Monday, March 17, 2014

Around the World in Eighty Days

   Around the World in Eighty Days (Part-3)

              By - Jules Verne

jules verne-around the world in eighty days
Around the World in Eighty Days
   The first part of the trip was without incident. Then as they crossed the Tropic of Cancer the sea changed. A typhoon was soon raging. The “Tankadere” was lifted like a feather. Mountains of water surrounded them. The storm raged through the night. Then things became calmer.

   Two days of better weather followed. Of course, the storm had slowed them. Just three miles from Shanghai they saw smoke. The American steamship was leaving port.

“Send a signal! Lower the flag to half-mast,” shouted Mr. Fogg. The signals from the ”Tankadere”  were spotted. A payment of 550 Pound was made to the boat’s captain John Bunsby. The three than boarded the “General Grant”.

   On arrival at Yokohama, Mr. Fogg and Mrs. Aouda went in search of the “Carnatic” and Passepartout. To their joy they discovered he had been on board. He had arrived just as the ship was leaving Hong Kong. They spotted him working for food money. As they hurried back to the “General Grant” he told his tale of woe. Not mentioning Mr. Fix’s part in it. Mr. Fix had headed for the Consulate. The arrest warrant was there. But Mr. Fogg had now left the British soil. It was useless!

   So on 14th November, somehow still on schedule, the three of them set off to America. Mr. Fix joined them.  The “General Grant” was a huge paddle-steamer. With a combination of steam and sail it moved swiftly. This trip was uneventful from the nautical point of view. But Passepartout had to sort things out. Passepartout still believed in Mr. Fogg. He blamed Mr. Fix for causing trouble for him. Mr. Fogg and Mrs. Aouda were not aware of Mr. Fix’s profession. Nor did they know he was “tailing” Mr. Fogg.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Native American Folktale-The Kind Hawk

   In the land of present United States, We can find a large number of tribal communities of native people. The Native Americans have their own unique history and culture. This story is one of the very interesting and famous Native American Folktale story.

                 The Kind Hawk

              - A Native American Folktale

native american folktale-the kind hawk
The Kind Hawk

   A long time ago, in a happy village, there lived a little boy. His mother loved him so much that she dressed him in a pretty shirt and decorated moccasins.

   One day the boy wandered away from the village over the plain land. Then a band of fierce Navaho Indians swooped down and tied him off. The Indians carried him to their camp, where they took off his shirt and moccasins away, and gave them to their Chief's son. Then they made the boy work all day and gave him so little to eat. In a few weeks, the boy grew thin and sick.

   Now, near the Indian camp was a high bluff on which lived a kind-hearted Hawk. It often flew over the camp, and saw the boy working hard there and never playing with the other children. So one day, when all the Indians (Navahos) were gathered together at the Chief's lodge, the Hawk flew down and hovered over the boy's head.

"Oh, do not kill me!" begged the boy the hawk.

"I am not going to hurt you," answered the Hawk to the little boy, "I am sorry for you. Jump on my back, and hold on to my wings, and I'll carry you away."

Jules Verne-Around the World in Eighty Days

  Around the World in Eighty Days  (Part-2)

                  By - Jules Verne

jules verne-around the world in eighty days
Around the World in Eighty Days

   The train left on time on 20th October. In the same compartment was one other person. Sir Francis Cromarty. As Passepartout slept, Fogg and Sir Francis chatted. All was uneventful until the morning of 22nd October.

"All Change! All change! Why are we stopping?” asked Sir Francis.

“We have to. The railway is not completed yet, fifty miles before it connects again.”, said the driver.

“The newspaper said the railway was open right through,” they said.

   All were furious, but they could do nothing.

“I will carry on by foot,” said Phileas Fogg.

   Passepartout rushed off around the area.

“Mr. Fogg,” he called, “I think we have found a means of transport. An elephant, just down from here.”

   However, elephants are expensive in India. After much haggling Mr. Fogg had to pay 2,000 pounds. Not to hire, but to buy the elephant. An experienced guide was found, he soon had the elephant completely fitted out.

   Phileas Fogg paid for the elephant from the famous bag. The party, that included Sir Francis Cromarty, covered twenty five miles that day before setting down for a night’s rest. At 6 am the journey started. All went well until late into the afternoon. The elephant suddenly stopped and was uneasy.

“What is the matter?” asked Sir Francis.

“A procession is coming this way. We must keep out of sight. Hide in the trees!” said the guide.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Aesop's Fables-The Young Crab and His Mother

   This is a very interesting story from Aesop's fables. In every Aesop's fables, there must a lesson for us. We consider that as the moral of the story at the end.

         The Young Crab and His Mother 

aesop's fables-the young crab and his mother
The Young Crab and his Mother

   One day a mother crab and her son, a little crab were walking on a beach. 

"Why in the world do you walk sideways like that?" said a Mother Crab to her son. "You should always walk straight forward with your toes turned out." 


"Show me how to walk, mother dear," answered the little Crab obediently, "I want to learn." 


   So the old Crab tried and tried to walk straight forward. But she could walk sideways only, like her son. And when she wanted to turn her toes out she tripped and fell on her nose.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Around the World in Eighty Days-Jules Verne

jules verne-science fiction-around the world in eighty days
Jules Verne

   Jules Verne, the Father of Science fictions

   Jules Gabriel Verne was a French poet, novelist and play writer. He is best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary type of science fiction.

   Jules Verne was born in the seaport of Nantes, French in 8th February, 1828.  Jules Verne was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early in life to write for magazines and the stage. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages Extra-ordinaries, a widely popular series of exactly researched adventure novels including Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Trip to the Moon, The Mysterious Island and much more.


   Jules Verne is generally considered a major literary author in France and most of Europe, where he has had a wide influence on the literary activist and the way of thinking. His name is markedly different in English region, where he has often been labeled a writer of different fiction or children’s books, not least because of the highly edited and altered translations in which his novels are often reprinted.


   Around the World in Eighty Days is one of the world famous novels. Before Jules Verne no one can imagine that the whole world can be travel in eighty days. That time lot of critics considered this novel as a bogus-boo. But after his dead the world realized that it is possible with the help of modern inventions like airplanes and high speedy ships.

 

                  Around the World in Eighty Days - Part 1

                            By- Jules Verne

jules verne-science fiction-around the world in eighty days
Around the World in Eighty Days
    
   In the year 1872 and remarkable wager is about to be made. On the 2nd October Phileas Fogg left home at 11.0 am and want to his club. He had lunch and dinner, and then moved to the drawing room, all at the usual times. The same times, in fact, as every other day. Phileas Fogg was a very regular, precise and orderly man. Later he was playing cards with his usual five partners.

   Their conversation was about a recent robbery. The Bank of England had lost 55,000 pounds. Some of the players thought the robber would escape. Others thought that a reward offered would encourage detectives to capture him. After all they had a fairly good description of a “gentleman” seen at the Bank.  


“The odds are in favor of the thief. After all the world is big enough.”, someone remarked.


“It used to be”, Phileas Frogg said quietly. “The earth can be covered much quicker now than a hundred years ago.”


“You have a funny way of saying the earth has shrunk. Because you can now go around it in three months!”, came the comment.


“Eighty days according to the Morning Chronicle.”, stated Fogg.


“Possibly, but not allowing for bad weather and mishaps.”