Folklore Story

The Clever Husband and Wife

Pedro had been living as a servant in a doctor’s house for more than nine years. He wanted very much to have a wife, but he had no business of any kind on which to support one.

One day he felt very sad. His look of dejection did not escape the notice of his master, who said, “What is the matter, my boy? Why do you look so sad? Is there anything I can do to comfort you?”

“Oh, yes!” said Pedro.

“What do you want me to do?” asked the doctor.

“Master,” the man replied, “I want a wife, but I have no money to support one.”

“Oh, don’t worry about money!” replied his master. “Be ready tomorrow, and I will let you marry the woman you love.”

The next day the wedding was held. The doctor let the couple live in a cottage not far from his hacienda and he gave them two hundred pieces of gold. When they received the money, they hardly knew what to do with it, as Pedro had never had any business of any sort. “What shall we do after we have spent all our money?” asked the wife. “Oh, we can ask the doctor for more,” answered Pedro.

Years passed by, and one day the couple had not even a cent with which to buy food. So Pedro went to the doctor and asked him for some money. The doctor, who had always been kind to them, gave him twenty pieces of gold; but these did not last very long, and it was not many days before the money was all spent. The husband and wife now thought of another way by which they could get money from the doctor.

Early one day Pedro went to the doctor’s house weeping. He said that his wife had died, and that he had nothing with which to pay for her burial. (He had rubbed onion-juice on his eyes, so that he looked as if he were really crying.) When the doctor heard Pedro’s story, he pitied the man, and said to him, “What was the matter with your wife? How long was she sick?”

“For two days,” answered Pedro.

“Two days!” exclaimed the doctor, “Why did you not call me, then? We should have been able to save her. Well, take this money and see that she gets a decent burial.”

Pedro returned home in good spirits. He found his wife Marta waiting for him at the door, and they were happy once more; but in a month the money was all used up, and they were on the point of starving again.

Now, the doctor had a married sister whom Pedro and his wife had worked for off and on after their marriage. Pedro told his wife to go to the doctor’s sister, and tell her that he was dead and that she had no money to pay for the burial. Marta set out, as she was told; and when she arrived at the sister’s house, the woman said to her, “Marta, why are you crying?”

“My husband is dead, and I have no money to pay for his burial,” said Marta, weeping.

“You have served us well, so take this money and see that masses are said for your husband’s soul,” said the kind-hearted mistress.

That evening the doctor visited his sister to see her son who was sick. The sister told him that Marta’s husband had died. “No,” answered the doctor, “it was Marta who died.” They argued and argued, but could not agree; so they finally decided to send one of the doctor’s servants to see which one was dead. When Pedro saw the servant coming, he told his wife to lie flat and stiff in the bed as if she were dead; and when the servant entered, Pedro showed him his dead wife.

The servant returned, and told the doctor and his sister that it was Marta who was dead; but the sister would not believe him, for she said that perhaps he was joking. So they sent another servant. This time Marta made Pedro lie down stiff and flat in the bed; and when the servant entered the house, he saw the man lying as if dead. So he hurried back and told the doctor and his sister what he had seen. Now neither knew what to believe. The next morning, therefore, the doctor and his sister together visited the cottage of Pedro. They found the couple both lying as if dead. After examining them, however, the doctor realized that they were merely feigning death. He was so pleased by the joke, and so glad to find his old servants alive, that he took them home with him and made them stay at his house.

Reference:

http://tagaloglang.com/Philippine-Literature/Filipino-Folktales/the-clever-husband-and-wife.html

Unforgettable Childhood Memories

Like most of you, I have a lot of unforgettable memories from my childhood. This makes it very hard for me to decide on a particular memory. So, due to a recent event, I decided to dedicate this speech to someone I hold very dear in my heart.

I had a cousin. Her name was Fiona Elisa. As children, we were really close. We would have sleepovers and play Barbie dolls together. We even had matching outfits. Even though she was two years older than me, she always treated me with respect. Her mom works as a nurse at a nearby hospital, so when she has to work over time, Fiona would stay over at my house.

One day, this was when my baby sister was just born and I was six I think, Fiona had one of her regular stay over’s. My mom had to prepare lunch so she asked the both of us to look after my baby sister. The thing was, at that point, I disliked my baby sister because she was stealing the entire spotlight from me. Then she started to cry. Annoyed, I shushed her by hitting her lightly with a small pillow. Fiona saw that and she immediately ran to the kitchen to rat me out. Needless to say, I was devoured by my mom that day. I was so mad at her; I gave her the silent treatment. But alas, she made peace with me by offering to share her chocolate. Yes, I was really easy to please.

Like typical girly girls, we loved dressing up in fancy clothes and wearing makeup. This is why we often joined beauty pageants together. Every time we entered a competition together, she would always be one rank higher than me. Although it hurts my childhood ego to say this, to be frank, she definitely had better looks compared to me. But we didn’t really care about winning, we just wanted to dress up and wear makeup. We also liked the adrenaline rush you get when standing on a stage in front of a crowd. We were little girls easily mesmerized by fame and glory.

Sadly, as we grew older, we got caught up in our busy lives respectively. We rarely spent time together but every time there was a family gathering, we would bring our coffee mugs to our own little corner and just simply talk and catch up. Unfortunately, about three weeks ago, she passed away. She was 23 years old. Although she’s gone now, the memories we had will always be a fond reminder of the happy childhood that we shared.

Cast Away

Cast Away is a film starring Tom Hanks (Chuck) as a FedEx employee. He has a girlfriend named Kelly. While he was having a Christmas dinner with Kelly and their family, he had to resolve a work problem. Unfortunately, the plane that he was riding experienced turbulence before crashing into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck was able to survive and with the help of a life raft, he washed up on an uninhabited island. He had to live on that island for four years before he was able to build a strong enough raft to use to escape from the island. He was rescued by a cargo ship. He found out that Kelly got married and has a daughter. Chuck delivered one of the FedEx parcel that he found washed up on the island with him. At the end of the movie, he met a woman who is possibly the receiver of the parcel.

If I were to experience the same situation, I would first make sure that I have all the basic means for survival on the island. I would search high and low for water and food supplies. Then, I would regularly send out S.O.S signals. While waiting to be rescued, I might as well make myself comfortable and turn the island into my own personal paradise.

My common mistakes in writing

I have always been in love with the English language ever since I was exposed to it when I was very young. But, the fact that it is not my first language, it is only common that I find myself still making mistakes when writing in English.

Frankly, when I am free writing, I do not find it hard. The problem is when I have to write according to the writing process in which I have to generate ideas that goes along with the topic sentence without being irrelevant. Other than that, despite having the basic knowledge of English grammar, I find myself sometimes confused and not sure whether I am using the right ones.

To overcome this, all I can do is simply practice more paragraph writing and at the same time, read as many books as I can so that I will be able to learn different kinds of sentence structures. It may be an old saying, but practice makes perfect will always be true.

Writing Process 2

To ensure that your writing is neat and does not break away from the main topic, it is important to follow the writing process. The process begins with generating ideas, organizing those ideas, writing and then revising before rewriting. Below are examples of a topic sentence, supporting sentences and concluding sentence.

Topic sentence: The effects of air pollution.

Supporting sentences: 1. Air pollution causes breathing problems.

2. Polluted air results in acid rain.

3. Foggy air limits our sight.

Concluding sentence: Air pollution causes a lot of environmental problem.

Pollution

There are many effects of air pollution. Air pollution causes breathing problems. This is because, when we breathe in polluted air, our lungs will be affected. Other than that, polluted air also results in acid rain. Acid rain has corrosive effects on buildings and may cause skin cancer. Besides that, foggy air limits our eye sight. This is especially dangerous for people who are driving on the road. So in conclusion, air pollution causes a lot of environmental problem.

Writing Process 1

When writing something, it is best that you follow the process. The writing process not only helps you to get ideas, but also helps you to organize those ideas. Through the process, you will be able to write and then edit. In the end, before you realize, you would have already written a complete paragraph.

There are plenty of ways to get ideas. Some writers prefer free writing, while others list, draw mind maps or bubbling. It is important to organize the ideas that you have so that you will be able to decide which idea to use and which to discard.

To write your first draft, try to be in a comfortable and relaxed position. Write your ideas in an interesting way and do not worry about making mistakes. Be sure to revise what you have written by checking your ideas and crossing out irrelevant sentences.

Before you write your final paragraph, be sure to check your grammar. But revise your ideas first and then you can edit your grammar. When all the processes are said and done, rewrite the first draft and then write the topic. You can now submit your writing, confidently.