The widow lived alone and was very poor, but she had a great quality: she was happy with whatever she got! She ran errands for others, did little odd jobs for them and sometimes they gave her a bowl of soup or something to eat. That made her very happy. One day, she found an […]
Holger is a great Danish hero, formidable in height and size! It was said that when he wished for new clothes, twelve tailors were summoned. They needed stools and ladders to climb up and measure him as, he was so tall! One of the tailors snipped his ear by mistake and Holger, thinking it was
Once, a quail lived in a nest with its siblings. Now, this quail was different from its siblings. Unlike the other quails, it never ate worms or insects. It relied only on twigs. As a result, it became weak. One day, while the other quails were away looking for food, a fierce fire broke out
A widow had an ill-natured daughter and a step-daughter. She hated her beautiful and good-natured step-daughter. One day, the step-daughter, munching a golden apple, went to fetch water. A small hand came out of the well and a voice asked for her apple. The girl gave it willingly. “Bless you thrice!” said the voice. The
Near the mill of Binnorie was a mansion and garden where a King and a Queen lived with their two princesses. A knight, Sir William, came there and sought the hand of the elder princess and presented her a ring. But as time passed, he grew to love her younger sister for her beauty and
Once, there was a prince named Gautam. When he came of age, he became the king and his father renounced the world and became an ascetic. He lived in a forest on the bank of a river. The river was named after a Naga king. The Naga king was very kind and compassionate. He was
The little brown underground people who lived in the hills were very careful about their things, shoes, caps, belts and buckles. If they lost anything, they felt miserable, spending sleepless nights till they found it. And since they could transform themselves into any shape, they searched for it disguised as humans, birds, animals, insects, anything!
Prince Tender-Heart was given a strong horse, a trusted servant and his father’s blessing to travel in the world, to make him wiser and more learned. On the way, the Prince saw an eagle attacking a swan, and shot the eagle down with his gun. The swan thanked him, for she was the daughter of
Once, the king of Banaras fought and conquered another kingdom. He took all the wealth of that kingdom to his own kingdom. He filled the wealth in iron pots and buried the pots in the royal garden. Now, unknown to him, the prince of that kingdom escaped in disguise. Later, he became an ascetic and
On the edge of the village lived the good woman who was the village nurse. She helped everyone who was sick or having babies. One night, she heard someone knocking violently at her door. She opened it and saw a tall man, wearing a large cloak, standing outside. “Please come immediately,” he said, “My wife
A king had a minister. He was very judicious. The king also had a lawyer who used to take bribes and give wrong decisions in court cases. One day, as usual, he took bribe and gave a wrong decision. The accused came to the minister for help. The minister looked at the case. He fought
One day, Paracelsus was walking along when he heard a voice calling out for help. He looked around and found that the voice came from inside a fir tree. Going closer, he saw that it seemed to have a hole in its trunk, sealed with a lid that had three crosses on it. It was
When it was time for Hans to go home after seven years of service, he asked his master for wages. His master gave him a huge piece of silver, almost as big as his head! He carried it in a sack but was getting rather tired, when he saw a man on horseback. He exchanged
Everyone knew that the hill-men were terrified of thunder. The sound of it frightened them. And when they heard drums beating, it sounded so much like thunder that they were frightened of drums too! If anyone played a drum where they lived, they would get up and go away. A farmer had a hill-man for
A peasant had three sons. He took two of them to work while the third stayed home to help his mother. When the parents died, they told their sons to share everything. But the elder brothers gave the youngest lad just a large trough in which he used to knead flour for his mother. He