The Snake Prince

  Once upon a time, in a village in Sabah, there lived a couple who had two daughters. Sura, the elder daughter, helped their mother with the housework. The younger daughter, Suri, helped their father in the vegetable patch.

One day Suri found a large green ketola ular (snake gourd) in the vegetable patch. She was very pleased and put the ketola ular in her basket to take home.

That evening, Suri’s mother cooked the ketola ular for din­ner. The family were just beginning to eat when a loud voice called, “Who stole my ketola ular?”

In the doorway was a large snake! It was the largest snake Suri had ever seen. In fact, not even their father had ever seen a larger snake.       

 “Who stole my ketola ular” asked the snake again. No one said a word.

“If you don’t tell me, I shall destroy the village,” said the snake.

Suri, who was a very brave girl, walked towards the snake. “Please don’t destroy our village,” she said. “I took your ketola ular.”

The snake looked at Suri. She was a very beautiful girl. “Well,” it said, “if you marry me, I won’t destroy your village.”

Suri did not want the village destroyed, so she agreed to marry the snake.

 The next day the villagers built an atap hut for Suri and the snake near the river in the jungle. Suri’s parents and her sister took her to the hut and she became the snake’s wife.

Several weeks passed. At least once a week Suri’s father and mother came to visit her. They wanted to be sure she was all right. Luckily Suri was happy, for the snake treated her kindly.

Then, one night when the moon was full, Suri looked out of the hut and saw the snake near the river. To her surprise she saw it slip snake skin off.  Out stepped a handsome young man. The young man left the skin on the river bank and began to swim. Suri could not believe her eyes.

She ran to the river and picked up the snakeskin.  It imme­diately changed into a fine silk robe. Then the handsome young man stepped out of the river.

“Who are you?” Suri asked.

“I am a prince,” said the young man. “And you are my wife, so you are a princess.”

They walked back to their hut together, but the hut had become a palace!

When Suri’s parents next came to see her, they were amazed and delighted. Suri’s mother thought  about  the good luck Suri had. On the way back to the village, she thought about her other daughter, Sura. She knew of a cave in the jungle where a large snake lived. If that snake were a prince too, then both daughters could be happily married.

The next day, she took Sura to the cave in the jungle. Sura was afraid of the snake, but her mother told her not to worry and left her there alone.

In the morning Sura’s mother returned to the cave. There she found the snake, which now looked even larger than be­fore, but Sura was nowhere to be seen. In fright, Sura’s mother ran to the palace to find Suri and the prince.

“I introduced Sura to a snake,” she cried. “But I don’t think he is a prince. And Sura has disappeared!”

The prince ran to the cave where he found the snake. He drew his knife and carefully cut open the snake’s belly. Luckily, Sura was inside and still alive. The prince carried her back to the palace so his doctors could take care of her. He then invited the whole family to live in the palace where he could protectthem.

When Sura was well again, the prince found her another prince to marry, and he, too, came to live in the palace. They all lived happily in the palace of the snake prince to the end of their days.

 

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.

Stone in the road

So, he tugged the stone. It was a hard work because the stone was very heavy
The boy was so surprised to find a bag under the stone
Upon the bag was written:
"THIS GOLD BELONGS TO THE ONE WHO MOVES THE STONE!"

Stone in the road

Once upon a time, lived a rich and wise king. His palace was near a small village. He loved his people. The king did anything to help the villagers make their living. He also gave the children presents on their birthday. However, what the king did made the villagers lazy. They thought it was useless to work because the king would give them anything.

The king did not want his people become lazy. One day, he got up early in the morning and told his soldiers to put a big stone in the middle of the road near his palace and put a bag ofsome gold money under the stone. Then he waited to see what would happen.

A poor man came along riding a cow. He grumbled because the stone lay in his path. He walked around the stone and went on his way. Then a farmer came. He was on his way to themill. He complained, too. He did the same thing like the previous man.

So the day passed. Everyone who came across the stone were grumbling and complaining about it because it was blocking their way. However, no one tried to move it, even touched it.

When the dusk came, a boy passed the road. He looked very tired because he had been working very hard at the mill that day.

"It is almost dark. Somebody may stumble over this stone in the night and perhaps will be badly hurt. I'll remove it off the way," said the boy.

So, he tugged the stone. It was a hard work because the stone was very heavy. However, the boy was quite tough. He pulled and pushed it all the way and finally the stone was successfully removed.

The boy was so surprised to find a bag under the stone. Upon the bag was written: "THIS GOLD BELONGS TO THE ONE WHO MOVES THE STONE!"

The boy went home happily and the king, relieved, went back to his palace. He was glad that finally he found someone who was not afraid of working hard.