Taro and the turtle

   Today, my students asked me to tell a folk tale. Since I was 7, I like to read folk tales so there is a lot in my mind.So I told them about a man named Taro who was  a fisherman.  He lived with his old mother in a small hut nearby the sea.Everyday Taro would go to the sea to catch fish.One day, while he was fishing, he saw a big turtle trapped in his net. Quickly he cut the net and let the turtle back to the sea.From that day onwards, they became friends.

  Not long after that, the turtle invited Taro to see her house. Taro agreed as the turtle said that he could breathe under water with her magic.So Taro followed the turtle.Then they arrived at a very beautiful place with a big palace made of pearls and seaweed.To his astonishment, the turtle transformed into a very beautiful mermaid who was the princess,the daughter of the King of the Sea.Taro was so happy so he decided to stay with the princess for a day.

  The princess and the servants treated Taro kindly. He was served with delicious seaweed and other mouth-watering food that could only be found underwater.Every day, there were beautiful mermaids singing and dancing for him.After some time, Taro missed his mother so much.He was so worried since his mother was so old and could not find food herself.So,Taro told the princess about his decision to go home.

  The princess tried to make Taro forget his mother.She gave him lots of treasure, gold and pearls but yet Taro could not forget his mother. So the princess got no choice but to let him go with one condition.He must accept a gold box that only could be opened once he was already in his hut.Without thinking Taro agreed.Then the princess transformed into a turtle again and brought Taro to the surface.She left Taro at the beach.The princess agreed to see Taro again if he followed the condition.

  Once Taro was alone, he started thinking about the golden box.He thought that if the box itself was made of gold, the content must be more precious.Perhaps diamond.He could not curb his curiosity so he opened the box.In a blink of eyes, thick smoke coming out of the box.Then it transformed into a big genie.The genie scolded Taro for being greedy and not being trustworthy.Suddenly, Taro changed into a very ugly old man.He was actually spending hundreds of years in the sea palace.So slowly he fell onto the ground and died.

  It was so funny seeing my students ( some of them) listening to the story with half-opened mouth.They do like folk tale so maybe once a while I will tell more since some of them do not know Pak Pandir, a very popular ( to older generations like me maybe) malay folk tale.By knowing more folk tales I hope that my students will not forget their roots.