Chickcharnies and Guava Duff

21 Pages·2012·5.64 MB·English

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Table of Contents
LexiLe® measure
3 The Unwelcome Neighbor 820L
5 Clever Hodja, Foolish Hodja 760L
7 Chickcharnies and Guava Duff 810L
9 The True Reward 670L
11 King of All Animals 750L
13 The White Crane 700L
15 The Tailor’s Wish 740L
17 Stop the Hungry Giant Fish! 780L
20 The Woman in the Moon 760L
©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of charge for classroom use by printing or
photocopying one copy for each student in the class. Highlights® Fun with a Purpose®
ISBN 978-1-62091-264-5
PAGE: 32
Mother Crow snatched
a ruby necklace in
her beak and
flew away.
The Unwelcome Neighbor
A tale from the Panchatantra retold by Santhini Govindan
Art by Barbara Knutson
Soon a round nest was hidden high
among the leaves of the tree, ready for
The Panchatantra is a collection of the eggs that Mother Crow would lay.
stories written long ago in India. Like One day, a huge black snake slithered
Aesop’s Fables, the stories teach how to past the banyan. He noticed a deep, dark
live a wise life. hole at the bottom of the tree, and he
decided to make it his home.
This alarmed the crows. Father Crow
O
nce upon a time a pair of crows came discussed the matter with the other
across a huge old banyan tree. The tree animals who lived in the banyan tree.
had strong branches and a wonderful roof “Beware of the snake,” they said. “He is
of green leaves that provided shade from dangerous. He will wait for a chance to
the sun. It seemed like the perfect place eat up all your babies!”
to build a nest. When Mother Crow heard this, she
The crows immediately set to work. began to cry. “How can I lay my eggs,
©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of
charge for classroom use by printing or photocopying one copy for each student in the class.
Highlights® Fun with a Purpose®
ISBN 978-1-62091-431-1
PAGE: 33
of the tree every day, searching for the
crows’ nest.
“Please do something to drive away the
snake,” Mother Crow begged. “Otherwise
he will soon discover our precious babies
and eat them up!”
Father Crow decided to ask a wise old
fox for help. The fox listened to the crow’s
tale of woe and then came up with a
brilliant plan. He told the two crows to go
to the river the next morning. The ladies
of the royal household would be bathing
there. Their clothes and jewels would be
lying on the riverbank, watched over by
servants.
“Pick up a necklace and fly home,” said
the fox. “Be sure to make a loud noise so
that the servants will follow you. When
you reach the tree, drop the necklace into
the snake’s hole.”
The crows did exactly as the fox had
knowing that the snake will gobble up all told them. Mother Crow snatched a ruby
my babies as soon as they are hatched?” necklace in her beak and flew away.
she asked Father Crow. Father Crow cawed loudly to attract the
“I want to leave! Let’s go far away and servants’ attention.
make a new nest.” The servants chased Mother Crow, and
“No, we must not leave,” said Father as they reached the banyan tree, they
Crow. “The banyan tree is the best place saw her drop the necklace into the
for us to live. I will find some way to snake’s hole.
drive away the snake.” When the servants tried to take the
Mother Crow was reassured by Father necklace out of the hole with a stick, the
Crow’s words. She laid seven eggs, and angry snake came out hissing. The
before long there were seven baby crows servants drew back in alarm, and then
in the nest. They quickly grew big and tried to beat the snake. But the snake,
fat under Mother Crow’s watchful eye. afraid for his life, slithered away as fast
Their noisy chirping could be heard all as he could and never came back to the
over the banyan tree. The snake heard banyan tree. Mother and Father Crow
it, too, and slithered up and down the lived there happily for many years and
branches raised many babies, too.
PAGE: 40
Clever Hodja,
Foolish Hodja
A Turkish Tale
Retold by Gale Sypher Jacob
Art by Allan Eitzen
Nasreddin Hodja was probably
a real person who lived in Turkey
in the thirteenth century. He is
famous in folklore for being both
clever and foolish.
Clever Hodja
Late one hot summer after-
noon, Nasreddin Hodja strode
through his town of Ak Sehir
(AHK sheh-heer), heading toward
the palace of Tamerlane the Great.
Hodja carried an offering—a fat
goose roasted to a gleaming brown
by his wife, Fatima. Drops of
sweat dripped under Hodja’s “Where l come
turban and loose, flowing kaftan. from, geese have
His stomach felt tight with two legs.” “Moon, l’ll
hunger.
rescue you!”
Outside town, Hodja stopped to
rest under a walnut tree. He
pinched his nose, trying to close “I’ve heard that your wife is an are correct. I see only one leg for
out the tempting smell of freshly excellent cook,” replied Tamer- each goose.”
roasted goose. Then, before he lane. “But what is this? The goose Hodja, who was anxious to be
could stop himself, he ripped a has only one leg! Where I come gone before the geese woke up,
crispy brown leg from the goose from, geese have two legs.” said, “Enjoy the goose. Peace be
and gobbled down the tender Hodja stood there, looking out with you.” Then he turned to
meat. Delicious! the window. His brain buzzed like leave.
He threw the bone into the bees around flowers, searching for Just as Nasreddin Hodja
dusty roadside weeds, licked his an explanation. reached the garden gate, Tamer-
fingers, picked up the goose, and “The geese of Ak Sehir are lane called for a servant by
walked on. famous for having only one leg,” clapping his hands twice. The
As he entered the palace, Hodja declared Nasreddin Hodja. “Just two loud claps woke the flock of
wondered how he could explain look out into the palace garden.” geese. Flapping and hissing, the
the one-legged goose. Ever since “Oh, Hodja, don’t be foolish,” geese ran off—each on two
Tamerlane had conquered Ak said Tamerlane with a chuckle. yellow legs.
Sehir, he and Hodja had enjoyed “Let’s go and see,” insisted “Ah, Hodja, you fooled me,”
each other’s company. Still, Hodja Hodja. They walked outside. cried Tamerlane the Great.
feared offending the powerful In the sun-baked garden, near Hodja called back, “I should
ruler. the fountain, stood a flock of have clapped my hands twice
“A tasty goose roasted this very sleeping white geese, each before Fatima cooked the goose—
morning by my wife, Fatima,” said balanced on one yellow leg. then it would have had two legs.”
Hodja, bowing and presenting the “Perhaps I’ve been too busy to Tamerlane laughed as Hodja
platter to Tamerlane. notice,” said Tamerlane, “but you waved and disappeared.
©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of
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Highlights® Fun with a Purpose®
ISBN 978-1-62091-426-7
PAGE: 41
“The moon has fallen into the all my strength!” Hodja called.
Foolish Hodja
well!” he cried, his thirst for- He drew a long breath, tight-
That evening, Hodja told Fatima gotten. “It’s sitting down there, all ened every muscle, and yanked.
about their goose. “I fooled shiny and round!” CRACK! The bucket’s handle,
Tamerlane the Great!” he boasted. He lowered the bucket into the which had been caught under a
“You spoiled my perfect goose!” well and shouted, “Moon, you rock, jumped loose, and the
she cried. “But you were also very won’t drown—I’ll rescue you!” bucket flew out of the well.
clever . . . instead of foolish.” Hodja felt the bucket scraping SMACK! It hit Nasreddin Hodja,
Fatima hugged him. the jagged rocks inside the well as knocking him over. He lay there
Hodja smiled. “Me? Foolish?” he let it down. Splash! He heard on his back with his eyes closed,
“Only once in a while,” Fatima the bucket hit the water. “Hop in rubbing his head.
replied, and they kissed each other the bucket, Moon,” Hodja called. When Hodja opened his eyes,
good-night. “I’ll pull you up.” he looked up into the night sky.
Sometime after midnight, Hodja Hodja braced himself against “There it is!” he cried. “I’ve saved
woke and was thirsty. The water the side of the well and pulled. the moon!”
jug near the bed was empty, so he The bucket did not move.
drowsily plodded outside to draw Good! The moon has climbed
water from the well. The wind into the bucket, thought Hodja.
whispered in the cypress trees. “Hold on tight!” he cried.
Half awake, Hodja leaned over Hodja pulled harder. Nothing
the well to lower the bucket. Then happened.
his sleepy eyes popped open. “Moon, I’ll save you if it takes
“Moon, l’ll
rescue you!”
PAGE: 6
Chickcharnies and Guava Duff
A Bahamian Tale
By Christina R. Chilcote
Art by JoAnn E. Kitchel “Johnnycake?” she asked. Her
johnnycake made feet dance with
S joy. The animals just looked at
ister Felice walked out of her her.
house to the clearing at the edge of “Guava duff?” she asked. Spicy
the forest. and light, her guava duff made
“Good morning, Barque,” she you want to fly with the birds. All
said to a skinny one-eyed dog. She at once, the dog howled, the goat
put a pan of water next to him and bleated, and the rooster crowed
scratched behind his ear. with excitement.
“Good morning, Cheve,” she
said to a shaggy gray goat, and she Sister Felice was the best cook
gave him a carrot. on all of Andros Island.
“Good morning, Coquille,” she
said to a shiny strutting rooster as Everyone wanted some of
she threw down a handful of Sister Felice’s guava duff—
cracked corn. including those red-eyed, While she beat the butter and
“What shall I make today, dear feathery-legged, treetop-dwelling sugar, she sang, “Who makes the
friends?” she asked the animals. gremlins known as chickcharnies! best guava duff?”
Sister Felice was the best cook on Making guava duff was hard “You do! You do!” bleated Cheve.
all of Andros Island. work. As Sister Felice peeled and While she waited for the guava
“Conch fritters?” she asked. Her cored the fruit, she sang, “Who duff to cook, she sang, “Who makes
fritters made tongues tingle with makes the best guava duff?” the best guava duff?”
delight. But the animals didn’t “You do! You do!” howled “You do! You cock-a-doodle do!”
make a sound. Barque. crowed Coquille.
When she’d finished making the
treat, Sister Felice realized that
she’d used all of the butter. How
would she make sauce for her
“What shall I make today?” guava duff? Guava duff without
sauce was unthinkable.
Sister Felice decided that she’d
trade some of her dessert for some
of Sister Sephania’s butter. She
wrapped three of the fruit-filled
rolls and placed them in her
basket. Leaving the rest of the
warm guava duff on the table, she
hurried down the road.
Through the trees, two pairs of
glowing red eyes followed Sister
Felice as she walked down the
road. Two sets of feathered legs
stepped out of the forest. Two
elfin creatures decided to make
mischief. Chickcharnies!
©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of
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ISBN 978-1-62091-425-0
PAGE: 7
Then she stopped to untangle keep you safe.”
Cheve. “Tricky chickcharnies,” She placed the last of the guava
bleated the shaggy gray goat. duff on the table and led the
She refilled Barque’s pan of animals down the road.
water and set it next to him. As soon as they disappeared
“Tricky chickcharnies,” howled from sight, the chickcharnies
the skinny one-eyed dog. dashed across the clearing and
She let Coquille out of the coop. into the cottage, where they
“Tricky chickcharnies,” crowed greedily began eating the guava
the shiny strutting rooster. duff.
“Those chickcharnies need a When the last piece was eaten,
lesson,” whispered Sister Felice. patou!—the chickcharnies turned
Now, Sister Felice was a into chick-hens. Sister Felice
woman of magic. She reached into jumped out from behind some
the soft red bag that hung from a bushes, grabbed the chick-hens,
leather cord around her neck. and put them into the coop.
Then she sprinkled magic powder The new chick-hens were
Chickcharnies!
on the guava duff still in her funny-looking birds with red eyes,
basket. spindly legs, and mischievous
From the corner of her eye, she ways. Whenever they tried to
Coquille, the shiny strutting saw four feathery legs at the edge escape, the dog growled, the goat
rooster, sounded the alarm. He of the clearing. Loudly she said, nibbled their tails, and the rooster
puffed up his feathers, stretched “Those tricky chickcharnies ate scolded them.
tall, and cock-a-doodle-dooed with most of my yummy guava duff, They scratched the ground and
all his might. But the chick- but I still have some left. I’ll just ate cracked corn just like other
charnies just smiled and locked leave it here while I run to Sister chick-hens, but somehow their
him in the chicken coop. Sephania’s for more butter. Dear eggs always tasted a little like . . .
Cheve, the shaggy gray goat, friends, come with me so I can guava duff.
charged and tried to butt the
intruders. But the chickcharnies
just giggled and stepped aside.
Poor Cheve missed them, ran into “Those chickcharnies need a lesson.”
a tangle of vines, and got stuck.
Barque, the skinny one-eyed
dog, growled and barked. But the
chickcharnies just laughed. They
ran around and around him so fast
that he got dizzy and fell over.
Hearing the noise, Sister Felice
came running back and shouted,
“What’s happening?” When the
forest gremlins heard her voice,
they grabbed the guava duff and
headed for the trees.
Sister Felice chased them
behind the chicken coop. She
chased them around the panting
dog. She chased them past the
tangled goat right to the edge of
the forest.
PAGE: 30
The True
Reward
A Mongolian Folktale
Retold by Stephen Cook
Art by Philip W. Smith
“Will you ask the
shaman to help me?”
A
poor boy named Bold lived the Siberian forest, Bold heard north to make a request of the
alone in a small yurt south of the someone call to him from a small White-Black Shaman.”
icy vastness of the Siberian forest. hut. “Will you also make a request
Bold decided to travel north “Help me,” said an old man in for me?” asked Titan Snake. “A
and request wisdom from the ragged clothes as he crawled from shaman told me that if I waited
White-Black Shaman to help him the hut. “My name is Wretched. nine years I would be transformed
overcome his poverty. Could you give me a piece of bread into Rainbow Dragon. Nine years
As he walked across a field, a or some mutton jerky?” have passed, and I am still Titan
horseman approached and reined “I have no food,” said Bold. “I Snake. Will you ask the White-
in his stallion. am going north to make a request Black Shaman to help me become
“My name is Ten-Thousand- of the White-Black Shaman.” Rainbow Dragon?”
Horse-Owner,” said the man. “You “Will you make a request for Bold nodded. “I will ask.”
are trespassing on my land.” me?” asked Wretched. “Will you North of the frozen waters of
“Forgive me,” said Bold. “I am ask the shaman to help me over- Lake Baikal, deep in a valley
going north to make a request of come my life of suffering?” surrounded by snow-covered
the White-Black Shaman.” Bold nodded. “I will ask,” he Siberian cedars and silver firs,
“Will you also make a request said. And he went on. Bold found the yurt of the White-
for me?” asked Ten-Thousand- As he walked through the Black Shaman.
Horse-Owner. “I have a beautiful forest, Bold reached a large scaly Inside the yurt was a tall man
daughter who has never spoken a log and began to step over it. The with a long mustache, seated on a
word. Will you ask the shaman to log moved, and up reared the reindeer hide. “My name is
help my daughter speak?” head of an enormous snake. White-Black Shaman,” he said.
Bold nodded. “I will ask,” he “My name is Titan Snake! Why “Your name is Bold, is it not?”
said. And he walked on. are you walking in my forest?” Bold nodded in amazement.
As he approached the edge of “My name is Bold. I am going “Yes,” he said. “I have come to
©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of
charge for classroom use by printing or photocopying one copy for each student in the class.
Highlights® Fun with a Purpose®
ISBN 978-1-62091-430-4
PAGE: 31
make requests.” He repeated the for the others before you asked “My suffering and poverty have
requests of the three he had met for yourself,” said the shaman. ended!” shouted Wretched. He
in his travels. “Continue to help others with a gave three of the plates to Bold,
“As for Titan Snake,” said the pure heart, and you will have and thanked him warmly.
White-Black Shaman, “inside him your true reward.” Bold went to the home of Ten-
is a topaz gem. Have him spit out Bold returned to Titan Snake Thousand-Horse-Owner. He felt
the gem. and told him what the shaman confident now, and his travels
“As for Wretched, help him dig had said. The snake spit out the had made him wiser. His knock
under a single birch tree. gem. The gem flashed brightly. was answered by the beautiful
“As for Ten-Thousand-Horse- Suddenly Bold wore a precious daughter who had never spoken.
Owner, his daughter will speak silk robe, a velvet hat, and fine “Please tell your father that I
when she first sees the man who leather boots. have traveled to see the White-
will one day become her husband.” The gem flashed again. Titan Black Shaman,” Bold said. “He
“I would like to make a request Snake became Rainbow Dragon. told me you will speak when you
of my own,” Bold said. He soared through the sky, and first meet the man who will
“No,” said the shaman. “Each a beautiful rainbow stretched become your husband.”
person may make only three behind him. The daughter stepped from the
requests in a year.” Bold returned to Wretched and home and smiled at Bold. “How
Bold hung his head. helped him find the lone birch kind you are,” she said. “And how
“It is admirable that you asked tree. Beneath the tree they found brave you must be to have made
nine golden plates. such a journey. What is your
name?”
“You will
have your
true reward.”