THE FLY AND THE BULL

There was once a little fly who thought he was very important. He felt proud of himself. One sunny morning, he flew around looking for someone to talk to. He saw a bull grazing in a field. He decided to fly down to talk to him.

The little fly flew down and buzzed around the bull’s head. The bull did not bother him. He went on chewing grass.

The fly then buzzed right inside the bull’s ear. The bull continued chewing grass. The fly thought, “What a stupid animal!”

Now the fly decided to land on one of the bull’s horns to make the bull notice him. He waited for the bull to say something, but the bull kept quiet.

The fly then shouted angrily ,”Oh, Bull, if you find that I am too heavy for you, let me know and I’ll fly away!”

The bull laughed and said, “Little fly, I don’t care if you stay or leave. You are so tiny that your weight does not make any difference to me, so please be quiet and leave me alone.”

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BANDUNG BONDOWOSO AND RORO JONGGRANG (The Legend of Prambanan Temple)

Once, there was a beautiful Javanese princess whose name was Roro Jonggrang whose beauty was very famous in the land was the daughter of Prabu Baka, an evil king.

One day, a handsome young man with super natural power, named Bandung Bondowoso, defeated and killed Prabu Baka. On seeing Princess Roro Jonggrang’s beauty, Bandung Bondowoso fell in love and wanted to marry her.

Meanwhile, Princess Roro Jonggrang felt sad due to the death of her father. She did not want to marry Bandung because he had killed her father. But she was also afraid of Bandung. So to refuse politely, she made a condition. “I will marry you but you have to build one thousand temples in one night as a wedding gift.” Requested Roro Jonggrang. Bandung agreed with this condition.

Helped by the spirits of demons, Bandung Bondowoso started building the temples. Approaching midnight, the work was nearly done. Roro Jonggrang knew and thought, “ What shall I do ? Bandung is smarter than me. I will lose against Bandung.”

Suddenly she got an idea. She woke up all the women in the palace and ordered them to make the noisy sounds of grinding rice so that the roosters would think it had already dawn.

Bandung Bondowoso got frustrated because he failed to complete the thousandth temple. “The princess has deceived me!” Following his anger, he cursed Roro Jonggrang, “You have cheated me. Now, the thousandth temple is you!”

At once, the princess turned into a statue. Knowing this, Bandung Bondowoso regretted this and he went away into a far land. From then, people called the temple Prambanan Temple and the princess statue, Roro Jonggrang Statue.

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THUMBELINA

 There was once a woman who wanted a small child but didn’t know where to get one. So she went to a witch for help.

“A little child?” said the witch, “That’s easy. Here’s a magic seed. Plant it in a flower pot and see what happens!” The woman thanked the witch, paid her with a piece of silver, and went home to plant the magic seed. As soon as it touched the soil, the seed grew into a tulip, whose flower opened with a pop. In the middle of the flower sat a tiny girl.

“Why, the pretty little thing is hardly as big as my thumb!” cried the woman. “I am going to call her Thumbelina.”

The woman made Thumbelina a bed from a walnut shell. Instead of going out, Thumbelina played on the kitchen table. Her favorite game was sailing across a bowl of water in a boat made from a tulip leaf. As she sailed, she sang in a high, sweet voice.

One night, an old toad got in through an open window and hopped down into the kitchen table. “Just the wife for my son!” the toad declared when it saw Thumbelina sleeping in her tiny bed. The toad picked up the walnut shell and hopped out through the window into the garden. At the bottom of the garden, there was a stream with muddy banks, and that was where the old toad lived with her son. He was even damper and uglier than his mother. When he saw the pretty little girl asleep in the walnut shell, all he could say was, “Ribbik! Ribbik!”. “Not so loud!” whispered the old toad. “If you wake her up, she’ll run away. We’ll put her on a water-lily leaf in the middle of the stream so she won’t be able to escape. Then we can clear out the best room for the wedding.”

In the morning, when she woke up, Thumbelina was startled to find herself on a big green leaf in the middle of a stream.

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ELLY

Long ago, there was a beautiful little  princess who liked to climb trees. “Behave like  a lady and stop climbing trees,” said her parents. But the child did not listen and went on climbing all sort of trees.

Years went by and she had grown up. By now she was an expert in climbing trees. Her parents grieved. “Who will marry a rough woman?” said her mother sadly. Her father replied, “We will make use of the situation. I will offer her at climbing tree.

After the King’s offer was announced, soon the palace was swamped with suitors who could climb trees. Most of them were terrible, only a few were good. The princess said “Never mind, father. Now let me set a test and perhaps some good will come of it”. Then she turned to the suitors and asked, “ Do you agree that you were beaten fairly?” “No,” they all roared except one, “ We think it was magic or some sort of trick.” But one said,”yes.” Yes,” he said, I was beaten fairly.” The princess was touched by his honesty. The princess smiled and turning to her father. She pointed to this man and said,” If he likes me, I will marry him.”

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CINDERELLA

Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella. She lived with her bad step-mother and two step-sister. She had to do all the household chores.

One day, the King invited all the ladies in the Kingdom to go to a ball in the palace. He wanted to find the Crown Prince a wife.

The step-sister went to the ball that night with their mother. Cinderella was left alone. She cried because she actually wanted to go to the ball too.

Just then a fairy godmother came. With her magic wand, she gave Cinderella a coach, two horses, and footmen. She also gave Cinderella a lovely dress to wear to the ball and a pair of glass slippers. She told Cinderella to come home before midnight.

At the ball, Cinderella danced all night with the Prince. The Prince fell in love with her. At midnight, Cinderella ran home. Unfortunately, one of her glass slippers slipped off at the door. She did not have time to put it back on. The Prince was sad as he could not find Cinderella again that night.

The next day, the Prince and his men brought along the glass slipper. They went all over the Kingdom to search for the owner.

After searching for a long time, finally, they came to Cinderella’s house. The slipper fitted her. The prince was very happy to find Cinderella again. They got married and lived happily ever after.

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KUPU-KUPU

Kupu-kupu merupakan bangsa serangga Lepidoptera. Ada ribuan jenis kupu-kupu yang ada di muka bumi. Di Indonesia saja tidak kurang dari 2000 jenis kupu-kupu yang ada.

Penyebaran kupu-kupu sangat dipengaruhi  oleh factor lingkungan dan ketersediaan makanan. Lingkungan yang alami dan makanan yang cukup akan menambah populasi kupu-kupu di satu wilayah.

Ciri yang menarik dari hewan ini adalah sayap dan antenanya. Terkadang sayap kupu-kupu memiliki corak dan warna yang sangat menarik.

Warna yang ada pada sayap kupu-kupu terbentuk dari kumpulan sisik yang mengandung pigmen. Jenis kupu-kupu dengan sayap-sayapnya yang indah banyak ditemui di wilayah Indonesia bagian timur, salah satunya adalah kupu-kupu burung (Birdwing) yang bentangan sayapnya mencapai 30 centimeter.

Untuk menghindari kepunahan kupu-kupu, orang membuat konservasi kupu-kupu. Di wilayah ini kupu-kupu bias hidup bebas tanpa gangguan manusia. Malah berbagai jenis tanaman sengaja ditanam agar beberapa jenis kupu-kupu bias bertahan hidup di sana.

FAKTA MENARIK:

·        Bangsa kupu-kupu diperkirakan sudah hidup di muka bumi sejak 200 juta tahun yang lalu. Dari sebuah fosil yang di temukan, diketahui kupu-kupu masa itu ada yang memiliki rentang sayap yang panjangnya 65 centimeter.

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