ACTIVITY 2

  

Thai Songkran Story

Focus questions:  1. What is the main idea of the text?
                            2. What are the supporting details?

Once there was a young man called Dhammaban. He was wise and even knew birds’ language. Thao Maha Songkran was one of the gods of higher heavenly kingdom.

One day, the god came down to the world to test the young man’s genius. He asked the young man a riddle “Where is a man’s aura in the morning, afternoon and evening?” If the young man couldn’t answer correctly within seven days, he would lose his head. But if he could, the god would lose his head.

The question was very difficult. So the young man ran away to the forest and stopped at a large tree. At the top of that tree there was a couple of eagles’ nest.

Luckily, the young man heard the eagles on that tree talking about the riddle. The answer was that the man’s aura was on his face in the morning as he had to wash his face every morning first. Then the aura would be on the body or chest in the afternoon as he took a bath and pat some powder on the chest. Finally, it would be on the feet in the evening as he had to clean his feet before going to bed.