Professional Documents
Culture Documents
.Green alert
.Flying colours
.Acknowledgments
Introduction
01
Stories are a perfect way to reach a young child’s attention
as they mix real issues and a fantasy world where
everything is possible and imagination is the only limit.
02
Green alert
One day, after school, Tim and his friends went to the forest
to play. Tim likes to play in the forest because it is a very
beautiful place, with many different colours and many
different sounds.
03
In the forest you can find lagoons, mushrooms, small plants,
very old trees and many different animals from the butterfly
to the tortoise, from the frog to the langur.
On that day, Tim and his friends went to play hide and
seek. Tim loved to play hide and seek, and he ran to find
the best hiding place. After some time he stopped near a
very old tree. That tree was probably the oldest tree in the
forest. He heard a strange noise, and walked close to the
tree to listen. “Tim, do you like the forest?” Tim was scared,
the tree was talking! “Tim, do you like the forest?” The old
tree gasped.
04
“You are right”, replied the old tree, “however that is not
the only reason to like the forest. The forest gives you food
to eat, water to drink and shade to rest under, it is also the
home of all the animals, plants and all the other living beings
you see. What other place can give you all this?”
“The forest is endangered Tim”, said the old tree. “For many
years mankind and nature lived side by side, but now the
times have changed and there seems to be no space left
for the forest anymore”.
Tim was unhappy, how would they live without the forest?
Without the animals? Without the plants? So he asked the
tree, “who is destroying the forest?
Tim could not believe it, he said “I love the forest, I am not
destroying it”!
05
But the old tree just replied, “I will show you Tim, the forest
itself will talk to you and you will see how humans destroy
the forest, tree by tree, bird by bird”.
06
In the wild
07
Although surprised, Tim quickly took her out. However, the
tortoise still had some things to say. “What are you doing?
Where are you taking me?” she screamed at him.
08
“You see”, the tortoise began, “tortoises are wild animals.
We need other tortoises to play with, we need to drink water
from the streams and lagoons, and we need to eat the
hundreds of different species of vegetables that we can
only find in the forest. If you feed us with rice and lettuce
and give us tap water to drink, we will die quickly. Tortoises
are not pets”.
That said, Tim released the tortoise back into the forest.
“Goodbye thank you for this lesson, I will not forget it!” he
shouted.
09
10
The empty paddy field
Still a bit sleepy, Tim looked around and found the culprit,
a frog. The same greenish frog, Tim was so used to seeing
in the paddy field. His father had told him there used to be
several dozens of them around the field. However, Tim had
noticed that each year they appeared to be less and less
common.
11
That year he only remembered seeing that one individual,
nothing more.
As soon as Tim got up the frog jumped away, into the forest.
Tim was worried, if that frog went away they would have no
animals at all in the paddy fields! That frog what lived her
whole live on those fields, why would she want to leave?
Tim had to find out, so he ran into the forest and went after
her. It was a difficult task, as the small frog jumped easily
from place to place, but finally Tim managed to catch her.
“Why are you chasing me?” asked the frog, very irritated.
“Don’t you recognize me? I’m Tim, my father owns the paddy
field where you live”.
12
“I do not live there anymore, I have decided to move to
another place” replied the frog
“Your paddy field has become a desert. I feel lonely. All the
fish have died. All the other frogs have moved away. What
is the point of staying?”
13
“Have you noticed that your father is applying many kinds
of different chemicals in the paddy fields?” replied the frog.
“You mean it wasn’t always like this?” Tim asked the frog.
“No”, said the frog. “Not long ago agriculture was done
with traditional methods and no chemicals. You can ask
your father how the paddy fields truly were alive then!”
15
“Come with me frog! I will tell all this to my father, and
together we will stop the use of chemicals and make the
paddy fields become alive again!” said Tim enthusiastically.
16
The gentle giant
This had been a very special day for Tim. Today was his
sister’s seventh birthday, and the whole family gathered to
celebrate. It was already dark, and some guests had
already left. Inside Tim’s house everyone was happily
talking to each other, playing games or simply looking at
the television.
After all the uproar was finally over, everyone talked with
some enthusiasm of what had just happened. Now with
the elephant gone, Tim was telling everyone how he
shouted so loud that even the elephant was scared. That
night he was also the last one to leave the field.
Tim headed straight for the loud moans he could still hear.
He knew we was getting closer as the crying was getting
louder and louder, however how hard he tried, he didn’t
see anyone. Tim kept walking, but still no one to be seen.
He knew he was close. He could hear someone crying
just less than a meter from where he was staying.
18
Then Tim was breathless, before him leaning on a fallen
log, was an elephant. It was probably the same one who
had visited he fields that same night. It was also him who
had been crying all this time. Tim could not move a muscle,
he tried to speak but no words came out of his mouth.
Tim was even more startled, not only the elephant was
speaking to him, but it did not seem furious at all, just
scared like himself. He also noticed a large wound on one
of the elephant’s legs. “Why are you crying?” Tim finally
managed to ask after a few minutes.
19
“My leg hurts! Ouch!!” the elephant replied. “I was on my
way to meet some of my cousins of the other side of the
forest. As it was getting dark I stopped to have a snack,
and suddenly there were all these people screaming around
me, with loud noises and lights everywhere. I don’t know
what happened”. The elephant continued, “My mother
taught me this route many years ago when I was just a
baby. She told me she used it many times, and so had her
mother, and many other generations of elephants before
that”.
“These fields are now our farms!” “You can’t eat our crops!
What will we eat then? Tim argued.
20
It was the elephant’s time to be surprised. That was what
all these people were doing on that field, defending their
work! They meant no harm to the elephants themselves! “If
that is the case”, the elephant began, “I must propose an
agreement. I will spread the news about human farms
among my fellow elephants and you will convince your
human friends to stop the destruction of our natural habitat
the forest! What do you say?”
“Deal!” replied Tim. “And I will also make sure that any
uninformed elephant that steps into human farms will not
be shot at, but only scared away, what do you say?”
21
The shy Loris
22
All this Tim could see from his home garden. It was well
past bedtime however he remained well awake, counting
the stars in the sky. All of the sudden, he saw some
movement just beyond the back of his garden. Something
was moving up in the tree branches. Tim couldn’t see what
animal it was, although it reminded him of some kind of
tailless monkey. At first he saw only
All this Tim could see from his home garden. It was well
past bedtime however he remained well awake, counting
the stars in the sky. All of the sudden, he saw some
movement just beyond the back of his garden. Something
was moving up in the tree branches. Tim couldn’t see what
animal it was, although it reminded him of some kind of
tailless monkey. At first he saw only
The loris reply was quick. “Well this was our home forest
and since the forest was here before any human I guess
you are the one which will have to go”
“You are different from the majority of your kind” said one
of the loris. Another loris added, “Many humans try to catch
us because they think we are magical creatures. They use
our bones, skins and even our tears for their magical
practices.
23
That is why we are so afraid. We only come out at night,
because that is when people are asleep, and we run to
the top of the trees if we see any humans.”
“We know that you are different from the others. We know
that you love the forest and can help us preserve it” said
the loris.
“We are made of simple flesh and bone, the loris began.
“We are no more magical than any other living being. Our
magic is the magic of nature, and nature should always be
respected not hunted or destroyed”.
“I am still a child, how can I help you? Tim asked, still not
sure of himself.
24
“I will try my best!” Tim answered enthusiastically. “Thank
you for trusting me. I will make sure that together loris and
humans protect nature and every living being that makes
up her equilibrium!”
That said, the moonlight showed Tim that after all, those
words was all that was necessary to see the tear of the
loris.
25
The spotted encounter
After packing their things each player headed for their home
villages. That day Tim was the only player from his village,
so he had to walk by himself for the last part of the way.
With his cricket bat on his shoulder, Tim walked the forest
path just as he had done many times before.
26
Tim was nevertheless completely unaware of all this and
still thought about the game. As such, he was very surprised
to see what seemed to be a large cat laying on the middle
of his way. Even in low light Tim had no doubts, it was a
leopard.
“Hello, I was expecting you”, said the leopard. “Or did you
think you could get away with it that easily?”
“I know who you are! Put down your gun and fight with
loyalty!” the leopard shouted as he jumped to the floor.
Gun?” replied Tim. “All I have is this cricket bat! If you don’t
believe me see for yourself!” as he said this, the cricket
bat flew through the air and landed right in front of the
leopard.
27
At this time, Tim could not understand what was happening.
He could also hardly see anything as it was already dark
and the clouds partly covered the moon. Finally he gathered
the courage to ask, “Why are you so angry?”
Tim knew about this. Last week two leopard skins had
been seized by wildlife authorities and several poachers
were arrested. Killing endangered species such as the
leopard was not allowed and considered a crime.
28
Even so hundreds of these protected animals were still
caught by poachers with the help of weapons or traps.
“My specie, the human specie, has the duty to protect all
the other species and at the same time ensure the
preservation of their natural habitat. For that reason if the
cause of this problem is human, the solution should also
be.”
30
The call of the forest
31
At first Tim felt very brave, and although there was little
light, he entered the forest in a very confident way. However
in just a few minutes he understood that in the dark humans
are strangers to the forest. Tim could barely see where he
put his feet. Still, he had to find his way through all the thorns,
fallen logs and termites’ nests that naturally exist in the
forest.
32
Tim ran as fast as his legs could carry him and the forest
allowed. He couldn’t even think of a place to run to, so he
just went straight ahead.
The sun had already appeared fully on the horizon but the
dense forest did not allow much light in. In his run to escape
the forest demon Tim trips over a tree root, and falls hitting
his head on a log. Then everything went blank.
33
At first Tim could not see any bird defending it, but as soon
as he tried to get up, a brownish hen resembling a bird
started pecking his aching head. She was so well
camouflaged that even when standing near him, Tim could
not see her.
Tim woke up some minutes later, with the sun on his face
and still struggling to understand what had happened to
him. He opened one eye and then the other. There was
now much more light reaching the forest floor, and Tim found
himself laying in the ground with his head still aching. He
was also very surprised to find right next to him a nest,
containing three eggs.
“Get out of here you brute, think you can just jump on top of
my eggs?”
34
“Demons?” the hen looking bird replied. “I have lived in
this forest for many years and have yet to see a demon”.
“At least the demon is gone” Though Tim slightly relived.
Nevertheless one doubt still seemed to bounce around
Tim’s aching head, “who are you?” he asked for the second
time.
This was a call Tim had heard many times, this was the
call that had motivated him to enter the forest. By luck he
had bumped into a nest of the mysterious owner of the
call, the junglefowl.
This also reminded Tim that he had been away from home
too long without telling his parents, so they might have been
worried. It was time to go.
35
After wishing the junglefowl the best of luck for the eggs,
Tim left in a hurry. He was already near home when he
encountered the horned creature he once thought to be a
demon. Tim couldn’t stop laughing, it was just a cow that
had wondered into the forest!
The sun was already high in the sky and Tim returned home
with a big smile on his face.
36
Smart and smelly
37
“What delicacy do you bring us today?” One of the
macaques asked.
38
“This is not proper food!” Tim began. “It may carry all kinds
of diseases. It may be a hazard for your health as well as
for the health of any humans around”.
With the dust bin empty Tim returned to his house thinking
how much he learned about humans and their environment
in such a short encounter.
39
. The charming Snake
40
As he was getting up, Tim noticed a very slim shadow
entering the kitchen. “That is weird”, he though. “Mice are
not normally around at this time of the day and squirrels
have long bushy tails, I wonder what that might be…” It
wasn’t until he got to kitchen door that he finally discovered.
Lying in the middle of the kitchen floor was a cobra.
41
The cobra stood upright and opened her characteristic
hood, which frightened Tim even further. “Why are you here?
This is my house! Go away! Tim shouted from a distance
at the cobra.
42
The snakes reply was instantaneous. “In your country there
are 94 species of snakes, and out of those only seven are
dangerous to humans. Some humans are also dangerous
creatures are they not? Should all humankind then be
considered as no good?”
43
F l ying colour
colourss
For Tim this was an easy task. The days had been sunny
and with the occasional rains his home garden was
blooming with colour. There was so much to write about in
Tim’s garden, the flowers, the birds, the sun or even the
colours.
44
“They are going to be my subject for this assignment” Tim
thought to himself happy to be able to write about such
beautiful creatures. He was so exited that he began writing
straight away.
Tim continued, “In the first stage the butterfly is just a little
egg in a clutch of many. Usually the female butterfly lays
several clutches, normally on a plant that will later serve
the new born caterpillars as food. The caterpillar is a stage
where the butterfly body is very much worm-like. In this
stage growth is very important and so feeding is the main
activity. Once the caterpillars reach adult size they stop
feeding and look for a place to build a cocoon. Inside this
cocoon the caterpillars slowly turn into the butterflies we
see in our gardens. This process is called metamorphosis”.
45
Although they are beautiful creatures, and seem to be
admired by everyone, some butterfly species are at risk of
extinction. The changes in farming and the use of chemicals
are destroying these species habitats and since butterflies
will often feed on only one single species of plant they are
very delicate. It is up to each and every one of us to protect
these amazing creatures”, Tim concluded.
46
Acknowledgments
47
The CES was established in January 1998 by a group of inter-
disciplinary researchers whose aim was to create a Institute for
participatory eco-cultural development in Sri Lanka through re-
search, education, awareness and community development. Reg-
istered as a Non-governmental Environmental Research Institute
Registration No: 6/6/17/1/47
CES is concerned with issues pertaining to the present eco-cultural
status of Sri Lanka and advocates sustainable measures to suit
the local environment and cultures. Collaborative undertakings
with other eco-culture friendly institutes will create an extensive
network to promote awareness and foster eco-cultural
development in Sri Lanka.
The majority of CES members are presently involved in various
consultancy and research-oriented activities for Government and
Non-governmental concerns as well as universities.
Objectives
•Conduct eco-cultural studies
•Conduct eco-cultural education, awareness and training
programmes
•Establish and maintain an exhibition centre Promote environment
friendly local industries to assist village communities
•Promote eco-cultural tourism in
Sri Lanka