A Mouse's Marriage

Once upon a time, there was a family of mice. The father in the family had always thought that he had a pretty nice daughter, and she had to marry the greatest guy in the world. The mouse father went out everyday to find a guy who was the best match for his daughter.

When he was looking for his son-in-law one day, he felt very hot, and he had to take his jacket off. Then he realized,"Yes, the sun is suitable for my daughter". He asked the sun,"You are the greatest one in the world, you make everyone sweaty. I would like to let my daughter marry you". But the sun rejected him, because the sun said that the cloud was better than him. When the cloud floated by the sun, it would cover the sun, and no one could feel the heat and light from the sun. The father kept searching for the cloud. Suddenly, he found that it became dark because of the cloud covering the sun. The father told the cloud,"The sun told me that you are the best one in the world, so I decided to let my daughter be your wife". But the cloud rejected him and told the father that although he could hide the sun, when the wind puffed, the wind would separate him into several parts.

After listening to the cloud's talking, the father started to look for the wind. A Few minutes later, he felt fresh because of the wind blowing. The father asked the wind, "The cloud said you are the best one in the world, so I regard you as my daughter's husband". But the wind disagreed with the mouse. The wind told the mouse that he should ask the wall, because of the wall always interrupting the wind's traveling.

The father turned to find the wall, and requested the wall to marry his daughter. Surprisingly, the wall said,"You have already made a mistake, the greatest bridegroom is you, mouse. You know, you always break me; you drill into my body, so you are the best one in the world".

At last, the father realized that the most suitable for his daughter was a mouse.

Joanne-EAP2, CESL Today v56, 2004

Folk tale- Urashima Tarou

One day, a young man found that a turtle was being persecuted by children and helped it. The turtle thanked him and invited him to a castle in the sea. There were many beautiful fish and a beautiful princess. The man enjoyed dancing and eating good food, but the princess told him to go back to shore as soon as possible and gave him a box. She also told him not to open the box until he arrived on shore. When he arrived on shore, he found that many years had passed and that all of his acquaintances had grown old because the time had passed much faster in the castle than on shore. He felt very sad and opened the box. Then smoke came from the box and covered him, and he suddenly became old. So, he lived with his friends and became happy.

Hajime, Japan -AE2, CESL Today v56, 2004

Princess Kaguya: Japanese Folk Tale

A long time ago, an older husband and wife lived on a Japanese mountain. They were poor. They did not have their own child. One day, the husband went to mountain to get firewood. This mountain had a bamboo grove. He noticed that one bamboo shoot was brightening. He went there, and he cut that bamboo. One small girl was in the bamboo. He was very surprised, the he took her out to his house. His wife was surprised too. However, she was pleased. Then, they decided they would bring up this small girl in their house. After so many years, this small girl grew up to be a very beautiful girl. This pair became rich, because they could find gold bamboo some days in the bamboo grove. People who rich man made proposals to her. She said I can marry someone if you grant my demands. Those demands were difficult, such as going to get crystal of dragon or get gold coral, and so on. However, they could not get it. Kaguya knew that they could not do it. Therefore, she asked them. Her Old parents were getting relief. The Mikada, who is king of Japan, made a proposal to her. She could not refuse his offer, so her parents were made sad. But, she said to her parents, "I have to go back to the Moon. I am an inhabitant of the moon." The parents were very surprised. They did not want to her to go back to he moon. They asked Mikada she was not went back moon. The day that she was to go back to the moon came. She said to her parents "Thank you for your kindness, and that I could be brought up by you. I will go back to the moon tonight. Tonight, the moon messenger will come here". Her parents said, "please do not go back!". However, Kaguya said "I am sorry. I can not do it". That night, her messenger came to her house, and took her in a carriage. The carriage flews in the sky. Mikado and his followers released arrows to the carriage, but the arrows could not go to the carriage. Kaguya said "thank you so much, and good bye". Mikado and her parents saw that.


Natsumi-EAP2, CESL Today v56, 2004

Gold Ax and Silver Ax

Once upon a time there lived a good woodcutter. He was a man who cared for his parents with all his heart. But he was poor. He used to go to the forest to cut down trees.

One day while he was searching for a tree to cut down, he decided to cut down a tree that was near a pond. While he was cutting down the tree, his old ax fell into the pond by mistake. He said to himself, "Oh, my God! If I don't have my ax, I can't cut down trees and then I will not be able to earn any money. How will I take care of my parents?" He was crying because he was sad.

At the time, the god of the mountains appeared.from the pond and asked, "Why are you sad?"

"I'm a woodcutter, and when I was cutting down the tree, my ax fell into the pond. If I don't have my ax, I won't be able to earn any money," he answered.

"I'm willing to bring you your ax," said the god of the mountains. The god of the mountains disappeared. The god soon appeared with a gold ax. He asked, "Is this gold ax yours?" "No, it isn't," he answered. The god disappeared again. He came back with a silver ax. He asked, "Is this silver ax yours?" The woodcutter answered, "No, it isn't." He asked, "Then is this old metal ax yours?" The woodcutter answered, "Yes, it's mine."

The god of the mountains said with a smile, "You are very honest. I will give you all three axes as a reward." The god gave him all three axes. The woodcutter and his parents lived happily ever after.

You Jin, Korea-AE2, CESL Today v56, 2004

The Man and the Wolf

Once there was a man who grazed sheep; he wanted to joke with his friend, then he called to them, "Help, help, help, he-e-e-e-e-e-e-lp, the wolf came!!!" After that his friends ran fast to him, but they found him laughing. Then they asked him, "What happened?" and he said, "Nothing, I am just joking." He did it two more times, but one day the wolf came for real; he wanted to eat the sheep; then the man called his friends, "Help, help, please, someone help me!!!" But his friends thought he was joking. Then nobody helped him, and then, the wolf ate the sheep.

Ahmed, Yemen -AE2, CESL Today v56, 2004

Korean Folk Tale

A long time ago, a magician lived in the lake. One evening, when the woodman cut down a tree with an iron ax, he dropped the iron ax in the lake, so he cried because he didn't have another ax or enough money to buy one. He cried nearby the lake. Just at that time, the magician appeared there, and said, "Why are you crying?"

The woodman said, "I dropped my iron ax in the lake", and then the magician disappeared into the lake.

Afterwards he appeared standing on the lake with a silver ax and he asked, "Is this yours?" The woodman answered, "It's not mine", so the magician again went into the lake and then appeared in front of the woodman with a gold ax. But this gold ax was not his, so the magician went into the lake and appeared with his ax. Only then the man said, "It's mine".

The magician said, "You didn't lie so I'll give you all three axes, your ax and the gold and silver axes." Afterwards, the man sold his axes for a lot of money; so then he became a rich person.

Another woodman heard this story. So this woodman went there and intentionally dropped his iron ax and then he pretended to cry, so the magician also appeared in front of his eyes, and he asked, "Why are you crying?"

He answered, "I lost my ax." The magician went into the lake after the conversation and appeared with a gold ax.

He asked, "Is this yours?"

He answered, "Yes", so the magician disappeared at once. The man had nothing, not even his ax.

Rina-AE2, CESL Today, v56, 2004

Issun-Boushi (One Inch Boy)

Long, long ago, there lived an old man and his wife in a village. They had no children so they prayed to God to give them a baby every day. One day, to their surprise, they were endowed with a small boy whose height was one inch. They named him "Issun-boushi" -One Inch Boy. They loved him and treated him like a treasure, so One Inch Boy grew up strong; however, he couldn't become a tall boy.

One day, he said, "Father and mother, please give me a needle, a straw, a bowl and a chopstick". "What are you going to do with them?" his mother asked. "A needle is a sword, a straw is a sheath, a bowl is a boat, and a chopstick is an oar. I¹ll go to the capital city and become a samurai", he said. His parents let him; therefore he left the city.

He hopped into the bowl and arrived at the river, then went down the river like an arrow. Then a fish attacked him, so he drove the fish away with the chopstick. The fish mistook him for tasty food. Then he was thrown by a wave, whipped by rain, and blew by wind. At last, he made it to the city.

He decided to work for a wealthy man's house after he arrived at the city. One day he went to a shrine with the wealthy man's beautiful daughter. Halfway, they met a big demon. The demon was going to kidnap her. One Inch Boy stood up to the demon bravely. "Bad demon! If you touch her, I'll kill you!"

"Insolent boy! I'll eat you!" the demon said and quickly swallowed him down. Then, "ouch! ouch!" The demon felt pain. One Inch Boy pricked him with the sword of needle in his stomach. "Ouch! I'll die. I'll give up. Help me!" The demon vomited him out and ran like a rabbit.

"Thank you so much for helping me, said the princess. You are so small but so brave. Look! The demon has dropped something. This is an uchide-no-kezuchi - mallet of luck. If we shake this, we can get anything we hope for. What do you hope?"

"I'd like to be tall. Please make me a tall boy." She shook it; therefore he rapidly became a tall young man. Moreover, he married her and became a neat samurai as he had wished.

Eriko, Japan-AE2, CESL Today, v56, 2004

Moon Cake Festival

The origin of the moon cake festival is a combination of two legends. The first one ties back to the origin of life. In the beginning there was said to be 12 suns in the sky. Because of this, the world was too hot and people's lives were miserable. The king, in order to save his people, shot down eleven of the twelve suns in the sky. After being reduced down to one sun, the world was perfect and lives were better. As a reward for his deed, he was given a potion of immortality, but his wife took the potion before he could take it, and she floated to the moon. So now, Chinese believe that there is a beautiful woman that lives on the moon and on the night of the festival she can be seen.

Mandy, Taiwan -AE2, CESL Today, v56, 2004

When the Snipe and Clam Grapple, the Fisherman Profits (Folk Tale)

Once upon a time, a clam crept upon the sandy beach to bask by the sun and relax. A snipe in the sky saw the clam. It was hungry that time, so the snipe planned to catch the clam for its lunch. The snipe flew speedily in the clam's direction but the clam became aware of the attack and closed its shell quickly. "Ouch, my mouth!" the snipe shouted. Its mouth had been clipped but the clam tightly. The snipe felt a lot of pain and it said to the clam, "I won't eat you if you open your shell." The clam, however, didn't believe the snipe and said, "You think I'm a nut? When I opened my shell, you'll surely eat me," and they grappled for a long time. While they were still quarrelling, a fisherman came out and caught both of them. When they realized what had happened, it was too late and they had been cooked.

THE END
Moral Value
*This story tells us we should not fight with each other, otherwise other people will profit.
Richard, Malaysia -AE2, CESL Today v56, 2004

The Ugly Duckling

The ugly duckling is a traditional tale. The history is about a mother duck who was sitting on a clutch of new eggs, getting six ducklings, but one of them was different, because it had grey feathers instead of being yellow. The ducklings grew quickly, but the mother duck could not understand how this ugly duckling could be one of hers. The ugly duckling always was discriminated against and teased by their brother and the farmyard folks, and it was feeling every unhappy day due to the fact he felt nobody wanted him, then decided to run away. He stopped in other ponds and found other birds, but nobody accepted him. Also found with many people who wanted to obtain benefit from him; equally found a farmer who took him home to his children where he received a lot of care. The ugly duckling grew so big the farmers decided to set him free by the pond. In the end, there in the pond was when the duckling saw himself mirrored in the water goodness. After he flew north and glided on the pond where he found many friends, due to the fact that he was very like them; he also felt that his good looks was admired and the ugly duckling felt very happy because were well accepted by the rest.

The ugly duckling is a good model for young girls and boys, because he teaches us, how the society can discriminate against somebody only for the physique, beauty or appearance, which is wrong. The most important is to know people not only for appearance but also into each and to accept to the persons for how they are.

Some people might think this story is not possible or can not be true as part of the society, but for the contents which it has, if is a history that happens daily in life, without recognizing sometimes that our behavior is wrong when we discriminate people only for their appearance and not value them for their sentiment or aptitude.

Melyna, Peru-AE, CESL Today v56, 2004

The Lion and the Mouse

This is a traditional folk tale. In my opinion, this story presents a harmful stereotype for children. This story is talking about a lion and a mouse. Long time ago, a lion in the jungle was angry because of the mouse's disturbing. The lion caught the mouse and wanted to eat him. The mouse pleased the lion and the lion let him go. One day, a hunter caught the lion when he was searching for food. The lion roared for help. When the mouse heard the lion's roar, he ran to the lion, and helped the lion. Finally, the lion escaped because of the mouse so he thanked the mouse. In this story, the lion is a bad model for young children. First, the lion is wild and fearsome. He awakes with a loud roar, and down came his paw to the mouse when the mouse ran over his head and down his nose. Second, the lion is over confident and looks down to the mouse by saying that "How could a tiny creature like you ever do anything to help me?" Third, even though the lion is strong, he is stupid because he roared and thrashed about trying to free himself but with every move he made, the ropes bound him tighter. Some people might think the lion is strong, and powerful, and doesn't need help from the weak, but I don't think so, because the lion in the story became weak and useless when he fell into the trap, and he needs help from the mouse to escape from the trap. I believe this story shows young children that even though they are strong and powerful, sometimes they need the help of the weak. In addition, although some people are weak, they will able to help the strong people.

-Richard, Malaysia-AE2, CESL Today v56, 2005

About

This blog is meant as a repository for old folk tales written by CESL students. Many of them have already been published and were on the web for many years, but were removed when CESL removed its CESL Today website. Blogger is probably a better place for these tales. Many are not edited well or even at all, but in some cases there was teacher input in order to make them more grammatical. Enjoy!