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Once upon a time there was a young girl named Sasparilla Villa. Sasparilla lived in a small village called Pio Pico. Her village was built on land which is not good for growing things. People tried to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruit but there was never any luck. Usually, the people in the village of Pio Pico had to buy produce trucked in from another area. Buying food this way was very expensive. Beans were the most popular food delivered to Pio Pico. Most meals made by the mothers in Pio Pio included some sort of beans. Beans were an important part of their traditional style of cooking. Many people in Pio Pico went to sleep hungry because their family didn’t always have enough money to buy much food from the delivery truck.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays the delivery truck arrived at noon in the town square. The town square in Pio Pico is also an important part of their history. For hundreds of years, if someone had something very important to tell to all of the people of the village, he or she would walk to the town square and ring a bell until everyone arrived. People always knew if they heard the bell ring, something extremely important was about to be announced. It didn’t matter if the bell ringer was rich or poor, old or young, people dropped what they were doing and went to hear what was about to be told.

The Villa family lived very near town square. Sasparilla had two sisters and three brothers. All six children lived at home with their mom and dad. The family spoke only Spanish, but this story is translated into English so you can understand it. Sasparilla’s family was luckier than most because they had quite a few animals which kept them well fed. Their large plot of land was handed down to their family from generations of Villa’s in the past. No one in the village had a yard this size. Often times Sasparilla felt guilty for having so much when many people in her village suffered from not having enough. Her mother told her to work hard and take care of what she has and to give what she can to people in the village. This is what Sasparilla always did.