Kamis, 16 Desember 2010

3 Short English Stories

The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey
 
 
  A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"
 
  So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way.  But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."
 
  So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."
 
  Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey.  By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them.  The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at.  The men said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey with you and your hulking son?"
 
  The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do.  They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders.  They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole.  In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.
 "That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:
"Please all, and you will please none."


Mercury and the Woodman
 
 
  A Woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe,glancing off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water.As he stood by the water's edge lamenting his loss, Mercury appearedand asked him the reason for his grief. On learning what had happened,
out of pity for his distress, Mercury dived into the river and,bringing up a golden axe, askedhim if that was the one he had lost.The Woodman replied that it was not, and Mercury then dived a second time, and, bringing up a silver axe, asked if that was his. "No, that is not mine either," said the Woodman. Once more Mercury dived into the river, and brought up the missing axe. The Woodman was overjoyed at recovering his property, and thanked his benefactor
warmly; and the latter was so pleased with his honesty that he made him a present of the other two axes. When the Woodman told the story to his companions, one of these was filled with envy of his good fortune and determined to try his luck for himself. So he went and began to fell a tree at the edge of the river, and presently contrived to let his axe drop into the water. Mercury appeared as before, and, on learning that his axe had fallen in, he dived and brought up a golden axe, as he had done on the previous occasion. Without waiting to be asked whether it was his or not, the fellow cried, "That's mine, that's mine," and stretched out his hand eagerly for the prize: but Mercury was so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declined to give him the golden axe, but also refused to recover for him the one he had let fall into the stream.
"Honesty is the best policy."
The Old Woman and the Physician 
 
 
  AN OLD WOMAN having lost the use of her eyes, called in a Physician to heal them, and made this bargain with him in the presence of witnesses:  that if he should cure her blindness, he
should receive from her a sum of money; but if her infirmity remained, she should give him nothing.  This agreement being made, the Physician, time after time, applied his salve to her
eyes, and on every visit took something away, stealing all her property little by little.  And when he had got all she had, he healed her and demanded the promised payment.  The Old Woman,
when she recovered her sight and saw none of her goods in her house, would give him nothing.  The Physician insisted on his claim, and.  as she still refused, summoned her before the Judge.  The Old Woman, standing up in the Court, argued:  "This man here speaks the truth in what he says; for I did promise to give him a sum of money if I should recover my sight:  but if I continued blind, I was to give him nothing.  Now he declares that I am healed.  I on the contrary affirm that I am still blind; for when I lost the use of my eyes, I saw in my house various chattels and valuable goods:  but now, though he swears I am cured of my blindness, I am not able to see a single thing in it."  

0 komentar: