Pak Pandir, the Village Fool

Malaysian Children’s favourite stories

Text by Kay Lyons, Illustration by Martin Loh

Pak Pandir lived in a village near the rice fields with his wife, his son and his
daughter. Everyone who lived in the village thought Pak Pandir was a fool. Even
his wife, his son and his daughter thought he was a fool. Pak Pandir was a
dreamer. At school, when he was a child, he learnt nothing because he was too
busy dreaming about a beautiful world.
One day Pak Pandir’s wife asked him to go buy a buffalo. ‘We need a buffalo to
plough our rice field,’ she told him.
‘What is a buffalo?’ asked Pak Pandir. His children laughed. They knew what a
buffalo was.
Pak Pandir had seen plenty of buffaloes. (There are always buffaloes in rice fields.)
But he didn’t know that they were called buffaloes. He was too busy dreaming
about a beautiful world to think about what they were called.
‘Tell your father what a buffalo is,’ said Pak Pandir’s wife to her children.
The children said, ‘A buffalo eats grass.’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Pak Pandir, ‘now I know!’
Pak Pandir’s wife gave him a gold chain to pay for the buffalo. In the olden days
villagers often paid for goods with gold jewelry instead of money.
So Pak Pandir set off to find a buffalo, singing to himself, ‘A buffalo eats grass, a
buffalo eats grass,’ so he wouldn’t forget. He came to a field where a man was
cutting the long grass with a scythe.
‘A buffalo eats grass,’ thought Pak Pandir, ‘That thing is eating grass-and very fast,
too. It must be a buffalo.’ So he said to the man with the scythe, ‘I want to buy
your buffalo.’
‘Good morning, Pak Pandir,’ said the man. ‘You are very clever to know a buffalo
when you see one.’
Pak Pandir was so happy to be called clever. Often people called him a fool.
‘Of course I know what a buffalo is,’ replied Pak Pandir. ‘A buffalo eats grass.’
‘You’re very clever, Pak Pandir,’ said the man, smiling at him.
Pak Pandir took out his wife’s gold chain. ‘Will you take this in exchange for your
buffalo?’ Pak Pandir asked the man with the scythe.
The man looked at the beautiful gold chain. ‘My buffalo is a very good one,’ he
said. ‘Is this all you can give me?’
‘Yes,’ replied Pak Pandir. ‘But if my wife comes to see your fine buffalo perhaps
she will give you more.’
‘Never mind, I will take this chain and you can have my buffalo,’ said the man.
‘Thank you,’ said Pak Pandir, ‘you are very kind.’ Pak Pandir thought the world
was a beautiful place, with kind people. He took the scythe and set off home. Pak
Pandir was very pleased with himself.
‘I’ve bought a fine buffalo,’ he called out as he arrived at his house. His wife and
children rushed out to see the fine buffalo.
‘Where is it? Where is it?’ his children asked.
‘Isn’t this a fine buffalo?’ asked Pak Pandir as he showed them the scythe he had
bought. The children laughed. His wife cried. Her husband had exchanged her
gold chain for scythe! For three days Pak Pandir’s wife did not speak to him. But
Pak Pandir did not even notice. He was too busy dreaming of a beautiful world.
One day Pak Pandir’s wife said to him, ‘Please go to the house of the Good Genie
and invite him to have dinner with us.’ All the villagers knew where the Good
Genie lived- all except Pak Pandir. So Pak Pandir’s wife told him how to go to the
Good Genie’s house.
‘Go straight,’ she said ‘until the path splits into two. Then take the left path. Not
the right path. The left path leads to the Good Genie’s house. The right path leads
to the Bad Giant’s house.
Off set Pak Pandir, saying to himself, ‘Left not right’ over and over again so he
would not forget. But at the same time he was dreaming. He dreamt of bad giants
turning into good genies. ‘Then the world would really be a beautiful place.’
thought Pak Pandir.
Pak Pandir was so busy dreaming that he did not notice that instead of saying
‘Left, not right,’ he was saying ‘Right, not left. So Pak Pandir took the right path.
Which was the wrong path!
He knocked on the door of a huge house. The Bad Giant opened the door.
‘Hello, Pak Pandir,’ said the Bad Giant. ‘What a lovely surprise. You are looking
well. Plump, and juicy enough to eat!’
‘Thank you, Good Genie,’ replied Pak Pandir. ‘I’m surprised you know me.’
‘I’m happy you don’t know me,’ chuckled the Bad Giant. ‘But everyone knows
you, Pak Pandir. You’re the famous fool. Oh, I mean, you’re famous.’
‘It’s all right,’ said Pak Pandir. ‘Please come and have dinner with us. My wife is
cooking something special.’
Pak Pandir took the Bad Giant, licking his lips. ‘I will be able to have a fine feast,
with you, your wife and your children.’
Pak Pandir took the Bad Giant back to his house. His wife and children were
shocked. This was not the Good Genie. This was the Bad Giant! Quickly Pak
Pandir’s wife put the food on the table.
‘Please eat,’ she said to the Bad Giant.
‘I will,’ said the Bad Giant. ‘What a feast – four at once!’
‘Five,’ said Pak Pandir, counting. ‘There are five people in the room.’ ‘Soon there
will only be one,’ replied the Bad Giant. Suddenly Pak Pandir understood what the
Bad Giant was planning to do.
‘The Good Genie wants to eat us all! I wonder when the Good Genie turned into a
Bad Giant?’ thought Pak Pandir. Quickly Pak Pandir made a plan.
‘There’s another family across the river, a woman with three small children,’ he
said to the Bad Giant. ‘Come with me, Good Genie, and I will invite them to come
for dinner.’
‘Of course,’ said the Bad Giant, thinking how much he enjoyed eating small
children.
Pak Pandir led the Bad Giant to his boat, which had a small hole in the bottom.
But of course the Bad Giant didn’t know about the hole! The two men got into the
boat and started rowing across the river. Slowly water began to trickle in through
the small hole.
When they reached the middle of the river, the Bad Giant saw the boat was filling
up with water.
‘The boat is leaking,’ screamed the Bad Giant. ‘We will both drown!’
Pak Pandir smiled. He did not mind drowning to save his family. Also, he was sad
because the world was not so beautiful. Not when the Good Genie had turned
into a Bad Giant.
The Bad Giant saw Pak Pandir’s smile, and suddenly understood that Pak Pandir
had brought him in the leaky boat to save his family. The boat began to sink.
‘Help! Help!’ yelled the Bad Giant. He could not swim. Neither could Pak Pandir.
People came running from their houses. They wanted to save Pak Pandir. But they
did not want to save the Bad Giant.
‘Help!’ screamed the Bad Giant. ‘I promise I will never eat people again! I’ll be a
Good Giant! Please save me!’
So the people got into their boats and saved both Pak Pandir and the Bad Giant.
The Bad Giant became a Good Giant. Not just because he had made a promise. He
had seen what a clever and brave man the fool Pak Pandir was.
Pak Pandir was pleased that the Good Genie had become good again.
‘The world is a beautiful place, after all,’ he thought.
When Pak Pandir returned home, his wife and children hugged him. Never again
did they think he was a fool, even if the villagers did.

The End
 Pak Pandir, the Village Fool

Name: ________________________ Date: _________________

A. Answer the following questions by filling in the blanks with the words given.

gold - fool - eating - buffalo - scythe - chain - grass

1. What did everyone in the village think of Pak Pandir?

Everyone in the village thought Pak Pandir was a _______________.

2. What did Pak Pandir’s wife ask him to do?

Pak Pandir’s wife asked him to go and buy a ___________________.

3. What is a buffalo, according to Pak Pandir’s children?

According to Pak Pandir’s children a buffalo eats _________________.

4. What did Pak Pandir’s wife give him to pay for the buffalo?

Pak Pandir’s wife give him a _________ __________ to pay for the buffalo.

5. What did Pak Pandir see when he came to a field?

He saw a man cutting the long grass with a _________.

6. Why did Pak Pandir think the scythe was a buffalo?

Pak Pandir thought the scythe was a buffalo because it was

__________________ grass.
B. Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. What did Pak Pandir think after he had bought the scythe?
_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

2. What did Pak Pandir’s family do when they saw the scythe he had bought with
the gold chain?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

3. For how long did Pak Pandir’s wife not speak to him?
_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

4. Why did Pak Pandir’s wife send him to the Good Genie’s house?
_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

5. Why did Pak Pandir keep repeating the directions to the Good Genie’s house?
_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

6. What did the Bad Giant say that made Pak Pandir understand that he had
brought home the Bad Giant?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

7. What was wrong with Pak Pandir’s boat?

_____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
8. Why did the Bad Giant scream for help?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

C. Jumble-aya

The following sentences from the story are jumbled up. Rewrite the sentences
correctly in the space given.

1. lived – in – Pak Pandir – rice – a – near – village – fields – the

_____________________________________________________________

2. dreamer – a - Pak Pandir - was

_____________________________________________________________
3. of - had - He - buffaloes - plenty - seen

_____________________________________________________________

4. beautiful – at – looked – the – The – chain – man - gold

_____________________________________________________________

5. rushed – wife – out – children – His – to – the – fine – buffalo - and - see

_____________________________________________________________

6. Good - to – left – leads – path – the - Genie’s – The - house

_____________________________________________________________
7. wife - cooking - is special - My - something

_____________________________________________________________

8. drowning – to – did – mind – He – save – his – not - family

_____________________________________________________________

D. Match-Make

Guess the meaning of the following words. Connect the word and the meaning.

chuckle a hole through which liquid or gas enters or escapes.

leak to divide or separate into parts.

feast to flow or fall by small drops.

trickle to laugh softly to yourself.

rush a splendid meal.

split to move or act with speed; to dash forward.

E. Logical sequence.
Arrange the sentences in the order of the story in the table given.

1. Pak Pandir led the Bad Giant to his boat, which had a small hole in the
bottom.
2. ‘I want to buy your buffalo.’
3. Her husband had exchanged her gold chain for scythe!
4. The two men got into the boat and started rowing across the river.
5. ‘Please go to the house of the Good Genie and invite him to have dinner
with us.’
6. He dreamt of bad giants turning into good genies.
7. One day Pak Pandir’s wife asked him to go buy a buffalo.
8. Suddenly Pak Pandir understood what the Bad Giant was planning to do.
9. He did not mind drowning to save his family.
10. ‘Never mind, I will take this chain and you can have my buffalo,’ said the
man.
11. Everyone who lived in the village thought Pak Pandir was a fool.
12. Bad Giant opened the door.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Answers

Pak Pandir, the Village Fool

A. Answer the following questions by filling in the blanks with the words given.

1. fool

2. buffalo

3. grass

4. gold chain

5. scythe

6. eating

B. Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. After he had bought the scythe, Pak Pandir thought the world was a
beautiful place with kind people.

2. When Pak Pandir’s family saw the scythe he had bought with the gold chain
the children laughed and his wife cried.

3. Pak Pandir’s wife did not speak to him for three days.

4. Pak Pandir’s wife sent him to the Good Genie’s house to invite the Genie to
have dinner with them.

5. Pak Pandir kept repeating the directions to the Good Genie’s house so he
would not forget.

6. Pak Pandir understood that he had brought home the Bad Giant when the
Giant said, “ Soon there will be only one.”

7. There was a small hole in the bottom of Pak Pandir’s boat.

8. The Bad Giant screamed for help because he could not swim. /The Bad
Giant screamed for help because he did not want to drown.
C. Jumble-aya

The following sentences from the story are jumbled up. Rewrite the sentences
correctly in the space given.
1. Pak Pandir lived in a village near the rice fields
2. Pak Pandir was a dreamer.
3. He had seen plenty of buffaloes.
4. The man looked at the beautiful gold chain.
5. His wife and children rushed out to see the fine buffalo.
6. The left path leads to the Good Genie’s house.
7. My wife is cooking something special.
8. He did not mind drowning to save his family.

D. Match-Make
Guess the meaning of the following words. Connect the word and the meaning.

chuckle to laugh softly to yourself

leak a hole through which liquid or gas enters or escapes

feast a splendid meal

trickle to flow or fall by small drops

rush to move or act with speed; to dash forward

split to divide or separate into parts

E. Logical sequence.
Arrange the sentences in the order of the story in the table given.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

11 7 2 10 3 5 6 12 8 1 4 9