Princess Amarevi FOLKLORE FROM CAMBODIA

A long time ago, there lived a very beautiful princess. Her name was Amarevi.
So many men came and proposed her for to be their wives. However, she rejected them. It was because she already loved one man. His name was Mahoseth. Unlike her who came from a royal family, Mahoseth was an ordinary man.

In the palace, there were four ministers who terribly wanted to marry the Princess Amarevi. It was not because they loved the Princess Ama revi, but they wanted to get her wealth. As the only child of the king, Princess Ama revi had lots of jewelries.
Those four ministers upset when they knew Princess Amarevi would marry with Mahoseth. They came to the king and told him some lies.

“Your Majesty, Mahoseth is not a good man. He will marry your daughter only to get her wealth,“ said one minister.
“It's true, Your Majesty. I also heard that he really wants to be the new king. He wants to kill you!“ said another minister.
The four ministers kept on telling to the King about how bad Mahoseth was. Sadly, the King finally believed what they said. He cancelled the wedding and even sent Mahoseth to jail! The princess kept on crying. She could not believe that her father would believe to those ministers.

“I have to prove to my father that Mahoseth is innocent,“ thought the princess.
She had a good plan. She asked those ministers to meet her. “I hope you can come to my room at nine o'clock,“ said the princess to the ministers.

They were happy when they heard the princess invited them. They did not know that the princess had set a plan.
The princess had asked some people to dig the floor. Later she covered the hole with some rug. On the top of the rug, she put a table with some jewelries. She hoped the ministers would be trapped inside the hole when holding the jewelry.
Finally, exactly at nine o'clock, those four ministers came to her room.

“Please come in,“ said the princess.
After the ministers were inside the room, the princess told them that she had to leave for a while.
“Please stay here, i'm going to do something and i'll be back soon. “After the princess left, those ministers saw beautiful jewelries on the table.

“Look at that table! we will get jewelry!“ said one minister.
They rushed to the table and suddenly they were trapped inside the hole! “Help. . . please help us!“ cried the ministers.
Meanwhile, the princess went to the king and told him that she trapped the ministers.
“Look! Those were trying to steal my jewelries,“ said the princess to the king.

The king was furious. He sent those four ministers to the jail. He then apologized to his daughter and Mahoseth. Later, he held the wedding party and since then Princess Amarevi and Mahoseth lived happily. Media Indonesia, 11/23/2014, page 20

Kintaro Folklore From Japan

Kintaro Folklore From Japan
A long time ago, there lived a special boy. His name was Kintaro. He lived with his mother on Mount Ashigara.Kintaro's father died when he was a baby.

What was so special about Kintaro?
Well, he was very strong. Though he was a kid, he had a power of 100 adult men! Besides that, he was also able to talk to animals. No wonder he made friends with all animals. His mother did not know how Kintaro got his special ability. One thing for sure, she was so grateful that her son was obedient and helpful. He always helped his mother and his neighbors.

During his free time, Kintaro often played with his animals friends. He liked to have fun with them. One activity that he often did with the animals, was doing sumo. It is Japanese traditional wrestling.

Not a single animal could beat Kintaro. He was too powerful for them, however there was animal that wanted to challenge him. The animal was the bear! he was an arrogant animal. He had never met Kintaro, he just heard that there was a strong boy, who was able to talk to animals. He was curious to beat Kintaro in sumo.

“I want to challenge you in sumo!“ said the bear when he finally met Kintaro.
All the animals that heard the bear, were silent. They were so amazed to see how big the bear was. They all were wondering if Kintaro could beat the bear.

Kintaro was just smiling. “All right, I will accept your challenge!“ It did not take lots of time for Kintaro to beat the bear. He could easily win the wrestling! All the animals were cheering. They were happy that Kintaro was the winner. They did not like the arrogant bear.

Kintaro did not know that someone was watching while he was wrestling with the bear. He was a Samurai. A Samurai is a member of a powerful military class in traditional Japan.The Samurai was accompanied with his men.

“You are very strong. I'm impressed,“ said the Samurai.
“Thank you, Sir,“ replied Kintaro politely.
“Listen, I'm looking for some new members for my team. We're going to fight an ogre in Mount Oe. We don't want the beast to hurt us. Therefore, we have to kill the Ogre soon,“ explained the Samurai.
“If I join you, can I be a warrior?“ asked Kintaro.
“Sure you can.“
“Well, let me go home now and I want ask permission to my mother.“
Kintaro's mother let him go. She also told something, a secret that she never told him.
“Your father was a warrior. He was a great warrior. I'm sure you can be as great as he was,“ said the mother.
“How did he die, Mother?“ asked Kintaro.
“An Ogre killed him,“ said his mother sadly. Kintaro was angry! He knew, he had to kill the Ogre before he killed more humans.

Finally they arrived at Mount Oe.They met the Ogre. Though he was still a kid, Kintaro was brave. He finally killed the Ogre. The Samurai was happy. He asked Kintaro and his mother to live in a castle. When Kintaro adult, he finally became a warrior. His mother was right, Kintaro became a great warrior just like his father. Source : Media Indonesia, 16/11/2014, Page 20

Greedy Anansi FOLKLORE FROM WEST AFRICA

A long time ago, there was an old woman living with her children. One of her children was Anansi. He was a lazy boy.He never wanted to help his mother.Unfortunately, he was greedy. He never wanted to share his food with his brothers and sisters.
One day, Anansi was very hungry.There was no food in the house. So he went outside, he hoped that he could find something to eat.

Anansi went to the sea. He wanted to catch some fish. Suddenly, from a distance he saw a green island.“There must be lots of food there,“ he thought.

Anansi rowed a boat and arrived in the island. There was a hut, Anansi knocked the door and an old man greeted him.
“What can I do for you, Young Man?“ I'm hungry, can you give me some food?“ asked An ansi.
“I have some thing better than food. Here, take this pot. Give this to your mother. When you and your family are hungry, just say: Dear Pot, whatever you give to the Old Man, please give it to me,“ explained the Old Man.
Anansi went home.

However he did not give the pot to his mother. Instead, he hid it in his room.
Then he silently said, Dear Pot, whatever you give to the Old Man, please give it to me.“
Amazingly, there was a lot of food inside the pot. Anasi was extremely happy. He ate all the food. After that he secretly hid the pot.

Time went by and Anansi became fatter. His mother was so suspicious.
“How can he be fatter? His brothers and sisters are thin. I think we don't have enough food to make him fat like that,“ thought the mother.

The mother wanted to find out. She had a plan. “Anansi, let's go to the market with me and your brothers and sisters.“
“I can't, Mother. I'm not feeling well,“ replied Anansi. Well, he always gave an excuse not to help his mother.
Later, the mother and his children left the house. However, the mother came back home. She carefully went inside and when she was in front of Anansi's room, she heard his son said, “Dear Pot, whatever you give to the Old Man, please give it to me.“
She heard Anansi was busy eating. “How did he get the food?“ she thought.

On the following day, Anansi left the house. The mother immediately went to his room. She finally found the pot! She did exactly what Anansi said, “Dear Pot, whatever you give to the Old Man, please give it to me.“

She was very surprised when she found lots of food inside the pot! She gave the food to his children.The mother did not only give it her children, she also gave it to her neighbors.Unfortunately, the pot stopped giving her the food. So she returned it to his son's room.

When Anansi came back, he took his pot and said, “Dear Pot, whatever you give to the Old Man, please give it to me.“ Sadly, the pot did not give him any food. Anansi was upset. So he went to the Old Man's house. He wanted to ask him to give him another pot.
“Did you give the pot to your mother?“ asked the Old Man.

“No, I didn't.“I have something better than the pot. Here, take this stick and say: Dear Stick, whatever you did to the Old Man, please do it to me.“

Anansi was impatient. He immediately said, “Dear Stick, whatever you did to the Old Man, please do it to me.“

The stick moved and hit him! Anansi asked for help but the Old Man didn't do anything. He just said, “That's your punishment for being greedy and lazy!“ Anansi was crying. He promised that he would not be greedy and lazy anymore. After that, the stick stopped hitting him. Anansi immediately went home. Since then he became a good son. Media Indonesia, 9/11/2014, halaman 21