Name: Chia Jin Yi

Class: 6J
Title: Unity Is Strength

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is Unity is
Strength.

Once upon a time, there was a flock of doves that flew in search of food led by their king. One
day, they had flown a long distance and were very tired. The dove king encouraged them to fly a
little further. The smallest dove picked up speed and found some rice scattered beneath a
banyan tree. So all the doves landed and began to eat.

Suddenly a net fell over them and they were all trapped. They saw a hunter approaching
carrying a huge club. The doves desperately fluttered their wings trying to get out, but to no
avail. The king had an idea. He advised all the doves to fly up together carrying the net with
them. He said that there was strength in unity.

Each dove picked up a portion of the net and together they flew off carrying the net with them.
The hunter looked up in astonishment. He tried to follow them, but they were flying high over
hills and valleys. They flew to a hill near a city of temples where there lived a mouse who could
help them. He was a faithful friend of the dove king.

When the mouse heard the loud noise of their approach, he went into hiding. The dove king
gently called out to him and then the mouse was happy to see him. The dove king explained that
they had been caught in a trap and needed the mouse’s help to gnaw at the net with his teeth
and set them free.

The mouse agreed saying that he would set the king free first. The king insisted that he first free
his subjects and the king last. The mouse understood the king’s feelings and complied with his
wishes. He began to cut the net and one by one all the doves were freed including the dove
king.

They all thanked the mouse and flew away together, united in their strength.

My friends, When you work together, you are stronger. Thank you.
Name: Na Yi Xian
Class: 6J
Title: The City Mouse And The Country Mouse

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is The City
Mouse and the Country Mouse.

A country mouse invited his cousin who lived in the city to come visit him. The city mouse
was so disappointed with the sparse meal which was nothing more than a few kernels of corn
and a couple of dried berries.

"My poor cousin," said the city mouse, "you hardly have anything to eat! I do believe that an
ant could eat better! Please do come to the city and visit me, and I will show you such rich
feasts, readily available for the taking."

So the country mouse left with his city cousin who brought him to a splendid feast in the
city's alley. The country mouse could not believe his eyes. He had never seen so much food in
one place. There was bread, cheese, fruit, cereals, and grains of all sorts scattered about in a
warm cozy portion of the alley.

The two mice settled down to eat their wonderful dinner, but before they barely took their
first bites, a cat approached their dining area. The two mice scampered away and hid in a small
uncomfortable hole until the cat left. Finally, it was quiet, and the unwelcome visitor went to
prowl somewhere else. The two mice ventured out of the hole and resumed their abundant
feast. Before they could get a proper taste in their mouth, another visitor intruded on their
dinner, and the two little mice had to scuttle away quickly.

"Goodbye," said the country mouse, "You do, indeed, live in a plentiful city, but I am going
home where I can enjoy my dinner in peace."

My friends, A modest life with peace and quiet is better than a richly one with danger and strife.
Thank you.
Name: Daphne Low Ker Ni
Class: 6J
Title: The Woodcutter And The Axe

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is The
Woodcutter and the Axe.

Long ago, there lived a woodcutter in a small village. He was sincere in his work and very
honest. Every day, he set out into the nearby forest to cut trees. He brought the woods back
into the village and sold them out to a merchant and earn his money. He earned just about
enough to make a living, but he was satisfied with his simple living.

One day, while cutting a tree near a river, his axe slipped out of his hand and fell into the river.
The river was so deep, he could not even think to retrieve it on his own. He only had one axe
which was gone into the river. He became a very worried thinking how he will be able to earn
his living now! He was very sad and prayed to the God. He prayed sincerely so the God
appeared in front of him and asked, “What is the problem, my son?” The woodcutter explained
the problem and requested the God to get his axe back.

The God put his hand deep into the river and took out a silver axe and asked, “Is this your axe?”
The Woodcutter looked at the axe and said “No”. So the God put his hand back deep into the
water again and showed a golden axe and asked, “Is this your axe?” The woodcutter looked at
the axe and said “No”. The God said, “Take a look again Son, this is a very valuable golden axe,
are you sure this is not yours?” The woodcutter said, “No, It’s not mine. I can’t cut the trees
with a golden axe. It’s not useful for me”.

The God smiled and finally put his hand into the water again and took out his iron axe and
asked, “Is this your axe?” To this, the woodcutter said, “Yes! This is mine! Thank you!” The
Goddess was very impressed with his honesty so she gave him his iron axe and also other two
axes as a reward for his honesty.

My friends, Always be honest. Honesty is always rewarded. Thank you.

Name: Jolin Ong Yong Er
Class: 6J
Title: The Monkey And The Crocodile

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is The Monkey
and The Crocodile.

Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a tree that bore juicy, red rose apples. He was very
happy. One fine day, a crocodile swam up to that tree and told the monkey that he had traveled
a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The kind monkey offered him a
few rose apples. The crocodile enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he
could come again for some more fruit. The generous monkey happily agreed.

The crocodile returned the next day. And the next. And the next one after that. Soon the two
became very good friends. They discussed their lives, their friends and family, like all friends do.
The crocodile told the monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the
river. So the kind monkey offered him some extra rose apples to take home to his wife. The
crocodile’s wife loved the rose apples and made her husband promise to get her some every
day.

Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile deepened as they spent more
and more time together. The crocodile’s wife started getting jealous. She wanted to put an end
to this friendship. So she pretended that she could not believe that her husband could be friends
with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey shared a true
friendship. The crocodile’s wife thought to herself that if the monkey lived on a diet of rose
monkeys, his flesh would be very sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their
house.

The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make the excuse that it would be difficult to
get the monkey across the river. But his wife was determined to eat the monkey’s flesh. So she
thought of a plan. One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor
said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey’s heart. If her husband wanted to save her
life, he must bring her his friend’s heart.

The crocodile was aghast. He was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he loved his friend. On the
other, he could not possibly let his wife die. The crocodile’s wife threatened him saying that if he
did not get her the monkey’s heart, she would surely die.

So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree and invited the monkey to come home to meet his
wife. He told the monkey that he could ride across the river on the crocodile’s back. The monkey
happily agreed. As they reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The
frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile explained that he would
have to kill the monkey to save his wife’s life. The clever monkey told him that he would gladly
give up his heart to save the life of the crocodile’s wife, but he had left his heart behind in the
rose apple tree. He asked the crocodile to make haste and turn back so that the monkey could
go get his heart from the apple tree.

The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the rose apple tree. The monkey scampered up the tree
to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in
the world.

My friends, Don’t underestimate yourself. There are bigger fools in this world.. Thank you.
Name: Liew Man Fong
Class: 6J
Title: The Man, The Boy And The Donkey

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is The Man,
the Boy and the Donkey

A father and his son were going to market with their donkey. As they were walking along by its
side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what good is a donkey for if not to ride
upon?”.Both of them thought that it’s a good idea.So, they sat on the donkey and started riding
on the donkey.

On their way, another villager saw and said “look at the poor donkey, it can hardly walk. Aren’t
you ashamed of overloading the poor donkey?”. The man felt sorry for the donkey, got off and
continued on their way.

But not long they overheard two women saying “see that lazy boy, he is so young and healthy,
how can he let his old father walk while he rides?”

The son got off the donkey and said to his father “I am sorry dad, please sit on the donkey”. The
father started riding the donkey. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed a group of men
among which one of them said “Shame on that selfish man to let his poor son trudge along”

The father and the son were confused on what to do. They thought for a while. They cut down a
pole, tied the donkey upside down to the pole and carried the pole and the donkey on their
shoulders. As they continued on their way, people started laughing at the strange sight. Just as
they were crossing a bridge the donkey got one of its feet loose, kicked out and caused the boy
to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle, the donkey fell over the bridge, and it’s forefeet
being tied together it was drowned.

My friends, Everybody can’t be pleased. Thank you.

Name: Goh Zhen Yu
Class: 6J
Title: The Lion And The Mouse

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is The Lion
and The Mouse.

One day, the king of the jungle, a mighty and strong lion was sleeping under a tree. A naughty
little mouse got curious about the thick and beautiful mane of the lion and started playing with
it.

This wakened the lion and he got angry. He caught the mouse with one of his paws, and said:
“how dare you play with me, you little mouse ?”

The lion was about to kill the mouse. The mouse was frightened. He pleaded the lion for
forgiveness, and said, “please let me go, I will definitely help you back one day if you spare my
life now”.

The proud lion laughed at this remark of the mouse. The lion said, “Are you kidding me, little
mouse? Look at you.You are so small. I am the king of this jungle and so big. Why will I ever
need your help?”The mouse apologized again said, “I shall never forget your kindness. Please let
me go! I will never repeat this”

The lion felt pity for the mouse and released the mouse. The mouse said 'thank you' and left the
place.

After some days, the great lion was caught in a net spread by hunters. He tried to come out of it,
but he realized his strength was of no use. He started roaring at the top of his voice. Suddenly,
he heard the small voice of the little mouse saying, “My dear friend, don’t be afraid! I’ve come!”

With his sharp teeth, the mouse started cutting through the links of the net and freed the lion.
The lion became very happy and thanked the mouse. He also apologized for mocking the mouse
the other day. Since that day the lion and the mouse became best friends.

My friends, Small of acts kindness will be rewarded greatly. Thank you.

Name: Lim Zhi Xin
Class: 6J
Title: A Hole In The Fence

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is A Hole in
the Fence.

In a small village, a little boy lived with his parents. The boy was quick to anger and taunt others
with his words. His bad temper made him use words that hurt others. He scolded neighbours,
kids, and even his friends due to his anger and everyone started avoiding him. His parents
advised him many times to control his anger and develop kindness. Unfortunately, all their
attempts failed.

Finally, the boy's father came up with an idea. The father gave him a bag of nails and asked him
to hammer one nail into the fence every time he got angry. The little boy found it interesting
and accepted the task. Every time he lost his temper, he ran to the fence and hammered a nail.
His anger drove him to hammer nails to the fence almost 30 times the first day.

As the days passed, the number of nails hammered on the fence started reducing. The little boy
found it difficult to hammer the nails and decided to control his temper. Gradually the number
of nails hammered to the fence reduced drastically and the day arrived when no nail was
hammered to the fence.

The boy did not lose his temper that whole day and for the next several days he did not lose his
temper. So, he didn’t need to hammer any nails to the fence. Now, his father told him to
remove the nails each time he controlled his anger.

Several days passed and the boy was able to remove most of the nails from the fence. However,
there remained few nails that could not be pulled out.

The boy told his father about it. Father appreciated that and asked the boy pointing to a hole
“what do you see there?”. The boy replied “a hole in the fence”.

"Now do you see what your anger does?" asked the father.The boy gave a confused look.

So, the father continued "The nails were your bad temper and they were hammered on people.
You can remove the nails but the holes in the fence remain. The fence will never look the same.
It has scars all over. Some nails cannot even be pulled out. You can stab a man with a knife and
say sorry later, but the wound will remain there forever. Your bad temper and angry words were
like that! Words are more painful than physical abuse. Use words for good purposes. Use words
to grow relationships. Use words to show love and kindness in your heart".
The boy realized his mistakes and did not repeat them

My friends, unkind words cause lasting damage. So let our words be kind and sweet. Thank you.
Name: Tan JIa Xin
Class: 6J
Title: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Good morning to the judges, the teachers and all my friends. The title of my story is The Boy
Who Cried Wolf

Once upon a time, there lived a shepherd boy in a village. Every day, he used to take the herd of
sheep to the top of the hill and bring them back in the evening.

One day, he got very bored. He thought of a plan to amuse himself. He went over to the edge of
the hill and started shouting “Help! Help! There is a wolf. He is eating all our sheep.”

Hearing the boy cry out for help, the villagers came running to the top of the hill to save the
sheep. But, when they reached, they saw calm sheep grazing the grassland. The villagers
understood that the boy was playing a trick on them. They got angry and left the place. On the
other hand, the shepherd boy enjoyed playing his trick.

Two days later, he found himself completely bored again and thought to try the prank again.
The boy again went to the edge of the hill and started shouting “Help! Help! There is a wolf. He
is eating all our sheep “. This time also the villagers came running to the top of the hill hearing
the boy's cry for help. The villagers were furious this time when they came to know it was a
prank again. This time also the shepherd boy had fun playing the prank on the villagers and had
no regret.

A few days later, what the boy said for fun actually did happen. A big and scary wolf really did
appear. He suddenly went to the edge of the hill and started crying out for help. “Help! Help!
There is a real wolf chasing our sheep" cried the boy in panic. But this time the villagers didn’t
pay any heed to the boy's cry. They thought he is playing his trick again. The boy repeatedly
screamed for help, but no one turned up this time. The wolf ate all the sheep one by one. The
boy couldn’t do anything but watch the wolf feasting on his sheep. He cried in deep agony. He
was consumed with regret for lying and playing tricks on people.

My friends, People will never take you seriously once you are known as a liar. Thank you.