Bu Aminah, the old widow, sighed. How tired she felt. Every bone in her thin body seemed to ache. If only she had children, her life would not so be miserable. They would have taken care of her and she would have had an easy life in her old age.
Ever since her husband died Bu Aminah had been poor and lonely. Her husband had been a fisherman. He had earned his living by selling the fish he caught in the river near their hut. When he died Bu Aminah tried to continue doing his work, but Continue reading
The early settlers in the United States had a life of hardship and had little outside source of entertainment. They could laugh at their hard life, however, and used their imagination to create their own entertainment. One way in which they amused themselves was by telling “tall tales”. These stories combine practical facts with exaggerated fancies. They are told as if they really happened. “Henry The Tall-Tale Trout” is one example of a tall tale. In varying forms, Continue reading
How The Queen of The Sea Punished Greed
(Central Java)
It was a very dark night. On the beach everything was quiet. Only the song of the waves broke the deep silence. There was nobody to be seen on the sand. There was not a single man or a single animal.
At one place near the sea there rose a high rock. The waves had been throwing themselves for centuries against the walls of this rock and had made holes in them. Some of the holes were small, but some were big and formed Continue reading
One day a heron was standing on a tree stump in the middle of a pond. He looked at the fish swimming in the clear water.
A fish appeared and asked the heron, “Hello Heron! Why are you standing on the stump? You have been here for a several days.”
The heron looked very sad.
“I am thinking of your life,” replied the heron.
Meanwhile other fish appeared.
“Why are you worried about us?” the fish asked. “We have an easy Continue reading
