#051 The King And The King Of Mice

There was once a king who ruled a large country in which there lived a great number of mice. One year there was not enough rice. The mice were very hungry. The king of the mice put on his best clothes and went to see the king of the country.

“Good morning, Mr. Mouse,” said the king. “What can I do for you?”

“O king, we do not have enough rice. We would like to borrow some from you. If you can lend us what we need, we shall repay you next year.”

“How much do you want?”

“About one hundred bags,” answered the mouse.

“How can you carry it away?”

“Your majesty, we shall find a way.”

The king ordered one hundred bags of rice to be given to the mice. The mice bit through the bags. They carried away the rice in their mouths. When the king looked the next morning, he was surprised to find the rice had disappeared.

The next year, the king of the mice repaid the king. The king was very pleased that he had kept his promise.

Not long afterwards, the king had wars with a neighbouring country. His army was not very strong. It lost every battle. The army of the other country reached the opposite side of the river. They were ready to attack the capital. The king summoned the king of mice to see him.

“Can you help me?” asked the king.

The mouse asked the king to place thousands of stick. Each one foot long, by the side of the river.

At night, all the mice used these sticks as boats to carry them across the river. The soldiers of other country were fast asleep when the mice quietly entered their camp. Some of them threw the soldier’s swords and guns into the river. Other ate their food and bit their toes.

When the soldier woke up, they did not know what had happened. They could not find their swords and guns and they thought they had been attacked by the king’s soldier. They ran away as fast as they could.

 “Mr. mouse, you have saved my country,” he said. “Please tell me what you would like in return.”

The mouse replied. “O King, we only want to live in peace. Please send away all the cats from your country.”

The king did as he was asked. He gave orders for all the cats to leave immediately.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#050 The Blind Elephant Story

There were two brothers, Daeng and Jomroon, who lived in a village on the banks of the Chao Phya near Bangkok. They had both studied under the same teacher. After leaving school, they decided to go to Bangkok to earn a living. On their way, they passed through a thick forest. Daeng saw the footprints of an elephant on the path they were travelling.

“These are footprint of a male elephant, blind in its left eye,” he told his brother.

“How do you know that?” asked Jomroon. “All I can see is that the elephant was traveling from south to north.”

Daeng however, did not want to hurt his brother’s feeling so he said nothing more.

After some time, they saw a large male elephant eating some bananas. When it saw them, it lifted its trunk and made a loud noise. It then ran away into the forest. before it did so, Jomroon noticed that it was blind in its left eye.

Jomroon said to himself, “How can Daeng be so clever? We went to the same school, and passed the same examinations.”

After working for about two years in Bangkok, Daeng and Jomroon went home for a holiday. As soon as they arrived back at their village, they visited their old teacher to give him two pots of cooking oil which they had brought from Bangkok. While they were sitting down talking together, Jomroon told his teacher about the blind elephant.

“How did Daeng know that the elephant was male and blind one eye?” He asked.

“Jomroon, did you know that the pot of oil which you gave me is only half full?”

“Yes,” said Jomroon. “I was surprised to see that because it was full when I bought it in Bangkok.”

“Do you see that the pot of oil which Daeng brought me is full? This is because he bought a thicker pot, so that the oil wouldn’t leak from it so easily.”

The old teacher looked at Daeng, “Can you please tell Jomroon how you knew about the elephant?”

“I saw that trees on both sides of the path had been scratched by its tusk. Only male elephant have tusk. Also is footprint were deeper on the left than on the right. I knew this was because it was blind in its left eye.”

“You see,” the teacher smiled at Jomroon, “What we learn at school isn’t enough. We have to learn more from life after we leave school.”

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#049 Ant And Grasshopper

On a warm summer day, a grasshopper was singing in the garden.  It laughed at the ant which was busy gathering and storing away food for the winter.  The ant told the grasshopper to do the same but it scoffed at the ant.

Winter came.  The snow fell and covered everything.  There were no leaves in sight.  The grasshopper was so hungry but it had nothing to eat.  As the days passed by the grasshopper’s condition became worse.  It was almost dying of starvation.

It then decided to appeal to the ant for help, but the ant shut its door saying, “you sang in the summer; now dance the winter away.”

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#048 The Legend Of Shuteye Island

Once upon a time, an old blind man lived on Pulau Timbun Mata (Shut-Eye Island). He often sat in the sun outside his house looking after paddy which his son had placed there to dry.

Whenever chickens came to eat the paddy, he used a long stick to bang the ground to chase them away.

One day, his grandson played a trick on him. He caught a couple of crabs on the beach and placed them on the paddy. They made a noise just like chickens eating the paddy.

“What’s that?” asked the old man.

“Don’t you know?” his grandson replied. “Some chickens are eating the paddy.”

The old man banged on the ground with his stick. But the crabs were not frightened. They continued to eat the paddy.

“Ha, ha, Ha!” laughed the boy.

Suddenly, there was a terrible roar like the firing of cannon. An old man with a long white beard appeared in a cloud of smoke.

He pointed his wand at the boy. “You should never laugh at your grandfather,” he said, “especially as he is blind.”

Before the boy could answer, a strong wind started to blow and the sky became black. A cloud of red smoke shot out of the top of a hill in the centre of the island. Tons of rock and boiling mud were thrown high into the air. All the houses on the island were destroyed and everyone living on the island was turned into stone.

Even today, if you visit the island, all you can see are some strange-looking rocks which resemble people.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#047 Gift For A Greedy Woman

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and his wife. The old man was very kind but his wife was very fierce. The old man kept a sparrow in a cage in the kitchen. One day the sparrow ate some rice which had been left in the kitchen. The old man’s wife was very angry. She immediately cut out the sparrow’s tongue. The sparrow flew away through an open window.

When her husband returned home, he found that the sparrow had gone. He asked his wife what had happened.

“Your sparrow stole some food, so I cut out its tongue to teach it a good lesson.”

The old man was very sad. He decided to try to find out where the sparrow had gone.

He traveled all over the country, calling out in a loud voice, “Mr. Sparrow! Mr. Sparrow! Where are you?”

Finally, he found out where the sparrow was living, and he went to see him. The sparrow asked him to come in to meet his wife and children.

“Please sit down and make yourself comfortable,” the sparrow said. “I hope you can stay to dinner.”

“What a polite sparrow!” the old man thought.

After dinner, the old man asked to be excused to leave as he was living a long distance away.

Before he left, the sparrow brought out two boxes. He told him to choose one of them as a present. The old man chose the smaller of the two.

When he arrived home, his wife scolded him. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“Oh!” replied her husband. “I discovered where the sparrow is living. He gave me this present.”

His wife opened the box. It was full of gold and silver.

She smiled and said to her husband, “I think I’ll also go to see the sparrow.”

When she arrived at the sparrow’s house, she called out, “Mr. Sparrow! How are you! I’ve been worrying about you for a long time. I’m so pleased to see you again.”

The sparrow invited her inside for dinner. Mrs. Sparrow was very kind to the old lady. She cooked an excellent meal.

When the old woman was ready to leave, she said, “Mr. sparrow, perhaps you would like to give me a present to take away? I can then always remember you.”

The sparrow brought out two boxes. The greedy old woman chose the larger one.

When she reached home, she called out to her husband, “Come out! Hurry up! See what the sparrow has given me!”

When she opened the box, she found that it only contained stones.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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