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SINGAPORE
CHILDREN'S
FAVOURITE
STORIES
TEXT BY
DI TAYLOR
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
L K TAY-AUDOUARD
For my parents, who first introduced me to the charms of Singapore when I was six months old. —Di Taylor For Father, with whom all things are possible. And for the child in all of us. —L.K. Tay-Audouard
Published by Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Text © 2003 Diane Kay Taylor Illustrations © 2003 Lak-Khee Tay-Audouard All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0849-3 (ebook)
First printing 2003
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Printed in Singapore
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There once lived a terrible, cruel King called Hai Loong Wang. He ruled his kingdom by bullying, and his people were all terrified of him. His kingdom was made up of volcanic cones buried deep under the ocean, so deep that no human dreamt such a place could exist. Shilepo was the name of the largest of these cones.
The people of Shilepo were mermaids and mermen, who lived happily together in their underwater paradise. The flowers in their gardens were colourful corals whose fronds and tentacles twisted and floated in the warm water currents in their search for food. Their trees were the mighty seaweeds that grew hundreds of feet up from the sea-bed. It was said that the tops of these magnificent trees were gathered and used as food by strange, two-legged land creatures.
As for the mer-people, they planted sea cucumbers, anemones and other rock treasures for their food. Their pets were sea horses, urchins and turtles. Their playground was the ocean bed itself.
Now Hai Loong Wang had many rules. The main rule was posted on signs all around the kingdom.
Actually,
