One day, Fin MacCumhail chose three boys named Black, Brown and Gray to guard his castle. All three of them did their jobs sincerely. When all had risen in the morning, Fin asked them if they had any wonderful incident to tell him after the night’s watching. Black told that he encountered some thieves and […]
Long ago, some beautiful mermaids were having a party. Just then, a young merman arrived and told the mermaids that humans had decided to turn the river into a canal and build a dyke that should keep out the ocean. All the mermaids were worried except the queen maid who doubted the merman and sent
Once upon a time, there was a man named Domingo who was so poor that he had to sell one thing after another to get food in order to keep from starving. Finally, there was nothing left except his cat whom he loved dearly. The cat promised that Domingo would never starve as long as
Aunt Greenleaf was a thin old ghostly woman. She lived in a hut surrounded by pines and sold herbal remedies to the folks in her town. People consulted her only when someone got sick because her home remedies worked too well to be natural. So, they called her a witch. The folks figured that she
Once there was a hen who used to peck herself with her beak to grow more beautiful each day. With every pecking, a loose feather fell from her body. One day, two hens were talking about this habit of the bird when an owl family heard it all. They went to the dove family and
Once a rich man and a poor man owned a common field. They sowed it at the same time. The poor man’s labour prospered and his seeds grew, but the rich man’s seed did not grow. Out of jealousy, the rich man claimed that part of the field where the grain had sprung up. The
One day a man with his faithful dog went to the mountains to hunt. He saw a deer. He threw his spear and pierced the deer’s body but he did not fall. Instead, he ran and plunged into a hole in the ground. The man and his dog followed. They entered into a large spacious
The ant has always had many enemies like birds, anteaters, centipedes, hunting-spiders, lizards and many more. Frightened with all of them, all the ants of the world once held a meeting or conference to find out the place of safety. But they could come to no decision because the discussion was a true babel of
Once Bhupendra Prasad asked his daughter-in-law, “Can you guess how much I spent on your wedding?” “About the cost of a sack of rice,” she replied. He thought she was a nitwit. He asked her to explain it. “What you spent on the essentials of the marriage amounted to a few hundred rupees only,” answered
A king was told that a man who had made a career of flattery was coming to his palace. “Be on your guard,” warned his advisers, “This fellow wins the favour of everyone through his flattery and then gets them to part with costly gifts.” “I am too hard-headed to fall for such tricks,” said
There was an old hermit in Korea. One day, a woman pleaded with the hermit to help her regain her husband’s affection. The hermit said that he could make a potion that could kindle love in the person who consume it but he lacked a tiger’s whisker that was one of the ingredients to go
Mr. Kitchom loved to listen to stories, but at the end of each tale, he always exclaimed, “That cannot be true.” One day, he asked his teacher to tell him a story. He agreed on a condition that Mr. Kitchom should not say ‘That cannot be true’ at the end otherwise he would have to
In a school, there was a teacher who loved to have a snack and a nap afterwards. Every time, before the lessons, he ate and after the beginning of the lessons, he slept until the bell for the end of the lessons sounded. One day, a student named Lee asked the teacher why he slept
Once a stranger went to a blacksmith and gave him a gold bar to make a horseshoe from it. He promised to pay a great amount but the blacksmith must promise not to tell anyone. The blacksmith agreed. When the horseshoe was made, the stranger took him to a cave. Inside, an army of knights
Once upon a time, the dogs arranged a party. Everything had been arranged with the utmost care. All the good things to eat were spread. The sun was shining brightly and a soft gentle little breeze was blowing. There was a cross fussy old dog who came to the party. Nothing ever suited him. Whenever