Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giants garden.
  It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. "How happy we are here!" they cried to each other.
  One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he was determined to return to his own castle. When he arrived he saw the children playing in the garden.
  "What are you doing here?" he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.
  "My own garden is my own garden", said the Giant; "anyone can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself". So he built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.
  TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED
  He was a very selfish giant.
  The poor children had nowhere to play. They tried to play in the road, but the road was very dusty and full of hard stones, and they did not like it. They used to wander around the high walls when their lessons were over, and talk about the beautiful garden inside. "How happy we were there!" they said to each other.
  Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was still winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a beautiful flower put its head out from the grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again and went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost.
  "Spring has forgotten this garden", they cried, "so we will live here all the year round".
  The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the North Wind to stay with them, and he came. He was wrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the garden, and blew the chimney-pots down. "This is a delightful spot", he said. "We must ask the hail on a visit".
 So the Hail came. Every day for three hours he rattled on the roof of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and then ran round and round the garden as fast as he could. He was dressed in grey, and his breath was like ice.
  "I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming", said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold, white garden; "I hope there will be a change in the weather".
  But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant's garden she gave none. "He is too selfish", she said. So it was always winter there, and the North Wind and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the trees.
  One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the King's musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, and the North Wind stopped roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him through the open casement. "I believe the Spring has come at last", said the Giant; and he jumped out of bed and looked out.
  What did he see?
  He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossom, and were waving their arms gently above the children's heads. The birds were flying about and twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass and laughing.
  It was a lovely scene, only in one corner was it still winter. It was the farthest corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy. He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree, and he was wandering all round it, crying bitterly. The poor tree was still covered with frost and snow, and the North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. "Climb up! little boy", said the Tree, and it bent its branches down as low as it could: but the boy was too tiny.
  And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. "How selfish I have been!" he said "now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground for ever and ever". He was really very sorry for what he had done.
  So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of rears that he did not see the Giant coming. And the Giant stole up behind him and took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it, and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them around the Giants neck, and kissed him. And the other children when they saw that the Giant was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with them came the Spring. "It is your garden now, little children", said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when the people were going to market at twelve o'clock they found the giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.
  All day long they played, and in the evening the children came to the Giant to bid him good-bye.
  "But where is your little companion?" he said, "the boy I put into the tree". The Giant loved him best because he had kissed him.
  "We don't know", answered the children: "he has gone away".
  "You must tell him to be sure and come tomorrow", said the Giant. But the children said that they did not know where he lived, and had never seen him before and the Giant felt very sad.
  Every afternoon, when school was over, the children played with the Giant. But the little boy whom the Giant loved was never seen again. The Giant was very kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often spoke of him. "How I would like to see him!" he used to say.
  Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble. He could not play about any more, so he sat in a huge armchair, and watched the children at their games, and admired his garden. "I have many beautiful flowers", he said; "but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all".
  One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew it was merely the Spring asleep, and that the flowers were resting.
  Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder and looked and looked. It certainly was a marvellous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.
  Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across the grass, and came near to the child. And when he came quite close his face grew red with anger, and he said, "Who hath dared to wound thee?" For on the palms of the child's hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on the little feet.
  "Who hath dared to wound thee?" cried the Giant; "tell me that I may take my big sword and slay him".
  "Nay", answered the child: "but these are the wounds of Love".
  "Who art thou?" said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him and he knelt before the little child.
  And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, "You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise".
  And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.

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  There was once a little mouse who lived very happily in the country. He ate grains of wheat and grass seeds, nibbled turnips in the fields, and had a safe snug house in a hedgerow. On sunny days he would curl up on the bank near his nest and warm himself, and in the winter he would scamper in the fields with his friends.
  He was delighted when he heard his cousin from the town was coming to visit him, and fetched some of the best food from his store cupboard so he could share it with him. When his cousin arrived, he proudly offered him some fine grains of dried wheat and some particularly good nuts he had put away in the autumn.
  His cousin, the town mouse, however, was not impressed.
  "You call this good food?" he asked. "My dear fellow, you must come and stay with me in the city. I will then show you what fine living is all about. Come with me tomorrow, for not a day should be lost before you see the excellent hospitality I can offer".
  So the two mice travelled up to town. From his cousin's mousehole, the country mouse watched with wonder a grand dinner which the people who lived in the house were giving. He stared in amazement at the variety of cheese, the beautiful vegetables, the fresh white rolls, the fruit, and the wine served from glittering decanters.
  "Now's our chance", said the town mouse, as the dining-room emptied. The two mice came out of the hole, and scurried across the floor to where the crumbs lay scattered beneath the table. Never had the country mouse eaten such delicacies, or tasted such fine food. "My cousin was right", he thought as he nibbled at a fine juicy grape. "This is the good life!"
  All of a sudden a great fierce furry beast leapt into the room and pounced on the mice.
  "Run for it, little cousin!" shouted the town mouse, and together they reached the mousehole gasping for breath and shaking with fright. The cat settled down outside the hole, tail twitching, to wait for them.
  "Don't worry. He will get bored soon, and go and amuse himself elsewhere. We can then go and finish our feast", said the town mouse.
  "You can go out there again, if you like", said the country mouse. "I shall not. I am leaving tonight by the back door to return to my country home. I would rather gnaw a humble vegetable there than live here amidst these dangers".
  So the country mouse lived happily in the country, the town mouse in the town. Each was content with the way of life he was used to, and had no desire to change.

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Long ago an old man called Uncle Remus used to tell stories to a little boy. The two of them lived on a plantation in the southern states of America, and the stories were always about certain animals. Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox in particular, but several others too, Brer Bear and Brer Possum for instance. All too often Brer Rabbit, who was an impudent scoundrel, came out best, although he was one of the smaller creatures. Of course, to do this he had to use his wits.
  One evening, Uncle Remus ate his supper as usual and then looked at the child over his spectacles.
  "Now then, honey", he said. "Let's see if I can call to mind how old Brer Rabbit got himself a two-storey house without paying much for it".

  He paused a moment. Then he began:
  It turned out one time that a whole lot of creatures decided to build a house together. Old Brer Bear, he was among them, and Brer Fox and Brer Wolf and Brer Coon and Brer Possum, and possibly Brer Mink too. Anyway, there was a whole bunch of them, and they set to work and built a house in less than no time.
  Brer Rabbit, he pretended it made his head swim to climb the scaffolding, and that it made him feel dizzy to work in the sun, but he got a board, and he stuck a pencil behind his ear, and he went round measuring and marking, measuring and marking.
  He looked so busy that all the other creature were sure he was doing the most work, and folks going along the road said, "My, my, that Brer Rabbit is doing more work than the whole lot of them put together". Yet all the time Brer Rabbit was doing nothing, and he had plenty of time to lie in the shade.
  Meanwhile, the other creatures, they built the house, and it sure was a fine one. It had an upstairs and a downstairs, and chimneys all round, and it had rooms for all the creatures who had helped to make it.
  Brer Rabbit, he picked out one of the upstairs rooms, and he got a gun and a brass cannon, and when no one was looking he put them up in the room. Then he got a big bowl of dirty water and carried it up there when no one was looking.

  When the house was finished and all the animals were sitting in the parlour after supper, Brer Rabbit, he got up and stretched himself, and made excuses, saying he believed he'd go to his room. When he got there, and while all the others were laughing and chatting and being sociable downstairs, Brer Rabbit stuck his head out of the room and hollered.
  "When a big man wants to sit down, whereabouts is he going to sit?" says he.
  The other creatures laughed, and called back, "If a big man like you can't sit in a chair he'd better sit on the floor".
  "Watch out, down there", says old Brer Rabbit, "because I'm going to sit down", says he.
  With that bang! Went Brer Rabbit's gun. The other creatures looked round at one another in astonishment as much as to say, "What in the name of gracious is that?"
  They listened and listened, but they didn't hear any more fuss and it wasn't long before they were all chatting and talking again.
  Then Brer Rabbit stuck his head out his room again, and hollered, "When a big man like me wants to sneeze, whereabouts is he going to sneeze?"
  The other creatures called back, "A big man like you can sneeze anywhere he wants".
  "Watch out down there, then", says Brer Rabbit, "because I'm going to sneeze right here", says he.
  With that Brer Rabbit let off his cannon - bidder-um-m-m! The window panes rattled. The whole house shook as though it would come down, and old Brer Bear fell out of his rocking chairkerblurnp!
  When they all settled down again Brer Possum and Brer Mink suggested that as Brer Rabbit had such a had cold they would step outside and get some fresh air. The other creatures said that they would stick it out, and before long they all got their hair smoothed down and began to talk again.
  After a while, when they were beginning to enjoy themselves once more, Brer Rabbit hollered out:
  "When a big man like me chews tobacco, where is he going to spit?"
  The other creatures called back as though they were getting pretty angry:
  "Big man or little man, spit where you please!"
  Then Brer Rabbit called out, "This is the way a big man spits", and with that he tipped over the bowl of dirty water, and when the other creatures heard it coming sloshing down the stairs, my, how they rushed out of the house! Some went out the back door, some went out the front door, some fell out of the windows, some went one way and some another way; but they all got out as quickly as they could.
  Then Brer Rabbit, he shut up the house, and fastened the windows and went to bed. He pulled the covers up round his ears, and he slept like a man who doesn't owe anybody anything.
  "And neither did he, owe them", said Uncle Remus to the little boy, "for if the other creatures got scared and ran off from their own house, what business is that of Brer Rabbit? That's what I'd like to know".

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Hệ thống phòng thủ Phi đạn tiên tiến Iron Dome của Israel trên cao nguyên Golan

Zcomity (18/9/2016): Một hệ thống phòng thủ Phi đạn Iron Dome ở Cao nguyên Golan đánh chặn 2 quả rocket được bắn đi từ Syria hướng đến Israel ngày hôm nay. Đây là là một trường hợp ảnh hưởng từ cuộc nội chiến ở Syria. Theo điều tra ban đầu, dường như hai quả rocket đó sẽ không rơi vào khu vực do Israel kiểm soát.

Ngay sau khi rocket đầu tiên đã bị chặn, đơn vị phát ngôn của IDF cho biết: ". Mới đây một rocket có quỹ đạo cao bắn về hướng Bắc Cao nguyên Golan đã bị phát hiện và bị đánh chặn bởi một hệ thống Iron Dome" Người phát ngôn của Đơn vị IDF nói thêm rằng không có ai bị thương hay thiệt hại nào gây ra bởi tiến trình đánh chặn phi đạn.

Theo đánh giá trên cơ sở an ninh của Israel, hai quả rocket đã không nhắm mục đích xâm phạm Israel. "Theo điều tra ban đầu, cả hai sự cố "bắn" vào chiều nay sẽ không rơi vào lãnh thổ Israel," Đơn vị phát ngôn của IDF cho biết.

Vào đầu tuần này, một đạn súng cối đã rơi vào khu vực phía Bắc cao nguyên Golan phần lãnh thổ gần biên giới Syria do Israel kiểm soát, không có thương tích và thiệt hại nào gây ra bởi sự cố được báo cáo.  IDF nói rằng đây là một trường hợp ảnh hưởng lan sang  từ các trận đánh giữa quân đội Syria và lực lượng nổi dậy gần Quneitra. Chưa đầy 24 giờ sau, Không quân Israel đã tấn công các mục tiêu ở Syria để trả đũa ba quả  đạn cối đã rơi vào miền Bắc Israel.

Các quan chức Syria cáo buộc Israel phải chịu trách nhiệm cho những căng thẳng dọc theo biên giới chung giữa hai nước. Đầu tuần này, JOL báo cáo rằng một một viên chức cấp cao quân đội Syria nói rằng sự căng thẳng gần đây trong khu vực "là một nỗ lực của Israel khiến tình hình leo thang và làm hỏng các thỏa thuận ngừng bắn đã được làm trung gian của Nga và Mỹ."

Nguyễn Thế Anh.

www.Zcomity.com

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