The story
The Princess and the Pea
Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a
princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the
world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were
princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real
ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he
came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real
princess.
One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and
lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard
at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.
It was a princess standing out
there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and into
the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she the
wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran
down was a real princess.
Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But
she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the
bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and
laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.
On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning
she was asked how she had slept.
"Oh, very badly!" said she. "I have scarcely
closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was
lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It's
horrible!"
Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had
felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down
beds.
Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.
So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he
had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be
seen, if no one has stolen it.
By : Fajar Widi
Pramono
Class : 7.5
The Story By Fajar Widi Pramono
The Ugly Duckilng
Once upon a time down on an old farm, lived a duck family, and Mother Duck
had been sitting on a clutch of new eggs. One day, the eggs hatched and out
popped six chirpy ducklings. But one egg was bigger than the others, and it
didn't hatch. Mother Duck couldn't remember laying that seventh egg. “How did
it get there?” Mother Duck wondered. TOCK! TOCK! The little prisoner was
pecking inside his shell."Did I count the eggs wrongly?" Mother Duck
wondered. But before she had time to think about it, the last egg finally
hatched and a strange looking duckling with gray feathers that should have been
yellow gazed at a worried mother. The ducklings grew quickly, but Mother Duck
had a secret worry."I can't understand how this ugly duckling can be one
of mine!" she said to herself. She shook her head as she looked at her
last born duckling. Well, the gray duckling certainly wasn't pretty. He also
ate much more than his brothers and growing faster than them. As the days went
by, the poor ugly duckling became more and more unhappy. His brothers didn't
want to play with him because he was so clumsy, and all the farmyard folks
simply laughed at him. He felt sad and lonely, while Mother Duck did her best
to console him. "Poor little ugly duckling!" she would say. "Why
are you so different from the others?" And the ugly duckling felt worse
than ever. He secretly wept at night. He felt nobody wanted him. "Nobody
loves me, they all tease me! Why am I different from my brothers?"
Then one day, at sunrise, the poor ugly duckling ran away from the
farmyard. He stopped at a pond and began to question all the other birds.
"Do you know of any ducklings with gray feathers like mine?" But
everyone shook their heads in scorn. "We don't know anyone as ugly as
you." The ugly duckling did not lose heart, however, and kept on making
inquiries. He went to another pond, where a pair of large geese gave him the
same answer to his question. What's more, they warned him: "Don't stay
here! Go away! It's dangerous. There are men with guns around here!" The
duckling was sorry he had ever left the farmyard.
Then one day, the poor ugly duckling arrived at an old countrywoman's
cottage. Thinking he was a stray goose, she caught him. "I'll put this in
a hutch. I hope it's a female and lays plenty of eggs!" said the old
woman, whose eyesight was poor. But of course, the ugly duckling did not lay a
single egg. The hen kept frightening him. "Just wait! If you don't lay
eggs, the old woman will wring your neck and pop you into the pot!" And
the cat chipped in: "Hee! Hee! I hope the woman cooks you, then I can gnaw
at your bones!" The poor ugly duckling was so scared that he lost his
appetite, though the old woman kept stuffing him with food and grumbling:
"If you won't lay eggs, at least hurry up and get plump!""Oh,
dear me!" moaned the now terrified duckling. "I'll die of fright
first! And I did so hope someone would love me!"
Then one night, the old woman left the hutch door ajar, and the poor ugly
duckling escaped. Once again he was all alone. He fled as far away as he could,
and at dawn, he found himself in a thick bed of reeds. "If nobody wants
me, I'll hide here forever." There was plenty of food there, and the poor
ugly duckling began to feel a little happier, even though he was lonely. One
day at sunrise, he saw a group of beautiful birds flying overhead. White, with
long slender necks, yellow beaks and large wings, they were migrating south.
"If only I could look like them, just for a day!" said the
duckling, admiringly. Winter came and the water in the reed bed froze. The poor
duckling left home to seek food in the snow. He dropped exhausted to the
ground, but a farmer found him and put him in his big jacket pocket. "I'll
take him home to my children. They'll look after him. Poor thing, he's
frozen!" The duckling was showered with kindly care at the farmer's house.
In this way, the ugly duckling was able to survive the bitterly cold winter. However, by springtime, he had grown so big that the farmer decided:
"I'll set him free by the pond!" That was when the duckling saw
himself mirrored in the water. "Goodness! How I've changed! I hardly
recognize myself!" The flight of swans winged north again and glided on to
the pond. When the duckling saw them, he realized that he was one of their kind
and they made friends."We're swans like you!" they said, warmly.
"Where have you been hiding?"
"It's a long story," replied the young swan, still astounded.
Now, he swam majestically with his fellow swans. One day, he heard children on
the river bank exclaim: "Look at that young swan! He's the finest of them
all!"
And he almost burst with happiness.
