:40]"A dark green one, heavy wool. I lost it on the road 3 years ago in November.

[00:01:48]I had put it down to rest and a cart came past and I ran to get out of the way and when I came back it was gone.

[00:01:56]What buttons did it have? said Sung.

[00:02:00]The man described the buttons exactly.

[00:02:03]Sung went home. He stood in front of the hook for a moment.

[00:02:07]The coat hung there the way it always had, dark green, quiet, keeping nobody warm in the middle of the afternoon.

[00:02:16]He took it down and brought it back.

[00:02:19]The man looked at it for a long moment.

[00:02:21]He took it in both hands. He checked the collar and the pocket and the third button which was slightly different from the others because it had been replaced once. This is it, he said.

[00:02:34]Sung said nothing.

[00:02:36]Where did you find it?

[00:02:38]the man asked.

[00:02:39]On the road, said Sung.

[00:02:42]Three years ago in November.

[00:02:45]The man looked at him. You kept it for three years? Yes, said Sung. And now you are giving it back.

[00:02:53]Yes, said Sung.

[00:02:56]The man stood there holding the coat.

[00:02:59]He was clearly trying to decide what he thought about all of this.

[00:03:03]It is a very warm coat, said Sung.

[00:03:06]I want you to know I took good care of it.

[00:03:10]I can see that, said the man.

[00:03:13]He put the coat on. It fitted him well.

[00:03:16]He had not worn it for three years and he stood very straight in it, the way people do when they put on something they have missed. Three years? said the man again.

[00:03:28]And you are giving it back today because I came looking.

[00:03:32]Yes, said Sung.

[00:03:35]You did not have to come and find me, he said. No, said Sung.

[00:03:41]The man reached into his pocket.

[00:03:43]He took out some money. I don't want money, said Sung.

[00:03:48]You kept it for three years, said the man.

[00:03:52]That is worth something.

[00:03:54]I wore it for 3 years, said Sung.

[00:03:58]That is not worth paying for.

[00:04:01]The man put the money back.

[00:04:03]He looked at Sung for a moment with the expression of a man who is not sure if he's dealing with someone honest or someone strange.

[00:04:12]And has begun to think these may be the same thing. I came from the next town, a man said. I am going back tonight.

[00:04:21]But I would like to buy you dinner before I go.

[00:04:25]You don't need to do that, said Sung.

[00:04:28]I know, said the man.

[00:04:31]But I want to.

[00:04:32]They went to the small restaurant at the edge of the village.

[00:04:36]They sat across from each other.

[00:04:38]And the man whose name was June ordered food for both of them and they ate. Why did you keep it so long? said June.

[00:04:48]3 years is a long time.

[00:04:51]Sung thought about this.

[00:04:54]At first I thought nobody was looking for it, he said.

[00:04:58]Then time passed and I thought who looks for a coat after 2 years?

[00:05:04]And then one more year passed and I thought the same thing.

[00:05:10]But you gave it back today. You came looking, said Sung.

[00:05:15]That changed things.

[00:05:17]June thought about this.

[00:05:20]What if I had not come looking? Sung said nothing for a moment.

[00:05:25]I do not know, he said honestly.

[00:05:29]June looked at him.

[00:05:31]Then he laughed.

[00:05:32]It was a short laugh but a real one. At least you are honest about it, he said.

[00:05:39]I am trying to be, said Sung. They finished their food.

[00:05:44]June paid.

[00:05:46]They walked outside into the cold evening. That coat, said June. My father gave it to me before he died. That is why I kept looking.

[00:05:57]Sun stood there.

[00:05:59]He thought about the three winters the coat had kept him warm.

[00:06:03]He thought about not knowing any of that when he picked it up off the road.

[00:06:08]"I am sorry I kept it so long," he said.

[00:06:12]"You gave it back," said June.

[00:06:15]"That is the part that matters." He put up his collar and started down the road toward the next town.

[00:06:22]Sun watched him go.

[00:06:24]The coat was a good coat and it suited the man well.

[00:06:29]And in the evening light, it was easy to see that he had missed it. Sun went home.

[00:06:34]His wife was in the kitchen.

[00:06:37]"The man came," she said. "I heard."

[00:06:41]"Yes," said Sun.

[00:06:43]"You gave it back."

[00:06:46]"Yes," said Sun.

[00:06:48]His wife looked at him. "It was a very warm coat," she said.

[00:06:53]"Yes," said Sun. "It was."

[00:06:57]He sat down at the table. Outside the wind was picking up.

[00:07:02]It was going to be a cold winter.

[00:07:04]He would need a coat.

[00:07:06]He thought about this for a while.

[00:07:09]The next morning, he went to the market and looked at coats.

[00:07:13]There were several. None of them were as good as the green one.

[00:07:16]He looked at them for a long time.

[00:07:19]Then he bought one.

[00:07:21]It was dark blue and the wool was not quite as heavy, but it was a decent coat and it fitted him well enough. He wore it home. His wife looked at it when he came in.

[00:07:33]"How is it?" she said. Sun put his hands in the pockets. He rolled his shoulders.

[00:07:39]He stood in the coat for a moment.

[00:07:41]"It is a good coat," he said. "It was not as warm as the green one."

[00:07:46]He knew this already.

[00:07:48]He would know it more in February when the real cold came.

[00:07:52]But it was his coat, properly his, and he had paid for it himself. And when he hung it on the hook by the door that evening, it looked right there in a way that the green coat for three winters had never quite managed. "Good," said his wife.

[00:08:10]She went back to what she was doing.

[00:08:13]Sang stood by the door for a moment, looking at the coat on the hook.

[00:08:18]Then he went to help with dinner.