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Describe a story that is popular in your country

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card 312 with Model Answer:

Describe a story that is popular in your country.

You should say:
  • what it is
  • how you heard it
  • what lesson or moral it teaches
and explain why possibly this is a popular story in your country.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]


Model Answer:
Telling lies is never appreciated and a mean vice. To prevent people from lying to each other a good number of stories are found across my country. The story of a "Tiger and a Cowhand" is such a popular story, and I would like to talk about it here.

The story is about a young cattleman who used to tell lies to other people for no apparent reason. To him, it was an entertaining act to make others fool by telling them outrageous lies. The story was, perhaps, taken from the short moral stories of legendary Greek fabulist Aesop.  

One day, the liar rancher started to shout about being attacked by a tiger. When other cowhands and village people rushed to help and rescue him, he made fun of the rescuers as there was no tiger, and he made the whole event. He was so delighted that he could make others look utter fools. A few days later, he staged a similar drama and yet the benevolent and compassionate people came to his rescue only to find that there was no tiger and the liar cowhand made the whole even just to trick them and have silly fun. The rescuers were utterly disappointed by these deceitful events, and they were heartbroken as well. So, one day, when the liar and stupid cowhand was attacked by a real tiger near the woods and he cried for help, no one came forward to save him. Everyone thought that it was another staged event to make fun of them. The tiger killed the liar cattleman, and he was not helped by anyone even though everyone heard him begging for help and shouting "Tiger! Tiger! Please help! Please save my life".

The story ends with a great lesson that "never tell a lie. If you lie, people would not believe you even when you tell the truth." In fact, telling a lie may bring some temporary satisfaction or gain in life, but in the long run, it ruins life.

I heard this story for the first time from my grandmother in my childhood, perhaps when  I was just 4 or 5 years old. Later, when I was at school, I found the story in my textbook.

This is a popular story in my country to cite an example of the consequences of a liar. It is widely used to convince others not to lie as it is perhaps the meanest vice of all. Since most people know this story and its lesson, they like to reference it as a model to emphasize the bad consequences of telling a lie.

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