Narrative to Story Telling

THUMBELINA

There was once a woman who wanted a small child but didn’t know where to get one. So she went to a witch for help.

“A little child?” said the witch, “That’s easy. Here’s a magic seed. Plant it in a flower pot and see what happens!” The woman thanked the witch, paid her with a piece of silver, and went home to plant the magic seed. As soon as it touched the soil, the seed grew into a tulip, whose flower opened with a pop. In the middle of the flower sat a tiny girl.

“Why, the pretty little thing is hardly as big as my thumb!” cried the woman. “I am going to call her Thumbelina.”

The woman made Thumbelina a bed from a walnut shell. Instead of going out, Thumbelina played on the kitchen table.           Her favorite game was sailing across a bowl of water in a boat made from a tulip leaf. As the sailed, she sang in a high, sweet voice.

One night, an old toad got in through an open window and hopped down into the kitchen table. “Just the wife for my son!” the toad declared when it saw Thumbelina sleeping in her tiny bed. The toad picked up the walnut shell and hopped out through the window into the garden. At the bottom of the garden, there was a steam with muddy banks, and that was where the old toad lived with her son. He was even damper and uglier than his mother. When he saw the pretty little girl sleep in the walnut shell, all he could say was, “Ribbik! Ribbik!”. “Not so loud!” whispered the old toad. “If you wake her up, she’ll run away. We’ll put her on a water-lily leaf in the middle of the steam so she won’t be able to escape. Then we can clear out the best room for the wedding.”

In the morning, when she woke up, Thumbelina was startled to find herself on a big green leaf in the middle of a steam

(Taken from: www.storytotell.com)

THE FLY AND THE BULL

There was once a little fly who though he was very important. He felt proud of himself. One sunny morning, he flew around looking for someone to talk to. He saw a bull grazing in a field. He decided to fly down to talk to him.

The little flew down and buzzed around the bull’s head. The bull did not bother him. He went on chewing grass.

The fly then buzzed right inside the bull’s ear. The bull continued chewing grass. The fly thought, “What a stupid animal!”

Now the fly decided to land on one of the bull’s horns to make the bull notice him. He waited for the bull to say something, but the bull kept quite.

The fly then shouted angrily, “Oh, Bull, if you find that I am too heavy for you, let me know and I will fly away!”

The bull laughed and said, “Little fly, I don’t care if you stay or leave. You are so tiny that your weight doesn’t make any difference to me, so please be quite and leave me alone.”

(Taken from: Angle’s moral story)

                                                                                                             

BANDUNG BONDOWOSO AND RORO JONGGRANG

Once, there was a beautiful Javanese princess whose name was Roro Jonggrang. Roro Jonggrang whose beauty was very famous in the land was the daughter of Prabu Baka, an evil king.

One day, a handsome young man with super natural power, named Bandung Bondowoso, defeated and killed Prabu Baka. On seeing Princess Roro Jonggrang’s beauty, Bandung Bondowoso fell in love and wanted to marry her.

Meanwhile, Princess Roro Jonggrang felt sad due to the death of her father. She did not want to marry Bandung because he had killed her father. But she was also afraid of Bandung. So to refuse politely, she made a condition. “I will marry you but you have to build one thousand temples in one night as a wedding gift.” Requested Roro Jonggrang. Bandung agreed with this condition.

Helped by the spirits of demons, Bandung Bondowoso started building the temples. Approaching midnight, the work was nearly done. Roro Jonggrang knew and thought, “What shall I do? Bandung is smarter than me. I will lose against Bandung.”

Suddenly she got an idea. She woke up all the women in the palace and ordered them to make the noisy sounds of grinding rice so that the roosters would think it had already dawn.

Bandung Bondowoso got frustrated because he failed to complete the thousandth temple. “The Princess has decived me!” Following his anger, he cursed Roro Jonggrang, “You have cheated me. Now, the thousandth temple is you!”

At once, the prince turned into a statue.

Knowing this, Bandung Bondowoso regretted this and he went away into a far land. From then, people called the temple Prambanan Temple and the princess statue, Roro Jonggrang statue