Ali Baba

Once upon a time there were 40 cruel thieves who put their stolen money
and treasures in a cave. They went in the cave by saying ”Open Sesame”
to the cave entrance. A poor person, named Ali Baba saw them while they
were doing that, so he heard the opening word. After they left, he went
toward the cave and opened it. Suddenly he found a very large quantity of
money and golden treasures. He took some of it and went back home.
After that he became a rich man and his brother wanted to know how he
became rich.
Ali Baba turned into the richest man in his village. His evil brother was
really jealous of him, and wanted to know how he could get such a lot of
money. Therefore, when Ali Baba went to the cave again to take some
more money, his brother followed him. He saw everything, and decided to
go back the next day to take some money for himself. The next morning he
found a lot of money in the cave, and he wanted to take all of them.
Unfortunately, when he was busy carrying the money to his house, the
thieves came. The boss of the thieves asked him how he knew about the
cave. He told everything, but unluckily they killed him and went to Ali
Baba’s house.
After finding Ali Baba’s house, they made a plan to kill him the following
night. Some of the thieves hid in big jars, and the boss pretended that he
was a merchant who wanted to sell the jars to Ali Baba. Ali Baba who was
a kind man invited the boss of the thief to have lunch together.
After lunch they took a rest. Luckily, the house maid went out of the house,
and found that there were thieves inside the jars. She finally boiled hot oil
and poured it into the jars to kill all of them. The boss of the thieves was
caught, and put into prison.
Ali Baba was saved from the danger, and he finally lived happily ever after
with his maid who became his wife shortly after.
Pinocchio
Once upon a time, there was a puppeteer named Geppetto. He really
wanted a boy but his wife has been died for a long time ago. One day, he
had an idea. He wanted to make a puppet so he would never felt lonely
again. He made a puppet all night without resting. In the morning, finally he
finished his work. He named the puppet, Pinocchio. He played whole day
with Pinocchio. However, he felt lonely again because Pinocchio couldn’t
talk or walk by himself. In the middle of the night, Geppetto prayed to the
God. His wish was Pinocchio became a real boy, human. He thought it on
his mind in his dream.
In the next morning, he surprised. Pinocchio was alive. He really was
happy. He tough Pinocchio how to walk, how to speak, how to read etc. like
a teacher. Pinocchio learned fast. He entered an elementary school. One
day, Pinocchio felt bored. So, he went home late. Geppetto worried about
him. When Pinocchio came to home, Geppetto asked him. He said he was
on school but he didn’t. Suddenly, Pinocchio’s nose grow longer. It meant
that Pinocchio lied.
The next day, Pinocchio got caught by thieves. The thieves was the owner
of circus. Pinocchio became a slave for the circus. He was famous because
he was a talking puppet. Geppetto worried him. Pinocchio didn’t come
home for 2 days. He found Pinocchio everywhere. When he discovered the
sea, big wave smashed him. He was on whale’s stomach when he awoke.
He couldn’t find the way out.
In different place, Pinocchio finally could get out from circus. He went to
home but Geppetto wasn’t on there. He found Geppetto at sea. He had the
same accident like Geppetto. He met Geppetto in whale’s stomach. They
got out from its stomach by made a fire.
They went home back together. In the end, they lived happy forever after.
Seeking at The Great Wall
There was a young man, named Wan Hsi-liang, among those who had been pressed into
the service of building Emperor Shih Huang’s Great Wall. Wan Hsi-liang had a beautiful and
virtuous wife, whose name was Meng Chiang-nu. For a long, long time after her husband
was forced to leave her, Meng Chiang-nu had no news of him. Her hatred of the wicked ruler
grew apace with her longing for the husband.
But even as the seasons changed, there still was no news about Wan Hsi-liang. It was
rumored that the Great Wall was being built somewhere way up north where it was so cold
that one could hardly dare stick one’s hands out of one’s sleeves. When Meng Chiang-nu
heard this, she hurriedly made cotton-padded clothes and shoes for her husband. But who
should take these to him when it was such a long way to the Great Wall? Pondering the
matter over and over, she finally decided she would take the clothes and shoes to Wan Hsi-
liang herself.
It was cold when Meng Chiang-nu started out and very lonely for her to walk by herself. One
evening, she failed to reach the town she was going to, so she spent the night in a little
temple in a grove beside the road. Having walked the whole day, she was very tired and fell
asleep as soon as she lay down on a stone table. She dreamed her husband was coming
towards her and a feeling of great happiness enveloped her. But then he told her that he had
died and she cried bitterly. When she woke in the morning, she was overwhelmed by doubts
and sadness as she remembered this dream. With curses on the emperor, Meng Chiang-nu
continued on her journey.
Meng Chiang-nu walked on until, one day, she came to a deep valley between the mountain.
She walked a long time through the valley without finding a single house. All she could see
were weeds, brambles and rocks. It was getting so dark that she could no longer see the
road. She decided to spend the night among some bushes. As she had not eaten anything
for the whole day, she shivered all the more violently in the cold. Thinking of how her
husband must be suffering in the icy cold weather, her heart contracted with a pain as sharp
as a knife. When Meng Chiang-nu opened her eyes the next morning, she found to her
amazement that the whole valley and her own body were covered in a blanket of snow. How
was she to continue her journey?
While she was still at a loss as to what to do, a crow suddenly alighted before her. It cawed
twice and flew on a short distance, then sat down again in front of her and cawed again
twice. Meng Chiang-nu decided that the bird was inviting her to follow its direction and so
she resumed her travel, a little cheered because of the company of this living creature. And
so, she walked on passing mountain ranges and crossing big rivers and small streams.
Many dreary days had passed before Meng Chiang-nu at last reached the Great Wall. She
walked along the Great Wall, trying to find her husband among those who were toiling there.
She asked after her husband, but nobody knew anything about him. Her anguish over her
husband’s unknown fate increased and she shed many bitter tears as she continued her
search.
At last, she learned the sad truth. Her husband had died long ago because of the unbearably
hard toil, and his body had been put underground where he fell, under the Great Wall.
Hearing this tragic news, Meng Chiang-nu fell into a swoon. Some of the builders tried to
revive her, but it was a long while before she regained consciousness. When she did, she
burst into a flood of tears for several days. Many of the toilers wept with her. So bitter was
her lament that, suddenly, a length of over two hundred miles of the Great Wall came
crumbling down while a violent storm the sand and bricks whirl about in the air.
“It was Meng Chiang-nu who, by her tears, caused the Great Wall to crumble!” the people
along the edifice told one another with amazement. At the same time, they were filled with
hatred of the cruel emperor who caused nothing, but misery to his subjects.
When the emperor heard how Meng Chiang-nu had brought part of his Great Wall down, he
immediately went to see for himself what sort of person she was. He found that she was as
beautiful as a fairy, so he asked her to become his wife. Meng Chiang-nu, who hated him so
deeply for his cruel ways, would of course not consent to his. But she felt a ruse would serve
her purpose better than frankness, so she answered: “Yes, I will, if you do three things for
me. The first is that you bury my husband in a golden coffin with a silver lid on it; the second
is that all your ministers and generals go into mourning for my husband and attend his
funeral; the third is that you attend his funeral yourself, wearing deep mourning clothes as
your own son would do.”
Being so taken with her beauty, the emperor consented to her requests at once. Everything
was, therefore, arranged accordingly. But when Meng Chiang-nu saw her husband properly
buried, she cried bitterly for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, she jumped into the river that
flowed close by the tomb. The emperor was infuriated at being thwarted in his desires. He
ordered his attendants to pull her out of the water again. But before they could seize her,
Meng Chiang-nu had turned into a beautiful, silvery fish and swam gracefully out of sight
deep down into the green-blue water.
Princess Laiamon and Crocodile – Folktale from Kalimantan
Indonesia
Laiamon was the daughter of Dayak chief. One day, she went to the river to
take a bath. She was swimming when a crocodile held her leg.

“Oh, please don’t eat me!” cried Laiamon.

“Hohoho!” laughed the crocodile. “I won’t let you go. I like eating pretty girls
very much.”
Laiamon was aclever girl. She then said, “My father is a chief. He is a rich
man. He will give you anything you want if you set me free.”
“Is it?” asked the crocodile.
“Yes,” replied princess Laiamon.
“OK,” said the crocodile, “tell your father to give me a baby to eat every
day.”

The crocodile let Laiamon go. Quickly, Laiamon swam to the river bank and
went home. She told what she had experienced to her father. Her father
then called his people to discuss what the crocodile had asked.

The next day, the chief and his people went to the river. They bought a pig
for the crocodile.
“Good morning, Crocodile,” said the chief.
“Do you bring a baby for me?” asked the crocodile.
“We have no babies in the village,” said the chief, “we can only give you a
pig this time.”
“Don’t lie to me!” the crocodile shanted.

“Of course not. If there is a baby in the village, we will bring it to you. Now,
please take this pig.”
“All right,” said the crocodile.
The chief threw the pig into the river. The crocodile quickly ate the pig.
“Hmmm, it’s very delicious!” said the crocodile. Not long after that, this
creature’s stomach ached. It moaned and groaned. Then it died.

“Father, how did you kill the crocodile?” asked Laiamon.

“We have filled the pig with poison,” said the chief. “This creature had killed
many people. I’m proud of you, Laiamon. You could get away from the
crocodile. Remember my daughter, if you are brave, you can beat evil
things.”
Timun Emas – Indonesian Folktale
Long time ago in the Island of Java, Indonesia, lived a couple of farmer. They have
married for some years but they have no children. So they prayed to a monster called buta
Ijo to give them children. Buta Ijo was a ferocious and powerful monster. He granted their
wish on one condition. When their children had grown up, they had to sacrifice them to Buta
Ijo. He liked eating fresh meat of human being. The farmers agreed to his condition. Several
months later the wife was pregnant.
She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. They named her Timun Emas. The farmers
were happy. Timun Emas was very healthy and a very smart girl. She was also very diligent.
When she was a teenager Buta Ijo came to their house. Timun Emas was frightened so she
ran away to hide. The farmers then told Buta Ijo that Timun Emas was still a child. They
asked him to postpone. Buta Ijo agreed. He promised to come again. The following year
Buta Ijo came again. But again and again their parents said that Timun Emas was still a
child.
When the third time Buta Ijo came their parents had prepared something for him.
They gave Timun Emas several bamboo needles, seeds of cucumber, dressing and salt.
“Timun, take these things”
“What are these things?”
“These are your weapons. Buta Ijo will chase you. He will eat you alive. So run as fast as
you can. And if he will catch you spread this to the ground. Now go!”
Timun Emas was scared so she ran as quickly as she could. When Buta Ijo arrived
she was far from home. He was very angry when he realized that his prey had left. So he ran
to chase her. He had a sharp nose so he knew what direction his prey ran.
Timun Emas was just a girl while Buta Ijo was a monster so he could easily catch her
up. When he was just several steps behind Timun Emas quickly spread the seeds of
cucumber. In seconds they turned into many vines of cucumber. The exhausted Buta Ijo was
very thirsty so he grabbed and ate them. When Buta Ijo was busy eating cucumber Timun
Emas could run away.
But soon Buta Ijo realized and started running again. When he was just several steps
behind Timun Emas threw her bamboo needles. Soon they turned into dense bamboo trees.
Buta Ijo found it hard to pass. It took him some time to break the dense bamboo forest.
Meanwhile Timun Emas could run farther.
Buta Ijo chased her again. When he almost catch her again and again Timun Emas
threw her dressing. This time it turned into a lake. Buta Ijo was busy to save himself so
Timun Emas ran way. But Buta Ijo could overcome it and continued chasing her.
 Finally when Timun Emas was almost caught she threw her salt. Soon the land
where Buta Ijo stood turned into ocean. Buta Ijo was drowned and died instantly. Timun
Emas was thankful to god and came back to her home.