SHORT STORY

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Once upon a time there lived a lion in a forest. One day after a heavy meal. It
was sleeping under a tree. After a while, there came a mouse and it started to play
on the lion. Suddenly the lion got up with anger and looked for those who disturbed
its nice sleep. Then it saw a small mouse standing trembling with fear. The lion
jumped on it and started to kill it. The mouse requested the lion to forgive it. The
lion felt pity and left it. The mouse ran away.

On another day, the lion was caught in a net by a hunter. The mouse came
there and cut the net. Thus it escaped. Thereafter, the mouse and the lion became
friends. They lived happily in the forest afterwards.

FABLES

The Crow and The Eagle:

It was a bright spring day. The sun was high in the blue sky. A herd of sheep was grazing
contentedly on the hillside. The little lambs with their soft white coats and curly tails were
playing among themselves. The Shepherd, seeing that his flock was safe and happy, had
fallen asleep under the spreading branches of a large old tree.

Suddenly an Eagle swooped down from the sky. It pounced on a little lamb and carried it off
so swiftly that none of the other lambs even had the time to bleat. The sleeping Shepherd
heard nothing.

A Crow was sitting on the tree under which the Shepherd lay asleep. He had seen how the
Eagle had caught the lamb and carried it off to his nest.

‘What a wonderful way to get dinner!’ he thought. 'Why do crows look for old smelly food?’

The Crow decided to do exactly as the Eagle had done. It had looked easy enough. All he
had to do was to decide which sheep he wanted, swoop down upon it, hold it as firmly as he
could in his claws and fly off with it… Easy!

If the Eagle could do it, then so could he!

The Crow looked down at the flock of sheep to decide which sheep he wanted.

Just below the tree, by the Shepherd, a big, old Ram was grazing. He had curling horns and
a thick heavy fleece.

'Aha! He should be a good meal for me!' thought the Crow greedily. He was very hungry and
the thought of a large juicy ram for lunch made his mouth water.

The Crow swooped silently and swiftly down onto the Ram, just as he had seen the Eagle do
and grasped it firmly by its fleece.

‘And now to fly off with it to my nest,' said the Crow to himself. He flapped his wings with all
his strength, but could not lift the Ram.

The Ram was large. He was much too heavy for the Crow to carry. The Crow tried again and
again, but without success.

The Ram felt the Crow on its back and was most annoyed. Just what do you think you are
doing, you pesky bird?' he snapped, glaring at him over his shoulder.

The Crow flapped harder still, trying to carry the Ram away.

‘Now stop that!' cried the Ram. ‘Go away! Shoo! Leave me in peace!’ He jumped and bucked
and tried to shake the Crow off his back.

‘Oh oh!' thought the Crow, alarmed at the Ram’s fierce antics. ‘Maybe this wasn't such a
good idea after all! Perhaps I should look for my dinner somewhere else! I had better let the
Ram be!'

The Crow tried to fly away, but he found he could not move. His claws were caught in the
Ram’s thick fleece! The Crow pulled his feet this way and that. He flapped his wings as hard
as he could. But no matter what he did, he only seemed to get stuck more firmly.
Oh, how was he ever going to get free? The Crow squawked loudly in fear and despair. The
Ram started running around the tree, bellowing with rage. The Shepherd woke up with a
start. Who was making that horrible noise? Were his sheep in danger? He sat up.

What a sight met his eyes! The Ram was running round and round the tree. On his back was
the Crow, squawking and trying to rise into the air.

The Shepherd began to laugh. At last, wiping his eyes, the Shepherd stood up. He stopped
the Ram as he ran by and calmed him with gentle words.

When the Ram was still, the Shepherd took a pair of shears from his sack. Holding the Crow
with one hand, he deftly snipped the fleece until the Crow was free.

‘What did you think you were doing, my fine friend'' asked the Shepherd, looking at the
Crow. ‘Playing at being an Eagle, were you?'

The Shepherd burst out laughing again.

The Crow was too embarrassed even to croak. He wished only that the Shepherd would let
him go so he could fly away to his nest and hide his foolish head.

Finally, when the Shepherd let the Crow go, the Crow flapped his wings and flew off as fast
as he could.

‘And the next time you want to be an Eagle, make sure you pick an animal your size!' called
the Shepherd after him.

The Crow, feeling silly and foolish, promised himself that from now on he would only do as
other crows did!

LEGENDS

The legend of the Banana

Once upon there was a girl named Raja.

She was the only friend of the fisherman named Galencio.
Sadly Galencio died because of heart disease.
Raja was so alone that she talked with animals even plants.
One day while Raja was talking to a bird, a rabbit came running.
She followed the rabbit till she reached a dirty cave.
At the cave she saw a spirit, she followed the spirit she stumbled and find herself in a
place full of gold, diamonds and silver. She began to jump.

The spirit turned to flesh and kissed her, she slept and woke in a beautiful golden
bedroom.
The spirit man was Baanna, he married Raja and had a son. Baanna know that it his time
to return to the spirit world on that day he went out and disappeared, all could Raja see
was a bleeding heart. She picked it and planted it and the plant grew and bore a golden
fruit, as golden as the golden bedroom - she named it banana as a honor to Baanna.

ESSAY

LOVE IS WONDERFUL

Love decides everything in this world. It doesn‘t have any conditions or

boundaries. We don’t know exactly what love is and where it comes from. But one
thing is sure: we are nothing without love! There are times when we feel shy and
timid, when we are afraid of expressing the love we feel. Being afraid of
embarrassing the other person or ourselves we hesitate to say the actual words “I
love you”. One can say “I love you” in many ways: by means of nice presents and
little notes, smiles and sometimes tears.

Sometimes we show our love when we are quiet and do not say a word, at
the other times – we speak loud to express it. Sometimes we show our love by
impulsiveness. Many times we have to show our love when we forgive someone.

The problem with our world is that people don’t learn to listen to each other.
They hear the words, but they don’t listen to the actions that accompany the words
and do not mind the expression on the face.

Biography

BIOGRAPHY OF JOSE RIZAL

José Rizal, in full José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, (born June 19,
1861, Calamba, Philippines—died December 30, 1896, Manila), patriot, physician, and
man of letters who was an inspiration to the Philippine nationalist movement.
The son of a prosperous landowner, Rizal was educated in Manila and at
the University of Madrid. A brilliant medical student, he soon committed himself to the
reform of Spanish rule in his home country, though he never advocated Philippine
independence. Most of his writing was done in Europe, where he resided between
1882 and 1892.
In 1887 Rizal published his first novel, Noli me tangere (The Social Cancer), a
passionate exposure of the evils of Spanish rule in the Philippines. A sequel, El
filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed), established his reputation as the leading
spokesman of the Philippine reform movement. He published an annotated edition
(1890; reprinted 1958) of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, hoping to
show that the native people of the Philippines had a long history before the coming of
the Spaniards. He became the leader of the Propaganda Movement, contributing
numerous articles to its newspaper, La Solidaridad, published in Barcelona. Rizal’s
political program included integration of the Philippines as a province of Spain,
representation in the Cortes (the Spanish parliament), the replacement of Spanish
friars by Filipino priests, freedom of assembly and expression, and equality of Filipinos
and Spaniards before the law.
Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892. He founded a nonviolent-reform society,
the Liga Filipina, in Manila, and was deported to Dapitan in northwest Mindanao. He
remained in exile for the next four years. In 1896 the Katipunan, a Filipino nationalist
secret society, revolted against Spain. Although he had no connections with that
organization and he had had no part in the insurrection, Rizal was arrested and tried
for sedition by the military. Found guilty, he was publicly executed by a firing squad in
Manila. His martyrdom convinced Filipinos that there was no alternative to
independence from Spain. On the eve of his execution, while confined in Fort Santiago,
Rizal wrote “Último adiós” (“Last Farewell”), a masterpiece of 19th-century Spanish
verse.