The Lion, the Wolf and the Fox

The lion was near to death and all the other animals tried to fawn on him, hoping to be named as his heir. The wolf tried to discredit the fox by telling the lion that the fox had not even been bothered to visit the king. The fox arrived at just the right moment to overhear this.

'Who could love you more than me?' the fox asked the the lion. 'For I have been all around the world, in search of the miraculous cure i bring you!'

'And what is it?' asked the lion.

'If you want to get well again, skin a live wolf,' replied the fox, 'and wrap yourself in the fur while it is still warm!'

The Wandering Peas

The peas thought the whole world consisted of the pod which contained them. They were very surprised when their shell opened and they discovered so many new things.

'Now what will happen to us?' they asked each other worriedly.

It was their fate to become ammunition for a little boy's peashooter. They were fired a great distance, one after the other, and they never saw each other again.

One of the peas landed in a crack in a window frame, where it became covered by moss. Beyond the window, in the room, there was a very sick little girl, who, it seemed, did not have the strength to either live or die. Her family thought it was a miracle that she had actually survived the winter..... and, in the meantime, spring had arrived.

One lovely day, looking up from her bed, the little girl noticed a tiny plant growing on the windowsill. She gave an exclamation pf pleasure and surprise. Her mother moved her bed right beneath the window, so that the sick child could see the plant more easily, A few days later, the sunshine caused the little pea to flower, and the little girl found she had enough strength to get out of bed and stroke the petals: she had begun to recover!

The Charlatan, the King and the Ass

The charlatan once boasted that he was able, thanks to certain magic potions that he had invited, to make even an ass as wise as any doctor. The king overheard him and, in order to teach him the lesson he deserved, he pretended to take him at his word.

'Take that man to the stables and give him an ass,' the king ordered. 'Pay him good money for the next ten years, but if, at the end of the time, the ass is not able to read and to count then the man will be hung!'

The sentence seemed just and wise and amused the countries. 'It will be something worth seeing,' on of them laughed at the charlatan, 'when you're swinging on the gallows.' 'Wait and see,' replied the charlatan, who was certainly not stupid. 'It is almost certain that somebody must die over a ten year period. Who knows if it will be me or you, the king, or the ass? And another thing - if things were to go badly for me, you will be amused on the day I hang; but I will have ten full years, in the meantime, enjoying myself watching you work every day to earn your money, whilst mine will be given to me for doing nothing!'

The Hare Who Got Married

A young hare seemed unusually happy so the fox asked him why.

'I'm married,' replied the hare.

'Congratulations! What good luck,' said the fox.

'Not really good luck: she is old and as ugly as a witch!'

'Oh what bad luck!' cried the fox.

'Not really bad luck: for she gave me a beautiful house as a gift....'

'What luck!'

'Not really luck,' the hare went on, 'the house has burnt down!'

'What bad luck!' said the fox.

'Not really bad luck, for my old and ugly wife was inside at the time!'

The Pig and His Way of Life

The pig lived in way that pigs always live and would never have worried about it at all, if it was not for the continuous taunts of the cow. 'What a lovely life you've got!' his companion would sneer. 'Leftovers for lunch and muck for a bed!' In the end, even the pig himself was convinced that he could not go on living this way and he went to see the judge.

'All the other animals on the farm get good food and they have clean stalls', he said. 'Why can't I enjoy a better standard of living as well?'

'You're right!' declared the judge. 'From now on, they must give you grain and peas for dinner, and you must have silk sheets on your bed.' The pig rushed home to his sty, impatient to give the good news to his wife. 'Grain, peas and silken sheets!' he repeated to himself happily all the way home.

But the now, hoowever, had taunted him so many times with 'leftovers and muck', that the words had become fixed in his mind. Thus, when his wife asked him what the judge had decided their way of life should be, he replied automatically: 'It went perfectly. From this day on we shall dine on leftovers and we shall sleep on muck!'

Birdchild and the Witch

One day, on his round of inspection, a wizard who worked as a gamekeeper, came across a newborn child, which had been stolen from the cradle by an eagle. The wizard gamekeeper gathered the child in his arms and took it home, where he brought the baby up alongside his own daughter, Lena, who also knew a bit of magic.

The eagle, however, was really a witch and wanted to find the little boy again, because she planned to eat him. She searched high and low until she found him. Then she transformed herself into an old woman and persuaded the gamekeeper to employ her as a housekeeper.

Fortunately, Lena discovered the plan of the old witch, and fled with Birdchild (for this was what she called the baby her father had found). As soon as the witch realised what had happened, she flew off, disguised as an eagle, in pursuit. Lena than called on her own magic powers, and turned the little boy into a pool of water and herself into a duck.

The witch, however, still recognised Birdchild, and she bent down by the pool to gulp up the water, but Lena grabbed the eagle with her beak, and pulled the witch into the pool where she drowned. The two children returned home and were never again troubled.

The Boy Who Fell into the Water

A boy was playing on the riverbank, when he slipped and fell into the water. He succeeded in grabbing hold of a long and began to shout for help.

A man happened by. He was the kind of man who believes he has wisdom to share, and rather than helping the boy out of the water, he began to preach to him: ‘You shouldn’t play near water! You should have watched where you were putting your feet.’

This went on for a while, and the boy heard many wise and useful words, but he would have preferred to be saved without the lectures!