The magic pear tree

Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

Narrative text story - The magic pear tree

(Favourite stories from Taiwan)

Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

Long ago, there was a farmer in Taiwan who was very greedy. One day, he took some pears to the market for sale. An old monk came up to his cart and asked for one of the pears.
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

“Why should I give one to you?” asked the farmer. “You are a lazy good-for-nothing.”

“you have hundreds of pears.” Answered the monk. “You will not be able to sell all of them. I ask for only one. Why are you so angry?”
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

Everyone said that the farmer should give the monk one of the smaller pears. But he still refused.

Finally, a merchant who was there bought a pear and gave it to  the monk.
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

“Thank you, sir,” said the monk. “I am a holy man. I must not be selfish. I invite everyone to eat pears with me.”
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

Someone asked him. “How can you do that? You have only one pear.”

“Wait until I have finished eating this pear,” said the monk. “I shall then plant one of the seeds and it will quickly grow into a pear tree.”
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

The monk then dug a hole a few inches deep and planted a pear seed in it. The asked someone to bring some water with which to water the seed. Within a very short time, the seed grow into a tree. There were branches and leaves on it, and many large sweet-smelling pears.
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

The monk climbed up the tree. He threw down pear after pear to the people waiting below. When all pears were finished, the monk climbed down to the ground. He took his axe and cut down the tree. “Crash, crash, crash!” it fell to the ground.
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

The monk picked up the tree and carried it away him. The farmer was furious but there was nothing he could do. He turned  round to look at his cart. All his pears had disappeared! Also the axle of his cart had gone! Then he realized what had happened. The clever monk had used the axle as the trunk of the pear tree. All the pears which the monk had given away had been taken from his cart.
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

He rushed after the monk, but the monk wars nowhere to be seen. However, he found the freshly-cut axle of his cart lying on the ground outside the city gate.
Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

Everyone laughed at him. “It is your own fault for being so greedy,” they said

Kumpulan Narrative text Folklore

Narrative story - Tseng Chen and his mother

Narrative story - Tseng Chen and his mother

A long, long time ago, a young man named Tseng Chen went to work in the State of Fel.

He did not know there was another man with the same name living there. This other man was wanted by the police for killing someone.

Not long after Tseng Chen left home, a man came to see his mother. “Your son has killed someone. The police are looking for him,” he said.

“I do not believe it,” she replied quietly.

About a month later, another man came to see her. He told her the same thing. Tseng Chen’s mother took no notice of him.

A few weeks later, yet a third man came to see her.

“I have just come from Fei,” he said. “Your son is in serious trouble. He has killed a man.”

Tseng Chen’s mother then became very worried. She quickly packed some clothes, and left the next morning for Fei to look for her son.

But her son was really a good man who had done nothing wrong. When she met him, she quickly understood what she had heard about him was wrong.

“Oh!” she cried. “if I can believe such bad thing about my son, how much easier it will be for ordinary people to believe bad thing about others. I must be very careful not to believe everything I hear in future.”

The dragon who liked to sunbathe

The dragon who liked to sunbathe

(Favourite stories from Singapore)

Once there was a lonely old dragon that lived in a cave beneath a river. He liked to live under the sun, and because he looked fierce, villagers were afraid of them.

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Actually, the old dragon was not fierce at all. He had lost his horns and had only one large yellow tooth left. Sometimes he would look at himself in the water and say. “I am still quiet handsome.” But mostly he lay in the sun and thought about the old days.

One day a fine young dragon stopped to talk “Hello, uncle,” he said.

“I’m not your uncle,” said the old dragon. “Go away and leave me alone.”

The young dragon laughed and flew away. When the old dragon tried to fly, but his wings were stiff, so he just lay in the sun, wishing he were young again. 

Just then, he heard someone shouting “help me, somebody please help me.”

Looking up, the dragon saw a young girl had fallen into the river. He jumped into the water and quickly pulled her to shore.

“What were you doing in the river? He asked.

“My washing floated . and I try to catch it.”

The dragon smiled. “And aren’t you afraid to me?”

“My grandfather says you’ve never eaten anyone.”

“That’s true, but how do you know I won’t eat you?”

“You save my life,” said the girl smiling. And I must try to repay you. What food do you like best?”

The dragon told the girl that he liked to eat swallows, but that he was too old to fly up to catch them. The girl said that she would bring him some. The next day she brought the old dragon some fine fat swallows, and after that she came to visit him often.

Now, the young men of the village saw the girl with visit the dragon. “She likes that old dragon more than she likes us,” they said. Soon they thought of a plan to frighten the dragon.

One day, as he  was sleeping in the sun, the young men tied ropes and nets around the old dragon’s body. When the dragon woke up, he saw what had happened. he pulled at the ropes and the nets. As he moved, he tore many trees out of their roots and  threw rock high into the air. He made such a noise that the villagers were very frightened. The young girl ran to her grandfather.

“Grandfather,” she said, “What is that noise?”

“The young men tied up the dragon,” he replied

“But he wouldn’t hurt anyone. I must go and help him.” Said the girl. She ran to the river side, but it was too late. The tired old dragon had died, and his body slowly sank into the muddy water.

Posted by www.englishstory12.blogspot.com

Source: Favourite stories  from Singapore by Irene-Anne Monteiro and Jenny Watson

Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris - An honest man’s gold story

Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris - An honest man’s gold story

(Favourite stories from Taiwan)

Two brothers lived with their mother in the town of Wan Kung. Their father had died a long time ago. The elder brother was very lazy. His name was Ah Chin. The younger brother’s name was Ah Lan. He was very hard-working and good to his mother. Ah Chin married a girl called Sui Geok. But his wife was as lazy as he was and their marriage was not a success. Ah Lan married a nice hard-working girl and they were very happy together.
Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris

Cerita pendek bahasa inggris

One day, the two brothers’ mother became seriously ill. She sent for her sons. “Although Ah Lan is my younger son” she said. “I’m leaving all my money to him.” Ah Chin was not very pleased to hear this. However, after his mother’s death, he took all the money from Ah Lan.
Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris

One day, when Ah Lan was on his way to work in a nearby forest, he saw three ugly men. He was afraid and climbed a tree and hid. The three men stopped in front of a large rock. One of them said, “Ai, ai, ai,” and the door opened in the rock. Ah Lan was surprised to see them place some gold inside. When they had gone, he climbed down from the tree and stood in front of the rock.
Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris

“Ai, ai, ai,” he said and the door opened. He went inside and saw a lot of gold. The following words were written on the wall, “Any honest man many take this gold”. He took some of the gold and returned home.
Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris

When Ah Chin heard what had happened, he went to the rock. He called ou “Ai, ai, ai,” just as his brother had told him. The door in the rock opened. He went in. he had never seen so much gold in all his life. It shone with a beautiful yellow colour. “Wonderful!” he cried. “I’ll take it all away with me.” The gold was very heavy. As he was trying to lift it, the door in the rock closed behind him.
Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris

Several days passed. Ah Lan went to look for his brother. He found him dead  in the cave. All the gold had gone, this was Ah Chin’s punishment for being so greedy.
Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris

Not long afterwards, Ah Chin’s wife came to stay with Ah Lan and his wife. She was treated very well. Then she stole some food and took it away to eat it under a tree. Suddenly, the tree was struck by lightning. It fell on top of her and killed her. This was her punishment for being dishonest.
Cerita pendek Bahasa Inggris

Afterwards, when Ah Lan found her, the tree had turned into gold. He became a rich man. This was his reward for being hard-working and honest.

Source: Favourite stories from Taiwan by Leon Comber & Charles Shuttleworth

shared by www.englishstory12.blogspot.com

Kancil and the giant Story

Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant Story

(Favourite stories from Indonesia)

One beautiful morning Kancil decided to fish in a certain river. On the way he met his friend, Swine, who stopped him for a chat. When Swine heard that Kancil wanted to go fishing, he asked whether he could join him, Kancil did not object, as Swine promised to help him with the work. The two of them went on together and soon they met Tiger and Elephant. When they heard that Kancil and Swine were going to the river, they decide to go along, too. And so the four animals went together to the river to fish.
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant Story

Kancil and the giant story

When they arrived at the river bank, Kancil immediately began to give orders left and right. Elephant had to dam the river with stones and tree trunks. Tiger and Swine had to throw away the river water while Kancil himself set out to catch the fish left on the dry river bed. There were, however, few fish, so they decided to go further down the river to try their lick again. Kancil ordered Swine to stay behind with their catch. He himself went with Tiger and Elephant further downstream where the tree of them began their work all over again.
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant Story

Meanwhile, a giant came to the place where Swine sat. As soon as he saw the glittering fish, he grabbed them greedily and stuffied them what into his mouth. It was useless for Swine to protect and the giant did not even listen to him. Swine ran toward his friends and told them had happened. Of course, the three others were bot very pleased.

Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant StoryThe second time, too, they did not catch enough fish. did not even listen to him. Ordered Tiger to stay behind with their second catch, while he, Swine and Elephant went further away to dam the river at another place. As soon as the three of them were out of sight, the hungry giant came from behind the bushes and ate up all the fish. Tiger snarled angrily, but he did not dare to fight the giant.

Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant StoryWhen the other animals came back with their catch they found a very ashamed Tiger without a single fish. Kancil scolded him until he became red in the face. Now it was Elephant’s turn to play guard.

“You are so big. Friend Elephant. Certainly, we can trust you to defend our fish,” said Kancil.

For the third time the giant came to eat the fish. When Elephant saw how big he was, he became afraid and let the giant steal their fish. Kancil and the others came back, they found the basket empty again. Kancil was very angry with his three friends. He shouted, “What’s the use of having such big and strong bodies, if you can’t even chase away one single giant. This time I will stay here myself. Do you think I am too small to do this job? Go away , the three of you, and catch as a many fish as you can. When you come back, you will find that robber lying here in front of me, bound and helpless.”

  Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant Story
After Swine, Tiger and Elephant had gone away, Kancil plucked a big bunch of reeds from the river side. He tied these reeds around his body. Then lying down under the nearest tree, he bound the reed ends to the roots of the tree. He was very busy tying himself when the giant came. Kancil pretended not to see him and went on with his work. The giant became curious and instead of grabbing the fish he stopped to look sown at Kancil and asked what he was doing.

“Well. Well. Don’t you know what is going happen today?” asked Kancil in a surprised tone.

“What is going to happen today?” asked the giant curiously.

“I thought everybody knew about it,” answered Kancil. “You must have been asleep when Nabi Sulaiman came into the forest to warn all the animals about the big flood. The big flood will carry everybody away to the see, unless he takes precaution to be safe.”

“Oh, I have not heard about this flood,” answered the giant, who believe every word Kancil said, “Tell me, what do you do to avoid being carried away?”

“Don’t you see what I am doing” said Kancil. “I bind myself to these roots, so that the water will not drag me away
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant Story

“That’s a very good idea,” said the stupid giant. “Won’t you help me a little?”

“Why not? I am always ready to help somebody in need,” answered Kancil. “But these reeds are not strong enough to hold your heavy body. Why don’t you go into the forest and collect a big bunch of thick rattan? I shall wait for you here. But hurry, we don’t have much time as the flood will come soon after noon.”

Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant Story

The stupid giant, afraid of losing his life, ran into the woods and soon came back with a big load of rattan. Kancil told him to bind his own legs tightly together with the rattan, then sit with his back  against a big tree so that Kancil could help him tie his body against the tree trunk. The giant did everything Kancil said. Soon he was sitting boud and helpless against the tree. To be  completely safe, Kancil wound several more pieces of rattan round him so that the giant could hardly move.

Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the giant Story
Then the clever little animal called out to his friends who were still busy catching fish some distance away. Swine, Tiger and Elephant did not have much trouble killing their enemy.

Of course, Kancil did not tell them that he had tricked the giant, and the other three animals thought that he had fought with him. They all admired his enormous strength. They gave Kancil the biggest share of the fish, and after having finished their meal each of them went his own way.

A fish on dry land

Text Narrative Story - a fish on dry land
(Favourite stories from Chinese)

Chuang Tzu’s family was very poor. One day, he went to see a rich man to borrow some rice from him. The rich man said, “All right, I will lend you some rice. But please wait until my brother pays me back some money which he owes me. I shall then be able to give you three hundred pieces of silver as well.”

Chuang Tzu kept quiet for a long time. He then said to the rich man, “I want to tell you a story. As I was returning home yesterday, I saw a fish lying by the roadside, “Help! Help!” it called out. “I cannot breathe, please put me back to the sea.”

“I am now on my way to visit a relative living near the Western sea,” I replied. “I shall send you some water from there.”

“That will be too late,” the fish replied. “Unless you put me back in the water straight away, I shall die.”

“this, sir,” said Chuang Tzu to the rich man, “reminds me of your answer. If you want to help, you should do so now. Otherwise it will be too late.”

The rich man lent him some rice without saying any more.

Source: Favourite stories from Chinese by Leon Comber

shared by www.englishstory12.blogspot.com

The cunning tiger

folklore - The cunning tiger
(Favourite stories from Taiwan)

An old lady lived at the edge of the jungle near Lan Po in southern Taiwan. Her two daughter lived with her. Their names were Ah Yu and Ah fung.

One day the old lady had to go on journey. Before she left, she said to her daughter, “If anyone knocks on the door at night, do not open it.”

Late that night, someone knocked on their front door, “Who is it?” Ah Yu , the elder daughter called out.

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“It’s your auntie. I’ve come to stay with you while your mother is away.”

Ah Fung opened the door. There was an old lady standing outside. The two sisters invited her in.

“Don’t be afraid,” the old lady said. “I have come to look after you while your mother is away. I am very tired and I would like to sleep here.”

Ah Fung asked her to sleep with her in her room.

In the middle of the night, Ah Yu heard the sound of someone eating in her sister’s room. “Yum. Yum! Oh, that was very tasty!”

“Sister, sister!” she called out. “What are you doing?”

“It’s all right,” the old lady said. “We’re eating some food. Go back to sleep.”

But Ah Yu went outside and looked through the window into her sister’s room. She saw the old lady eating her sister. She ran away as fast as she could and climbed a tall tree.

The next morning, the old lady came out of the house to look for her. She saw Ah Yu sitting on top of the tree.

“Come down,” she called out, “Or I’ll come and get you,”

“Please wait!” Ah Yu answered. “I’ve caught a bird and I want to eat it. Can you please bring me a pot of boiling oil so that I can cook the bird and eat it? Then I will come down.”

The old lady brought a pot of boiling oil. She tied it to a rope which Ah Yu dropped from the top of the tree. Ah Yu soon purled it up.

“I have a surprised for you.” She said, “Please close your eyes and open your mouth.” The old lady did as she was told.

Ah Yu then poured the boiling oil into the old lady’s mouth. In a second, she changed into a tiger, and ran off.

Ah Yu had been too clever for her. But Ah Yu never disobey her mother gain after that.

Source: Favourite stories from Taiwan by Leon Comber & Charles Shuttleworth

shared by www.englishstory12.blogspot.com