The buffalo and the monkey

A monkey wanted to cross a river to eat some bananas on the other side. Unfortunately, he did not know how to swim. He asked a buffalo to carry him across on his back.

“All right,” said the buffalo. “Jump on. I’ll swim across. There’s some very tasty grass on the other side which I would like to eat.”

So the monkey rode on the buffalo’s back across the river. When they reached the other side, the monkey jumped off. He ran to eat as many banana as he could. The buffalo was quite happy eating the long grass.

After some time, the monkey wanted to return home. He asked the buffalo to take him back. But the buffalo told him to wait a little longer as he had not yet finished eating.

The naughty monkey began to sing. He made such a loud noise that a farmer, who was working in a nearby field, came to see what was the matter. He shouted at the buffalo, “Thief! Thief! Why are you eating my grass?” he threw some stones at the buffalo.

When the farmer had gone, the monkey came out from where he had been hiding. The buffalo was holding his sore head. He had been hit by a stone.

“Oh, oh! Why did you make so much noise? If you had kept quite, the farmer wouldn’t have noticed me.”

The monkey did not know what to say.

The buffalo asked him to sit on his back to return across the river.

When they were half-way across, the buffalo said to the monkey, “I want to roll over and take a bath here.”

“Please don’t! the monkey begged. “I can’t swim.”

“That’s not my fault.” Replied the buffalo. “You like to sing and make a noise. I always like to roll over in the water. It’s so cool and pleasant and it will cure my headache.”

Without saying any more, he rolled over in the water.

Luckily, the monkey was holding on tightly otherwise he would have drowned.

When they reached the other side, the monkey jumped down from the buffalo’s back. He was very wet and frightened.

“I shall never give you trouble again.” He promised. The buffalo.

The two brothers

Once upon a time, there were two brothers who worked as farmers growing rice. They were both very good to each other.

One year, the elder brother had some rice to spare. He thought, I’d better give some to my younger brother. He has a large family to feed. That night, he carried a large sack of rice to his brother’s house. He left it outside the door.

The next day, he went to his store to count the remaining sacks of rice. He was surprised. He still had the same number as before. “How is it possible?” he asked himself. “I’d better take another sack of rice to my brother’s house tonight.”

So that night, after dark, he carried another sack of rice to his brother’s house. Once more, the next morning, he counted the number of sack of rice left in his store. He still had the same number as before.

“I can’t believe it,” he said. “All right, I’ll take another sack of rice to my brother’s house tonight.

That night, for the third time, he went to his brother’s house carrying a sack of rice on his back. The moon was very bright. He saw someone carrying a sack of rice coming towards him. It was his younger brother.

“Why, it’s you, younger brother,” he called out.

His younger brother stopped and put down the sack of rice he was carrying. without saying any more, they both understood what had happened. They laughed for a long time.

Terjemahan..... 

The four bald men

Once upon a time there were four bald men who lived In village near Phnom Penh. Wherever they went, children laughed and shouted at the, “Baldy! Baldy!” It was true that their heads were as smooth as turtle eggs.

One day, the four of them decided to go to Phnom Penh to find a doctor who could help them grow hair.

“If you will do exactly as I tell you,” said the doctor, “Your hair will grow as thick as rice in a field. But you must wash your heads only once in the magic well behind my house.”

The four bald men followed his advice. As soon as they had finished washing their heads, they clapped their hands with joy. Their heads were covered with thick black hair. All their friends said that they looked much younger.

After a while, they wanted to get married. “Everyone says how handsome we look now that we have hair. If we wash our heads once more, maybe we shall become even more good looking. It will then be very easy for us to find wives.”

They all rushed back to the magic well to wash their heads once more. This time, however, they washed away all the hair they had grown, and they became completely bald again.

“Aiyah!” they cried. What has happened! Perhaps we were too greedy. We should have obeyed the doctors instruction. Perhaps, if we ask him to forgive us, he will be able to help us grow hair again.”

They went to see the doctor, followed by a crowd of children laughing and pointing at their smooth bald heads.

“O Doctor!” they cried. “We disobeyed you and now we are bald and ugly again! Please help us to grow some hair.”

“I’m afraid I can do nothing more to help you,” the doctor said. “Your bald heads will always remind you of your greed and disobedience.”

They returned to their village much sadder then when they had left.

Terjemahan...... 

The stolen house

The stolen house story

Long, long ago, a charcoal-burner lived in Kangon Province of Korea. He was a very poor man. He lived by himself in a wooden hut on a hillside. All he owned was a large kettle which had been given to him by his father. It was so cold in winter that his slept inside in to keep himself warm.

One dark night, two thieves entered the hut and carried away the kettle. That did not know that the charcoal burner was sleeping inside it.

“Aigoo, aigoo!” they cried. “Why is the kettle so heavy?”

After carrying it for some distance, they decided to leave it in the middle of a field, as they could not carry it any further.

The next morning, when the charcoal-burner woke up and got out of the kettle, he cried out in fright, “What’s happened? Where’s my house? Some one must have stolen it while I was asleep. Help! Help!”

A farmer who was passing by stopped and asked him what was the matter.

“I’m only a poor man,” said the charcoal-burner. “I own nothing except a wooden hut and a kettle. But last night, someone stole my hut.”

The farmer was frightened. He ran back to his own house, and locked the front and back doors. He also nailed shut all the windows.

“What’s wrong?” his wife asked him.

“You know nothing.” Replied her husband. “There are strange thieves nowadays who steal house. Who has ever heard off anything like this before? We must be careful otherwise our own house will be stolen.”

The man in the red gown

Many, many years ago, the mountain people in the Ali Mountains of Taiwan were ruled by a government officer named Wu Fung. Wu Fung was a kind and honest man. He tried to change some of the cruel customs followed by the mountain people.

Every year, at the end of autumn, the mountain people celebrated the Harvest Festival. During the festival, a man’s head would be cut off and offered to the God of the Harvest. The mountain people believed that if this was not done the God of the Harvest would be angry and they would not have sufficient grain the next year.

“This is cruel custom,” Wu Fung told them.

“We have done it for as long as we can remember,” they replied. “You don’t understand our custom. You’re not one of us.

Wu Fung tried his best to explain to them that everyone should live in peace. “it’s wrong to take life,” he said.

He told them that it was the last time he could allow them to cut off a man’s head for the festival.

“When you see a man dressed in a red gown coming,” he said, “you must kill him and cut off his head.

The next morning, the mountain people were waiting. They saw an old man walking along the road towards their village. He was wearing a red gown. They aimed at him with their bows and arrows and shot him trough the heart. They quickly cut off his head. But they were surprised to see that is was Wu Fung.

They were very sad because they knew that Wu Fung was a good man. From that time, the cruel custom was stopped. Wu Fung had given his own life to make them understand that what he had told them was right.

Even today, Wu Fung is still remembered by the mountain people.

The monkey judgement

The monkey judgement story

One day, a dog and a fox were quarreling over a piece of meat. The dog said, “let me eat it!” the fox replied, “No. it belongs to me.”

They agreed to ask their friend, Mr. monkey, to decide the matter for them.

The monkey listened to what they had to say. “To be fair to both of you,” he said. “I shall divide the meat into two equal pieces and give you one each.”

He took a pair of scales and

a kitchen knife. He cut the meat into two pieces and weighed each of them on the scales.

On was heavier than the other.

He bit off a piece from the heavier portion, and weighed the two pieces again. This time, the other portion was heavier. He then bit off a piece from this portion. And weighed the two pieces. Once again, one piece was heavier that the other. He went on like this, weighing and biting off, until all the meat was finished.

“If we’d only known this,” the dog said to the fox, “We would never have asked the monkey to be the judge. Really, the old Korean saying is quite true—“It’s better to settle a case out of court than to to court and lose everything.”

Why the frog's eye bulge

Why the frog's eye bulge story

Once upon a time, the only fire on earth was guarded by two giants. No one dared ask them for any of it.

At long last, a brave man thought of  a plan. He called together all his animal friends and asked them to help him. He told a frog to wait just outside the village where he was living. A little beyond the frog, he placed a horse; beyond the horse, he placed a cat; beyond the cat, he  placed a dog and beyond the dog, he placed a lion. Beyond the lion was the house where the giants lived.

The man then went to call on the giants. They were pleased to see him as they felt rather lonely living by themselves.

“Can you please let me have some of your fire?” he asked them. “No one else has any fire at all.”

The giants shook their heads. “the fire belongs to us and we can’t give any of it away.” They replied.

The man then made a sign out of the window to the lion. The lion began to roar; the dog to bark; the cat to meow; the horse to neigh and the frog to croak. The giant rushed out to see what was the matter.

As soon as they did so, the man pick up a piece of burning wood from the fire. He ran away with it as fast as he could. The giant saw what had happened and chased after him. The man gave the piece of burning wood to the lion. It was soon passed on from animal to animal until it reached the frog. The frog hopped straight for the village. But the giant caught him by the tail. The poor frog was so frightened that his eyes almost fell out, he jumped once more and landed in the middle of village. Carrying the fire with him. But he left behind his tail in the giants’ hands. So the people in the village were able to obtain fire for the first time. but the poor frog lost his tail and his eyes have bulged ever since.