Types of Prose Narratives: A Text-Book for the Story WriterFansler, Harriott Ely
General
Types of Prose Narratives: A Text-Book for the Story Writer
Fansler, Harriott Ely
English prose literature; Storytelling
One night about twelve o'clock he began to feel the cold north wind,
and the leaves began to rustle. By and by the wind stopped. He tried
to sleep, but he could not, for the mosquitoes were too thick. He then
went out of his hut and gathered some dry twigs and grasses and made
a small fire to drive the mosquitoes away. When the fire began to
kindle, he sat before his hut, facing a small hill. Not long afterward
he heard the laughing of a child from the top of the hill. The child
seemed to be very happy, for it laughed as hard as it could. Juan then
began to wonder who the child was, for he knew that no one was living
near him. Soon the laughing grew louder and louder and Juan began to be
frightened. He supposed that the child was approaching him, but at once
the laughing stopped and again everything was silent about the field.
He looked around him several times because he did not know what kind of
creature that child was, and he feared that she might take hold of him
from behind.
While Juan was thinking of what to do, a girl with white complexion and
golden hair appeared before him laughing as hard as she could. Juan
then was about to run away and call for help, but he knew that there
was no one to help him, so he gathered all his strength and courage and
approached the girl with his _bolo_ in hand and said, "Tell me who you
are or else this night is your last." The girl did not answer him, but
continued laughing. He struck at her, but she at once vanished away
and reappeared behind him laughing as hard as she could. He struck at
her several times. He did not touch her at all and she laughed louder.
Juan then threw his _bolo_ at her and ran home shouting as he went
along calling for help, "St. John, St. Peter, St. Nicholas, come and
help me!" When he came to the forest a cricket alighted on his coat
and began to sing. He mistook it for the girl, so he ran very fast.
When he came to the town, the policemen tried to stop him, but they
could not. He tried to tell them that a girl was singing behind him,
but he was so terribly frightened that his calling to the gods confused
him, and while he was running he shouted, "St. John sings, St. John
sings, etc.," until he came to his house. His family asked him what the
matter was, but he could not speak because of fatigue. By this time the
cricket had flown away. Later the family found out that Juan had seen a
_tianac_.
--Santiago Ochoa.
=The Black Cloth of the Calumpang Tree=
Once there lived on a lonely farm about two miles from the town of San
Juan two brothers whose names were Mariano and Pedro. They were the
sons of a farmer named Rafael.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account