The Runaway Beard - Liberal Party of Sri Lanka

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In the far away vil'lage of Rangama' men had to let their beards
grow long, and flow'ing' They d'id not do this because thev liked
long beards, but tney had no scissors or razor blades to cut them'

0f course once in a while they chopped the beards on a wooden plank like the way the fishermen
cut big fish.
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The visest old man of the villase was Babun Seeya. He was
unhappy about chopping the beard this wav. So he thought
out a better idea.

', He began to rear a little mouse, feed'ing it with fish and
tausht the tittte mouse hot,, to triin his beard once in a
together jn a cosy Iittle home by the roadside, lovabte
old Babun Seeya and his little pet mouse.
t:r
rice and coconut. Then he
while. And so they lived
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Things do not happen the same way everyday. That 'is vlhy on one
fine day the little mouse could not cut the beard. He tried and
he tried and he tried, but in vain. In the end he called out to
Babun Seeya, "Seeya, Seeya I cannot cut the beard anyilore.
Hhat shall I tlo?"

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"Maybe your teeth are blunt, my dear. Go out and Eet them
sharpened," answered Babun Seeya. But before the mouse could get
out of the house, a very mysterious thins happened. Babun Seeya's
beard begail to groll fast like water flouing out of a spring. Then
what ditl the poor little mouse do? He climbed up to the roof and
hid beth,een the rafters to watch what would nappen next. And
. helpless old Babun Seeya sat on his easy cha'ir and soon fell
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The beard grew and filled the whole ;
house. Then'it danced out of the
house and 'into the front yard. There
it began to c'l imb the trees.
Some I i ttl e b'i rds and
\-' squi rrel s tlere caught
in'it,

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There were people on the road, The beard vished
to have some fun and began to trail doun the
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door of houses on the yayside and came out
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the rear.
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Vegetable and fruit ^^11^-^ sellers,
fishmongers, children and olrl folk t.,ere all
wrapped up in the beard as it
the llay.
rushed along
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lt went swir'ling and frolicking
i1:\-village road iust as'it pleased.
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The people vondered what th"is creepy, crawly, hairy thjng kas. They never
for a moment thought it could be Babun Seeya's beard.
'What could th'is be?' they asked one another. "trlhere does it come from?"
"0h, ue don't really knou. Looks like the beard of a giant. Irhich means
a giant is risht here w'ith us!" They decided.
'0h dear, we must hjde,' sajd one. 'But how can i.,e hiOe? tle are all caught
up in this maze. It 'is flowing like the sea," they kept say.ing. Some velled
for help. Yet there j1as no one to help. Everyone seemed to be wrapped
up in the beard,
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And the i*riggly, wiggly beard came easjlyr breezily dohrn.
the road. The
people made such a great hustle busile tryjng to go free.

0nce again the beard sah, Ratu l'lenika running between the trees,
Ratu Menika lived at the edge of the forest. she ran alt the l,Jay
home through the thicket, down the glen, across the broot( and over
the sti le.
The swiilins, curling,danc.ing beard was quite close behjnd her
but not close enough
to wrap around her.
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The frisky, brisky' cr-ispy bearrl was danc'ing
for ioy right behind Ratu Men-ika before
wrapp'ing her up. And
then she grabbed the
beard with both her
hands and thrust it
into the crackling
fi re.
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And then the beard began to hurn.
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It burnt thnough the forest, o\rer the stile,
across the brook" up the glen and out of the
thicket, on to the road" It burnt itself, away
and harmed no one, setting the bawling, wailing
people free. The litile ch.ildren danced for
joy to be free aEain.
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"t{hat a great wonder." They all exclaimed. "Let
us 90 and see this great big g'iant hrhose beard
is burning nou." And they rushed along with
the burning beard.
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l{hen they came to the house of Babun Seeya,
fear
and sorrow took the better of them. 'Could the
great big siant t.,ith the long, long beard have
swallowed up Babun Seeya?" W'ith tears in their
eyes they waited to see..And then before their
very eyes, the beard thet filled the whole house
burnt out in a j'iffy!

Babun Seeya woke up from his deep sleep on his easy chair. He iumped to his feet because a tiny
flame was fllckering at his chin.
Mouse jumped dourn from the roof with a thud on to the mud floor and began to tell Babun Seeva
excitedly everything he saw from the roof.

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Then they danced together singing
Babun Seeya: I had a beard that ran away bultying everyone,.....
Mouse: And then 'it burnt back all the way, never to grow again
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Babun Seeya and
A burnt beard never grows.
by noltr, Grandfather Babun
the little cosy home by the
Mouse: Never to gro!/ again
Never to grow again
And then it burnt
back all the way...
Never to grow again.
And sjnce they urere such good friends
and the l.ittle friendly mouse lived in
roads'ide forever.

O EASL Junior Readers project, 1994
ChiefEditor
Graphics Assistant
Editorial Board
Nirmali Hettiarachchi
Mrinali Thalgodapitiya
Nihal Cooray
Nirmali Hettiarachchi
Rajiva Wijesinha
Th" TlT"*11
Beard is published at Level 3 ofthe Learning English Series produced
AssociationofSriLankaJuniorReadersProject
by the English
PreparationofthebookwasassistedbytheCanadian
Internationat Developmenr Asercy, ancl pubrication ** ?;;;;il;ffffiffiTJj ffi;ffiil:i
Development Agency Bureau.