The Kite Story - English Version

What is the friendship? What is the non-violence? This is my favourite short story that I have been reading many times from a website and I wish to share it to you. I wanted to translate it to French and Thai. I will do my best for the next blog. This is the English version.


When Gru was born every body said that she had the most beautiful green hair and green skin. Everybody was very pleased with that, because Gru came from a green family. When Rod was born everybody admired his orange eyes and orange hands. Everybody was pleased with that, because Rod came from an orange family. Even if they were different colours Gru and Rod became best friends.

They saw each other very often because they were neighbours. They went to the same school and their families went on a lot of picnics together. Rod and Gru lived opposite each other in the town of One Hundred Colours.

They liked to do many things together, like playing ball, reading, looking at the clouds, singing and drawing. They were very happy because they knew they could trust and rely on one another. Because life was full of beautiful colours when they were together. It is always nice to have a best friend.

But one day an orange man in the town got very angry with a green man, he yelled at him and decided that all green people were his enemies. His anger was so strong that other angers arose with it and in a few months many orange people were fighting against green people in the streets, in the banks, in the parks. Children did not agree with those conflicts. They were happy to have friends of all colours. It was difficult to do anything to change the situation. They were kept at home because it was dangerous to be outside.

The tension between orange and green people was so strong that they decided they couldn't live together anymore. They cut the town of One Hundred Colours in two and built a big wall between them, just in the middle of the street of Gru and Rod.

Many people were forced to leave their houses in order to move to the other side of the wall. Many lost their jobs and their friends through that decision.

Gru was very sad. The wall was so tall and so grey, her city was only green now and her best friend was on the other side… Her parents were very sad too. They liked their neighbours very much and other orange people in the town and now they were forced to be separated.

Like other children Gru was often outside looking at the birds just flying from one city to the other. If we could fly, she was thinking, we would be able to cross the wall and play with our friends on the other side... It was then when that Gru had a wonderful idea. Why not build a kite to communicate with Rod on the other side of the wall? Even if she was not able to fly like a bird, she would be able to say to her friend how much she loved him and play together in the sky.

Gru built a big blue kite and wrote hello on it. Every day, after school, she went out to fly her kite and other children began to do the same. Three days passed and Gru didn't receive any answer from Rod. Even though a lot of green girls and boys joined her, she was a little disappointed. When her father saw Gru like that, he told her to be patient. Probably Rod was making a wonderful kite to surprise her. So she kept her kite flying all week long.

On Saturday morning Gru's mother came to wake her up with a big smile, and sent her out to see what was happening. There it was. Not only one but thousands of kites of all colours saying hello to her and to all the other green boys and girls. A one-thousand colour friendship covering the sky, higher than the grey walls, the angers and the conflicts.

Everyone wants to live in a world at peace...
Do you wish to know more about non-violence? Please visit "then you win", the documentary project about non-violence movement in India.

Un jour et un mot - Rêche

rêche (resh) adjective
harsh, rough, abrasive (fabric, wine)
prickly, cross-grained (difficult-to-deal-with person: un homme rêche)

Additional French definition for rêche:
: "qui est âpre au goût" = that which is tart to the taste

Terms:
le drap rêche = crumpled sheet
le vin rêche = a rough wine
la voix rêche = raspy voice
rendre rêche = to roughen

Synonyms in English (and French) include flirty and fun words like scabrous, râpeux (raspy), and cahoteux (bumpy)

References
une lessiveuse (f) métallique = copper boiler for washing; le lavoir (m) = outdoor laundry (consisting of a great, rectangular stone bassin filled with running water); rêche = coarse; le tablier (m) = apron; chilblain = type of skin disease http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilblain ; le potager (m) = vegetable
garden; la maisonnée (f) = household; la cotonnade (f) = cotton fabric; le témoin (m) = witness, proof, evidence; paysan (paysanne) = rural

La source: French Word-A-Day

Un jour, une photo et un mot - Engueulade

Je suis allée à Carcassonne avec mon amie le week-end dernier. J'ai visité un grand château. Il s'appelle "La Cité Médiévale". C'est magnifique! Voici la photo ci-dessus.

Mot Du Jour
engueulade (ongh-lahd) noun, feminine
1. argument, shouting match
2. scolding

Also: a telling-off, bawling out, blowing up, chewing out or "a giving to another of one hell of a bad time".

Idiome & Expression:
recevoir une engueulade = to be hauled over the coals (to be told off)

La source: French Word-A-Day

Par exemple:
Cauet, piqué au vif, aurait alors rétorqué à Lio que certaines de ses chansons étaient nulles aussi. La suite : une belle engueulade, Lio quitte le plateau et son avocat demande à ce que la séquence ne soit pas diffusée.