Kamis, 07 Oktober 2010

The Fox and the Crow

Miss Crow had stolen a big piece of cheese, and flew on to a branch to enjoy it. A sly fox, who invented the cheese for himself, came up and spoke politely to her.
“Oh, Miss Crow, how beautiful you are! What a lovely beak, what lovely feathers you have! What pretty eyes! If only you could sing, you would be the most beautiful bird in the world!”
Very pleased to her all of this about herself, Miss Crow gave a loud croak to show that she could sing. Of course, the moment she opened her beak, the cheese fell down, and Mr. Fox ran away with it, laughing loudly.
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The Lost Caterpillar

Seven worms were walking happily. Their mother was leading them. They had just had their breakfast on a big tree near a river. “Come on, children. Let’s go home,” Mama Worm said.
Suddenly, a cricket said, “Your last child is ugly!” “Ugly?” asked Mama Worm. Then she looked at the child. He was not the same as her other children. “Hey, ugly!” she said. “You are not my child. Go away!”
The little brown worm walked away. He was very sad. When he was near a lake, he looked into the water.
“Oh, how ugly I am,” he cried.
“You are not ugly,” said a voice. “Oh, I find you, my child.”
The worm looked around. There was a beautiful big caterpillar and her children. They all looked the same as he.
“They may call you Ugly,” said Mother Caterpillar. “But you are the most beautiful child in the world. One day, you will turn into a beautiful butterfly.”
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The Magic Candle

One day a young wanderer got lost in a wood. Suddenly he was a light from an old hut. He knocked on the door, and old woman opened it. She was crying. She said that the devil had stolen her magic candle. The candle could grant anything she asked. The wanderer asked where the devil lived. “In a castle not far from here,” said the old woman.
The wanderer went to the castle. There she found the devil, but he was old and weak. Therefore when the wanderer grabbed the magic candle from the devil’s table and ran away, he couldn’t chase him.
But the wanderer was not a kind man. He didn’t return the candle to the old woman, but kept it for himself. He lit the candle and made a wish, “I want to go far away from here.” Suddenly the genies appeared and took him to a beautiful palace. There was a party in the palace. The wanderer wanted to make some money. So he lit the candle again and wished for some jewellery. He sold them to the guests and was soon making a lot of money. Then the Princess came to buy the jewellery, but there was nothing left.
The wanderer fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. The kind Princess said yes, and they got married the next day. In this happiness, the wanderer told the Princess about his adventure and the magic candle. Hearing that, the Princess got very angry. At night she lit the candle and wished that the wanderer disappeared.
In the morning, the wanderer awoke and found himself back in his ugly house in a village.
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The Bears and the Two Travelers

Two men were traveling together when a bear suddenly met them on their path.
One of them quickly climbed up a tree and hid among the branches. The other, feeling that he would be attacked, fell flat on the ground.
The Bear came up and felt him with his snout, and smelt him all over. The man held his breath, and pretended to be dead.
The Bear soon left him, because it is said that bears will not touch a dead body.
When the Bear was quite gone, the other traveler came down out of the tree. With a clever grin he inquired of his friend, “Just what was it that the Bear whispered in your ear?”
His companion replied, “He gives me this advice: Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger.”
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The Vain Little Mouse

Little Mouse lived in a little house. One day, when she was sweeping the floor, she found a coin.
She said, “With this coin, I’m going to buy a nice red bow for my hair. I’ll look beautiful!”
She was really beautiful with the red bow in her hair. She sat next to the window so that everybody could see her.
“Little Mouse, you do look pretty,” said the donkey. “Will you marry me?”
And she asked, “What will you do at night?”
“I will bray like this,” said the donkey. And he brayed.
“Oh, no. I’ll get frightened,” said Little Mouse.
Then the dog asked her, “Little Mouse, you do look beautiful. Why don’t you marry me?”
“What will you do at night?” asked Little Mouse.
“I will bark like this,” said the dog. And he barked.
“Oh, no. I’ll get frightened,” said Little Mouse.
Finally the cat asked her, “Beautiful Little Mouse, will you marry me?”
“And what will you do at night?” asked Little Mouse.
“I’ll sing like this,” said the cat. And he sang a beautiful song.
“Yes, I will marry you,” said Little Mouse.
So they get married, but on their wedding night, guess what! The cat didn’t sing his beautiful song. He ate the vain little mouse.
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The Legend of Jaka Tarub

Jaka Tarub is the hero of a legend that is very popular among the people of Central Java. Although he was only the son of a simple farmer, he was handsome as well as kind, honest and brave. He liked to help other people. He was always sided with those who were weak but innocent and those who were poor but honest.
One day, a long time ago, when he was returning home from hunting, he happened to pass by a lake. How amazed he was to see several beautiful girls bathing in the lake amid a dense jungle.
Jaka Tarub had reached the age of marriage, and he thought of possibility of getting of the pretty girls as his wife.
As he was thinking hard of a way to get acquitted with any one of them, he caught sight of their clothes, which were piled up under a tree on the bank of the lake. He decided to steal one of the garments. That was what he did and then he did.
After they had finished their bath, the girls walked ashore to fetch their garments. One of them, however, screamed suddenly and wept as she found that her own garment was gone. While they were searching for the lost garment, a rainbow appeared in the sky and glided down towards the lake. Now it was time for them to go back to heaven. As the other girls climbed up the rainbow on their way back to the sky, the one whose clothes had been lost was left alone, weeping, for she could not enter heaven without her heavenly dress.
Seeing this, Jaka Tarub was astonished greatly, because he now knew that they were certainly not ordinary women but nymphs. He felt very sorry for the poor nymph and decided to approach her.
How surprised the nymph was when she saw Jaka Tarub standing before her. She at once thought that he must be the thief who had stolen her clothes, so she blamed and scolded him.
He begged her pardon for what he had done and told her the reason. The sympathetic manners of the handsome boy impressed her so much that she was at once willing to forgive him. She begged the gods as well to pardon him and the gods blessed them. The two soon fell in love with each other.
In no time Jaka Tarub and the nymph, who now had been changed by the gods into a very beautiful ordinary maiden, got married and lived happily ever after.
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Tangkuban Parahu

Long time ago in West Java, there lived a woman named Dayang Sumbi. She was thirsting for a husband. Along her life she kept praying and praying. At last, God heard her pray. A male dog picked her up and Dayang Sumbi got married to the dog and called the dog ‘Tumang’. After years, Dayang Sumbi gave a birth to baby and named him Sangkuriang. Unfortunately, Dayang Sumbi never told Sangkuriang who his father was.
One day, Sangkuriang was hunting with Tumang in the forest and he found nothing except a little animal. He blamed Tumang for the failure and then he killed Tumang. When Dayang Sumbi knew that she hit Sangkuriang’s head with a big spoon and expelled him.
Many years later, Sangkuriang wandered and found an old house in the forest. Sangkuriang came closer to the house and there was an old beautiful woman. The woman, Dayang Sumbi, recognized the wanderer as Sangkuriang.
Unintentionally, Sangkuriang forced Dayang Sumbi to marry him. Dayang Sumbi agreed to marry him but Sangkuriang had to build a vast boat, just in one night.
At night, Sangkuriang called his friends, ghosts and fairies to help him. Feared with the boat to complete, Dayang Sumbi asked other women in her village to help her. Then the women punched the grains with grain puncher to make noise which disturbed the ghosts and fairies.
The morning came before Sangkuriang completed the boat. Unfortunately the fairies and the ghosts also left Sangkuriang alone. Finaly Sangkuriang got very angry and kicked away the boat to the downside, which finally turned into a mountain, called Tangkuban Parahu.
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The Naughty Brothers

Kim and Sandra were doing their homework from school. They had to make a cloth puppet and a paper house.
At noon, Kim and Sandra left their room to have lunch in the dining room. While they were busily eating and chatting, their brothers Alex and Tim sneaked into the bedroom. They took the puppets and him them behind the wardrobe.
After lunch, Kim and Sandra couldn’t find the puppets anywhere. They searched everywhere, but still the puppets were missing. Meanwhile, Alex and Tim were playing outside. Kim and Sandra cried, because they would not be able to hand in their puppets the next day.
In the morning, Tim remembered that they hadn’t returned the puppets to the girls. “Here are the puppets. I’m sorry we hid them yesterday,” Tim said. Grandma was very angry. “Don’t ever do that again!” she said. Kim and Sandra handed in their puppets and paper house to their teacher, and they got very good marks.
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The Lion and the Mouse

Under the shady tree, Mr. Lion was lying asleep. Suddenly he was awakened by a mouse running over his face. “How dare you are!” he roared and raised his paw to kill the mouse.
“Please, Sir,” begged Miss Mouse. “Let me go and one day I may do something for you in return.”
“You help me! Ha … ha …,” laughed Mr. Lion but he let her go.
One day, Mr. Lion was caught in a net spread by hunters.
“I can’t get out!” he roared angrily.
“But I can help you,” said a tiny voice, and up ran Miss Mouse, who nibbled and gnawed at the ropes until the lion was free.
“There,” she said proudly. “If you had not let me go, I would not have found a way to help you.”
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The King’s New Clothes

Once there was a king who loved new clothes.
One day two men came to the castle and told the king, “For two bags of gold, we are going to make you some beautiful, magic clothes. Only you are going to be able to see them.”
The king was very excited. The men said, “Your clothes are going to be finished in two weeks, on July 14.” The king went to his calendar and marked July fourteenth to be a holiday. “Everyone is going to celebrate my new clothes with me,” he said.
On July sixth, the king went to see the two men. They worked fast and hard, but the king didn’t see any clothes. The men said, “Remember, these are magic clothes.”
On July fourteenth, the king’s magic clothes were ready. After two men helped the king get dressed, the king rode into town. He wanted everyone to see his magic clothes. The people were surprised. There were no clothes to see! A small boy said, “The king isn’t wearing any clothes!” The king looked at himself and quickly rode back to his castle. He looked for the two men, but they and the gold were gone. “I was very foolish,” said the king.
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Turtle and Anansi

One day Turtle stopped to rest at the house of Anansi, the Spider. Turtle was tired and hungry. It was dinner time, but Anansi didn’t want to share his food. Anansi saw that Turtle had dirty feet, so he sent him to the lake to wash before dinner. Anansi then ate all the food.
When Turtle returned, there was no food left for him. Turtle was hungry as he left. But he invited Anansi to visit him some day.
Months later, Anansi came to see Turtle. Turtle invited Anansi to dinner. He then went to his underwater home to make the meal.
Anansi put rocks in his coat to make himself heavier. He jumped into the water and swam down to Turtle’s house. Turtle asked Anansi to take off his coat before he ate. When Anansi took off his coat, he floated up to the top of the lake. Turtle smiled and ate all the food.
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Van Winkle and Little Funny Men

One day Rip van Winkle didn’t want to work. So he went walking in the woods. There he met some funny little men who danced and sang:
“Come, van Winkle, dance and sing. You don’t have to do a thing. Having fun is what we do. We want you to have fun too.”
Rip danced all day with the funny little men. At the end of the day, he was very tired. He slept and he slept and he slept. When he got up, all the little men were gone.
Rip went back to town. Everything was different! His house wasn’t there! His friends weren’t there! Rip asked, “Where is everyone I know?” A woman said, “Rip, you went away twenty years ago. Where did you go?” He told the story about the funny little men. He told about sleeping. “Rip,” said the woman, “Look at your beard. It’s all white. You slept for twenty years!”
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