The Boy and the Nuts

A little boy once found a jar of nuts on the table.
"I would like some of these nuts," he thought. "I'm sure Mother will give them to me if she were here. I'll take a big handful." So he reached into the jar and grabbed as many as he could hold.
But when he tried to pull his hand out, he found the neck of the jar was too small. His hand was held fast, but he did not want to drop any of the nuts.
He tried again and again, but he couldn't get the whole handful out. At last he began to cry.
Just then his mother came into the room. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"I can't take this handful of nuts out of the jar," sobbed the boy.
"Well, don't be so greedy," his mother replied. "Just take two or three, and you'll have no trouble getting your hand out."
"How easy that was," said the boy as he left the table. "I might have thought of that myself."

Source : Nomor1

Wang The Peddler

Once upon a time, a simple man named Wang lived in a village in long ago early Han times. Only a narrow, rough path led to this village, so merchants, officials, and travelers rarely visited. To sell his charcoal, Wang knew he must become the traveler, and make the journey to the city.

Wang shouldered his long carrying pole. At each end, swung wide bamboo baskets stacked high with charcoal.  

"What present would you like me to bring you," he asked his pretty young wife. 

"A comb!" she cried. "A beautiful comb like those of the imperial court!" The combs they used in the country at that time were made of wood. "A comb like that!" she cried, pointing to the crescent of the golden moon.

After a long trip, Wang arrived safely at the city gates. He sold his charcoal for a good price. Made bold by the string of cash he now carried, he looked around the city for his wife's present. The city was so very pretty, with banners of red and yellow and green and blue hung from shop fronts and balconies. It was very noisy with the racket of shop men and shouting buyers.

Wang rubbed his chin. What was it his wife had wanted? He had forgotten! Perhaps a pair of leather slippers? Or a warm fur coat? It was getting dark. The shops would soon be closed. Early in the morning, he had to return to the village. Suddenly, he noticed the moon. It was round, so very round. She wanted something round, he thought. He looked  in shop after shop for something to make his young wife happy.

Suddenly, he spotted the perfect gift. He wrapped his purchase in a piece of cotton cloth and hurried off, with only one bow to the shopkeeper. Wang had bought a mirror. He did not even know what a mirror was. He only knew that it was round.

Sumber : China mrdonn 

 

The Keeper of the Geese

Englishstory12 - A young man, who had gone out hunting in the woods, met an old woman who was bent over with age, and bent even further under the weight of an enormous bundle of firewood. The young man immedi­ately offered to carry her load himself. He soon realised that it was much heavier than he had thought. He tried to slip the bundle off his back, but found that it was stuck to him as though it had taken root. The old woman was really a witch who had trapped him with a spell, so he had no choice but to follow her home. There also was the old woman’s daughter, looking after the geese, and she too was very old and very ugly.

 The young man was prepared for the worst, but the witch released him at once from the spell, and in thanks for having carried home her firewood, she gave him out of her jewel box an emerald with an inlaid pearl.

Sometime later, the queen noticed this unusual jewel and recognised the pearl as one of the teardrops of her daughter, who had been stolen away years before. She made the hunter recount his strange tale, and then begged him to take her to the old woman's house. They had almost reached the house, when they spied the old woman's daughter on the river bank. To their amazement, as they watched she took off her grey wig, and dirty old furs she was wearing, to emerge as a beautiful fair maiden at once, the queen recognised her long lost daughter and cried out to her, Which brought the witch onto the scene .... only the witch was not really a witch at all, but a good fairy disguise who had freed the kidnapped princess from the evil ogre who had captured her. Afterwards the fairy had been obliged to disguise them to keep them from falling again into the clutches of the wicked ogre. The hunter and the princess fall in love at first sight. The fairy cast one more magic spell and conjured up an enchanted castle where the couple lived a long and happy life together.

How Hans the Giant Became a Woodsman

Englishstory12.blogspot.com - Hans the giant decided to work as a woodcutter. On his first day, however, he was not even interested in trying to make a good impression. In the morning, when his colleagues came to wake him to start working in the woods, he just stayed in bed. When he finally did decide to get up, the first thing he did was to make chick-pea soup, and then he ate the entire potful. Chick-peas were the secret source of his enormous strength! Then off he went into the woods, pulled up the two biggest trees he could find, and loaded them onto his cart.

On the way back, Hans found the path blocked by a barrier of fallen trees. But it only took a moment for him to decide what to do: he simply lifted his cart, the two trees, and the horse, high above his head, and set them down on the other side.

The owner of the woodyard was delighted to see Hans back before anybody else, with two huge trees. Hans, however, did not spend any time chatting. He went back to bed.

When the rest of the woodsmen arrived back, they went at once to complain to the owner. “'Hans is still in bed!” they said, “True,” said the owner, “but while he's there he still manages to get a little work done.” And he pointed to the two enormous tree trunks in the woodyard.

The legend of Surabaya

Englishstory12.blogspot.com - Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia and what follows is a legend of how the city got its name.

A very long time ago, in the sea near the Javanese coast called Tanjung Perak, there lived a variety of sea animals. They all lived in peace and harmony with the exception of an octopus, called Cumi who could not get along with the other sea creatures. Cumi was very cruel.

One day Cumi went to one of the sea creatures’ home, a fish named Suro. Cumi tells Suro that one of the crocodiles, named Boyo, will soon attack Suro. Suro and Boyo are best friends and kind to each other, so Suro does not believe Cumi.

Cumi continues to lie to Suro but Suro does not believe him. Later, Cumi goes to the home of Boyo, the crocodile. Boyo also does not believe Cumi, but Cumi’s lies become so believable that finally Boyo believes what Cumi has to say. He gets upset and swims in a hurry to the home of Suro.  Boyo is angry and very strong. He attacks Suro and wounds him. Suro remains calm and does not fight back. But knowing that Boyo never stop attacking him, Suro begins to fight. The fight becomes so fierce that the sea turns red with their blood.

In the place where they fought, a city called Suroboyo was built. Suroboyo is a Javanese word derived from the name of the two fighting sea creatures. Suro means brave and Boyo means danger. Suroboyo (which is now translated as Surabaya in the Indonesian language) means Brave in Danger.

Sumber ; dougandyuli.com