Marmara Elt Resources

ESL Literature Library-The Indian Who Lost His Wife
(Retold by Andrew Lang)
ONCE upon a time there was a man and his wife who lived in the forest
far from the rest of the tribe. Very often they spent the day in
hunting together, but after awhile the wife found that she had so many
things to do that she was obliged to stay at home; so he went alone,
though he found that when his wife was not with him he never had any
luck. One day, when he was away hunting, the woman fell ill, and in a
few days she died. Her husband grieved bitterly and buried her in the
house where she had passed her life; but as the time went on he felt so
lonely without her that he made a wooden doll about her height amid
size for company and dressed it in her clothes. He seated it in front
of the fire and tried to think he had his wife back again. The next
day he went out to hunt, and when he came home the first thing he did
was to go up to the doll and brush off some of the ashes from the fire
which had fallen on its face. But he was very busy now, for he had to
cook and mend, besides getting food, for there was no one to help him.
And so a whole year passed away.
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ESL Literature Library-Manabozho and the Woodpeckers
(Adapted from H. R. Schoolcraft)

MANABOZHO lost the greater part of his magical power through letting
his young wolf grandson fall through the thin ice and drown. No one
knew where his grandmother had gone to. He married the arrow maker’s
daughter, and became the father of several children, but he was very
poor and scarcely able to procure a living. His lodge was pitched in a
distant part of the country, where he could get no game, and it was
winter time. One day he said to his wife, “I will go out walking and
see if I can find some lodges.”

After walking some time he finally discovered a lodge at a distance.
There were children playing at the door, and when they saw him
approaching they ran in and told their parents Manabozho was coming.
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Have you ever thought that within a single afternoon you could lose your sense of security? Have you ever taken into consideration changing completely the way you look at the world around you? That happened to me, and I’m still paying for the consequences of somebody else’s action. The feeling of security and serenity, that everyone should have, is often taken away with brutality for the price of a few dollars. Unfortunately, this happens over and over throughout the world, and it is hard for the victims of criminal actions to recover from their deep wounds.

It was just a day like any other, if possible, even better because it was a Saturday, the end of the working week, and one of the first nice and sunny days of Rome’s spring. My best friend and I were in the shop that she owns. It was the middle of the afternoon; we were both pretty happy and making plans for the weekend, and the atmosphere was extremely relaxed, almost lazy. Suddenly a man entered in the shop. We knew, somehow, that he didn’t look like one of our usual customers, but we welcomed him politely anyway. Without any hesitation he pulled something out of his coat that we did not recognize immediately, but when he ordered us to go into the back with him, there was no doubt that this “something” was a gun. We were so scared that we could barely understand what was going on. My heart was beating so franticly, that I thought everyone could hear it. Suddenly, while watching the entire scene in astonishment, a shiver ran down my spine.
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World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast
A Local Legacy
When you think of pancakes you might think of the kind served in America, hot with melted butter and maple syrup. But in reality, people around the world love pancakes. As a result, there are lots of different kinds. In America, pancakes are made with buttermilk and served for breakfast. In Russia, pancakes are called blinis, and are made from buckwheat flour and often served with caviar and sour cream. The Chinese use wheat flour and hot water to make pancakes in dozens of ways. In France, pancakes come in the form of a lacy crepe. In India, there’s the Gujarati pancake. Crispy and wafer-thin, it comes stuffed with spicy potatoes and yogurt. Did you know there were so many ways to make and serve pancakes?
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