narrative text

 The Old Woman and The Sparrow

Once upon a time, there lived a kind hearted man and his wife. One morning, his wife found a poor little sparrow. She took it gently and fed it. To show its gratitude, the sparrow stayed with them and sang every morning. But there was an ill-tempered old woman who didn't like the sparrow. She cut the sparrow's tongue. That's why the bird flew away to its previous nest.

Knowing that their sparrow flew away, the kind man and his wife looked for the sparrow. They walked a long way, crossed the bridges, climbed the mountains and passed the woods.

At last, they could find the sparrow's nest. The sparrow welcomed them and provided a feast for them. Before they went home, the sparrow brought two baskets; one was large and looked heavy, and the other one was small and light. The sparrow asked them to choose only one. They chose the small and that was the best choice. There were many rolls of silk and piles of gold in it.

Being jealous, the ill-tempered old woman did the same thing as the kind man and his wife did. She chose the big basket which actually contained wasps and venomous crawlers, such as scorpions, centipedes, and other horrible creatures. Finally, aaathey stung and bit her to death.

HERMIT

Many years ago, there lived a hermit in a forest in Sumatra. He did not grow food but depended on the jungle fruit to survive. Soon, there was a drought, and all the plants and fruit trees in the jungle died.

The old man had nothing to eat now, so he turned to begging. He went to a nearby village trying to get some food. At first, the villagers were happy to help him. However, when he came continually, they refused to give him any more food. They told him to grow his own food.

One day, while the hermit was sitting in his hut, sad and hungry, he began to think about growing his own food. Just then, a boatman stopped by and taking a pity on hermit gave him some “paddy” seeds.

Before the boatman went away, he said, “These seeds will grow and give you everlasting harvest if you work very hard. If you are tired of the work, the “paddy” plants will turn into weeds.”

The old hermit worked hard to clear the land and sowed the seeds before the rain came. Strangely, after a short period of time, the “paddy” was ready for harvesting. The old man got a lot of rice from the harvest. After each harvest, the plants grew back again right away.

When the villagers heard about the hermit and his wonderful “paddy”, they flocked to his “paddy” field and took home as much “paddy” as they could.

One day, hermit became so tired of harvesting the “paddy then he shouted,” Oh, stop growing, you wretched thing!” As soon as he had said this, the “paddy” plants turned into weeds.