English Short Stories For Intermediate Learners: 8 Unconventional Short Stories to Grow Your Vocabulary and Learn English the Fun Way!

Multiple-choice questions
Select one answer for each question
6. Ari is eighty years old, but he is:
a. miners and criminals
b. a Sliwoh
c. horses and jewels
d. rivers and lakes
7. Yardum rents rooms using:
a. his money
b. his gold crown
c. his persuasion
d. the horses
8. Who does not trust Yardum?
a. Denza
b. Lummp
c. Ekin
d. Ari
9. What do the kidnappers take?

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a. Lummp and his blanket
b. The crown
c. Denza and her blanket
d. Denza and the crown
10. According to Sadida, the kidnapper said:
a. the miners killed her
b. the miners will sell her
c. the miners lost her
d. the miners married her

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Answers to Chapter 2
6. b
7. c
8. d
9. c
10. b

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Chapter 3
It took two days to get to Spring Field. The sea town was beautiful, the
sandy beaches were clean and lovely. The blue sea looked warm and full of life.
But, there was no time for fun or fishing.
Denza was still missing. She might be here. She might still be the miner’s
captive…unless he had sold her.
“I have never seen anything like this,” Lummp wrote. “When we find
Denza, we should move here!”
Ari agreed. Spring Field looked like a perfect town. But, he did not feel
comfortable here.
“There is something wrong about this place,” he said to his friend. “Do you
feel it?”
Lummp shrugged. Glowmen did not feel very much of anything. They were
not very sensitive persons.
Yardum led the way. His black horse was in front. It seemed like he knew
where he was going.
“Have you been here before?” Ari asked.
“No.”
“Where will we begin our search?”
Yardum waved to Sadida. Sadida rode his horse closer to his leader’s.
“What is it, my lord?” Sadida asked Yardum.
The tall human in yellow pointed at Ari. “Tell this Sliwoh where we are
going.”
“We are going to the slave market,” the scarred man said. “Your friend
Denza will be there.”
“How do you know that?” Ari asked.
“He knows,” Ekin said, “because he’s smart.”
Ari was getting scared. He did not like the feeling he had. “And how do you

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know where the market is? You said you have never been here!”
Suddenly, Ari realized--he had not seen any people in Spring Field. But
then, he saw someone, a pale miner. No, a group of miners!
He looked in the window of a building. There were miners inside. Far away,
he saw a miner riding a small horse…no, it was a donkey!
“Sorry,” Yardum said. “But we have not been honest with you.” He pointed
to the left. Not very far way, Ari saw a large fenced area. It looked like a big
cage for animals. Inside the cage were many Sliwohs and other creatures. They
were being held captive.
“This beautiful town has the largest slave market in the West,” Yardum said.
“We bring many Sliwohs here. You can see them there. And look, there is your
friend!”
“Denza!” Ari yelled. Denza was in the cage. She was alive…but a prisoner.
“You work with the miners,” Ari said. “You are helping them!”
“Sometimes,” Yardum said “we bring them a Sliwoh or two when we are
going to Spring Field to buy guns. The miners make very good guns. Don’t they,
Ekin?”
“The best,” Ekin said, pointing a very good gun at Ari.
*
The humans put Ari and Lummp in the cage. Denza ran over to greet them.
“I thought I would never see you again!” she said. “I am sorry, this is my
fault!”
“No, don’t say that,” Ari said, hugging her. He looked around. There were at
least one hundred Sliwohs in the prison. “How long have you been here?” he
asked one of them.
“Not long,” the young Sliwoh said. “They will sell us today.”
“Who are they going to sell us to?”
“We don’t know. By the way, my name is Ked. My brother, Hakan, is over
there.” Ked pointed to a small boy Sliwoh. Hakan did not look well. He looked
sick.

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“We have to escape,” Ari said. He seemed to be one of the oldest Sliwohs in
the cage. “Lummp, what can we do to get out of here?”
Lummp frowned. He wasn’t a fighter. He did not have any ideas. But then,
he watched one of the miners walk over to a donkey. The miner did something,
but Ari did not see.
Lummp took out his notebook and wrote a note.
“It is getting dark,” he wrote. He drew a picture of a donkey and smiled.
“We will wait until it is late at night.”
Ari and Denza read the note. They did not understand.
Lummp drew a picture of a key. He pointed to his picture of the donkey. Ari
looked over at the real donkeys. One of them was wearing a small leather bag.
Do the guards keep the keys to the cage in that bag? Ari wondered.
Then, they looked at Yardum and his men who were talking to some miners.
The humans were laughing. The miners were paying money to Yardum. Then
Sadida took out the crown. The miners were impressed by the expensive gold
crown. They gave money for it too.
“He lied about everything,” Denza said. “He stole that crown like he stole
me!”
Yardum looked in her direction, as if he had heard her. He smiled. Denza
spit on the ground.
*
Later that night, the humans were gone. They had taken their money and left.
All the Sliwohs were on the ground sleeping. The miners had gone to their
homes, except for a few guards. Most of the guards were drinking and playing a
card game. A few of their donkeys were standing around near the cage. The
donkeys were not tied down. They were free to walk around.
When everything was quiet, Lummp tapped Ari on the shoulder. Ari tapped
Denza and Ked. None of them were really sleeping. They were pretending.
Slowly, all of the Sliwohs got up.
Lummp, the Glowman, held out the palm of his hand. His hand was glowing
with a small red light. He waved his hand at the donkeys and they looked at it.
Very carefully, they walked over to see what the light was. Like all Glowmen,

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Lummp was very good with animals. They loved him and he loved them.
The donkeys were not afraid of Lummp. They walked over to stand next to
him. He reached out his arm and took the bag off the donkey. The key was inside
the bag! He gave it to Ari and Ari quickly unlocked the cage.
The guards were taking a nap. Ari and Denza quietly took their weapons and
gave them to other Sliwohs. They gathered all the donkeys and slowly walked
away from the cage. They were very quiet as they escaped Spring Field.
Tomorrow, they would take the long way around Hill Side, and then would
return to Bird’s Field. Ari, Denza, and Luump would tell the others what had
happened, then they would take back the other kidnapped Sliwohs to their towns
too.
Soon, all of the Sliwoh towns would unite. Soon they would join together to
create an army. They would fight the miners…and the humans too if they saw
any.
The innocent Sliwohs had learned two important lessons. The world is a
very scary place…and never trust a human!

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Annex to Chapter 3
Summary
Ari and the others arrive in the Western sea town of Spring Field. It is a very
beautiful town, but there is something wrong about it. Soon, Ari learns
Yardum’s secret--he has been working with the miners! The humans sold Denza,
Ari, and Lummp as slaves, but Lummp helped them escape the evil town and
return to Bird’s Field.