The legend of female mosquitoes

The legend of female mosquitoes

Why Female mosquitoes bite

Many years ago in Vietnam, a poor fisherman lived with his beautiful wife. The fisherman was happy, but his wife was not. She wanted to be rich.

One day, when the fisherman was working, his wife became sick and died. The fisherman came home and found his wife dead. He sat near her and prayed.

While he was praying he heard a voice. The voice told him how to bring his wife back to life. The voice said, :Cut your finger and let three drops of blood fall on your wife.” The man did what he was told. When the third drop of blood fell on his wife, she came back to life. The fisherman was very happy to have his wife back.

One day soon after that, the wife went to the beach to wait for her husband to come back from fishing. While she was waiting, she met a rich man with a big boat. The rich man told the woman, “You are very beautiful. Come with me on my big boat. I can make you very wealthy.” The woman wanted to be rich, so she went with him.

When her husband came back, he saw two other fisherman. They told him that his wife had left with the rich man. The husband went to find his wife. When hi found her, he was very angry. He asked her to come back home, but she refused him. Then, he told her that he wanted back his three drops of blood.

He cut her finger with a knife, and three drops of blood fell. Then, the woman changed. She became very small and grew wings. She flew around her husband’s head angrily saying, “Give me back the three drops of blood!”

To this day, female mosquitoes still fly around trying to get back those three drops of blood.

The legend of The Moon and The Sun Gods

The legend of The Moon and The Sun Gods

Hou I visit the moon

The Moon God Story

Chang O did not live alone for very long. She soon caught cold and began to cough. One day, she coughed up the “Pill of every lasting life”, Which changed into a white rabbit. She was very pleased that the rabbit came to live with her because she did not feel so lonely. Later on, Chang O and the rabbit were joined by an old man as well. The old man had been  sent to the moon by a fairy for doing something wrong. He had been ordered by the fairy to cut down all the trees on the moon. This was more difficult that it sounds. As soon as he cut down one tree, another grew in its place.

Chang O still thought of her husband every day. But there seemed to be no way for her to see him again.

One day, Hou I was carried off in a storm to the palace of the Queen Mother of the west. The Queen Mother’s husband gave him a cake and a magic ring.

The Sun God Story

“Eat this cake,” he said. “You will able to live on the sun without feeling the heat.”

Hou I did so. He flew straight up to the sun. The Queen Mother’s husband appeared again. “You are now King of the Sun,” he told him. “Is there anything you want?”

“I want to see my wife,” Hou I said. “You can rub the ring I give you if you want to see your wife,” said the queen mother’s husband.

Hou I rubbed the ring and flew straight to the moon. He soon found his wife. The Queen Mother’s husband came to see him once more.

“Don’t forget you are King of the Sun,” he said “You cannot leave the sun too often. You can only visit your wife on the fifteenth night of every month.”

Hou I was very happy to hear this. From that time on, he came to see his wife once a month. That is why the moon is always very large and bright on that night.

The story of Redhill

The story of Redhill

Once upon  time there were many swordfish in the sea near Singapore. These swordfish caushed a great deal of trouble. They flew into boats and sometimes killed fishermen. There were so many of these swordfish that the raja decided to kill them.

So the raja brought his army down to the sea to fight the swordfish. Many people came to watch the battle, and among them was a very clever little boy. The little boy watched the soldier in their uniform, their long swords shining in the sun. he thought to himself that he would like to be a soldier when he grew up.

The legend of Redhill

When the captain gave the signal, the soldier stood in long line on the beach and waited for the swordfish to attack. Soon the swordfish came leaping and flying across the water. Wave after wave of then came. They noses, and many soldiers died.

Suddenly the little boy saw the raja sitting sadly beneath a tree. He ran to raja and said. “Please, Sir. I think I know how to stop the swordfish.”

“Do you. Indeed, little boy?” said the raja looking to cut at the boy’s bare feet and ragged clothes.

“Yes, Sir,” the boy said. “Tell the soldiers to take those banana trees over there. Then tie the trees together to make a wall to stop the fish.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” said the raja. He turned to his captain. “Why didn’t you think of that, Captain? Tell your men to start at once.”

The captain looked angrily at the little boy before he told his men what to so. The soldiers cut the banana trees and tied them together with strong ropes. They used more ropes to pull the wall to the edge of the water. This time, when the swordfish came, they flew out of the water and their swords stuck in the wall of banana trees. They couldn’t move, and so it was easy for the soldiers to kill them.

“Well done, men.” Said the raja to the soldiers. “And thank you, little boy,” he said to the boy.

The little boy bowed to the raja and ran back to his home on the hill by the sea. The raja thoughtfully watched him go. That’s very clever child,” he said to the captain.

The captain was still angry because the boy had made him look stupid. “Perhaps, Sir, he is too clever. Clever little boy can grow into dangerous man.”

The raja thought about this, and the more he thought the more he worried. A few days later the captain came to see him again.

“Sir” he said. “I am worried about that little boy. He is too clever. Some day, he will make a lot of trouble for us.”

“You are right, Captain,” said the raja. “I think we should stop him now, before it’s too late.”

“Good,” said the captain. “I’ll take care of it tonight.”

That night the captain and some of his soldiers climbed the hill where the little boy lived. They quietly went into his house and killed him with their swords.

The little boy’s blood ran freely down the hill. Soon the whole hill had turned red, and it is red to this every day. When the people heard what raja’s captain had done, they named this place Redhill. And even now, they remember the story of the clever little boy who stopped the swordfish.

The mermaid and the fisherman

The mermaid and the fisherman

Once there was a young fisherman who live on Pulau Hantu. His home on the northern shore of the island was made of dried palm leaves, and he found it very comfortable. Though he was often lonely.

The mermaid and the fishermen story

Each morning the young fisherman went fishing, and then he took his fish  to Singapore where he would sell them in the market. One morning when he was pulling in his nets, he heard someone crying. He looked down into the water and saw that he had caught a mermaid!

The young fisherman quickly pulled his net into the boat. “Let me go.” Cried the mermaid. “Let me go.”

The fisherman was too surprised to move. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I am on my way home to my father’s kingdom beneath the sea. I had stopped a moment to look at those island over there when you caught me.”

“Do you like the island?” asked the fisherman. “I live on one of them myself.”

“They are beautiful. But don’t you ever get lonely? There can’t be many smiled people on the island.”

The fisherman smiled. “Yes I do sometimes get lonely,” he said. “But my work keeps me busy,”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, there isn’t much to tell. I catch fish, and then I sell them in the market. Then I take my boat and go home.”

“Do you always catch so many fish?” asked the mermaid. Looking at the many fish in the nets.

“Not always. In fact, some morning I don’t catch any.”

As the mermaid listened to the fisherman. She felt in love with him. Soon she wished to marry him and live with him on the island, and so, the mermaid and the fisherman were married.

They were very happy. She helped him by swimming ahead of his boat and telling him where the best fish were. She cooked for him and helped him repair his nets. The young fisherman was a good husband. He worked hard and soon he was able to buy a fine new boat.

One evening the mermaid said to the fisherman. “If you are ever lost at sea, I shall ask the gods to turn me into a bird. Then I shall fly all over the earth to look for you.”

“Don’t worry,” said the fisherman. “I’m sure nothing like that will happen.”

The fisherman was wrong. One day a terrible storm came to the sea near the island while he was out in his boat. The mermaid, who was at home, prayed that he would come home safely. She prayed and waited for several days, and she became very ill. “Gods of the sea and the earth,” she prayed. “change me into a bird,” soon she died, and the gods granted her wish; they changes her into a bird so she could look for her lost husband.

The legend of seagull

The young fisherman, meanwhile, was on another island where the sea had taken him during the storm. After the storm had passed, he returned home, but the mermaid was gone. He looked all over the island for her without success. Then he sat down to wait. The days of waiting turned into weeks and the weeks into years. The fisherman grew old and sad, waiting for his wife to come home.

Then one day a white seagull flew over the fisherman’s house. The seagull cried out, but the fisherman didn’t hear it because he was dreaming of his mermaid. A few hours later. He died.

When the fisherman died. The gods of the sea and the earth turned him into a seagull. He flew joy fully to his wife, and together they flew away.

The mountain God and the River God

The mountain God and the River God

A long time ago in Vietnam, there was a beautiful princess. She was the king’s only daughter. Both the mountain God and the River God wanted to marry the king’s daughter. The king said, “You must fight, and the winner will marry the princess”.

So the two Gods fought. They fought with bows and arrows. The mountain God won the fight and he married the beautiful princess

But the river God was very angry. He used his power to attack the mountain. The river got higher, it covered the mountain. It came up to where the mountain God and princess lived. Then, the mountain God used his power. The mountain got higher too, so the river couldn’t get the princess.

Now, every year in July and August, when the rains come in Vietnam, the rivers rise, people say that the River God is still trying to take away the princess

How the Philippines was made story

How the Philippines was made story

Many thousands of years ago, a man and his wife lived in the Philippines, they were called Angngalo and Angngarab.

One morning, they went to
gather some shellfish. Inside one, they found a pearl. It was an unusual yellow colour and very large.

Angngalo gave it to Angngarab. “Oh!” she said, “I can find many more pearls than you!”

Soon they were quarrelling and shouting at each other. They ran along the seashore looking for shellfish. Before, they had a big pile in front of them. They pulled open the shells and looked in them for pearls.

“I’ve go more pearls than you!” shouted Angngalo.

“No, you haven’t!” answered Angngarab. “Anyway, my pearls are bigger than yours!”

Soon, they were fighting. They threw the shells and pearls at each other. (That is why there are so many shells and pearls in the Philippines) They rolled on the ground and stamped their feet.

There was aloud “Boom!” and “Crack!”. The mountains and hills began to split. The water in the rivers and lakes flooded the land.

They still continued fighting. Suddenly, there was a great storm, with thunder lighting. The land broke into several parts. Luzon was in the north, the Visayan Islands were in the middle, and Mindanao in the south.

Because of this, there are now over seven thousand islands in the Philippines.

Tisna Wati the Queen on Mount Rice

TISNA WATI lived with her father, Batara Guru, in the god's heaven. Now Tisna Wati was a most beautiful and charming little goddess, but she wasn't at all happy in the gods 7 heaven.

Sometimes, when she looked down at the earth, far below her, and saw people busy at their various tasks, she would sigh, "Oh, if only I could be an ordinary mortal!" -

And when her father had gone forth to do battle with the giants and the demons of the air, she would mourn because she could not go with him. When he came back, she would be pouting and out of humor. 

One day, when she was especially surly, her father lost his temper. "Come here!" he ordered in a stem voice. "Your grumbling and your silly whims annoy me, and nothing would please me better than to send you down to earth to become an ordinary mortal. Alas, I cannot do that because you have drunk of the life-water and are immortal. But I have thought of something else for you. Til choose one of the young gods to be your husband, and he will soon teach you to get over your bad moods!"

"Oh, I already know of someone who could be my husband, Father/' the little goddess cried happily.

"Who can that be?" her father demanded. "Not one of those awful air giants, I hope. Because I absolutely forbid you to marry the son of one of my enemies."

"Oh, no, Father, it's not one of the buatas. And he doesn't live in the air, nor in the gods 7 heaven, either. He lives on the earth. Look down . . . you can see him now. He's that handsome young man who is plowing the rice field that lies on the side of the hill."

"But that's the son of a man!" her father said angrily. "He's an ordinary mortal! You can't marry him; you are the daughter of a god! You shall never marry him. I won't permit it!"

"But I will marry him!" Tisna Wati shrieked, stamping her tiny foot. "I will never marry anyone else. He shall be my husband even if I have to leave this place forever."

"And I say that you shall never marry him!" her father stormed. "I'd rather change you into a rice stalk. And let me tell you that just as soon as possible I will choose a son of one of the gods to be your husband. Do you understand?"

When Tisna Wati saw how angry her father was, she was afraid that her fate would be the same as that of Dewi Sri, the lovely wife of the great god Vishnu, who disobeyed her husband and was killed by him and changed into a rice stalk. It was her deathless spirit that lived in the fields of rice, the sawahs.

But Tisna Wati was not as meek as Dewi Sri. She would never let herself be changed into a rice stalk. And certainly she would never, never marry a son of one of the gods! She had set her heart on the handsome young mortal, plowing his fields on the hillside.

Egrly the next day her father left to seek a husband for her. But just as he was setting out, word came to him that the giants of the air and the evil demons were threatening the gods again, and he would have to go to war against them.

"When I come back, however, bring your husband with me," he said to his daughter.

Tisna Wati said meekly, 'Very well, Father." But as soon as he had left, she leaped on the wings of the wind and was floated down to earth. The wind was kind to her and took her close to the hillside where the young man was plowing his rice field.

Tisna Wati said to herself, "Now I can really see him close/' And she sat down on the slope of the hill to wait for the young man to notice her.

When he turned at the end of a row, he saw her. And he thought she was as beautiful as a vision. He came to her and said, wonderingly, ''What are you looking for, lovely maiden?'

"I'm looking for my husband/ Tisna Wati answered, laughing.

It was such a strange answer that the young man began to laugh, too, and they laughed together. They laughed because they were happy and in love, and the sound of their laughter rose to the heavens. That was their undoing.

For when their voices reached the place where Tisna Wati's father was battling against the giants and the demons, he heard it. He stopped and listened. That was his daughter's voice! And the voice of a strange young man! He bent and looked toward the earth . . . and there he saw his daughter,
sitting beside a handsome young man, and their joyous laughter was louder to him than the noise of battle.

Raving with anger, Batara Guru gave up the battle with his enemies and flew down to earth. When he came to the hillside where his daughter sat beside the young man, he thundered, "Come with me at once! I'm taking you back to
the gods' heaven."

But Tisna Wati had no desire to return to the gods' heaven. She was in love with the young man, and her love was stronger than her father's will.

"No," she said firmly, "I am never going back. I'd rather become an ordinary mortal and stay here on earth with my beloved."

"Then stay you shall!" her father roared angrily. "But not as the daughter of a god, and not as a mortal, either! You shall become a rice stalk and your spirit shall become one with this rice field." Even as he spoke, Tisna Wati changed from a goddess into a slim rice stalk.

When the slender rice stalk bent toward the young man, he stroked it with loving fingers. His plowing was forgotten, everything was forgotten, and in his sorrow he could only gaze at the graceful stalk that had been his beloved Tisna Wati.

When Batara Guru saw this, he was overcome with remorse. "I could have left them together," he said. "Now I cannot change her back . . . she must remain a rice stalk forever, for her spirit is already here in this rice field. But
perhaps I could change him into a rice stalk, too/'

When he had done this, he saw how the two stalks bent toward each other, as if they were telling how much they loved one another. He watched them a while, and shook his great head. "It is well/' he muttered to himself, and flew back to the gods' heaven.

And ever since that day, the story says, the spirit of Tisna Wati has been in the mountain rice, just as the spirit of Dewi Sri is in the sawah rice.

But where the spirit of the handsome young man went, no one knows.