The False Sultan

Once there was an old sultan who had several wives. One of these wives was the mother of Prince Ibrahim. She was the sultan's favourite wife, and Prince Ibrahim was his favourite son. Another of the sultan's wives was called Fawziah, and she was the mother of Prince Hashim. Fawziah hated Prince Ibrahim because she knew that he would become sultan when the old sultan died. She wanted her own son, Prince Hashim, to become sultan.

One day Fawziah went to see a bomoh. The bomoh gave her a strong medicine made from roots. When Fawziah went back to the palace, she put this medicine in Prince Ibrahim's food.

The next clay Prince Ibrahim went hunting in the forest. Af­ter he ate lunch, he began to feel very ill. The poor prince felt so ill that he could not open his eyes or move. Luckily, a kind woodcutter found him and took him to his own house deep in the forest. When the prince was well again the woodcutter asked him who he was and where he had come from.

“I can't remember,” said Prince Ibrahim. “I don't know who I am or what I did before I came to the forest.”

“Well, in that case.” said the woodcutter, “I'll teach you how to cut wood. I can always use this help of a strong young man.” And so, the young prince became a woodcutter.

Meanwhile the old sultan had did. Before he died he had asked to seehis favourite son, but Fawziah told him thatPrince Ibrahim was outside the palace enjoying himself. This made the old man angry.

“So,” said the old sultan. “Prince Ibrahim thinks more of his own pleasure than of his old father. Bring me Prince Hashim instead.”

When Prince Hashim arrived, the old sultan gave him a beautiful keris. Its handle was made of gold and jewels, and its blade was of the finest steel. “Take thiskeris,” said the old sul­tan, “and the people will know that you are their ruler.” The old sultan gave the keris to Prince Hashim, but suddenly it flew out of his hand and fell to the floor with a loud crash.

Now the ministers who were watching began to worry. They knew that themagic keris would only stay in the hand ofthe true sultan. They said nothing though, because they did not know who the true sultan was.

When the old sultan died, Prince Hashim became the sul­tan. His first act was to send his mother away because he was afraid she might tell someone that she had poisoned Prince Ibrahim. Before she left, Fawziali asked the bomoh to curse her son, Sultan Hashim. She was never heard from again, but the bomoh's curse worked. The new sultan was cruel and unjust, there was little food, and many people were hungry and sick.

The ministerwent to see the sultan. “Your Majesty,”they said,“the people are unhappy. They are hungry and many of them are sick. They say all this is your fault, and we think you should let us rule the countr^y for a time.”

“Then they will say it is your fault,” said Sultan Hashim, and that is fine with me. I will tell the people about this change tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is my birthday.”

Now next morning , the sultan showed himself to his people. He also showed them the magic keris which was always shown to the people on the sultan's birthday. Now the magic keris was kept in a fine box. When the box was opened, everyone could see it. But this year, .when the box opened, the keris flew out and began dancing through the crowd of people who had come to see it. In a flash, the royal keris had landed at the feet of a young woodcutter.

“You!” cried the sultan instantly recognising  Prince Ibrahim “What are you doing here?” my mother poisoned you.”

When the people heard this they began to shout. Then they chased the cruel sultan out of the palace. The ministers watched happily as the young woodcutter held the keris in his hand. They then put the royal crown on his head.

Sultan Ibrahim ruled well. The country grew rich and the people were happy. He did not forget to reward his old friend the woodcutter who came to live at the palace, and the ministers were glad to have true sultan on the throne at last.

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 Magic Jar

Once there was a girl called San-San who lived with her father, her step-mother and her step-sister,  Mei. San-San's father loved her, but Mei and the step-mother did not. They of­ten told her she was a lazy girl, and made her work very hard.  From early morning until late at night San-san helped with the cooking, the cleaning and the washing.

One night San-San’s step-mother became very angry. “The rice is burned,” she shouted. “And the pork is too salty.”

 Sari-Sari bowed tier head and said nothing.

“Leave her alone,” said the father.  “I think the food is nicely cooked.”

Sari-San's step-mother said nothing, but she went to the kitchenand made some special tea. "The next Morning, San-San was working when her step-mother brought her the tea. “Drink this, my dear,” she said. “It will make you feel cool.”

San-San drank the tea, and before long she began to feel very sleepy. She went to her room where she soon fell fast asleep. When she woke up, it was already dark. Going into the kitchen, she found her father.

“I've saved you some dinner,” he said. Then he looked up from the table and cried, “San-San! What has happened to your hair?”

San-San, ran to the mirror and saw that all tier hair had fallen out; her head was as smooth as an egg. San-San began to cry. She rushed out of the house and into the woods where she finally sat down beneath a large tree and cried herself to sleep.

While she was sleeping, San-San had a dream. She dream that a beautiful goddes stood before tier, holding a jar.

“Take this jar of oil,” said the goddess. “Rub the oil on your head, and soon everything will be all right.”

When San-San woke up, she found a jar of oil by her side. She opened the jar and found that it was full of golden oil. San-Sancarefully rubbed the oil all over her head, and soon she could fell the hair growing back. Before long San-San had all her beautiful hair again, so she walked on through the woods.

Now, in these woods lived a kindly widow, the widow Ang. When San-San came to her house and told her what had hap­pened, the widow Ang said she could stay as long as she wanted. And so, San-san lived in the house of the widow Ang and was very happy there.

But San-San's father was not very happy. He did not know where his daughter had gone, and his wife shouted at him all day long. One day, he had a talk with his friend, the rice-mer­chant.

“Why don't we ask my son to find her,” said the rice-mer­chant. “He's clever boy, and he has plenty of free time. Beside, he's always liked your daughter.”

San-San's father liked this idea because he knew that the rice- merchant's son was a good young man. The next day the rice-merchant's son and his friend went out to look for San-San.

Together, the two young men looked all over the village. Then they looked in other villages nearby. One night, when they were staying in a strange village, thieves came to the house. The rice-merchant's son tried to fight the thieves, and he was badly hurt. The following morning he could not get out of bed, and so he asked his friend to look for San-Sari on his own.

Luckily, some people in the next village knew the widow Ang, and they knew that a girl was staying with her. They told the young man that a girl was staying with her. They told the young man to go to the house in the forest. When he found the house, he saw San-San standing near a window.

“San-San!” he cried. “I've found you at last. Your father is worried, and my friend, the rice-merchant's son, has been hurt looking for you.”

“Then I must go with you,” said San-San. Then she said to the widow, “I'll never forget your kindness.”

"That's all right.” said the widow Ang. “Run along now —your father and his young man need you.”

San-San and the young man ran through the forest to the village where the rice - merchant's son was lying. When he saw San-San, the rice-merchant's son thought she was very beauti­ful, and he soon fell in love with her. As soon as he was well enough to travel, they all went back to their own village.

San-San's father was very happy to see her. He asked her to come home, but San-San said she had other plans. Some­time later, San-San and the rice-merchant's son were married. Theysent many presents to the widow Ang, and after that had a long and happy life together.