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english learning
The Hand of Midas
Once upon a time there was a man named Midas. He lived in great poverty. He searched for fire woods in the jungle and sold them in the city to earn for his living.
Midas was very unsatisfied with the condition of his life. For sure, he wanted to be a rich man. However, he could do nothing but searching for and selling fire woods. From time to time, he thought about the way to be a rich man.
He found a way, at last. He meditated and prayed to the God. One day in his meditation he heard a voice telling him that he was given one requirement and it would come true. After thought about what he wanted the most, Midas said, “My Lord, I wish all the things that I touch with my hand turn into gold.”
And it did! Midas touched everything around him and he found out that they all turned into gold. Midas was very happy, but his happiness didn’t last long. He was very sad when he realized that he couldn’t eat anything because the meal – whatever it was – turned gold when he touched it.
Father and His Sons
A father had a family of sons who were always quarreling among themselves. When he failed to stop their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks.
When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it into pieces. They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it. He next opened the faggot, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons’ hands, upon which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words: “My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks.”
Taken from: Fables: Aesop
George Fyler Townsend (Editor)
The Legend of the Kesodo Ceremony
Once upon a time, there were a couple living on Mount Bromo, East Java. The new couple wanted to have a child. They had married for a long time but they hadn’t got a baby. Every time they prayed to the Gods, asking for a child.
One day, there was a loud voice in the sky when they were praying.
“You are going to born a baby, and later you will give birth to many children. But I have a requirement for you to obey, if you really want to have children”, said the voice.
“Whatever you ask, my Lord”, the couple answered, “We will do it”,
“You must sacrifice your first son for the gods”.
The couple agreed to sacrifice their first son in the time that was asked by the voice. Then, the wife got pregnant and gave birth to a son. The baby grew up into a handsome, tough man. He was named Kesuma.
The couple loved Kesuma very much. The wife gave birth to eleven more children after Kesuma. And, they forgot their promise to sacrifice their first son to the god.
One day, the volcano erupted. Before that, there were series of earthquakes followed by thunders in the sky. The sky was very dark, as if it was going to fall down. On the next occasion, there was a voice in the sky, reminding the couple about their promise. The couple was very afraid, but they just couldn’t sacrifice their beloved son, Kesuma. However, because the earthquakes and the thunders were becoming more and more horrifying, Kesuma couldn’t let his family and all the people in the village die.
Kesuma knew the situation. Then he said to his parents. “I would sacrifice myself in order that our family and all the people in our village will live in peace. For the next times, you all have to sacrifice animals and crops to the gods.” Then he jumped onto the crater of the volcano. Amazingly, the earthquakes and the eruption stopped at once. Since then, the people in the area hold an annual ceremony called the Kesodo ceremony.
ALADDIN
Once upon a time there was a young man named Aladdin. He was very poor. He didn’t have a family. He lived alone with his only “friend”, a monkey, in a cave.
Aladdin didn’t have a certain job to earn for his living. He would do what people ask him to do with a very little salary. But Aladdin was a very good young man. He never made trouble with the people, although some of them sometimes they were rude to him.
One day Aladdin found an old, dirty lamp. Because he didn’t have anything valuable, he took the lamp and wiped it with his hand. To his surprise, a thick cloud came out of it. The cloud became bigger and thicker, and it turned into a very big creature. Aladdin was very afraid, but the creature said, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you become my master because you have released me from the lamp. Your wish is my command, my master.”
The creature, which was a genie, could give anything that Aladdin wanted. Since then, Aladdin lived happily.
A Lion in Love
A lion wanted to marry the daughter of a woodcutter. The woodcutter was unwilling to accept the lion’s demand but also afraid to refuse it. Then he looked for ways to get rid of the lion. He finally found a way. He expressed his willingness to accept the lion as the suitor of his daughter on one condition: that he should allow him to extract his teeth, and cut off his claws, as his daughter was fearfully afraid of both. The lion cheerfully agreed the requirements. But when the toothless, clawless lion returned to repeat his request, the woodcutter, no longer afraid, hit him with a hoe, and drove him away into the forest.
Long time ago, there was a princess in Prambanan, Central Java. She was Roro Jonggrang. Jonggrang was so beautiful that many princes wanted to marry her. One of the princes was called Bandung Bondowoso. He was handsome and very special. However, Jonggrang didn’t want to marry him because she knew that Bondowoso had killed her father.
She was afraid to refuse him, so she proposed a very hard requirement for Bondowoso to do: he had to make a thousand temples in one night! Bondowoso agreed. With the help of hundreds of genies, he almost completed the temple. However, Jonggrang could stop the genies from working. That made Bondowoso angry. Then, with the specialties that he had, he could change Jonggrang into a stone!
The Ants and the Grasshopper
The ants were spending a fine winter’s day drying grain, collected in the summertime. A grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food. The ants inquired him, “Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?” The grasshopper replied, “I had not leisure enough. I passed the days in singing.” The ants then said in derision, “If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supper less to bed in the winter.”
The man, the boy, and the donkey
A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fool, what a donkey is for if not to ride upon?"
So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster; he lets his father walk while he rides."
So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."
Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yourself and your son?"
The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.
"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:
"Please all, and you will please none."
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