LeSSon 3

THE ORIGIN OF THE KOALA (Traditional Australian Tale)

<< Liquid Gold >>

Living beings cannot survive without water. What will happen when this valuable asset begins to run out?

The aboriginals in a village had such hard hearts that they paid no attention to Kubu, an orphan boy who could not speak and who wandered the streets begging. So Kubu climbed up trees, his only friends, from where he watched the horizon tinted in beautiful colors so as to forget his hunger and thirst.

One fine day everyone went hunting, but first they hid their provisions, and especially the water, so that the orphan couldn´t take it away from them. But when Kubu was alone in the village, a tree began to move its branches in a strange way. Kubu understood its language and approached the trunk where he discovered the villagers´ secret hiding place. He had a real feast and then climbed up the tree.

When the aboriginals came back they became so furious that they climbed up to the orphan and threw him out... and when Kubu woke up he was on the ground surrounded by expectant face. He didn´t understand why the were looking at him that way, until he realized that his body was covered with hair and that he had been changed into a small bear. The spirit of the trees gave him the gift of being the only animal that does not need water to live. And that´s why he´s called koala: "he who doesn´t need water".

"Many times it´s necessary to accept something tough to discover who we really are. It´s painful but it´s worth the trouble".

LeSSon 2

THE BALLAD OF JOHN HENRY (Traditional American Tale)

<< Brute Force >>

Can you imagine a future in which machines would be the actors? What would we do?

Many years ago the railroad linking the East and the West of the United States was built. Thousands of men drilled mountains, nailed boards and rails, tirelessly ripped out rocks over thousand of miles, in the middle of nowhere. It was really hard work. 

But there was one man who stood out because of his great strength: John Henry, a corpulent black man who never lost his spirit or his smile. His bosses and his companions admired him.

One day the railway company bought machines capable of doing the work of men. John Henry didn´t like this at all, and said that he would challenge the machine. 

One very hot morning John and a drill started cutting through a mountain as fast as possible. All the workers, open-mouthed, watched John, who drilled and drilled without any rest. Meanwhile, the machine seemed to swallow up the rocks. For two, five, seven hours... man and machine competed inside the mountain. 

Some workers bet on John, others on the machine. Until there was a heavy puffing and John appeared full of dust and sweat. He had done it! He had beat the machine! Multitudinous applause echoed in the mountains.

And right at that moment John fell down dead.

"If you can´t beat your enemy, join him", it´s said. Maybe that´s what we have to do with the machines.

LeSSon 1

COLOBOC (Traditional Russian Tale)

<< The Art of Vanity >>

Fortunately our culture has maintained the tradition of eating bread at meals. Delicius, no?

Take a little flour, two teaspoons of milk, a little butter and a pinch of salt. Mix all the ingredients well and make a ball. Put it in the oven and in half an hour you´ll have your coloboc. 

This is what an old lady in a poor neighborhood in Moscow baked. And the little bread felt so golden and beautiful that he jumped through the window so that they could admire his beauty. He rolled down the street until he found a hare.

"Oh, what a golden color!" said the hare licking his mustache. "Will you let me try you?"

"Yes, yes, that´s what you think" answered the little bread and followed his path.

Then he found and enormous bear that told him the same thing as the hare, to which the coloboc answered the same and stayed there showing off his tanned beauty and eluding the answers. 

The little bread was so content that he began to sing until a fox crossed his path and said to him: "Why do you sing? To frigthen away your troubles?"

"Just the opposite", answered the coloboc, "I´m very happy because..." and he began to tell everything to the fox.

"Whaaaat?", said the fox with his mouth watering. "I´m a little deaf. Why don´t you get a little closer?" And the vain coloboc got so close that in one mouthful the fox ate him up.

It´s hard to control the ego in a society that more and more values "vanitas vanitatis"

LeSSoN ZeRo

Hola, muy buenas :))

Consciente de la gran importancia que tienen los idiomas en nuestro currículum (hoy he redactado el mío y da pena leerlo debido a la gran ausencia de muchas cosas), y cansada de estudiar sólo matemáticas, he decidido ponerme en serio con ese tema, en concreto, con el inglés!

Intentando evitar que el aburrimiento me venza demasiado pronto, como casi siempre me pasa, me he animado a crear este blog con el fin de ir publicando cosillas que quizás puedan interesar o entretener a alguien más a parte de mí :))

En realidad lo que pretendo, al menos en este primer momento, es crear una especie de blog "Multi-Cuentos" en inglés junto con algunas cosillas que puedan resultar curiosas o simplemente útiles, no lo sé bien... aún no tengo claro lo que acabará llegando aquí...

En definitiva, espero ser capaz de hacer algo no demasiado aburrido y que tenga una vida más o menos larga y feliz. 


De todas formas, no prometo nada!