THE DOCTOR WHO LIVED IN A TEAPOT

Many, many years ago, there lived in Keelung a famous doctor. There was a teapot hanging outside his front door. When he had finished work for the day, he jumped into the teapot where he lived, instead of living in his house.

One day, a man called Wang saw him jump into the teapot. "That's strange," he thought. "How does he do that?"

The next day he went to see the doctor. "I know you are not an ordinary man," he said. "Can you teach me everything you know?"

The doctor invited him to dinner. "The teapot is my house," he said. "Will you come inside with me?"

"How can I do that?" asked Wang. "The teapot is so small."

The doctor held his hand. "Let's jump in together," he said.

Whoosh! They jumped and instantly they were inside the pot. Wang looked around. He was amazed to find that he was inside a large house. There were many rooms and all of them were beautifully furnished. There was a garden too with many strange flowers in it.

After a while, a servant came in carrying a golden teacup. "Please ha^ve some tea," said the doctor.

When Wang tasted the tea, he found that it had a delicious flavour. "What kind of tea is this?" he asked the doctor.

"It is heavenly tea," the doctor replied.

Soon dinner was served. There were many different kinds of dishes on the table. Wang had not seen most of them before. However, one dish looked like bean curd. "What is that?" he asked. "Is it bean curd?"

"No," answered the doctor. "It is made from the bones of a dragon which has just been caught in the mountains."

Then Wang realized that all the food on the table came from another world.

Before long, the two men became good friends. They used to meet every day and drink wine_, together.

One day, the doctor said to Wang, "I have some bad news for you. You know I am not an ordinary man. My master, who is a fairy, has found out that I am friendly with you. He has ordered me to return to heaven. I have brought some special wine for us to drink. We shall soon have to part."

The doctor sent his servant to bring the wine. However, al­though thewine was in a small bottle? his servant was unable to lift it.

"Call some other men to help you," said the doctor.

The servant did as he was told. But although a dozen men helped him, they were unable to move the bottle.

The doctor laughed. He picked up the bottle with two fin­gers. Then he and Wang began to drink thewine. They drank cup after cup but the bottle never became empty.

The doctor saw that Wang lookedvery unhappy. "Don't be so sad," he said. "Why don't you come with me?"

"How can IT' asked Wang. "I have a wife and family."

"If you really want to go," the doctor said,"I can tell you what to do." He cut a small piece of bamboo and gaveit to Wang. "Hang this outside your kitchen door before you go to bed tonight."

When Wang's family opened the kitchen door the next morning, they were surprised to see hⁱs body hanging there. His wife cried bitterly. She thought her husband had killed himself because of some business debts. So they made a coffin and buried him.

Then the doctor led Wang into the mountains with him. Af­ter some days, he said to Wang, "I am going to leave you. You can train yourself to become an immortal. It is the only way. But you must remember one thing. Whatever happens, you must not be afraid."

Not long afterwards, while Wang was sleeping, he was wak­ened by the roaring of tigers. When he opened his eyes, lie saw that he was surrounded by many fierce tigers Luckily, he thought of what the doctor had told him. He kept quiet and did not move. After a while, the tigers went away.

Later, when he was resting in a cave, he saw a huge rock hanging above him. It began to move as if about to fall on him. But Wang did not move. And this danger passed too.

After some time, the doctor suddenly appeared. "You are doing. Quite well," he said, "but there is one more test for you to pass. There is a pool of boiling water as hot as fire. If you can bathe in it, you will be able to change into an immortal. "

"Take me to it," said Wang. He did not feel afraid. He thought it would only be another test like the other two.

When they reached the pool, the water was bubbling. Wang tested the heat of the water with his toes. It was terribly hot. He tried several times to jump into the water. But each time, he turned back at the last moment.

"Never mind," the doctor said. "You nearly succeeded in be­coming an immortal. However, you failed to pass this last test. Noone can do what is beyond their power. It is a pity you can­not follow me. I advise you to return home to your wife and family."

Wang was very disappointed. He even tried once more to jump into the boiling water but he could not do so as he was too afraid.

"How can I return home?" he asked the doctor. "You brought me here and I do not know the way back."

The doctor then cut a bamboo and gave ^it to him. "You can ride home on that. When you arrive home, throw the bamboo away. That is all."

Wang thought of his home once more. He sat on the bam­boo and shouted "Go!" The bamboo flew up into the sky with Wang. He dared not look down at the ground below. In a few minutes, he arrived at the gate of his own house. He threw the bamboo away. It changed into a dragon and flew away.

He knocked at the door. His wife opened it. She shouted out in fright. Then all the members of his family ran out. They refused to believe he was still alive.

"You must be a ghost!" they said.

Wang tried to tell them what had happened but they re­fused to listen. They said that he must be dead because his body had been buried.

"That was only a stick of bamboo that you buried," said Wang.

"What nonsense! It was your body," they replied.

So Wang told them to dig up the coffin. When they opened it, they found there was only a stick of bamboo inside.

After that, they believed him and they held a great feast to welcome him back. Wang stayed with his family for the rest of his life. He was very happy and never left home again.

The King of Ant

The King of Ant

A long time ago, there was a man named Chou who lived in Nan Tze. He was a merchant and he travelled all over Taiwan selling his goods. One day, he was crossing a river. As helooked down at the water, he saw a huge ant on a leaf floating near the boat. It was running backwards and forwards butthere was water all round and there was nowhere it could go.

Chou felt sorry for it. He picked up the leaf and allowed the ant to jump into the boat.

"What are you doing^?" the other passengers asked. "That is a big, dirty ant. It will bite us or try to cat our goods in the bot­tom of the boat. You must throw it overboard."

"If you are afraid of it, I will hold it in my hand until wecross the river."

"No. We don't want it in the boat. If you don't wish to throw it back into the river, let us do it."

Chou then thought of an idea. He placed the ant on a leaf. He tied a long string to the leaf and pulled the leaf along on the water behind the boat.

The other passengers could say nothing.

Then the boat reached the other side of the river, he took the leaf gently out of the water and placed the ant on the ground.

Many months afterwards, he was working late in his shop. Suddenly, an old man with a long white beard appeared.

"Don't you know who I am?" he said. "I have come to thank you for saving my life. I am the ant you picked up from theriver. Actually, I am king of the ants. I was stupid enough to climb on a leaf. The leaf was blown into the river by the wind. Without your help, I would have drowned. If I can ever do any­thing to help you, please let me know."

Before Chou could say any more, the old man changed into a large, magnificent looking ant. He disappeared into a hole in the wall.

Soon afterwards, Chou found out that his clerk had been cheating him. He had been stealing goods from his shop. Chou dismissed him. But he gave him his wages and even added an extra month's pay.

However, the man could not find another job. Everyone knew he was dishonest and no one wanted to employ him. Then the clerk became a thief. One day, he led a gang of rob­bers to rob a rich man's house. But there were many guards there and he was caught. He was handed over to the police.

"I have not done anything wrong," the clerk said. "I was told to do this by Chou. He was going to share half the goods with me."

The police arrested Chou. When he was tried in court, he said that he knew nothing about what the clerk had said. How­ever, the judge did not believe him. "You know that you have done wrong," the judge said. "You had better confess. "

He thought Chou was stubborn so he had him put inprison.

After Chou had been in prison for several weeks, he felt very sad and miserable. He suddenly remembered what the king of the ants had told him. "0 King!" he cried. "Please help me. I am innocent." He made such a loud noise that the other prisoners thought he must be mad. However, the king of the ants did not come.

Chou then caught some of the ants on the flour and told them to call their king. That night, the king of the ants ap­peared and asked how he could help him.

"Please help me to escape," said Chou.

"All right," said the king of the ants. "My people are not powerful but there are many of us. We will find a way to save you."

The king of the ants called together all the ants. He decided to divide them into three groups.

One group entered the prison and gnawed through the ropes binding Chou's hands and feet. Another group was busy at the same time gnawing a hole _in the wall.

They worked tremendously fast. Before long, the hole was big enough for Chou to crawl through. When Chou got outside, he found another group of ants waiting for him. They led him into the mountains and showed him a cave where he could hide. It was very pleasant living there. The air was fresh, there was plenty of water, and the ants brought him food every day.

A few months later, the king of that country died. When the new king came to the throne, all prisoners were set free, except the very bad ones.

Chou was delighted. He returned from the mountains and went on keeping his shop. He lived happily until the end of his life. He never needed the help of the king of the ants again. The clerk, -who had been freed also, was soon arrested again by the police for stealing some money, and was sent back to prison.

The frog catcher

The frog catcher

Once upon a time, there was a rich man named Chung who lived in Chang Hua in central Taiwan. He had three daughters, two of whom married rich men. The third one, Yi-Chu, did not want to marry a rich man.

Cerita narrative text bahasa inggris - the frog catcher

“Why don’t you marry a rich man like your sisters?” her father asked. “You’ll be able to live a very comfortable life.”

“Thank you, father.” She said. “But a rich man today may be a poor man tomorrow. In the same way. A poor man may become a rich man.”

Her father was very angry. He ordered her to marry a poor man named Lee who was a frog catcher. So Yi-Chu became Lee’s wife.

One day, Lee went to the river to catch frogs. However, he could not find any. Suddenly, he saw a rabbit running by. He followed it and saw it go into a hole in the ground. He looked into the hole and saw some black stones inside. He picked one up and took it home.

When Yi-Chu saw the stone, she cried out in surprise, “Where did you get? It is black gold,” Lee told her, “Run back quickly and get some more,” his wife said.

Lee run back to the hole, when he arrived there, he found that all the stones had gone. An old man, with a long white beard, was standing nearby. “I am looking for some black stones,” Lee said, “Have you seen any?”

The old man smiled. “They belong to a man called, Door,”  he said.

“Who is Mr. Door?” Lee asked. But the old man disappeared from sight in a puff of smoke.

Six months later, Yi-Chu had a baby son. Lee took the baby to show his father-in-law. Mr. Chung was very happy to see it. He took it in his arms and played with it. The baby cried and cried. Finally, Mr. Chung took it outside. As he passed through the door, the baby stopped crying and smiled. Mr. Chung named it ‘Door’ because of this.

When Lee heard of the baby’s name, he remembered what the old man had said. He went again to the hole in the ground. There were many black stones inside. He took all the stones away. He was now rich man.

Some time later, Lee and Yi-Chu went to Mr. Chung’s house for a feast. Everyone was dressed in fine clothes except Lee. He wore old clothes and no one would talk to him. They did not know he was a rich man.

One of his sister-in-law said, “I have some land I would like to sell cheaply.”

“I will buy from you,” Lee replied.

Everyone one laughed at him. “How can you afford it?” his sister-in-law asked. “If you have enough money, I shall be glad to sell it to you at half-price.”

Lee took out the money straight away from his pocket. His sister-in-law had to keep her promise.

Soon Lee became the richest man in town. No one laughed at him any more.