fter lunch Totto-chan played in the school grounds with the others before returning to the classroom, where the teacher was waiting for them.

"You all worked hard this morning," she said, "so what would you like to do this afternoon?"

Before Totto-chan could even begin to think about what she wanted to do, there was a unanimous shout.

"A walk!"

"All right," said the teacher, and the children all began rushing to the doors and dashing out. Totto-chan used to go for walks with Daddy and Rocky, but she had never heard of a school walk and was astounded. She loved walks, however, so she could hardly wait.

As she was to find out later, if they worked hard in the morning and completed all the tasks the teacher had listed on the blackboard, they were generally allowed to go for a walk in the afternoon. It was the same whether you were in the first grade or the sixth grade.

Out of the gate they went--all nine first grade pupils with their teacher in their midst--and began walking along the edge of a stream. Both banks of the stream were lined with large cherry trees that had only recently been in full bloom. Fields of yellow mustard flowers stretched as far as the eve could see. The stream has long since disappeared, and apartment buildings and stores now crowd the area. But in those days Jiyugaoka was mostly fields.

"We go as far as Kuhonbutsu Temple," said the girl with the rabbit on her pinafore dress. Her name was Sakko-chan.

"We saw a snake by the pond there last time," said Sakko-chan. "There's an old well in the temple grounds which they say a shooting star fell into once.

The children chatted away about anything they liked as they walked along. The sky was blue and the air was filled with the fluttering of butterflies.

After they had walked for about ten minutes, the teacher stopped. She pointed to some yellow flowers, and said, "Look at these mustard flowers. Do you know why flowers bloom?"

She explained about pistils and stamens while the children crouched by the road and examined the flowers. The teacher told them how butterflies helped flowers bloom. And, indeed, the butterflies seemed very busy helping.

Then the teacher set off again, so the children stopped inspecting the flowers and stood up. Someone said, "They don't look like pistols, do they?"

Totto-chan didn't think so either, but like the other children, she was sure that pistils and stamens were very important.

After they had walked for about another ten minutes, a thickly wooded park came into view. It surrounded the temple called Kuhonbutsu. As they entered the grounds the children scattered in various directions.

"Want to see the shooting-star well?" asked Sakko-chan, and naturally Totto-chan agreed and ran after her.

The well looked as if it was made of stone and came up to their chests. It had a wooden lid. They lifted the lid and peered in. It was pitch dark, and Totto-chan could see something like a lump of concrete or stone, but nothing whatsoever resembling the twinkling star she had imagined. After staring inside for a long time, she asked, "Have you seen the star?"

Sakko-chan shook her head. “No, never.”

Totto-chan wondered why it didn't shine. After thinking about it for a while, she said, "Maybe it's asleep."

Opening her big round eyes even wider, Sakko-chan asked, "Do stars sleep?"

"I think they must sleep in the daytime and then wake up at night and shine," said Totto-chan quickly because she wasn't really sure.

Then the children gathered together and walked around the temple grounds. They laughed at the bare bellies of the two Deva Kings that stood on either side of the gate, guarding the temple, and gazed with awe at the statue of Buddha in the semi-darkness of the Main Hall. They placed their feet in the great footprint in a stone said to have been made by a Tengu - a long-nosed goblin. They strolled around the pond, calling out “Hello!” to the people in rowboats. And they played hopscotch to their hearts' content with the glossy black pebbles around the graves. Everything was new to Totto-chan, and she greeted each discovery with an excited shout.

"Time to go back!" said the teacher, as the sun began to dip, and the children set off for the school along the road between the mustard blossoms and the cherry trees.

Little did the children realize then that these walks--a time of freedom and play for them--were in reality precious lessons in science, history, and biology.

Totto-chan had already made friends with all the children and felt she had known them all her life.

"Let's go for a walk again tomorrow!" she shouted to them all on the way back.

"Yes, let's!" they shouted back, hopping and skipping.

The butterflies were still going busily about their business, and the song of birds filled the air. Totto-chan's heart was bursting with joy.