Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
(Favourite stories from Indonesia)
One beautiful morning Kancil decided to
fish in a certain river. On the way he met his friend, Swine, who stopped him
for a chat. When Swine heard that Kancil wanted to go fishing, he asked whether
he could join him, Kancil did not object, as Swine promised to help him with
the work. The two of them went on together and soon they met Tiger and
Elephant. When they heard that Kancil and Swine were going to the river, they
decide to go along, too. And so the four animals went together to the river to
fish.
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
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| Kancil and the giant story |
When they arrived at the river bank,
Kancil immediately began to give orders left and right. Elephant had to dam the
river with stones and tree trunks. Tiger and Swine had to throw away the river
water while Kancil himself set out to catch the fish left on the dry river bed.
There were, however, few fish, so they decided to go further down the river to
try their lick again. Kancil ordered Swine to stay behind with their catch. He
himself went with Tiger and Elephant further downstream where the tree of them
began their work all over again.
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
Meanwhile, a giant came to the place
where Swine sat. As soon as he saw the glittering fish, he grabbed them
greedily and stuffied them what into his mouth. It was useless for Swine to
protect and the giant did not even listen to him. Swine ran toward his friends
and told them had happened. Of course, the three others were bot very pleased.
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
The second time, too, they did not catch
enough fish. did not even listen to him. Ordered Tiger to stay behind with their
second catch, while he, Swine and Elephant went further away to dam the river
at another place. As soon as the three of them were out of sight, the hungry
giant came from behind the bushes and ate up all the fish. Tiger snarled
angrily, but he did not dare to fight the giant.
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
When the other animals came back with
their catch they found a very ashamed Tiger without a single fish. Kancil
scolded him until he became red in the face. Now it was Elephant’s turn to play
guard.
“You are so big. Friend Elephant.
Certainly, we can trust you to defend our fish,” said Kancil.
For the third time the giant came to eat
the fish. When Elephant saw how big he was, he became afraid and let the giant
steal their fish. Kancil and the others came back, they found the basket empty
again. Kancil was very angry with his three friends. He shouted, “What’s the
use of having such big and strong bodies, if you can’t even chase away one
single giant. This time I will stay here myself. Do you think I am too small to
do this job? Go away , the three of you, and catch as a many fish as you can.
When you come back, you will find that robber lying here in front of me, bound
and helpless.”
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
After Swine, Tiger and Elephant had gone
away, Kancil plucked a big bunch of reeds from the river side. He tied these
reeds around his body. Then lying down under the nearest tree, he bound the
reed ends to the roots of the tree. He was very busy tying himself when the
giant came. Kancil pretended not to see him and went on with his work. The
giant became curious and instead of grabbing the fish he stopped to look sown
at Kancil and asked what he was doing.
“Well. Well. Don’t you know what is going
happen today?” asked Kancil in a surprised tone.
“What is going to happen today?” asked
the giant curiously.
“I thought everybody knew about it,”
answered Kancil. “You must have been asleep when Nabi Sulaiman came into the
forest to warn all the animals about the big flood. The big flood will carry
everybody away to the see, unless he takes precaution to be safe.”
“Oh, I have not heard about this flood,”
answered the giant, who believe every word Kancil said, “Tell me, what do you
do to avoid being carried away?”
“Don’t you see what I am doing” said
Kancil. “I bind myself to these roots, so that the water will not drag me
away
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
“That’s a very good idea,” said the
stupid giant. “Won’t you help me a little?”
“Why not? I am always ready to help
somebody in need,” answered Kancil. “But these reeds are not strong enough to
hold your heavy body. Why don’t you go into the forest and collect a big bunch
of thick rattan? I shall wait for you here. But hurry, we don’t have much time
as the flood will come soon after noon.”
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
The stupid giant, afraid of losing his
life, ran into the woods and soon came back with a big load of rattan. Kancil
told him to bind his own legs tightly together with the rattan, then sit with
his back against a big tree so that
Kancil could help him tie his body against the tree trunk. The giant did
everything Kancil said. Soon he was sitting boud and helpless against the tree.
To be completely safe, Kancil wound
several more pieces of rattan round him so that the giant could hardly move.
Narrative Text Fable - Kancil and the
giant Story
Then the clever little animal called out
to his friends who were still busy catching fish some distance away. Swine,
Tiger and Elephant did not have much trouble killing their enemy.
Of course, Kancil did not tell them that
he had tricked the giant, and the other three animals thought that he had
fought with him. They all admired his enormous strength. They gave Kancil the
biggest share of the fish, and after having finished their meal each of them
went his own way
