The Gift from Father Cristmas

It is night before Christmas: the big house is completely silent. The children are in a deep sleep in their little beds.

Suddenly, the loud ringing of bells breaks the silence.

At once, a little pair of bare feet jump out of bed and run to the window; a small face, topped with curly hair, squashes its nose against the freezing glass. Two big eyes look out and, lo and behold, there is a long sleight, pulled by reindeer and driven by a corpulent and capable father Christmas (Yes, it really is Father Christmas!). He jumps down from his sleigh.It is night before Christmas: the big house is completely silent. The children are in a deep sleep in their little beds.

Suddenly, the loud ringing of bells breaks the silence.

At once, a little pair of bare feet jump out of bed and run to the window; a small face, topped with curly hair, squashes its nose against the freezing glass. Two big eyes look out and, lo and behold, there is a long sleight, pulled by reindeer and driven by a corpulent and capable father Christmas (Yes, it really is Father Christmas!). He jumps down from his sleigh.

With surprising agility for his size, Father Christmas lets himself down the chimney, into the large and silent living-room. His bright red suit has large soon stains here and there, but his face, framed in his great white beard still beams.

Without delay, he sets to work and soon fills the long bright sock which hang from the fireplace. Then he pulls out all the bigger presents and, in a few moments, they are in position beside the tree.

Hurry!! The night is short! Father Christmas disappears quickly back up the chimney.

Once again the bells are heard, and the sleigh vanishes into the dark sky above.

The Christmas Lunch

On the first day of Christmas week, the father brought home a huge turkey that he had bought in the market square. On the second day, he brought home two partridges to the mother. On the third day of Christmas week, he brought home three smoked salmon. On the fourth day, the mother received four pounds of butter, and on the fifth, five bags of flour, on the sixth day of Christmas week, the father brought home six sacks of walnuts and on the seventh he handed the mother seven baskets of mandarins.

On Christmas morning, the mother took the huge turkey, the two partridges, the three smoked salmon, the four pounds of butter, the five bags of flour, the six sack of walnuts, and the seven baskets of mandarins, and prepared a mouth-watering Christmas  lunch.

She then set the table with her best plates and decorated it with the little twigs of holly …. And, at last all the family and their friends finally sat down to eat their traditional Christmas lunch 

The dragon with a hundred heads

A knight on his way through a deep wood, suddenly spied a monstrous dragon in the thick of the forest. He was a very brave man and had often fought and defeated dozens of even bigger dragons. But this particular dragon had one hundred long necks as many heads, and the same number of terrible, gaping jaws!

It would have been easy a dragon with three heads or even seven, but a hundred! He decided he had no choice but to flee. He was wrong in his judgment. It was because of its tangle of necks that the dragon would never have been able to get free from the thick undergrowth. It could therefore have been easily defeated.

A little later, the knight spied a second dragon in the thickets  before him. This time the dragon had only one head, and thus the knight approached it fearlessly, sword in hand. But, although this dragon had only one head, it had one hundred legs, and in moments it rushed so quickly through the thicket, that it caught the reckless knight and made mincemeat of him.

This story shows that it is better to have a hundred legs that obey you, that a hundred heads to give orders

Beloved Orlando and the Magic Flower

Orlando was engaged to be married to a young girl. One day, this girl discovered that her stepmother, an evil witch was planning to kill her. To save her live she fled with her beloved Orlando. Firstly, however Orland stole the witch’s magic wand.

When the wicked stepmother learnt of their escape, she put on her seven league boots and caught up with the two young people in no time at all. They heard her coming and Orlando waved the magic wand, transforming the girl into a flower, and himself into a violin.

But the witch realized that the beautiful flower was her stepdaughter and was about to pick it, when the violin began to play. Because it was a magic violin, the witch could not prevent herself from dancing faster and faster, until, at last she fell down from exhaustion. Before she expired, however she caused Orlando to lose his memory. So, when the effect of the magic wore off, and the violin became Orlando again, he no longer remembered that the flower was his love and he went away, leaving it where it was.

The red flower was later picked by a shepherd who took it home and put it in a vase, from that day on when the shepherd came home each evening from the pasture, he found the house in perfect order. He soon realized that there was a magic at work and so, one day he pretended to leave as normal, but hid himself instead in the wardrobe. And so he discovered that it was the flower which was working the magic. Immediately the shepherd recited a spell which he himself had learnt from a magician and the flower changed back into the beautiful young maiden again.

Later, the young women in the country were invited to sing at celebration for the new prince, who was none other than the maiden’s beloved brought back his memory, and Orlando recognized her at once and insisted on marrying her that very day with the good shepherd as the best man.

Openg and the elephant

Narrative teks - Openg and the elephant

Years ago many elephants lived on the slopes of Mount Murud. In a new village nearby, there lived a young man called Openg. Openg was tall and handsome, and he was the strongest man in the village. Openg and the other villagers built their longhouse near the river before they knew that the elephants lived nearby.

One day when the women were washing in the river, a heard of wild elephants attacked them. Hearing the screams, Openg and the other men rushed out of the longhouses. When they saw the wild elephants running towards them, they turned and ran into the jungle. Openg and his friends hid in the jungle until evening. Then they returned to the village.

The village had almost been destroyed by the elephants.

Some of the women had been killed. That night, Openg met with the  other men.

“Why did the elephants do this?” one man asked. “We have done^. nothing to hurt them.”

“We have built our village in the wrong place,” said Openg. “This is where the elephants drink from the river.”

"Then we must move our village,” said another man.

“Yes,” said Openg, “but first we must hunt for the leader of the elephant herd. Otherwise the elephants will attack us.”

And so, the men decided to hunt for the elephant leader the next day. In the morning they set off with their spears and their parangs. Openg and his men walked quietly through the jungle. They kept their eyes and ears open, but for a long time they neither saw nor heard the elephants. In thick forest, even an elephant can hide very easily if he doesn't move. But it is difficult to stand still for a long time, and suddenly the elephant leader moved from its hiding place.

Openg saw a few leaves tremble. Then there was a loud roar, and the lead elephant rushed out of the bushes to attack the men.

“Quick,” cried Openg as he threw his spear at the elephant. The other men threw their spears, but it was Openg's spear which pierced the elephant's heart.

The elephant swayed from side to side. It killed two of the hunters with its powerful trunk, and then, with a loud groan, it fell. Some of the hunters rushed to cut the elephant with their parangs.

“Enough!” cried Openg. “It's dead.”

The hunters laid down their parangs and looked at the dead elephant. “He was a brave leader,” said Openg. “Come, let us go back to the village.”

Openg and the hunters returned to the village. They re­built the longhouses, and lived there for many years. The elephant herd never again returned to the village.

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 protect them.

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.