Narrative text.
The Strange Porridge
Long ago there lived on the island of
Roti an old woman and her grandson . What had happened to her grandson’s
parents, the old woman did not care to speak about. Behind their hut , they
grew rice. Although their field did not yield much rice, there was enough food
for both of them . But for other food , the grandmother had to go to the sea to
catch fish.
Every
time the grandmother went out fishing , the boy was not allowed to go with her
. But one day he could not restrain himself and said to the old woman, “Please
Granny, let me go with you. I’d like to catch fish too.”
“No, my child , don’t go with me. It’s
too dangerous. Stay here and cook the rice for us. Take only one grain. That
will do.
The old woman went away , leaving the
boy gratly disappointed. He sat around the house , brooding about the reason
why he was not allowed to go. Suddenly he realized that it was getting late .
He went to the kitchen , wondering to himself, “Only one grain? It’s so funny
Granny thinks like that . How can it be? No, surely not.”So when he put the
rice pot on the fire , he took several handfuls of rice , as he doubted the
truth of what his grandmother said. When he thought that it was time to take
the pot off the fire , he lifted the lid.
“Goodnes!”he exclamaid . “ What’s
happening?” For just as he lifted the lid a stream of hot porridge flew out of
the pot. It kept flowing over the floor , out of the kitchen and then across
the backyard .
In tears the boy went looking for his
grandmother , as he could not understand what had happened . When he found her
and told her what he had done , she grew angry. She took hold of a piece of
wood and beat him hard on his head till he was black and blue and howling
loudly in pain.
No matter what the boy said, begging for
forgiveness , the grandmother did not relent and kept beating him to teach him
obedience, she said. But quite suddenly the boy vanished. The grandmother
looked for him everywhere. She was sure that she was holding him firmly by the
arm , but now he was gone. Then, while she was still searching for him, she
heard a voice saying, “Good bye, Granny! You are alone now. There will nobody
to help you from now on.” Then the voice died away.From that time on, the
people of Roti have never beaten their children or any other people on the head.
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