Sample
from
Sarawak Stories
Raintree English Readers
Grade 4
retold by
Heidi Munan
An adventure in the jungle
The jungle got thicker and darker. The trees got higher and higher. Keling had to pull out his knife to cut some long branches that were in his way. When he was free of them, he couldn't see Bunga Nuing any more.
'Where are those cousins of mine?' he thought. He started to call, but nobody answered. Some monkeys talked to each other. A hornbill laughed, but Keling heard nothing from Pungga or Bunga Nuing.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise behind some big trees. It sounded like men fighting. Keling went to see what was happening, and he found some ugly giants cutting at each other with swords.
'Come here, you young fool!' they shouted when they saw Keling, 'Come here and get killed!'
Keling thought they were very rude. He didn't like that. He pulled out his long sharp knife. 'You're right. Somebody will get killed,' he called out bravely, in a clear voice, 'but I don't think it will be me!'
Soon he was in the middle of the fight. With one strong blow he cut one of the giants in half. The two pieces of the giant fell apart like cut firewood.
The other giants stopped fighting, and stared at Keling with big round eyes. Their long arms hung weakly at their sides.
'You are a brave man,' they said, 'and a good fighter. We've never seen anybody who could fight like you. Promise not to harm us, and we'll give you a pengaroh.'
More of this and other stories in
Sarawak Stories
retold by
Heidi Munan
Raintree English Readers
Grade 4
ISBN 967 65 4162 1
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 4.
Return to the Raintree English Readers bibliography
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