Hi Rebecca Shear here seeking an ideal holiday gift for your favorite Circle Round fans

then check out our Circle Round swag. Visit W-B-U-R-D.org

slash Circle Round to order the new lunchbox and backpack plus copies of our picture books

autographed by me it's all at w bure dot org slash circle round

w bure podcasts Boston W-B-U-R Podcasts, Boston.

Think about a time somebody showed you kindness. Did it inspire you to show kindness back or maybe to

pay it forward and show kindness to someone else? Scientists have proven that

kindness is actually contagious.

As we'll hear in today's story, kindness spreads from a humble farmer to a mysterious visitor,

then back again.

I'm Rebecca Shear and welcome to Circle Round where story time happens all the time.

Today our story is called The Valley Visitor.

It was inspired by tales from China, the largest country in East Asia.

Some really great people came together to bring you our version of this story,

including Elsa Chang, an award-winning journalist whom you NPR fans will recognize as the co-host of all things considered.

So circle around everyone.

For the Valley Visitor. visitor. Maeline and her grandfather lived in a wide valley surrounded by mountains.

Their little wooden house was the only abode for miles and miles, and beyond its plankwood fence was a patchwork of fields where Maeline and grandfather grew crops, or where they tried to grow crops anyway. It hadn't rained all summer long, so the

soil was dry and crumbly, and the fields were all but bare, save for a few scraggly weeds.

Snaking through Maeline and Grandfather's Valley was a fast-running river.

Winding alongside the river was a ribbon of dirt road.

People rarely came down the river or the road.

...