Storytelling

The woodsman and the crane

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By traditional

A crane was standing in a stream, hoping to catch some fish. A huntsman was crawling through the bushes on the riverbank, and spotted the crane. He’d not caught anything that day, and carefully readied his bow and arrow. He took aim and sent an arrow flying towards the crane. The crane heard the movement of the arrow through the air, and raised her wings. Just as she was airborn, the arrow hit her in the thigh. She squealed, but was able to stay in the air and fly away. She didn’t get very far before the pain forced her down. She landed awkwardly in a clearing in the woods. A woodsman who’d been working there, gathering branches, found the poor crane. He took pity on her, and dropped his wood, and carried the crane to his hut. There he removed the arrow, and applied some herbs to help heal the wound. The woodsman took good care of the crane, he fed her and changed her dressing every day. As her wound healed, the crane fell in love with this kind woodsman.

Unbeknown to the woodsman, the crane happened to possess magic powers, and she was able to turn herself into a young woman. When the woodsman came home from his work that evening, he found the woman there, who had prepared a meal for him. The next day she went into the village and procured a weaving loam that she placed in one of the rooms. That night the woman explained to her husband that she’ll be weaving cloth for him to sell in the market. That way they can earn much more money than he can possibly make from selling wood. But she warned him that he must never come into the room when she is working, or something really bad will happen.

Weeks and months passed. Every day the man went to the market to sell the cloth and every evening when he arrived back home, there was a large quantity of newly woven cloth. They were now very well off, and they had a very good life. One day the man became curious, and he determined to see how his wife managed to produce all this very fine cloth day in day out. He set off for the market as usual with the cloth, but once out of sight of the house, he hid the cloth behind some trees, and went back to the house. Keeping very quiet, he crept up to the room where she worked. He could hear her working inside. He slowly opened the door, and peeked inside. To his great shock, there working at the loam was the crane he rescued! Immediately the magic spell was broken, and the crane returned to her natural state. Because he could not control his curiosity, the man lost his wife, and his income from selling the cloth she used to weave.

Jin Lou told this story to Frans Timmermans

Credit: http://fairytalesoftheworld.com/quick-reads/the-woodsman-and-the-crane/


Questions for you all:
1. What happens to the huntsman?
2. Why the woodsman sneak to his wife's room?
3. Where the woodsman found the crane?
4. Who are the main characters in the story?
5. How did the crane turn into a young woman?

2 weeks of laziness(Holiday)

My 2 weeks worth of nothing

     So today I'm gonna tell you a story about a boy on holiday. His name is Hasbi(me), a teen in high school on his prime. 

     The story starts at 23rd December 2019. It was the first day of official holiday. Monday morning. I welcome the fact that there will be no school for 2 weeks. My best friend on another school was on holiday too. We plan for tomorrow to play video games. A shame my laptop is infected with virus, so I can't play on my own laptop. Tuesday morning, I wait for adzan dzuhur to start, so after I pray, I can freely go to an internet cafe that is close to home. After praying, I hurriedly went to the internet cafe, I didn't forget to say goodbye to my mom and sisters. I am a regular visitor at this cafe, so I only need to say where I want to sit and tell the total hours I want to play, which is 4, equals to Rp 10.000. I went online and greet my friend on the other side of the spectrum. We played only 1 game, but it went for 2 hours in total. The 2 hours remaining, I spent them playing solo games that I can't play on my laptop.

     Nothing interesting for another 2 days, I spent the days in my house lazing my butt off. But at Friday, I took a shower and prepared for Jum'atan, a man only pray in the mosque. After I left my house, I noticed some dark clouds glooming over the sky. Better be safe than sorry, I took my umbrella to the mosque. As expected after I prayed, it was raining there, but unexpectedly it's not just a normal rain, it's storming outside. I went outside to take a good look, and there was a flood at least 3cm deep and it was raining heavily with thunder going off here and there. The people of the mosque and I waited for the rain to subsided. While waiting, I saw some brave, courageous, impatient, and foolish people fought the rain. They ran without umbrella to the safety of their home which, fortunately is just across the street. I luckily brought my umbrella, so after waiting for the rain subsided a little, I get to home early in the safety of my umbrella. It was an interesting experience, so I texted my friend to see how is he doing at the mercy of the rain. He said he drove his motorbike to the mosque, so his motorbike is soaked in water.

     On Saturday we played again. I'm at the internet cafe, my friend was in the safety of his own house. My family and I planned to go to see a movie on Thursday at the local mall. But unfortunately my younger sister went on a hunger strike so she was sick and couldn't go. Because she is barely 6, we can't just leave her alone in the house so we postponed the plan. So at Thursday I went to the internet cafe again, and it was for the last time on the 2 weeks of holiday. At Friday, my sister was still sick. So we postponed again to the Sunday this time. Nothing interesting happen at the mosque, except maybe I forgot to pick up my umbrella there so it was left at the mosque(but I took my umbrella after the holiday). At Sunday my younger sister is healthy again so we can go to see a movie. But I suddenly don't want to go so I reject come along because I was too lazy to walk.

     So... that was my 2 weeks of holiday except I didn't go anywhere worthwhile. I hope you find this story interesting and keep you entertained. That was all from me, thank you for reading and see you on another post. Buh-bye.