NARRATIVE TEXT

Purpose:

To tell a story or entertain the readers.

Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Complication
3. Resolution
4. Reorientation

Language Feature:

1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Using time chronological order

Commonly used in Story Book of Myth, Fable, Folklore, etc.

Here are some exampels of Narrative Text:

The Lion and The Mouse

Once, as a lion lay sleeping in his den, a naughty little mouse ran up his tail, and onto his back and up his mane and danced and jumped on his head, so that the lion woke up.

lion angry and mouseThe lion grabbed the mouse and, holding him in his large claws, roared in anger. 'How dare you wake me up! Don't you know that I am King of the Beasts? Anyone who disturbs my rest deserves to die! I shall kill you and eat you!'

The terrified mouse, shaking and trembling, begged the lion to let him go. 'Please don't eat me Your Majesty! I did not mean to wake you, it was a mistake. I was only playing. Please let me go - and I promise I will be your friend forever. Who knows but one day I could save your life?'

The lion looked at the tiny mouse and laughed. 'You save my life? What an absurd idea!' he said scornfully. 'But you have made me laugh, and put me into a good mood again, so I shall let you go.' And the lion opened his claws and let the mouse go free.

'Oh thank you, your majesty,' squeaked the mouse, and scurried away as fast as he could.

A few days later the lion was caught in a hunter's snare. Struggle as he might, he couldn't break free and became even more entangled in the net of ropes. He let out a roar of anger that shook the forest. Every animal heard it, including the tiny mouse.

-END-

The Legend of Toba Lake 

Once upon time, there was a handsome man. His name was Batara Guru Sahala. He liked fishing. One day, he caught a fish. He was surprised to find out that the fish could talk. The fish begged him to set it free.

Batara Guru could not bear it. He made the fish free. As soon as it was free, the fish changed into a very beautiful woman. She attracted Batara Guru so much. He felt in love with that fish-woman. The woman wanted to marry with him and said that Batara Guru had to keep the secret which she had been a fish. Batara Guru aggreed and promised that he would never tell anybody about it.

They were married happily. They had two daughters. One day Batara Guru got very angry with his daughter. He could not control his mad. He shouted angrily and got the word of fish to his daugters. The daughters were crying. They found their mother and talked her about it.

The mother was very annoyed. Batara Guru broke his promise. The mother was shouting angrily. Then the earth began to shake. Volcanoes started to erupt. The earth formed a very big hole. People believed that the big hole became a lake. Then this lake is known as Toba lake.

_END_

"Golden Eggs"

Long time ago a remote village, in central China was inhabited mainly with farmers and hunters. One day, a poor farmer lost his entire livestock to flood. He prayed hard to God for help or his family would die of starvation. Few days later, an old man with long grey beard, passed by his house took pity on him. He gave him a goose and said “ I don’t have any expensive thing to give you and hope this goose will help you to ease your hardship.” A week later to almost surprise the farmer found and egg in his yard. This was no ordinary egg. It was a golden egg. He was suddenly overcome with joy. Thereafter, his livelihood had rapidly improved but the farmer had forgotten his earlier hardship. He became lazy, arrogant and spendthrift. Strangely, the goose only laid one golden egg every six months. The greedy farmer lost his patient and slaughtered his goose thinking there were plenty of golden eggs inside its stomach. Though he very much regretted for his foolishness, it’s already too late.

-END-