The Treasure in the fire-place

There was once a peasant who led Aard and miserable life. Though he worked in his' field from morning till night, he was very poor. Although he tried to make his life better, he suffered for many years.

One morning, after he had recited his morning prayers, the peasant said, "Lord, all these years I have honoured Thee and I have never done anything wicked. Yet, though I work from sun­rise till sunset I am still very poor. Lord, please give me some wealth to lighten my hardship. Put some treasure under my chimney. Then I will know that it has come from you alone."

After murmuring this prayer the peasant went to work in his field. A few clays went by but nothing unusual happened. Every morning the peasant looked in the fire-place under the chimney but he saw only ashes. He did not give up hope and repeated his prayer each day.

One afternoon while he was ploughing his field, the peasant tore his sleeve on a bush. He did not want this to happen again so the peasant dug up the bush. As he pulled it out he saw something buried in the soft earth under the roots" quickly the peasant made the hole bigger and dug deeper, until he saw what was hidden in the soil. It was a big, earthenware pot. The peasant took the pot out of the hole and opened the lid. The pot was full of silver coins!

"O Lord!" exclaimed the peasant, "You have answered my prayer!"

Just as he was about to pick up the pot and take it home, a thought came into his head.

"No, it is not true that the Lord has heard my prayers," he said to himself.

"I asked him to put some treasure in the fire-place under my chimney. Only if I find the treasure there, then only can I be sure that it is from the Lord. Therefore this silver is not mine."

So the peasant closed the pot and put the treasure back in the hole.

When he went home he told his wife what had happened. When she knew that the peasant had left all that wealth in his field, his wife grew very angry.

"You stupid fellow! What does it matter where you find the treasure? It is silver coins and can help us escape from this poverty. Go back to the field and bring the pot here!"

But whatever she said, the peasant refused to get the sil­ver. He firmly believed that the only treasure he could keep would be that found under his chimney.

When his wife knew that she could not change his mind she was furious. She went to her neighbour and told him about the pot full of silver coins.

"Please, dear neighbour," she said, "go to our field and take that pot and let us share the treasure."

The neighbour was overjoyed when he heard her story. Al­though it was now dark, he went at once to get the treasure. Holding a lighted oil lamp in his hand he went to the field. It was easy for him to find the freshly dug hole. The man took the pot out and opened the lid. But what a shock he got! Instead of silver coins he saw poisonous snakes slithering and wriggling in the pot. Quickly he put the lid back on again.

"What a mean and nasty woman my neighbour's wife is!" he muttered to himself. "What a horrible trick she has played on me. If I had put my hand in the pot, I would be dead now. Perhaps she wanted that to happen. Perhaps she is angry with me for one reason or another. But I'll teach her a lesson! "

The angry man picked up the pot and carried it home. He waited until midnight when his neighbours were fast asleep. Then he climbed onto the roof of their house and threw the pot down the chimney into the fire-place beneath it: Then he re­turned home satisfied with what he had done.

The next morning, after saying his prayers, the peasant looked as usual in his fire-place. There, among the black ashes was the earthenware pot he had dug up in his field the after­noon before. It was broken into many pieces and among the pot fragments he saw countless silver coins!

"Praised be the Lord!" the peasant exclaimed in delight. He knelt down and raising his hands in joy, he said, "Lord, now I can take this treasure, for you have put it in my fire-place as I begged You to. Now I know that this wealth is really meant for me. How can I thank You?"

In this way, God rewarded someone who trusted in Him.

The Monkey and the Bird

Once there was a monkey. This monkey had very bad behaviour. He was lazy, greedy. Everyday he used to steal some food from other people. Even, although he had some he still did it and kept the stolen food in other place in order not to be seen. He did this because he was afraid when somebody else asked for some. Yes he was very mean. "I must add a little more so that I have a lot of food to eat", he said to himself. The food in the island where he lived was getting less and less so that he decided to cross the sea to find other island.

The following day he made a rowing boat. He cut some wood from the forest and began to make it. It was such a hard wood that he didn't intend to continue because he was lazy. Then, he tried to find some other wood. This time lie had very soft wood. It made him easy to finish his job. When the rowing boat had been ready, suddenly there was a wood pecker bird flew toward him and stood on the rowing boat. "Hi ... friend where are you going to go ... you look so busy to make a boat", the wood pecker asked. "I am going to sail to find other island the food here was getting more and more difficult to get, you may take a part in sailing, because I had enough food on boat", the monkey said. "Ok ... I'll go with you", the bird replied.

Soon they pulled the boat to the coast and loaded the monkey’s luggage and food on the boat. The loyal bird also helped the monkey. "We will find a new word, new food and new green land full of food!" the monkey said. "Yes I agree with you", the bird added. Before sailing, they had a deal. "The one who rows is allowed to eat because it is a heavy duty job, while the one in the front is not!" the monkey said boastfully.

The bird was not able to row so that it seemed loose then it became a captain in the front of the boat without enjoying the food.

The monkey didn't realize that the wood pecker bird knew the cruel intention of the monkey. The bird was disappointed.

"Damn you bad monkey ...!" the bird said to himself.

Then the bird pecked the front part of the boat. It could do it easily because the wood was so soft. In a short time the boat began to sink.

The monkey didn't know it because he enjoyed eating the food while rowing the boat. Suddenly there was a lot of water in the boat. It made the monkey so shocked that he jumped into the sea and swam difficultly to the closest island. The bird, certainly, flew away to leave him.

When he reached an island, he still never take a hint from his experience. He was still stubborn. This time he was so hungry that he was very delighted to see a cashew-fruit tree. It was full of fruits.

Later, the hungry monkey climbed up the cashew-fruit tree impatiently. The cashews looked ripe and delicious. He had counted all cashews on that tree before he ate them. No body was allowed to pick.

Some birds were coming to the tree because they liked the cashew fruits very much. They asked the monkey for the cashews but he certainly didn't permit to take and ordered the birds to look for in another island. Also, there was an owl flew toward the tree the owl wanted some fruits too but the monkey stopped and asked, "Why are you here?". "Can you share the cashews with me?" the owl asked the monkey. "Well you may take them if you can sing beautiful song", the monkey said. The bird began to sing but it was not a good song. The owl sang badly. It was impossible for an owl to sing beautifully. The monkey finally instructed the bird to go far away from the tree.

One day a canary came and asked for the something. "Hey, the kind monkey ... could you share the cashew with me?" the bird said dearly to persuade him. "Well you must sing for me nicely, first"_. the monkey replied.

The little bird now started to sing. It was such a nice song that the monkey fell asleep. What happened then? The monkey, obviously fell from the high tree and broke his legs_. He was wounded seriously and couldn't walk anymore. All the birds in the island came again to eat and enjoy the delicious cashew fruits but the monkey did nothing. He only blamed himself and finally realized his mistakes.

The Poleng

Cerita Bahasa Inggris memang menarik untuk dibaca khususnya bagi mereka yang paham dan yang sedang belajar bahasa inggirs, karena Cerita Bahasa inggris tersebut dapat menambah pengetahuan dan menjadi bahan uji coba penguasaan vocabulary atau kosa kata bahasa inggris.
Jenis cerita bahasa inggris sangat bervariasi mulai dari cerita bahasa inggris yang ringan, sedang, dan cerita bahasa inggris yang berat dari segi penggunaan vocabulary, Cerita bahasa inggris yang ringan biasanya menggunakan kosa kata yang ringan juga sehingga pembaca biasanya mudah mengerti dengan cerita bahasa inggris sejenis ini.
Sedangkan cerita bahasa inggris yang sedang, dan berat biasanya menggunakan kosa kata (idiom) yang membuat pembaca sulit memahaminya bagi mereka yang kemampuan kosa katanya masih minim. 
Berikut cerita bahasa inggrisnya dari daerah Bali, cerita bahasa inggris yang seru pastinya hanya di Englishstory12.
 
There was a farmer called Father Poleng. He was ploughing his rice fields with his cows one morning. When it was al­most noon, the sun was high in the sky, Father Poleng sat down to rest and to eat his lunch. While he was eating, an ant crawled up and ate some of his rice. Poleng got angry and without thinking he cursed the ant. Then a voice spoke from heaven.

“Father Poleng,” said the voice, “do not refuse those who ask. Even an ant, a creature who cannot grow rice, is worthy of help.”

Father Poleng thought and thought, and realized that people and creatures of all kinds who are poor deserve to be helped. And with a pure heart, he gave all his satisfied at heart.

That night, when Father Poleng was sleeping alone in his hut on the rice fields, the God Indra descended in all his glory, wearing a beautiful shining jewel. Father Poleng woke up startled, and he saw the bright light burning over his hut.

Then a voice said, “Father Poleng, don’t be frightened. I am Indra who spoke to you when you cursed the ant. I noticed your charity in giving the ant rice and going hungry yourself. I have now come here to reward you. I want to take you to heaven.”

Father Poleng, after writing a letter to his family, went with Indra to heaven. There he became a servant of the gods.

Next morning, Father Poleng’s son, called Young Poleng, arrived at the hut only to find his father gone. He looked for him in the rice fields, but without luck. Young Poleng went home to urge his relatives to join in the search for his father. They searched all the streams of fields but did not find him. Then, thinking that he might have come back in the meantime, they all returned to the hut.

There they noticed the letter which read, “Your father has left you and will not return again. I have been taken by God Indra to heaven.” After Young Poleng read the letter, everyone looked at it. True enough, it was Father Poleng’s writing. Young Poleng and his relatives were all happy that Father Poleng had gone to heaven.

Several days later Young Poleng thought to himself, “Now that Father Poleng is in heaven, we must burn the bones of Grandfather Poleng so that he too can go to heaven.”  In Bali people follow the Hindu practice of burning the dead to free the soul so that it can fly to heaven.

Young Poleng asked a priest to pick a suitable day. He also told the priest that he wanted to hold a large cremation cer­emony fit for a king. But the priest said, “No, it is wrong for you to hold such a ceremony. The Polengs are poor and humble people, not kings.”

“Never mind,” said Young Poleng. “If the gods are offended, I’ll bear all the responsibility.”

When the day arrived, the bones of Grandfather Poleng were cremated like those of a king, with a royal cremation tower and costly cloths.

Later, around midnight, Young Poleng went by himself to the graveyard carrying an offering to the god of death. Soon there appeared a tall man with a long beard, who with a large stick was beating an old man. The old man groaned with pain as the stick came down upon his back. When he saw that the old man being beaten was the spirit of his dead grandfather, Young Poleng became very angry. He went up to the tall man and pulled strongly at his beard.

The tall man was startled, and looking down he said, “Who is that? What are you doing here? How dare you pull my beard!”

“I am the grandson of the old man you are beating,” an­swered Young Poleng. “What has my grandfather done that he should be beaten?”

“I am Jogormanik,” said the tall man. “I hold power over all the spirits here. I also decide who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. The reason your grandfather is being beaten is that you held an elaborate and royal ceremony for his cremation. You shouldn’t have. It is only right that your grandfather be sent hell.”

“No!” cried young Poleng. “If my grandfather is to be sent to hell, it must be with Indra’s permission.”

“Then,” said Jogormanik, “let us go to heaven.”

So the three of them travelled to heaven. When they arrived Young Poleng found Father Poleng and explained the whole matter to him. When he understood, Father Poleng went before the God Indra and asked that his father not be sent to hell.

“Jogormanik,” said Indra, “it is not right for you to punish the spirit of Grandfather Poleng, because Father Poleng and Young Poleng have done many good deeds. I invite Grandfather Poleng’s spirit to live here, together with Father Poleng. You, Young Poleng, may return again to the world. I grant you every happiness, but remember, always do what is right, so that when you die your spirit may come here to be with your father and grandfather.”

Young Poleng arrived home and told his family and fellow villagers all about his journey. Young Poleng was loved and re­spected by everyone, for he was the only one among the living who had visited heaven.