short story
The Magic Drum and the Magic Tree
The Magic Drum and the Magic Tree Once upon a time, there was a kind-hearted king who had a magic drum. This magic drum has a secret, except for the king, who does not know. The owner of the magic drum, as long as he did not cross from the road sticks or fallen branches on the ground, then, when he hit the magic drum, food will come in abundance. On the contrary, when he struck the magic drum, not only would there be no food, but also three hundred warriors would descend from the sky in a fury and beat those present to their knees with whips and sticks. As the king kept this secret in his mind, he acted very cautiously. Therefore, the magic drum always provided food, there was never a dispatch of warriors, and everything went smoothly. One morning, the king's wife took her little daughter to a nearby creek to take a bath. The little girl picked up a palm fruit and ate it. Who knew that the fruit was lost by a turtle, who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit, so he forced the mother and daughter to bring it to the king, and asked the king: "In our country, is stealing other people's belongings a serious crime?" The old king said: It is indeed a serious crime. So the tortoise rattled on and on about how the king's wife had stolen much-needed food from his starving family. When he finished, the king said calmly, "Well, turtle, since you think my wife stole your food, I'll pay you for the damage. You tell me what you want! I will give you whatever you want - chickens, sheep, slaves, which one do you choose?" Without hesitation, the tortoise said, "I want your magic drum." The king had no choice, he is a man of his word and has promised the tortoise to give him whatever he wants, so he had to relent and gave the magic drum to the tortoise. But he did not tell the turtle the secret of what would happen if the stick across the road. He knew that sooner or later the tortoise would always encounter this situation, and the thought of this gave him a little comfort. That night, the turtle showed the magic of the magic drum at home, happy, thinking that it never needed to work again in its life. For three days in a row, the tortoise's family did nothing but eat and sleep and eat. It thus became more and more arrogant and lazy. Finally, one day, the turtle went home unknowingly from a branch on the road to cross over. When he arrived home and beat the magic drum again, this time came not delicious food, but three hundred warriors. These samurai with whips and sticks, beat the turtle's whole family, until they cried out, crying, crying out to their parents, each lying on the ground, dying. When the warriors disappeared, the turtle gradually awoke. It shook its aching body and said to itself, "This magic drum is out of order, it seems to have turned into a demon." It also said: "Anyway, this magic drum can not be used at home in the future, it is better to go to the king to exchange for something else." So, it took the magic drum and slipped out of the house, and went to the king's palace. The king had expected the tortoise to come because he had heard that the tortoise had been beaten. When the tortoise met the king, he complained, "I am tired of this thing, please give me something else!" "Very well." The king replied because he couldn't wait for the tortoise to send the magic drum back sooner. "As it happens, I have a magic tree, that can be used in exchange for the magic drum." The king said: "This magic tree will grow vegetable soup and bread, but can only be asked once a day. Whoever asks for more food on the same day, the magic tree will wither." The tortoise happily exchanged the magic drum for this very unusual magic tree. After hiding the tree in a secret place in the jungle, he went home. The next morning, the tortoise and his wife came to the magic tree with ten gourds, and the tortoise's wife could not believe her eyes. They filled the largest gourd with large pieces of creamy white pasta and the others with vegetable soup that dripped from the branches of the magic tree. That night, the turtle family enjoyed a sumptuous dinner. But when the young turtles asked where the food came from, the old turtle would not say, because the king had told it that the magic tree could only be used once a day. A few days later, the children reported that they did not eat enough, the eldest son sneaked behind his father and found out the secret. Just after his father had taken the food, the turtle's eldest son took his younger siblings together to find the magic tree and greedily ate the vegetable soup and bread from the tree. The next morning, as usual, the turtle got up early in the morning and secretly went to fetch food. However, it was very surprising to see: that the magic tree had died, and in the original place where the magic tree had been placed had grown a dense layer of thorny raffia palm. He crawled home, angry and hungry, and led his family to the jungle where the magic tree had been placed. Pointing to the place where the thorns had grown, he said to his wife and children, "Dear lady and children, I have done my best to feed you, but you have broken the magic so that I can no longer do anything. From now on, you will have to find your food in the bush." After saying that, he went into the thorn bush by himself. Then, his wife and children also climbed in one after another. It is said that since then, the turtles have been living in the thorny bush of Lafia palm trees until now. Dear babies, let's guess the riddle: Small head, long neck, short legs, hard shell, don't look timid and afraid of things, but in terms of life expectancy, there is no limit. [Riddle: Turtle
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