Turtle's Flute - Sáo Rùa

Turtle’s Flute

A Brazilian folktale

Once upon a time, on the banks of a river, Turtle played her flute. When Turtle played, lions, elephants, butterflies, snakes and monkeys danced to Turtle’s music.

One day, a man heard Turtle’s music. “Ahh,” he thought. “That must be Turtle making music. Turtle would taste very good right now.” So he called out: “Turtle! Show me your beautiful flute.” Turtle slowly walked to the door and held out her flute. But the moment the man saw Turtle, he grabbed her by the neck and began to run. Turtle tried to cry for help, but she couldn’t make a sound. She closed her eyes, holding tightly to her flute for good luck.

When the man reached his hut, he put Turtle into a cage and shut it. Then he turned to his children: “Don’t let Turtle out of her cage.” And off he went to the fields. The children began to play outside. Turtle sat very still inside her cage, thinking about the father’s words. She began to play a sweet tune on her flute, and the children ran to the cage. “Is that you playing, Turtle?” they asked, their eyes wide with wonder. “Yes,” Turtle said. She kept on playing, for she could see the children were delighted.

At last she stopped. “I can dance even better than I can play,” she said. “Would you like to see?” “Oh, please!” the little boy cried. “I’ll show you how to dance and play at the same time,” said Turtle. “But you must open the cage. There is no room in here.” So the little boy opened the cage and Turtle began to dance and play. The children laughed and clapped their hands, for never had they seen such a wonderful thing.

Then Turtle stopped. “Don’t stop!” the children cried. “Oh,” Turtle groaned. “My legs are stiff. If I could just walk a little bit to loosen them ...” “Don’t go too far,” the little girl cautioned. “Come right back.” “Never fear,” said Turtle. “You wait right here.” Turtle crawled off toward the jungle. The moment she was out of sight, she raced all the way back to her house.

Nobody ever found Turtle again. But to this day, if you strain your ear, you can hear the sweet sound of a flute in the forest.

The First Well - Cái Giếng đầu tiên

The First Well - Cái Giếng đầu tiên

Retold by BookBox

There once was a small kingdom around a lake. One very hot summer, it did not rain and the lake dried up. People grew anxious and went to the King. “It has not rained for so long. Our fields are barren!” said the farmers. “There are no fish to catch. How shall we earn a living?” asked the fishermen. “Save us from disaster, good King,” urged the women, as their children cried with thirst.

The King sent his four generals to search for water in all directions. The first general went east, towards the sunrise; the second went south, to the dust and heat; the third went west, where the sun sets; and the fourth followed the North Star.

They searched day and night, night and day; high and low they searched everywhere, but in vain. Three of the generals returned, empty-handed. But the general who had gone north was determined not to fail his King. At last, he reached a cold mountain village.

As he sat at the foot of the mountain, an old woman came by and sat next to him. The general pointed at the horizon and said, “I belong to a beautiful kingdom, where it has not rained for a whole year. Can you help me find water?”

The woman motioned the general to follow her up the mountain and into a cave. “We have no water in our country either,” she said. Then, pointing to the icicles in the cave, she continued: “We call this ice. Take some, and your kingdom will never go thirsty again.” The general broke off a huge piece, loaded it onto his horse-cart and rushed back home.

By the time he reached the court, the enormous icicle had melted into a small lump of ice. Nobody in the court had ever seen ice, so everybody gazed at it with wonder. “This must be a water-seed!” one of the ministers exclaimed suddenly. The King ordered the ‘water-seed’ to be sowed immediately.

While the farmers dug a hole, the lump dwindled in the sun. They swiftly placed the seed in the hole, but before they could cover it up, it had vanished. The farmers there grew confused and worried. They dug deeper and deeper into the earth, all night long, looking for the mysterious seed.

At the break of dawn, the King found the farmers fast asleep around a hole. Curious, he peeped in and cried out in amazement: “Wake up, my worthy men – the water-seed has sprouted! There’s water in the hole!” This is how the first well was created.

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

THE STORY OF THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
Around four hundred years ago, many people in England were unhappy because their King would not let them pray to their God as they like. The King said they must use the same prayers as he did and if they refused, they would be prosecuted into prison or even killed. These English man left their home and went far off to the country called Holland. In Holland they were happy but they were very poor and when children began to grow, they became less Godlike and did not want to pray any more. After much talking and thinking, these English people decided to embark on the two vessels to the new world-America.
They set out on a small ship called May Flower to take them across the sea. There were about 100 people on board to take the ship. It was crowded, cold and uncomfortable.
The sea was rough. They were two months sailing over the Atlantic Ocean. At last, the May Flower came inside a land. The month was November and it was cold. There was nothing to be seen but snow, rocks and hard bare ground. They were tired and cold from their long journey and hungry, too. No one had enough food to eat, many of them became sick and by spring time, almost half of people died.
In spring, the sun shone brightly, the snow melted and the leaves and flowers began to emerge. Some friendly Indian had visited the Pilgrims in the winter.One of the kinds of the Indians was named Swanto. He stayed with the Pilgrim and taught them how to plant their corn, peas, wheat and barley. The summer came and the days were long and bright. The Pilgrim children were very happy in the new home . When it was autumn, the fathers gathered the barley and wheat and corn that they had planted, and found that it had grown so well that they would have quite enough for the long winter that was coming. “ Let us thank God for it all” they said. Then they decided to have a great thanksgiving party and invited the friendly Indians. They prepared well ducks and geese and great wild turkeys. There was deer meat, bread and cakes. They had fish and clams from the sea nearby. The friendly Indians all came with their chief. They were dressed in deer skins, and some of them had the furry coat of a wild cat hanging on their arms. Their long black hair fell loose on their shoulders, and was trimmed with feathers or fox-tails. Before they ate, the Pilgrims and the Indians thanked God together for all his goodness. And so this story goes that the first Thanksgiving celebrated include colony nearly four hundred years ago. As you sat down with your friends and family, remember this original tale and give thanks for all of God’s abundant things.

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Fish Friends Three - Ba chú cá bằng hữu

The Foolish Lion - Sư tử Ngốc

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