Sample
from
More Asian Folk Tales
Raintree English Readers
Grade 2
retold by
Philip Popescu
The thief on the rope
The two thieves went behind their tree and hid. The farmer and donkey walked past.
The donkey tried to leave the road. It hated the hot sun. It wanted to stand in the shade of the tree.
'We can't stop here,' the farmer said to the donkey. 'This shadow is not ours, it's the tree's shadow. Keep walking.' The farmer pulled hard on the rope, and the donkey walked on.
The first thief came out from behind the tree. He walked quietly down the road behind the donkey. He walked beside it and carefully took the rope from its neck. He tied the rope around his body. The donkey stopped walking. The second thief came up and took away the donkey.
The farmer walked along holding the rope, but now a man walked behind, not a donkey. The tired farmer knew nothing about this.
After a few minutes the thief stopped walking. The farmer pulled at his rope. Nothing happened.
'You lazy donkey! Walk!' he shouted at the animal, and turned round to look at it.
'I am your donkey'
The farmer had a big surprise when he saw a man standing there at the end of the rope. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The man was still there, with the rope around his body.
'Who are you? Where's my donkey?' he shouted at the man.
The thief laughed. 'Your donkey? I am your donkey,' he said.
More of this and other stories in
More Asian Folk Tales
retold by
Philip Popescu
Raintree English Readers
Grade 2
ISBN 967 65 4158 3
This text is copyright Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 1997.
If you can read this sample easily, you can enjoy any Raintree English Reader from Grade 1 through to Grade 2.
Return to the Raintree English Readers bibliography
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