The second husband story

The second husband story
Folktale from Cambodia

Once, long ago, a man and a woman had just got married. The man loved his wife very much. But, one day, a messenger came from the king. He told the man to come and fight in the king’s war. The man became very sad. He did not want to leave his wife. But he was so frightened that he obeyed. He prepared a little food and hurried away to join the messenger.
 Folktale from Cambodia

He was still near his house, when he stopped by a bo tree. Each time he tried to go on, he started to cry. Each time he walked away, he turned round and
came back. At last, he felt brave enough to leave.
Folktale from Cambodia

There was a spirit in that bo tree. When it saw the husband crying so much, it decided to go to his house. When it got there, it saw the man’s wife and fell in love with her. So, the spirit changed itself into a man. The man looked just like the woman’s husband. His face and body and colour were all the same.
Folktale from Cambodia

When the woman saw him. She thought, “My husband is back!” she cried out, “Oh! Why have you came back?”

“The king didn’t need me,” said the spirit so the wife gave him a meal. From that time on, they lived happily together.
Folktale from Cambodia

“The war was soon over and her real husband returned home. When she saw him coming she called out, “Husband!”
Folktale from Cambodia

But when she looked at the spirit she said. “But he’s my husband, too,” she did not know what to do.

The spirit was very angry. “listen,” he said to the real husband, “You have no right to say my wife is your wife,”
Folktale from Cambodia

“She’s my wife,” said the real husband. “I married her before I went away to the war. You have no right to say my wife is your wife.”
Folktale from Cambodia

They argued and argued. Finally they went to see the judge. They said to him. “You must decide who is this woman’s real husband.”
Folktale from Cambodia

The judge looked at the real husband and at the spirit. When he asked the wife, “Which one is your real husband?” the poor girl did not know what to answer. So the judge could not help them.
Folktale from Cambodia

The real husband was verysad. He went away to find someone who could help him. Soon he met a hare. “Where are you going?” asked the hare.
Folktale from Cambodia

The real husband told him the story. “And now I’m looking for someone who can help me,” he said.

“Don’t worry,” said the hare, “I’ll help you.”

So they went back to the judge. “Go and find an old bottle” the hare said. “The man who can get inside it is the real husband.” The judge found a bottle.
Folktale from Cambodia

The spirit was very happy. “I’ve won,” he thought. He became very small and climbed into the bottle.

“Get me a cork,” said the hare. “Put it in the bottle. Throw the bottle in the river. The thing in the bottle must be a spirit. No man in the whole world can climb inside the bottle.”
Folktale from Cambodia

So from that time on the real husband and his wife lived happily together.
Folktale from Cambodia

The hare and the elephant's mother

The hare and the elephant's mother story

One morning a hare went to look for food. He saw a tree trunk, covered with sticky gum. When he jumped up on the tree trunk, his tail and legs stuck to it. He could not get away.

Just then a baby elephant came along, looking for water. He liked to drink from the pond near the sticky tree trunk.

The hare was clever, he thought of a plant to set himself free. He called out, “Little elephant, don’t drink my water! A great god, Lord Indra has asked me to guard it.”

The baby elephant was too frightened to drink. He ran back to his mother. “Mother” he said, I went to drink
at the pond and I saw an animal on a tree trunk. He was guarding the water. He would not let me to drink. I was frightened of him and ran away. Oh, mother, I’m so thirsty!”

The elephant’s mother was angry. She took the baby elephant back to the pond. When she saw the hare on the tree trunk she cried out, “It’s only  a little hare!” now she was even more angry.

“You stopped my child from drinking here,” she shouted, “I shall kill you.”

“How dare you talk like that!” the hare replied. “Lord Indra told me to guard the pond, so nobody can drink while I’m here.”

The mother elephant was so angry that she wrapped her trunk around him and pulled him off the tree trunk.

“If you really want to kill me,” the hare said, “don’t throw me on the ground. Hares don’t die that way. Throw me up in the air, then I’ll die,”

The elephant was so stupid that she threw him up in the air. When he landed on the ground, he ran away into the forest.

The name of Hongkong legend

The name of Hongkong story

Do you know where the name Hong Kong comes from?

There are several interesting stories about this. A long time ago, there was a village near Arberdeen called “Hong Kong Ts’un” or “Incense Harbour Village”. The incense grown there was famous throughout China. Some of it was even sent to
the Chinese Emperor. Some people believe that the name Hong Kong comes from this village.

What happened to this village? One day, the Emperor wanted some incense sent to him from the village. The villagers did not send it to him. The Emperor then ordered his officer to arrest the village headmen and cut off their heads. After that, everyone ran away from the village and no more incense was grown there.

But some other people believe that Hong Kong is named after a container for burning incense. Long, long ago, this container was picked up in the harbor. It was kept in a tample at Causeway Bay. The place where it was found was called “Hong Kong” or “Incense Harbour”

There is a third story that Hong Kong is named after a woman called Hong ku. She was the wife of a pirate chief. After her husband died, she became the leader of the pirates. She then moved to the island which is now called Hong Kong. If this story is true, the name “Hong kong” means “Hong’s Harbour”.

According to yet another story, Hong Kong is named after a stream near Pokfulan Road. The water was very pleasant to drink. Many years ago, people used to go there to collect drinking water. The stream was called “Hong Kong” or “sweet stream”.

Narrative teks - Kam Tin

Kam Tin story

Kam Tin is one of the oldest villages in the New Territories. Do you know how it got its name?

Over 1,000 years ago most of the houses there belonged to the Chan family. The place was called “Chan Tin” meaning Chan’s fields. Later the name was changed to “Sham Tin” or a small hill surrounded by fields. The present name of Kam Tin was first used about 400 years ago.

In those days, the richest man living there was Tang Yuen Fan. He owned a very large farm. One year, there was a terrible famine. Nobody had enough food
to eat and many people starved. The District Magistrate ordered his officers to give away rice from the government store to the poor people. Soon the rice was finished but there were still many people who did not have enough to eat. The District Magistrate did not know what to do.

“Can anyone help?” he asked, “We need more rice.”

“I can give you 1,000 bags of rice,” said Tang.

The District Magistrate was surprised, “How can you give so much?” he asked.

“I have plenty in my store,” said Tang. “If you don’t believe me, please come to see for yourself.”

The District Magistrate visited tang’s store. He saw that it was full of rice. Tang then gave away 1,000 bags of rice to the poor people.

The District Magistrate said that he had never seen such large buildings, green fields, and pleasant scenery before.

“Why is this place called ‘Sham Tin’?” he asked. “it should be called “Kam Tin”, which means embroidered fields. The scenery is so beautiful that it looks like a piece of embroidery.”

Source: Favourite stories from Hong Kong by Leon Comber

shared by www.englishstory12.blogspot.com

The fortune teller

The fortune teller story

In the great city of Taipei, there lived a man called Lin and his wife. They had no children. Because of this, they were very unhappy.

One day, they found a baby boy outside their door. He was wrapped in a blanket and crying. They took the baby into their house and called him Sau Ling, they loved him very much.

When Sau Ling was a young man, a fortune-teller came to the house. “You must send your son away,” he said. “One day he will become a thief and cause you a lot of trouble.”

Mr. and Mrs. Ling were very sad to hear this. They believed what the fortune-teller said. They gave Sau Ling some clothes and money and sent him away.

Several years later, Sau Ling was having a meal in an inn several miles from Taipei. He  put his bag on the floor near his table. After finishing his meal, he picked up his bag. “That’s strange!” he thought, “It feels so heavy.” He looked inside. It was full of small gold bars. Then he realized that someone had taken his bag by mistake and left another bag in its place.

That evening, a young man came to the inn “has anyone seen my bag?” he asked . Sau Ling was very honest. He returned the bag him. The young man thanked him. “You are really very honest,” he said . “ I shall ask my father to give you a job.”

The young man’s father was a rich merchant. He gave Sau Ling a good job. “But go home first,” he said, “and take a holiday.”

Sau Ling returned to Taipei. Mr. and Mrs. Lin were delighted to see him again. The fortune-teller was also present. Sau ling told them what had happened. The fortune-teller did not know what to say. He left the house without saying a word. Mr. and Mrs. Lin never believed in Fortune-teller after that. Sau Ling took them to live with him and they were very happy and contented until the end of their lives.

Half screen mountain

Half Screen mountain story

There is a famous mountain between Nan-Tzu and Tso-Ying near Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. It is called “Half-Screen Mountain”, as it looks like a Chinese screen with one half missing. Do you know why it is called Half-Screen Mountain?

Long, long ago, this mountain was jealous of another mountain next to it. The other mountain’s name was Jade Mountain. Jade Mountain was higher than Half-Screen Mountain but Half-Screen Mountain did not want to admit this.

One day, it challenged Jade Mountain. “Let’s see who is the higher,” it said. “God can be our judge.”

Jade Mountain was angry as it knew it was the higher of the two. “Don’t be foolish. You know I am higher.” It replied.

“Impossible!” Half-Screen Mountain said. “I am so high that if a piece of bean curd were placed on my head, the sky would be broken.”

At this moment, God was passing by and  heard what Half-Screen Mountain said. He decided to punish Half-Screen Mountain. He ordered the God of Thunder to strike the mountain with his hammer. The God of Thunder did so. The mountain split in two and half of it fell into the valley below.

From that day on, people called it Half-Screen Mountain. It was never heard to boat again.

Bobo Bakau

Bobo Bakau Story

Long, long ago, there lived a farmer named Liu I-shen. He was married but he did not have any children, every night, his wife prayed for a daughter.

One day, Liu went to cut some firewood. Suddenly, a voice came from a large bamboo, “Can you please let me out? I will become your daughter.”

He cut the bamboo with his axe. Out jumped a tiny girl only two inches tall. “Where have you come from, little girl?” he asked.

“I have come from the moon.”

He took the little girl back to his wife. The little girl told them that her name was Yue-ngo, which means “pretty girl in the moon.”

Yue-ngo lived with the couple very happily for many years. When she was grown up, many men wanted to marry her. The farmer and his wife wanted her to marry a man who had enough money to support them. One day, a writer came to see them. “You are old.” He said. “If I can marry your daughter, I will look after you.” The couple agreed. He gave them one hundred dollars. They promised that he could marry their daughter at the end of the year.

After some time, the money was finished. Then,
a hunter came to see them. He too wanted to marry Yue-ngo.

“I will give you one hundred dollars if you will allow me to marry your daughter,” he said. The couple agreed that he could marry Yue-ngo at the end of the year.

Some months later, the old couple had also spent this money. An acrobat and his monkey came to see him. “your daughter is very beautiful,” the acrobat said. “Please let me marry her. I will give you one hundred dollars.

The couple agreed. They also told him that he could marry Yue-ngo at the end of the year.

On the last day of the year, the three men came to see the couple and their daughter. Yue-ngo said to them. "I am sorry, I can’t marry all of you. You must take part in a contest I shall marry whoever finishes first.

She told the writer, “You must write ten stories.”

“And you,” she said to acrobat, “must run to the village and bring back a drum from the temple,”

“I would you to shoot all the leaves from the trees in our garden,” she told the hunter.

Three hours later, the writer had only finished writing eight stories. The hunter still had not finished shooting the leaves from the tree. Suddenly, the heard a shout. The acrobat ran towards them carrying a drum. He had won the contest

The writer and hunter left. Yue-ngo asked the acrobat, “How can you run so fast?”

“my monkey ran to fetch the drum for me,” he replied, “He can run much faster than I.”

Yue-ngo felt very unhappy that the acrobat had won the contest in this way. She decided not to marry him.

“Aiyah!” she cried. “I have a pain in my chest. Please bring me some medicine.”

“What do you want?” asked the acrobat.

“I can only be cured by eating a monkey’s heart,” said Yue-ngo

The acrobat killed his monkey straight away.

“how can you that?” cried the girl. “Your monkey helped you so much. Even if I ate the monkey’s heart, I would not be cured. Come and see me again in one week’s time.”

When the acrobat came to see her, there was a cloud around her house. A road opened from the sky to the ground. Yue-ngo started to rise towards heaven. “This is my last day on earth,” she said. “I came from the moon. I am now returning home. Goodbye dear mother and father! Goodbye ungrateful man!”

So the acrobat had neither wife nor monkey. Even now, in Taiwan, a man who is poor and has no wife is called “Bobo bokau”