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
That New Year’s Eve was bitterly cold with heavy snow. The streets were deserted. Only one small girl was walking through them.She was barefooted and she wore a ragged little dress. She shivered and her feet were turning blue with the cold. She had not sold a single match from the bundles of matches she
Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there lived a King and a Queen and their son, the Prince. It was time for the Prince to choose a bride, but he wanted to marry only a real princess.He was determined to find a real princess, so he rode off on his horse to
Once upon a time, there was a King with eleven sons and a daughter named Eliza. When the Queen died, the King married again. His new Queen was a wicked woman who hated his children. The King was so enchanted by her that he paid no attention to his children any more. One day, the
Once upon a time, inside a beautiful tulip a little girl as big as a lady’s thumb was born. She was a gift given by a witch to a woman who longed for a baby. The baby was beautiful and had a very sweet voice. The woman was very happy with the little girl and
Inside a dull tin box lay the gift that the little boy looked at with delight. There were twenty-five tin soldiers in it! They had uniforms painted red and blue, and stood upright with guns on their shoulders. How smart and handsome they looked!Then he saw that the last soldier stood on one leg. The
Deep in the blue ocean lived the Sea King with his three daughters. The youngest mermaid was the loveliest. She had found the statue of a handsome boy in a shipwreck and built a lovely garden around it.The sisters could go to the surface of the sea only when they were fifteen. And while the
Once upon a time, there lived an Emperor who was very vain about his appearance. He loved to wear new clothes and wasted all his time and money on them. He was not bothered about being a good ruler and looking after his people or the army or anything else. Most of his time was
Tom hated washing hands! He would use the toilet, eat food, play outside and what not, but he would not wash his hands! “Tom, you will feel sick!” his mother would scold him, but Tom was just too busy doing other things. There was always something more important to do! “Tom, come for breakfast!” called
The metro service had just started in the city and the bus routes and train routes had all changed. Although Emma did not know much about the changes yet she kept hearing her mom and dad complaining about it. “All the buses have changed their routes. We will have to re-plan our daily journeys from
A chipmunk was busy collecting nuts. Winter was soon approaching, and it was very important that he collected and stored nuts. After all, he didn’t want to go hungry during winters! The first thing that the chipmunk’s parents had taught him was to be quick! He was a small animal and it would get him