PENGUIN READERS Level 5 World Folktales.pdf

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World Folktales
Level 5
Retold by Kathy Burke
Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter
Pearson E d u c a t i o n L i m i t e d
Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,
Essex CM20 2JE, England
and Associated Companies throughout the world.
ISBN-13: 978-0-582-50535-3
ISBN-10:0-582-50535-6
First published by Penguin Books 2003
Text copyright © Penguin Books 2003
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Contents
page
Introduction
The Good Peasant's Son (a Russian folktale)
The Crocodile and the Hunter (an African—Nupe
folktale)
Breaking the Chain (a Guatemalan folktale)
Lukas's Luck (a Czechoslovak folktale)
Wisdom for Sale (an Indian—Gujerati folktale)
The Wooden Horse (a Middle Eastern folktale)
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Typeset by Pantek Arts Ltd, Maidstone, Kent
Set in l l / 1 4 p t Bembo
Printed and bound in China
SWTC/04
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the Publishers.
The Wedding Box (a Chinese folktale)
The Golden Apples (a Scandinavian folktale)
Happy New Year (a Chinese folktale)
Published by Pearson Education Limited in association with
Penguin Books Ltd, both companies being subsidiaries of Pearson Plc
Activities
For a complete list of tides available in the Penguin Readers series please write to your local
Pearson Education office or to: Penguin Readers Marketing Department,
Pearson Education, Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex C M 2 0 2JE.
Introduction
Pieces of the evil light were everywhere. He saw them clearly, dancing
around him, causing him to cough, giving him night fevers.
("Breaking
the Chain")
Thiazi took Idun to Jotunheim, high in the mountains . . . Here he kept
Idun prisoner so that, without the apples, the gods would grow old—but
he would stay young for ever.
("The Golden Apples")
In both of these folktales evil has been done and a way to defeat
it must be found. The first is a story from the forests of
Guatemala, in which one bloody murder leads to another. Can
Juanantes break the chain of violence? Or must it continue?
The second story is a Scandinavian tale set in the ice world of
the gods. The kidnapper and thief is Thiazi, one of the giants
who are the enemies of the gods. As the gods grow old, they
lose their minds and their powers. Can they save themselves
before it is too late?
In "Wisdom for Sale," less serious problems are solved by a poor
orphan boy from his little shop in an Indian marketplace. He sells
his advice to anyone who needs it, but the advice is so good that
his customers include a merchant's son and even a king.
Magic and love bring both trouble and joy in "The Wooden
Horse," an ancient tale from the Middle East. The wooden horse
has been made by an old wizard and it has very special qualities
which take a young prince on some amazing adventures. The
Russian whose mother throws him out of his home in "The
Good Peasant's Son," because he has spent her last money on
rescuing a dog and a cat instead of on food, also needs the help of
magic to bring him a new life—and love.
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"Lukas's Luck" is set in the former Czechoslovakia, where
winters are long and hard and farmers pray for the arrival of
spring. Like Martin, the young Russian, Lukas and his family
have lost everything—they can't even find a godmother who will
bring gifts for their baby. Is there any way out of their troubles?
Kindness and cruelty to other people are important to many
of the stories in this collection, but in the African tale "The
Hunter and the Crocodile" men must also live side by side with
animals. Sometimes, in the wild, they depend on each other's
help—but can they trust each other?
Two of the stories, "The Wedding Box" and "Happy New
Year," describe the customs and daily lives of people in ancient
China. In the first story, a spoiled young woman learns to think
of others, and not only of herself. In the second, a generous man
gives away all his money and then has to find a way to enjoy a
very disappointing New Year's holiday.
This is a collection of folktales from around the world. A folktale is
a traditional story which has been passed down from person to
person over the years. Every culture has its own folktales, and a
large number of these stories have never been written down. So
the story we read or listen to today may be quite different from the
original. Very often we have no idea who the original author was.
There are many different types of folktales. Some contain
magic and tell stories of kings and queens. Others describe the
struggle of a simple person trying to find their way in the world.
Nature plays an important part in many folktales, and animals are
often the main or important characters. The stories may be sad,
happy, funny, wise, or exciting adventures, but there is usually an
important lesson about life and relationships to be learned.
These stories are an excellent way of learning about the
customs, attitudes, and beliefs of other cultures. How are—or
were—important holidays celebrated? What is the typical food
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and type of house? What is family life like? What beliefs about life
and the world are shared? How do they help people solve a
particular type of problem?
Folktales have remained popular because everyone loves a good
story. For centuries, stories have been a way of bringing people
together, of entertaining children, or just of passing the time. Also,
folktales may come from very different cultures, but they are about
dreams, problems, and emotions that people of all ages can
recognize, all over the world, at all times: we can read about good
and evil, right and wrong, love and hate, wealth and poverty, joy
and unhappiness, jealousy and trust.
The same characters appear again and again in folktales: the
good son, the wise old woman, the greedy person, the silly one. It
is interesting too that the same plots may appear in stories from
different countries, although the characters are different. There is
a similar story to "The Crocodile and the Hunter," an African
tale, which comes from China and is about a clever judge, a
storekeeper, and a poor farmer. Weddings, the birth of children,
and other important life events are also part of these stories.
A good story entertains, but it also helps us turn the key, enter
another world, and experience another time. A folktale may be
centuries old, but it can still have meaning for us today.
)
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