Yeh Shen’s life changed after the death of her father. Her stepmother and stepsister treated her badly. Yeh Shen’s only friend was a beautiful fish with golden eyes. Her stepmother could not see her happy and one day, she cooked the fish for dinner. A sad Yeh Shen took the fish-bones and kept them in […]
In the middle of the night, one of the fairies got up and looked at the brocade. She loved his mother’s brocade so much that she wanted to be a part of it. So, she embroidered a picture of herself in the widow’s brocade. In the morning, the youngest son took the brocade and rode
Back home, when the eldest son did not return, the dying widow sent her second son to find the brocade. When he reached the mountain pass, he too found the old woman. She told him the story, and like his brother, he also took the box of gold and headed to the city, alone. Another
Years passed by. She kept weeping and weaving a beautiful brocade. At the end of the third year, the widow finished her brocade. It was beautiful and the widow was proud of it. Suddenly, a strong wind blew through the house and the brocade flew away. It flew further and further until it had completely
Long ago, a widow with her three sons lived in a small village in China. She was famous for her brocades. One day, she went to the market to sell her brocades. At a stall, she saw a beautiful picture of a pretty white house surrounded by green fields. The widow loved the painting and
Chang, an old farmer, had a large flock of ducks. Once, his neighbour, Lin stole one of the ducks from Chang’s farm and ate it for supper. At midnight, something strange happened. He began to itch all over and feathers started growing on his skin. The next day, Lin was in great pain. At night
The priest, now, quietly went into the Emperor’s garden. He carried along with him, his puppet, a candle, and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the Emperor’s chair. Then, he hid behind the curtain with the candle and the puppet. He waited for the Emperor to come. When the Emperor came, he did not
Long ago, in ancient China, an Emperor had a beautiful wife who told fabulous stories. The Emperor loved stories dearly. Sadly, one day, the Emperor’s wife fell ill and died. The Emperor became very sad and lost all interest in the affairs of the kingdom. Everyone in the kingdom was worried. They were afraid that
Once, there was a rich and powerful man. He loved seagulls and they also loved him. One day, he was shocked to see a seagull on his terrace. He ran over to look at it. He was shocked to see that it was wounded. He carefully took the seagull in his arms and called for
Long ago, the Emperor in China had a very beautiful kingdom. Everyone admired his palace and gardens. One day, the Emperor heard a nightingale sing beautifully and ordered his courtiers to search for the nightingale and bring it to the palace. The Emperor kept the bird in his palace in a cage and daily heard
Huang An was an old man who was over eighty but still looked like a youth. Even during the winter he went about without garments. He sat on a three-feet-long tortoise. Once a man asked him, “How old might this tortoise be?” Huang An replied, “When Fu Hi first invented fish-nets and eel-pots, he caught
Once upon a time, a poor man dug up a big cask in his field. He took it home and asked his wife to clean it. But when she started brushing the inside of the cask, all of a sudden the cask began to fill itself with brushes. She kept taking out the brushes, but
The priest laughed and told him to say, ‘Hobbery jibbery snobbery snoo,’ while walking through the wall. Sung walked up to the wall, but couldn’t walk through. So the priest said, “Don’t go slowly; put your head down and run fast.” Sung did as he was told, and immediately found himself outside the temple. Overjoyed,
Gradually, the moon began to fade. When the pupils brought lighted candles, they saw the priest sitting alone in the dark with the piece of paper on the wall. The priest, now, asked them to sleep so that they might get up early in the morning to collect firewood. Sung could not stand this any
Once, a poor boy named Ma Liang lived in a small village in China. He wanted to be an artist and drew pictures everywhere. One night, he dreamt that an old man gave him a magic paintbrush to help poor people. In the morning, when he woke up, he found the magic paintbrush on his