Example of Narrative Text with Direct Speeches – Monkey and Crocodile

English admin – The story of monkey and crocodile is best fable for learning narrative text relating to direct and indirect speech contents. Most stories are written in these two kinds; direct and indirect. So when learning narrative stories, student must have good understanding on direct or indirect speech for English grammar.

Narrative text is often a story. A story is exploring participants thought, act and feeling. To gain that goal, narrative text will be arranged in lot of direct speeches. The following narrative text is structured clearly.

Generic Structure of Narrative Text on the Story of Monkey and Crocodile
1. Orientation: The participants or characters of the story are a smart monkey and dull crocodile.
One day there was a monkey. He wanted to cross a river. There he saw a crocodile
The time set is just one day. The story takes place in a river
2. Complication: Every narrative text must consist of conflict or problem. A simple definition of problem is when something goes and it is not what we want. In the story the complication start when the crocodile want to eats the monkey.
the crocodile was very hungry, he stopped in the middle of the river and said to the monkey, “My father is very sick. He has to eat the heart of the monkey.
Of course the monkey don not want to be the crocodile’s meal and that is the problem which sets the whole story.
3. Resolution: A problem must be resolved. It can succeed or fail. In this story, the monkey succeeds to solve the problem. He get free from the hungry crocodile.
The crocodile agreed and turned around. He swam back to the bank of the river. As soon as they reached the river bank, the monkey jumped off the crocodile’s back. Then he climbed up to the top of a tree.
To have clear understanding, take a look at the following example of narrative text about the way of a smart monkey getting free from from a hungry dull crocodile.

The Story of Smart Monkey and Dull Crocodile

Example of narrative with generic structure – story of monkey and crocodile

One day there was a monkey. He wanted to cross a river. There he saw a crocodile so he asked the crocodile to take him across the other side of the river. The crocodile agree and told the monkey to jump on its back. Then the crocodile swam down the river with the monkey on his top.
Unluckily, the crocodile was very hungry, he stopped in the middle of the river and said to the monkey, “My father is very sick. He has to eat the heart of the monkey. So he will be healthy again.”
At the time, the monkey was in dangerous situation and he had to think hard. Then he had a good idea. He told the crocodile to swim back to the river bank. “What’s for?” asked the crocodile. “Because I don’t bring my heart,” said the monkey. “I left it under a tree, near some coconuts in the river bank.”
The crocodile agreed and turned around. He swam back to the bank of the river. As soon as they reached the river bank, the monkey jumped off the crocodile’s back. Then he climbed up to the top of a tree.
“Where is your heart?” asked the crocodile. “You are foolish,” said the monkey to the crocodile. “Now I am free and I have my heart.”

This narrative text is recomposed from ardianrisqi.com

Well that story of narrative text with generic structure surely help to understand what and how a written narrative is organized. The direct and indirect speech in that story is a language feature with dominantly used.

Narrative Text Featuring Direct and Indirect Speech in The Story of Monkey and Crocodile

The direct speeches used in the story of monkey and crocodile are:

1. Crocodile said to the monkey, “My father is very sick. He has to eat the heart of the monkey. So he will be healthy again.”

2. asked the crocodile, “What’s for?”

3. said the monkey,  “Because I don’t bring my heart,”

4. said the monkey, “I left it under a tree, near some coconuts in the river bank.”

5. asked the crocodile, “Where is your heart?”

6. said the monkey, “You are foolish,”

7. said the monkey,“Now I am free and I have my heart.”

Now can you change that DIRECT SPEECHES to INDIRECT SPEECHES? Well, we will help you to convert them. Remember Indirect speech can be called Indirect Sentences or Reported Speech. So below is the conversion!

1. The crocodile said to the monkey that his father was very sick. He had to eat the heart of the monkey. So he would be healthy again.

2. The crocodile asked to the monkey what for was.

3. The monkey said to the crocodile that because he did not bring his heart.

4. The monkey said to the crocodile that he had left his heart under a tree. It was near some coconuts in the river bank.

5. The crocodile asked to the monkey where the monkey’s heart was.

6. The monkey said to the crocodile that the crocodile was foolish.

7. The monkey said to the crocodile that then he was free and he had his heart.

Have you noticed the bold written words above? Those are the important things to do when changing the direct speech to indirect speech. Have a nice way on learning English. For more sample of narrative collection, you can see HERE. Happy learning English.

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