When an old merchant was dying, he gave his house to the two elder sons and their wives and he gave each son three hundred gold coins. The two elder sons said they would travel and trade, improving their fortunes. “You stay home and look after your sisters-in-law,” they told the youngest, who was thoroughly […]
Once there was an ascetic. He lived on the Himalayas near a lake. One day, he was bathing in the lake. Suddenly, a water nymph came out of the lake and saw him. She immediately fell in love with him. She thought, ‘Why is such a handsome man leading such a hard life? He should
A king got a lake made for his children to play in with some fish in it. The excited children rushed off to see the fish. Now, among the fish was a turtle as well. The children not having seen a turtle before thought it to be a monster. They told the king that there
High up in the Black Mountains was a lake near which was a rich pasture to which the shepherd of Myddvai took his sheep. One day, as he lay there watching his sheep graze, three beautiful maidens emerged from the lake. One of them came near him and he offered her some bread. But the
Once there lived a culprit by the name of Poornananda in a village far away. He had two disciples–Nagendra and Krishna. One day while the two were coming to the village from the city, Naga (Nagendra’s nickname) picked a fight with a horse-cart driver. The fight reached a flashpoint and Naga unable to control himself
It was a harvest holiday and Tom Fitzpatrick was out playing in the fields, when he heard a strange little sound of tapping from somewhere close by. He looked stealthily through the hedges and bushes. He saw a little old man with a beard, wearing a leather apron and a green cap, sitting on a
Two gamblers gambled every day. One was honest but the other was a cheat. He played as long as he won. When he began to lose, he would secretly put one of the dice in his mouth and claim that it was lost. Then he would stop the game. The honest gambler saw this happening
Macdonald was the lord of Saddell Castle. He wanted to get a set of trews stitched for himself. Trews were a kind of jumpsuit with the vest and the trousers stitched together and decorated with fringes. And they were very comfortable to wear. He asked the village tailor, who was a bright and cheeky man,
Early morning many people were busy rushing to their office on time. A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, “I am blind please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by the
Conn of Hundred Fights was a famous warrior and dearly loved his son, Connla with the fiery hair. One day, as they stood on Mount Usna, Connla saw a beautiful maiden walking towards him and asked her who she was. She was from among the joyous Hill Folk who lived in the Land of the
Once, a sage came to a village. A rich man gave him a place to stay. Now, the rich man had a lot of gold. He was scared of thieves. So, he kept the gold under the sage’s care. After a few days, the sage came to the merchant and said, “I have spent enough
Michael’s birthday was coming soon, so he asked his dad for a bicycle so that he might not need to walk to school any more. Michael got a book instead but he did not complain. One day, Michael saw a big boy named William on a bike. As the boy was turning around a corner,
Long ago, on the Scheldt River in Belgium, was a rich port to which ships came from all over the world carrying sugar, wine, olives, oranges, wool and many more goods. And rich merchant ships sailed from Holland and France down the river to other countries with timber, flax, linen, fish, cheese, bread and iron.
Peter Klaus was a goatherd of Sittendorf; he took his goats to the Kyffhauser Mountain to graze. He lay about while his dog ran around chasing the goats. He noticed that his largest goat would wander away and return only late in the evening. He followed him through a crack in the rocks to a
Once, a hermit and his disciples were the guests of a king. After some days, the hermit decided to go back to his hermitage. The king requested him to extend his stay. The ascetic accepted but the disciples went back. One day, the chief disciple came back to pay homage to the hermit. He did