5 Contoh Kisah Klasik “Narrative Text” dalam Bahasa Inggris

Narrative Text adalah salah satu genre tulisan yang menyampaikan cerita secara berurutan.

Kebanyakan narrative text digunakan untuk menyampaikan cerita-cerita fiksi semacam kisah rakyat (folklore), legenda, cerita pendek, dan novel.

Namun narrative text tidak selalu bersifat fiksi, kadang digunakan juga dalam penulisan biografi, jurnalisme, dll.

Secara umum struktur dari narrative text (generic structure) adalah sebagai berikut:

Orientation. Bagian ini adalah bagian pembukaan. Bagian ini biasanya menceritakan lokasi dan tokoh-tokoh yang ada dalam cerita.
Complication. Bagian ini adalah bagian isi, yang berisi konflik-konflik yang terjadi antar tokoh dalam cerita.
Resolution. Setelah konflik, kemudian dilanjutkan dengan penyelesaian. Dalam bagian ini diceritakan bagaimana penyelesaian konflik tersebut.
Reorientation. Setelah masalah selesai, kemudian apa yang terjadi dengan tokoh-tokoh dalam cerita.

Contoh Narrative Text

The Grasshopper And The Ant
Berikut adalah cerita narasi tentang belalang dan semut. Cerita di bawah dibuat dalam bentuk puisi yang berima. yang diambil dari buku Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks by Jean de La Fontaine.

	The Grasshopper And The Ant
Orientation	The Grasshopper, singing All summer long, Now found winter stinging, And ceased in his song. Not a morsel or crumb in his cupboard– So he shivered, and ceased in his song.
Complication	Miss Ant was his neighbor; To her he went: “O, you’re rich from labor, And I’ve not a cent. Lend me food, and I vow I’ll return it, Though at present I have not a cent.”
	The Ant’s not a lender, I must confess. Her heart’s far from tender To one in distress. So she said: “Pray, how passed you the summer, That in winter you come to distress?”
Resolution	“I sang through the summer,” Grasshopper said. “But now I am glummer Because I’ve no bread.” “So you sang!” sneered the Ant. “That relieves me. Now it’s winter–go dance for your bread!”

Good Advice
Cerita pendek di bawah, menceritakan seorang anak yang bernama John yang malas membaca buku, yang kemudian jadi rajin membaca dan mendapatkan hadiah. Cerita ini diambil dari buku Little Stories for Little Children.

	Good Advice
Orientation	Jack did not love his book; he was idle, and was cross when he was sent to school, and one day when he ought to have gone, he played about the meadows instead; and he met Sam, who was going to school, and he said, “Come and play with me, Sam, and we will have some fun.”
Complication	“No,” said Sam, “I must go and learn to read, or I shall be a dunce; so come with me, Jack, and then after school is over we will play.” “But it is so hard to learn,” said Jack, “and I want to climb that tree to get a bird’s nest.” “No, do not get a bird’s nest, for it is cruel,” said Sam. “Come with me and try to earn the prize, come, Jacky, to please me.”
Resolution	Jack then went to school, and he found that when he tried to learn, it was not very hard, and he could soon read pretty stories, and won a nice prize.

The Sleeping Beauty
Sebuah kisah klasik tentang putri yang tertidur dan akan terbangun bila dicium seorang pangeran. Cerita di bawah diambil dari buku Children’s Hour with Red Riding Hood and Other Stories by Watty Piper.

	The Sleeping Beauty
Orientation	Once upon a time there was a king and queen who for a very long time had no children, and when at length a little daughter was born to them they were so pleased that they gave a christening feast to which they invited a number of fairies.
Complication	But, unfortunately, they left out one rather cross old fairy, and she was so angry that she said the princess should die when she reached the age of sixteen, by pricking her hand with a spindle. All the other fairies present, except one, had already given the princess their beautiful gifts, and this last one said she could not prevent part of the wicked wish coming true; but her gift should be that the princess should not really die, but only fall into a deep sleep, which should last for a hundred years, and at the end of that time she should be awakened by a king’s son. It all happened as the fairies had predicted. When the princess was sixteen years old she saw an old woman spinning and took the spindle from her to try this strange new work. Instantly she pricked her hand and fell into a deep sleep, as did everyone else in the palace. There she lay in a bower of roses, year after year, and the hedge around the palace garden grew so tall and thick that at last you could not have told that there was a castle at all.
Resolution	At the end of the hundred years a king’s son heard of the castle and the enchanted princess who lay asleep there and determined to rescue her. So he cut his way through the thick prickly hedge and at length he came to the princess. When he saw how lovely and how sweet she looked he fell in love with her and, stooping, kissed her lips. At once she awoke and with her the king and queen and all the courtiers, who had fallen asleep at the same time.
Reorientation	As the princess was as much taken with the prince’s appearance as he was with hers, they decided to be married. And so the wedding was celebrated the same day with great pomp and ceremony.

There Was A Man
Sebuah nursery rhymes yang menceritakan seorang pria yang dirampok di jalan. Cerita di bawah diambil dari buku Ring O’ Roses – A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book.

	There Was A Man
Orientation	There was a man, and he had naught, And robbers came to rob him;
Complication	He crept up to the chimney-pot, And then they thought they had him;
	But he got down on the other side, And then they could not find him;
Resolution	He ran fourteen miles in fifteen days, And never looked behind him.

What the Birds Said
Cerita dari buku Tales of Wonder Every Child Should Know, tentang Kong Hia Chiang yang mengerti bahasa burung. Ia akan dipenjara karena dituduh mencuri domba. Kemudian saat menunggu sidang, Ia mendapat informasi penting dari burung akan ada serangan dari kerajaan lain.

	What the Birds Said
Orientation	A lad named Kong Hia Chiang, who lived with his parents among the mountains, understood the language of the birds. One twilight, as he sat at his books, a flock of birds alighted on a tree before his window and sang: “Kong Hia Chiang, on the southern plain A sheep awaits you by a heap of stones,— A fine fat wether, that the dogs have slain; You eat the flesh and we will pick the bones!”
Complication	Kong Hia Chiang went and brought in the torn sheep and cooked it during the night. The next morning a shepherd came and said that one of his sheep was missing; he had found blood on the meadow, had followed the trail, and it had brought him to that house. Kong Hia Chiang acknowledged that he had brought in the sheep, but declared that the dogs had killed it, and that its death and the place where it might be found had been made known to him by birds. His story was considered to be an impudent fabrication, and he was haled away to prison. While he was awaiting his trial before the magistrate, a bird, flying eastward, perched on the wall, saw him, and piped: “Foes approach the western border, Banners, bows, and spears in order, While the gate lacks watch or warder.” Kong Hia Chiang thereupon so vehemently besought his jailer to inform the magistrate of the imminent danger of invasion through the unprotected Western Pass, that the jailer, though wholly incredulous, decided to test his power of comprehending the utterances of birds. He took some rice, soaked a part of it in sweetened water, and a part in brine, and then spread the whole on the roof of a shed into which he brought Kong Hia Chiang, and asked him if he knew why so many birds were chirruping overhead. Kong Hia Chiang at once replied that those on the roof were hailing those that were flying past, and saying: “Call a halt; call a halt; Here is rice fresh and white; Half is sweet, half is salt; Stop a bit; take a bite.”
Resolution	The jailer was at once convinced that the prisoner understood the speech of birds, and therefore hastened to the magistrate to report the warning and the test. The magistrate sent a swift courier to notify the military officers, and a scout was sent out to the west. He soon confirmed the message of Kong Hia Chiang, and troops were dispatched to strengthen the garrison at the pass, the invaders thereby being successfully repelled. The great service rendered to the country by Kong Hia Chiang was acknowledged by his sovereign, who afterward made use of his remarkable talent, invited him to study with the princes, and eventually raised him to a high rank among the nobles of the empire.