The Legend of N’daung Snake

Once upon a time, on the slopes of a mountain in Jambi province, there lived a 1.
pour/poor mother and her three daughters. For their living the mother and the youngest
daughter had to work hard all day long, while the first and second daughters were lazy
and did nothing.
One day, mother got such a severe pain that she could not move from bed. Then, the
daughters called a shaman. “Sir, please help us heal our mother,” said the daughters. The
shaman said, “Based on my insight, your mom must be treated by a special 2.
flour/flower that grows at the top of the mountain. Then, it must be boiled in a magical
pot kept in a dark deep cave guarded by a large mighty serpent named N’daung.” “But,
according to the 3. tale/tail, no one could ever go back home save as the snake would
swallow them whole,” warned the Shaman. Hearing that, no one dared to go, 4.
accept/except for the youngest daughter. “I will go to the top of the mountain to get them
from the snake,” said the youngest daughter bravely. “Oh, we all will pray for you,
sister,” uttered the first and the second daughters in relief. “You really have a pure 5.
soul/sole. Go and get them, girl. But, you have to be really careful.

I will take care of your mother here,” said the shaman. Without waiting any longer, the
youngest daughter went to the mountain. After three days of walking, she finally reached
the mountain peak. “Ah, that’s the 6. flour/ flower. I have to go really quick,” said the
youngest daughter. It was just in front of the cave door. When she grabbed it and was
about to put it inside her bag, she heard a very loud snake hiss. Of course, she was scared
to death.

“Hiss... You are so brave to come to this place. Did you just .steel/steal something from
my place? You’ll surely be a perfect breakfast. You have a nice 8. scent/cent, so
appetizing!” hissed the snake horribly. “O magic snake, please, pardon me. I certainly
don’t dare to bother you, but my mom is seriously ill. I am here to beg for only one
flower and borrow your magic pot to treat my mom,” the youngest daughter fell on her
knees while crying.

Unexpectedly, the snake started to shed tears, “What a nice girl. You risk yourself
coming here to treat your mom.” “That’s right, o snake. I love her so much and I am
begging for your help,” she still could not stop her tears. “Alright, I will let you bring the
flower and lend you my magic pot withonly one condition. You have to promise to return
here as your mother gets better and stay here in this cave with me,” said N’daung snake.
Because she loves her mother, the youngest daughter nodded in an agreement, “Thank
you, o magic snake. I will certainly return to fulfill my promise.” The youngest daughter
then went back home, gave the flower and the magic pot to the shaman, and immediately
went back to the mountain. Even though deep in her heart, she did not really want to go
back.

Just then, the youngest daughter returned to the top of the mountain in the middle of the
night. To her surprise, she did not meet N’daung snake but a well-built man. “Don’t be
surprised. I am Prince Abdul Rahman Alamsyah. I was cursed by my uncle and became a
snake. Every night I will return to my true form as a human and return to be a snake as
the sun rises,” said the prince. Meanwhile, when the mother heard the story of the
youngest daughter, she wanted to see her. She asked her other childern to go to the top of
the mountain. In the middle of the night, the three of them could finally reach the top of
the mountain. How surprised they were to see the youngest daughter with a very
handsome man. The youngest daughter was so happy to see her family and introduced
them to the prince. The youngest daughter told them the story of the prince. Feeling
jealous, while all of the people already fell asleep, the first and second daughters took the
prince’s snake skin, burned it all, and put the ash next to the
youngest daughter. On the following day, when the prince could not find his snake skin
but some ash next to the youngest daughter, he thanked her. He was so happy because the
curse was gone forever
As the snake skin was burned. Finally, the youngest daughter and the prince were married
and returned back to the kingdom. They lived happily ever after.

The Legend of the Crying Stone

In the past, on a hill far from the country, there lived a poor widow and her
only daughter. Her daughter was really beautiful, yet lazy. She did not want
to help her mother at all. Moreover, she was also really spoiled, her mother
must fulfil whatever she wanted.

One day, the woman and her daughter went to the market. The beautiful
daughter wore her best clothes and walked in front of her mother. She did not
walk side by side with her mother as she felt ashamed. Everyone looked at
her and was amazed by her beauty.

“Hi girl, you look so beautiful. Anyway, who is the old woman behind you?
Is she your mother? Why do you let her bring such a heavy shopping
basket?” asked the man.
“Oh my Gosh, of course she is not. She is just my maid and it is her job to
help me shop,” answered the daughter.

Every time she got such questions, she would respond the same. Her mother
just remained silent. However, hearing that thing over and over again made
the mother’s heart hurt. Suddenly, the mother stopped and sat off the road,
crying.

“Mom, why do you stop there? Let’s get going or we won’t be home before
midnight,” shouted the daughter. The mother did not respond to her, she
raised her hands and prayed, “My Lord, please, forgive me for my inability to
educate this child. I’m willing if you punish this disobedient child, Lord.”

The sky suddenly darkened, a huge lightning bolt struck, and it started to
rain. The daughter started to panic as she could not move her leg, slowly her
legs turned to stone and continued to spread to other parts of his body.
“Mom, I am really sorry. Please, forgive me. Help me mom, help!
Help me, please.” However, it was too late. There’s no point in regretting
what she did, her whole body had turned to stone. Surprisingly, from the
stone statue’s eyes, tears kept flowing. That is why, people called that statue,
the crying stone.
 The Legend of the Black Sea

There once lived an old man on the shore of a beautiful sea. All day he wove nets and caught
fish. There were so many that the old fisherman shared them with his animals. He had a nice dog
and an evil black cat. The dog was called Boley and the cat was called Serzhina.
“Boley!” shouted the old man to his dog and it came at once.
“Boley, bring me some water because I’m thirsty!”
The dog dashed away and in a little while came back with the water.
“Here’s a fish for you,” the old man said as he stroked him.
“Serzhina!”shouted the old fisherman to his cat this time, but Serzhina didn’t appear.
“Serzhina! Serzhina!” he shouted again, but again nothing happened.
“Serzhina, do you want a fish?!”
As soon as the old man said these words, the cat jumped from the roof and mewled around his
legs with a phony purr.
“I want a fish. Meow, meow…”
“Here is your fish. Now bring me my hat, because I’m getting hot.”
The cat took the fish and then jumped on the hat rack and brought the old fisherman the hat.
“Black cat, evil cat,” yelped the dog.
“Don’t say that!” the old man scolded him.
The next day the old fisherman got sick. He had a high temperature and couldn’t get out of bed.
“Boley, bring me a pill from the cabinet,” he said.
The dog tried to jump on the cabinet where the pills were, but he couldn’t reach it.
“Serzhina!”called the old man, but the cat didn’t appear.
“Serzhina! Serzhina!” he shouted again, but again nothing happened.
“Serzhina, do you want a fish?!”
As soon as the old man said these words, the cat jumped from the roof and mewled,
“Meow, meow…I want a fish.”
“Serzhina, I can’t go fishing today because I’m sick. When I get better, there’ll be enough for
everyone. Hurry, Serzhina, bring me the pill from the cabinet.”
The cat jumped on the cabinet, but instead of bringing the pill to the old man she purred again,
“I want a fish. Meow, meow…”
“Serzhina, please, bring me the pill; otherwise, I won’t be able to get up,” sadly repeated the old
man, but the cat didn’t budge.

The Legend of Black Sea Once

There was an old man who lived on the shore of a beautiful sea. During the day, he would
weave nets and go sailing to catch fish at night for living. In his old days, that old man just lived
with his dog named Boley and his evil black cat named Serzhina. Whenever the man called
Boley, he would immediately come and do everything he was asked to do. While Serzhina just
came whenever the old man called her for meals.

Boley began to dislike Serzhina for she did not help as much as he did. The old man, however,
always told Boley that he believed in Serzhina’s goodness and that she would change. One day,
a disaster struck and the old man asked both Boley and Serzhina to help. When Serzhina did not
help, the old man lost faith in Serzhina’s goodness and threw her to the sea. The sea water turned
black, and since that day the fish being caught has gotten less and less. The old man and Boley
got hungrier and hungrier.

Until one day, the old man met a seagull who told him a lesson. The old man finally learned that
there is bad and good in everybody. However, when we choose to look for the goodness in
everything, life will be filled with joy, just like nets filled with fish.

The Milkmaid and Her Pail

One day, Molly the milkmaid had filled her pails with milk. Her job was to
milk the cows and then bring the milk to the market to sell. Molly loved to
think about what to spend her money on.

As she filled the pails with milk and went to market, she again thought of all
the things she wanted to buy. As she walked along the road, she thought of
buying a cake and a basket full of fresh strawberries.

A little further down the road, she spotted a chicken. She thought, “With the
money I get from today, I’m going to buy my own chicken. That chicken will
lay eggs; then I can sell milk and eggs and get more money!”

She continued, “With more money, I can buy a fancy dress and make all the
other milkmaids jealous.” Out of excitement, Molly started skipping,
forgetting about the milk in her pails. Soon, the milk started spilling over the
edges, covering Molly.

Drenched, Molly said to herself, “Oh no! I will never have enough money to
buy a chicken now.” She went home with her empty pails.

“Oh, my goodness! What happened to you?” Molly’s mother asked.

“I was too busy dreaming about all the things I wanted to buy that I forgot
about the pails,” she answered.

“Oh, Molly, my dear. How many times do I need to say, ‘Don’t count your
chickens until they hatch?’
 Elephant and Friends

A lone elephant walked through the forest, looking for friends. She soon saw
a monkey and asked, “Can we be friends, monkey?”

The monkey quickly replied, “You are big and can’t swing on trees like I do,
so I cannot be your friend.”

Deflated, the elephant continued to search and stumbled across a rabbit. She
asked him, “Can we be friends, rabbit?”

The rabbit looked at the elephant and replied, “You are too big to fit inside
my burrow. You cannot be my friend.”

The elephant continued until she met a frog. She asked, “Will you be my
friend, frog?”

The frog replied, “You are too big and heavy; you cannot jump like me. I am
sorry, but you can’t be my friend.”

The elephant continued to ask the animals she met on her way but always
received the same reply. The following day, the elephant saw all the forest
animals run in fear. She stopped a bear to ask what was happening and was
told the tiger was attacking all the small animals.

The elephant wanted to save the other animals, so she went to the tiger and
said, “Please, sir, leave my friends alone. Do not eat them.”

The tiger didn’t listen. He merely told the elephant to mind her own business.

Seeing no other way, the elephant kicked the tiger and scared him away.
After hearing the brave tale, the other animals agreed, “You are just the right
size to be our friend.”