Short Story
The Clever Fox ចចកឆ្លាត
There once lived a crow. One day he was very hungry. He had not been able to get any food the previous day. “If I do not get anything to eat I will starve to death,” he thought. As the crow was searching for food, his eyes fell on a piece of bread. He quickly swooped down, picked it up and flew off. Far away in a lonely place he sat on a tree to enjoy the bread. Just then a hungry fox saw the crow sitting on the tree holding the bread in his mouth.“Yummy! That bread looks delicious. What I would give to get that piece of bread,” the fox thought. The fox decided to use all his cunning means to get the piece of bread from the mouth of the crow. He sat under the tree. The crow saw him and thought, “I guess this fox wants to eat my bread. I shall hold it carefully.” And he held on to the bread even more tightly. The clever fox spoke to the crow politely. He said, “Hello friend! How are you?” But the crow did not say anything. “Crows are such lovely birds. And you are very charming too,” said the fox, flattering the crow. Then the fox said,” I have heard that besides being beautiful you also have a sweet voice. Please sing a song for me.” By now the crow started to believe what the fox was saying. “The fox knows true beauty. I must be the most beautiful bird in this whole world. I will sing him a song,” thought the crow. As soon as the foolish crow opened his mouth to sing the bread fell from its beak and into the ground. The Clever fox, which had just been waiting for this very moment, caught the bread in his mouth and gulped it down his throat. The crow had paid a heavy price for his foolishness.
Vocabularies:
- Crow (noun): សត្វក្អែក (a large black bird with a loud unpleasant cry)
- Swoop (Verb): ហើរឆាប (to move very quickly and easily through the air, especially down from a height in order to attack)
- Cunning means : មធ្យោបាយដ៏ឆ្លាតវ៉ៃ (Clever way)
- Flatter (Verb): បញ្ជោរ ( to praise someone in order to make them feel attractive or important, sometimes in a way that is not sincere)
- Gulp (Verb): លេបចូលយ៉ាងប្រញ៉ាប់ប្រញ៉ាល់ (to eat or drink food or liquid quickly by swallowing it in large amounts, or to make a swallowing movement because of fear, surprise or excitement)
