Once upon a time, there was an umbrella maker who lived in a town. But he was unable to sell many umbrellas, so he and his family became very poor. They hardly had enough to eat. They lived in a tiny cottage with a garden with wild berries and a pear tree on which no […]
In a garden long ago stood a lovely rose bush, thick with roses. The sun and dew and the rose bush, all loved the roses. Each of them claimed that the roses were their children. The loved the roses very much.The sun said its warmth made the roses grow. The dew said it gave a
There was a beautiful garden in a house. It was full of beautiful flowers and was kept very well. Outside the fence there were some wildflowers. Among them grew an exquisite little white daisy. It had white silvery petals and a golden yellow centre and stood gracefully on its stalk, swaying in the breeze.It stood
Once upon a time, there lived a Prince who was very proud and wicked. He built up a huge army and set out to conquer all the kingdoms in the world. He would wipe out cities and all the people in it. He and his armies destroyed farms and field, plundered the land for gaining
The teapot sat on the table with the rest of the tea set. The tea set had a beautiful design and was made of fine china. The teapot had a delicate handle and a long spout and was very proud of herself.She looked at the sugar bowl and the milk jug. “The sugar bowl has
A loving old couple lived in a little cottage. They were not very rich but they were very happy. Their only possession was a horse.One day, the old man said the horse was too old, so he would take it to the market to sell or exchange it for something. The old woman believed that
Once upon a time, a butterfly wanted to fall in love. It looked at other butterflies and decided they were not pretty enough. Besides, the butterflies did not sit still. He did not want to fall in love with another butterfly. He wanted to love the prettiest flower. The problem was that he could not
Five little peas grew in a pod and they thought the whole world was green. One day, a little boy plucked the ripe pod and broke it open. He was carrying a pea-shooter. So, he took the peas one by one and put them in his pea-shooter and blew them out. The peas shot out.
A witch stopped a soldier returning from the war and gave him a chance to be rich.“Go down the hollow of that tree using a rope,” said the witch, “There are three rooms, each with a chest containing coins. One has copper, the second silver and the third gold coins. On the first chest sits
A naughty sprite once made a magic mirror. It showed an ugly reflection of good things always. Anyone who looked into it could see only evil or bad reflections. Unluckily, the mirror broke and its splinters were scattered wide. One day, a little boy named Kay was reading a book with his friend Gerda. One
In a farm a cucumber grew in the vegetable patch. It watched the farmyard cockerel and the weathercock and compared them.“I wonder which of them is more useful,” the cucumber wondered, “The weathercock tells us about the wind and that’s of great use to the farmer. But the cockerel sings out so beautifully every morning
Once upon a time, a little fir tree grew in a forest, surrounded by bigger trees. The wind, the sunshine, squirrels and hares ran brushed against it. Children came into the forest to gather berries and nuts.But the little fir tree was unhappy and wished he was tall like the other trees around him. It
Once upon a time, there lived a very rich merchant who was so wealthy that the streets of the town could be paved with his gold and still he would have many bags of gold left. His wealth was inherited by his son. But his son wasted it, and soon his money was all gone.
A wooden cupboard stood in the room of a house. It was beautifully carved with tulips and deer. On the upper part was carved the sky with clouds and birds flying. In the middle was carved a satyr, a little man with a long beard, two tiny horns and a goat’s legs. The children in
Long ago, the Emperor of China had a magnificent palace with a beautiful garden surrounding it. Beyond that, a forest stretched to the sea. In the forest a nightingale sang so sweetly that everyone stopped to listen to it!Even travellers from other kingdoms said that the most beautiful thing in the kingdom was the song