Music
Welcome to Easy Stories in English.
The podcast that will take your English from OK to Good and from Good to Great.
I am Ariel Goodbody, your host for this show.
Today's story is for intermediate learners.
The name of the story is The Water Monster.
You can find a transcript of the episode at Easy Stories in English.com slash water.
That's Easy Stories in English.com slash water.
W-A-T-E-R. There, you can also download the episode as a PDF.
I'm just going to start by reading out some reviews from listeners.
Adeland12 from the Czech Republic says,
Hello, I am from the Czech Republic.
And I just want to say, thank you so much for your help.
I am really in love with your podcasts.
Thank you so much, Adeland12.
Today's story is actually based on a Czech poem, but more about that later.
Gurbibandlausher from Taiwan says, fun and easy to understand.
Thank you for making these podcasts.
Thank you, Gurbibandlausher.
I think your name is maybe supposed to be a joke in Mandarin.
Google translates it as the teacher in the next class.
Hmm, are you a teacher too?
L-L-Tom-L-L, which I guess is pronounced Tom from Saudi Arabia, says,
I really like your voice.
It is clear and smooth and the music by the end.
I really love it.
Don't change it, please.
Thank you for everything.
Ah, thank you so much, Tom.
I hope you're still enjoying the show.
Here's a hint for everyone else.
If you'd like me to read your words out on the podcast,
you can also leave a review on Apple podcasts,
but preferably leave a name that's easy to pronounce.
Okay, so on to today's episode.
As I mentioned before, this story is my version of a Czech poem called Vodnik.
It was written by Garel Jaramir Erben, a folklorist from the 19th century.
A folklorist is someone who studies and preserves folklor,
folk stories and fairy tales.
The famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorak also wrote a musical version of the poem,
which is how I found out about the story.
So yes, today's story is a poem.
I've done that once before when I adapted Sir Gawain and the Green Night
for the Christmas episode last year.
You can listen to that at easystoriesinenglish.com slash Gawain 1.
Poetry is obviously quite a difficult form of language to understand,
but I really enjoy reading and writing poetry,
and I don't think being a learner should mean that you don't get to experience poetry in English.
So to make it easier to understand,
I'm going to give a summary of the story first,
so that you know more or less what happens before you listen to the poem.
My version is quite a bit shorter than the original,
and I change some details, just so you know.
So a water monster, or goblin, is sitting by a lake at night,
making clothes while singing to himself.
He's making clothes for his own wedding,
because he plans to marry a human woman.
That night are mother dreams about her daughter.
She dreams that her daughter will wear beautiful wedding clothes,
but that actually the dress and jewelry will be made out of water
and tears.
The next morning, the woman's daughter decides that she wants to go to the lake to do laundry,
and her mother tells her not to and explains the dream.
The girl goes anyway, and the water monster captures her
and pulls her down to his underwater world.
He feeds her weeds which make her sleep,
marries her, and has a child with her.
The mother loves her baby, but she is very sad in the monster's house and wants to leave.
She begs him to let her go, and he agrees that she can visit her mother for one day,
but there are three rules.
One, she cannot hug anyone.
Two, she has to leave her baby behind.
And three, she has to come back when the church bells ring in the evening.
Naturally, the girl breaks all three of these rules,
and the monster comes and bangs on the door to tell her to come back.
Her mother tells her to stay and the monster threatens her,
and says that if she does not come back, he will kill their child.
The girl stays with her mother, and they hear an awful noise and loud thunder.
In the morning, they find the remains of the child's body,
and they never see the water monster again.
Okay, I'll just explain some words that are in today's story.
Swirl, SW-IRL means to move around in a fast spinning movement.
When your sink is full of water, and you let the water out, it swells away.
When you're making soup and you stir it, you turn it really fast,
it swells around the pot.
Latte art has been quite popular in the past few years,
which involves adding frothy milk to coffee,
and then swirling it to make interesting patterns on top.
Froth, F-R-O-T-H, is bubbles that sit on top of a liquid.
If you pour water into a cup very quickly, there will be some froth on top.
Beer makes a large froth when you pour it,
but there are ways to pour it to reduce the froth,
so that less of the beer is wasted.
Pearls, P-E-A-R-L, are white jewels that are very expensive.
A necklace of pearls is often referred to as a string of pearls,
as pearls are worn on a string around the neck.
Pearls come from a sea creature called a clam.
Seaweed, S-E-A-W-E-E-T, is a green plant that grows in the sea.
Seaweed looks like long, thick grass,
but it is much harder than grass.
In many Asian countries, seaweed is used in cooking.
For example, many sushi rolls are wrapped in a kind of dried seaweed called Nori.
Someone who is mild, M-I-L-D, is gentle and kind.
For example, a mild baby does not cry a lot and is very sweet.
We can also talk about food being mild.
Mild food is not spicy.
Brine, B-A-I-N-A, is a kind of water that has a lot of salt in it,
usually from the sea.
Brine is used to pickle foods, to ferment foods.
For example, cucumbers and beetroot.
You fill a jar with the food you want to pickle, add brine,
seal the jar and leave it for several weeks.
When you bend someone's will,
you make them do what you want them to do.
Bending someone's will usually means you are doing something quite horrible.
You are literally forcing the person to do what you want.
We can also talk about bending our own will.
If you really do not want to do something that someone else is trying to get you to do,
then you can say that you won't bend your will.
T-E-A is, of course, a hot drink.
But in certain parts of the UK,
T-E can also mean dinner or supper.
So when someone says,
I'm just about to cook T-E-A,
or I haven't had my T-E yet,
they're probably talking about cooking dinner.
When you make to do something,
you are about to do something,
but someone interrupts you or stops you from doing it.
For example,
maybe you are making to leave in the morning,
when your husband calls you back inside and tells you he's sick.
Or maybe you're at a boring party and you make to leave,
but then someone pulls you into a long, boring conversation.
Flesh is the parts of our body under our skin.
Usually, flesh includes muscle and fat.
For example, pork is pig flesh and beef is cow flesh.
The phrase flesh and blood is used to emphasise our physical form,
basically our body,
instead of the spirit or our soul.
When we talk about our own flesh and blood,
it refers to our immediate family.
For example,
someone might say that they would never hurt their own flesh and blood.
Okay, so listen and enjoy.
The Water Monster
Beneath the tree beside a lake,
our monster sat, his clothes to make,
a shirt of green and boots of red,
a cheerful cap upon his head.
Shine moonlight shine,
tomorrow she'll be mine,
a gorgeous human wife who'll love me all my life.
And in the night a mother dreamed.
She saw her daughter walk in streams,
a swirl of froth made up her dress,
a string of pearls lay on her chest.
But in the froth,
their satisadness,
in her eyes, their shone madness,
the pearls were only made of tears,
the beauty drowned in lakes of fear.
The morning came, the daughter rose,
she filled a basket full of clothes.
I'm off to wash these in the lake.
Don't go, said mum, my heart will break.
She told the girl about the dream,
about the dangers in the stream.
But daughter heard the frothy cool.
She promised that she wouldn't fall.
She found the lake and got to work,
began to wash her favorite shirt.
But then the water swirled and throthed,
the water monster grabbed her cloth.
He pulled her into watery deeps,
he gave her herbs so she would sleep.
He married her with crabs and fish for guests,
had seaweed as a dish.
The girl woke up.
She had a child.
His hair was green, but he was mild.
His eyes were red, but he was bright.
And still the girl cried every night.
She cried for mother, father, brother.
She wished that they could see each other.
She wished she lay inside a grave,
better dead than a monster's slave.
She held her child and made a wish,
that one day he might leave the fish
and crabs and seaweed darkened depth.
The boy was all the bride had left.
The water monster made her cook and clean and dance
until she shook.
He captured human souls in cups.
He added brine and drank them up.
She asked if she could leave.
She prayed to see her mother just one day.
She begged a hundred times and still,
the monster would not bend his will.
She said, destroy me, make me stone,
drink my soul and eat my bones,
turn me into crabs and fish, make me heartless.
That's my wish.
The monster could not bear to see his pretty wife
disturbed by grief.
He said, all right, you have one day.
But these three rules you must obey.
You must not hug another, not even your dear mother.
Your son will stay behind to keep me on your mind
and when the time is passed,
you must come running fast
before the midnight bell has rung its last.
Understood?
The girl said yes and kissed her boy.
She walked upon the land with joy.
She saw her mother and they hugged.
For without touching, what is love?
All day they sat and cried and sang
until those awful church bells rang.
The mother said ignore the ring on land
that beast can't do a thing.
But when the ringing rang no more,
the monster came and hit the door.
Wife, he cried, come back to me.
You know it's time to make my tea.
The daughter sighed and made to stand.
But mother dearest grabbed her hand.
The mother cried, ignore the beast.
Stay with me one more day at least.
And still the ringing rang no more.
And still the monster hit the door.
Wife, he cried, the day is dead.
Now boil my brine and make my bread.
The daughter sobbed and made to leave.
But mother dearest grabbed her sleeve.
The mother cried, ignore the beast.
Stay with me one more hour at least.
And still the ringing rang no more.
And still the monster hit the door.
What happened to my wife so mild?
If you don't come, I'll kill our child.
The daughter screamed and shook and begged.
As mother dearest held her head.
The monster lies, his words are mud.
He would not kill his flesh and blood.
Then lightning struck and water fell.
The daughter screamed like bloody hell.
As tears of pain cut through the rain.
And everything went quiet again.
And in the morning by the door,
a swirl of blood lay on the floor.
For a body he had salt.
For hair he had seaweed.
For eyes he had rubies.
For a heart he had nothing.
The ladies tears a string of pearls.
The mother's sadness, froths and swells.
The end.
If you enjoyed the story and want to say thank you,
you can buy me a coffee.
Just go to easystoriesinenglish.com
and click the orange button that says buy me a coffee.
Or you can write me a nice review on Apple podcasts.
Or follow me on Instagram at aerialgoodbody.
Thank you for listening and see you in two weeks.
