Once upon a time, there was a tiger. His name was Kamau which means the quiet soldier. Kamau wondered, “Will I ever live up to my name?” Kamau is young and makes friends with everyone, but thinks low of himself. His leg disability makes it hard to walk. It makes him feel useless. But what he doesn’t know is that today will change it all.
One bright morning, Kamau spotted a bird in a tree, whose bright colors are so cheerful. She looked old. And he noticed one of her wings was cut. Kamau kept on walking towards the bird. “My name is Jelani,” she squawked as if she could read his mind. “I am Kamau,” he roared. “I know,” she said as if she had been watching over him his whole life. They spent a moment studying each other. At last, Kamau continued going past the tree.
“Do you know the meaning of your name?” she asked. Kamau stopped. The pain showed in his eyes. This is a question he has asked himself every day.
“My name means quiet soldier,” he said. Then he paused. “But I have been given the wrong name, for I am no warrior.”
“Do you know what my name means?” she asked. There was silence. “It means mighty. But as you can see, my body is not fit for it.” Then she looked up.
Kamau asked, “What are you looking at?”
“I am dreaming of flying free. Have you ever thought of running through the jungle, pride in your face?”
“We will never get that kind of life.” Kamau said angrily.
Jelani expected this. So, she explained why she didn’t care about it. “Sometimes, you have to let go of the things you don’t have and make do with what you have.”
“But even if I know this, I can’t be happy because I can’t do anything about my body. My mind knows it,” he said.
“I don’t know what you’ll be, but your mind tells you. It’s telling you that you’re useless, but if you ask your mind to stop, you will find your true self!” Jelani tells him.
Kamau realizes how lucky he was to have met Jelani. How fortunate he was to be able to change his mind.
Kamau finishes the story, making his sons think. It’s a year later and Kamau is a father. He hopes to teach his sons the same lesson that Jelani taught him. “Sons, we can’t always depend on physical abilities to show us who we are. First, think about what your mind can do to change your bad feelings into good ones.”
1. Why does Kamau think low of himself?2. Paraphrase the underlined sentence in paragraph 2.
Kamau spotted a bird in a tree, whose bright colors are so cheerful
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Kamau finally realized that it is important to move on toward the things you desire and forget what you already have.
4. What ways do you have to change your bad feelings into good ones?（50词左右）
