martes, 25 de enero de 2011

Never Make Fun of a Rhino

       Once, on the African plains, there lived a moody rhino who was very easily angered. One day, a giant turtle entered the rhino's territory unaware. The rhino quickly ran over to the turtle, with the intention of getting rid of it. The turtle was frightened and withdrew into its shell.
When the rhino demanded that the turtle get out of his territory, there was no discernible movement. The rhino was incredibly annoyed; he thought the turtle was fooling him. So he started banging the shell to make the turtle come out. No success, and his blows got increasingly violent. He whacked it with his horn, sending the poor turtle flying in all directions. From a distance, it looked a bit like a solitary game of football, with the turtle as the ball.
      Quite an amusing spectacle, it was, and a load of monkeys soon gathered close by to enjoy it. They laughed non-stop at the angry rhino and his struggle with the turtle.
The rhino was so furious that he didn't even notice that they were there. On he went, until he had to stop for a second to get his breath.
Now that he wasn't bashing the shell, he could hear the laughing and joking of the monkeys, who were making fun of him in every way you can imagine.
Neither the rhino, nor the turtle - who had appeared from his shell -, enjoyed the fact that a gang of monkeys was mocking them.
     So, they exchanged a knowing look, nodded, and the turtle went back inside his shell. This time the rhino very quietly retreated a few steps, looked at the turtle, looked at the monkeys, took a run up, and shot the giant turtle, with such a good aim, that it seemed like he was using the monkeys as skittles.
    The 'strike' against the monkeys turned that place into something of a casualty ward for baboons. There they all lay, covered in cuts and bruises, and not even a smirk crossed their lips. Meanwhile, off went the rhino and the turtle, smiling like old friends... and while the monkeys were putting on their sticking plasters, their chief realised it was about time they found a better way to amuse themselves than making fun of others.

       Si queréis leer el cuento en español, está colgado en el blog de la biblio.

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

miércoles, 19 de enero de 2011

The lion

    Ahí tenéis un bonito cuento sobre a lion, intentadlo y si no soís capaces buscar ayuda. En unos días os  lo cuelgo  en español.

   There was once a lion without a roar. The lion had always been this way, he had never been able to roar. But no one on the plains knew this. Since from an early age he realised he could not roar, he had learnt to talk softly with everyone, and to listen to them. He learned to convince others of his point of view without having to raise the volume levels. This won him the affection and trust of all the inhabitants of the plain.


But one day the lion spoke to a pig who was so stupid and stubborn, that the lion could not find a way to make the pig be sensible. He felt a strong urge to roar at the pig, but the fact that he could not made the lion feel at some disadvantage. To try to solve this problem, he spent a few months inventing a roaring machine which he could use whenever he might need it. A short while after completing the roaring machine, the stupid and stubborn pig turned up. He annoyed the lion so much that the lion used the machine. It sent out a truly terrifying roar.



"GRRRRRRRRRROAUUUUUUUURRRR!!!"



Not only did this give the pig a terrible fright, it also shocked all the animals on the plain. So much so that for months none of them dared to come out. The lion became sad and lonely, and had plenty of time to realise that he didn't need to roar in order get others to pay attention to him. Without knowing it, his lack of a roar had made him good at talking to others and convincing them.

So, little by little, using his kind and cordial tone of voice he managed to restore the animals trust in him, and never again did he consider returning to roaring or shouting.