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”

Nando and His Grandfather

Nando and his grand father story

A long time ago in Minahasa lived an old man with his grandson, Nando. Nando was limped. He could not walk well. His grandfather loved him very much. He never permitted Nando to go out alone. Nando's grandfather's job was looking for wood in the jungle. Nando really wanted to go to the forest with him but he never gave permission. But finally he let Nando to go to the forest with him.

In the forest, Nando walked slowly behind his grandfather. He was very excited. He saw some monkeys. When his grandfather looked back, he was shocked. Nando was lost. He looked for him everywhere but he couldn't find him. Sadly, the grandfather went back home.

The following day, the grandfather was back to the jungle. When he was walking, he heard a strange bird making sound "Moo poo ... Moo poo". He felt the bird said, "Opoku ... Opoku". It means "My grandpa ... My grandpa ...... The grandfather was surprised. He approached the bird. It was limped. There were tears in the bird's eyes. He knew that Nando had changed into a bird.

The guard's rewards

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The guard's rewards story

There was once a king in Tibet who liked to eat fish. One year, there was a very bad drought. The rivers became dry and fish became scarcer and scarcer.

The king felt very hungry as he did not like to eat any other kind of food. He called his ministers to see him.

“anyone who brings fish to the palace can ask for anything
he likes as a reward,” he told them.

Not long afterward, a man brought to the palace some salted fish which he had obtained from India.

He was stopped at the palace gate by the guard.

“Where are you going? Stop! What are you carrying?

“I…..I…. I’ve brought some fish for the king.”

“Fish! Where did you get it?”

“I brought it back from a recent visit to India.”

“All right. Leave it with me. I shall pass it on to his majesty.” The guard thought. “I’ll get a big reward from the king for this.”

“No” said the man. “I want to give it to the king myself.”

The guard tried to persuade him to leave the fish with him but the man refused.

“you’ll have to agree to give half the reward you get from the king.” He said. “Otherwise. I shan’t let you in.”

“yes. I agree. By the way sir,” asked the man. “what is your name?”

“Everyone calls me the ‘one-eyed Ox’,” answered the guard.

The king was very pleased to have some fish again.

“What would you like as a reward?” he asked the man.

“I would like to be caned a thousand times, your majesty,” the man answered.

“that’s very strange reward,” the king said. “Are you sure that is what you want?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

The king thought to himself, “He must be a fool! Why does he want to be caned?”

So he sent for his servants to cane the man. “Beat him lightly,” he ordered. “Don’t hurt him. He brought me some fish.”

When he had been caned five hundred times. The man stood up and said, “Enough. I don’t want any more.”

Everyone was very surprised. “who should be given the rest, then?” they asked. The man told the king what had happened. “Please give the guard the rest. This is what I’ve arrange with him.”

The king was very angry and ordered One-eyed Ox to be brought in.

By this time, One-eyed Ox was dreaming of what he was going to do with his half of the reward. He thought at least it would be money or other precious things. When he saw how angry the king looked, he was frightened.

“Cane his as hard as you can,” the king ordered his servants. “This is half of the reward.”

One-eyed Ox could hardly walk after being caned. However, he had to thank the king for giving him half the reward. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said. “You are really too kind. This is too big a reward for me.”

He never tried to obtain a reward again from anyone who came to see the king.

The vulture, the elephant and the rabbit

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The vulture, the elephant and the rabbit story

Many years ago in Cambodia. There lived the King of the Vultures.

One right, he dreamed that if he could eat the flesh of white elephant, he could become king of the whole of south-east Asia.

When he woke, he told his servants to catch a white elephant for him. Two of them, dressed in golden uniforms, flew to where they knew a white elephant was living.

“Oeu, friend elephant, our master has sent us to fetch you to the place as he would like  to eat white elephant’s flesh.

The white elephant was frightened to hear this. However, there was nothing he could do as the King of the Vultures was so powerful.

He said goodbye to his wife and children and left for

the Vulture King’s palace.

On his way there, he met his friend, Mr. Rabbit. “Where are you going,” asked the rabbit, “and why do you look so sad?” the white elephant told him what had happened.

“What are you going to do? You’ve  a wife and family to look after. Let me come along with you. I’m sure I’ll be able to find some way to make the King of the Vultures change his mind.”

The elephant was very happy to hear this.

Mr. Rabbit sat on his head and travelled with him to the King of the vulture’s palace.

“Welcome! Welcome!” cried the King of the vultures. On seeing the white elephant arrive. “I’ve been waiting such along time for you. I’m afraid I shall have to eat you up straight away.”

He told the elephant to kneel down so he could cut off a piece of his trunk. The King of the Vultures then saw Mr. Rabbit sitting on the elephant’s head, holding on to his two ears.

“Who are you?” he asked. “If you don’t jump down immediately. I’ll eat you up as well.”

“Please wait a moment,” said Mr. Rabbit. “Can You please tell me what the trouble is?”

The King of the Vultures told him about his dream.

“Really!” said Mr. Rabbit, “As a matter of fact, I’ve just had a dream myself of marrying your sister.”

“You can’t do that!” the king of the Vultures shouted.

“In that case,” answered Mr. Rabbit, “to the quite fair, you can’t eat the elephant other.”

The King of the Vultures had to admit that what Mr. Rabbit had said was right.

The elephant returned home to his family and his friend, Mr. Rabbit hopped off back to his home in the forest.