The Cat and the Hens

A cat had heard that all the hens in a chicken coop had fallen ill. He had been thinking for a long time of a way to get the door open, and at last this seemed lika a very good opportunity.

He dressed up as a doctor, with a bag full of instruments and medicines, and off he went to the chicken coop.

'Good day, hens, how are you feeling? I've come to give you a check up. Please open the door.'

But the chickens all answered together. 'Thanks very much, but we'll at feel a lot better if you would just go away, thank you.'

The Magic Table

A good-natured and industrious young man worked for a magician, who gave him a magic table as a payment. All he had to say was, 'Set yourself,' and everything he needed for a meal would appear on it. Thanks to this fit, the young man thought that he would not want for anything again for the rest of his life, and so he decided to return home, and so he decided to return home, to his father.

On the way, he stopped in a tavern for a meal and a night's sleep. The owner had no food left because he already had a large number of guests, so he told the young man he would have to make do with a crust of bread. It doesn't matter,' the young man said, not at all worried. 'I'll take care of the rest myself.' Then the magic table provided so much food, that all the others there were able to eat their fill as well. After that, the landlord decided that he could make good use of a table like that. He stole it and replaced it with one that looked the same, so that the young man did not notice. But the magic turned out to be with the young man who owned the table, not with the table itself. So the new table continued to provide the young man with all the food he needed, and when the landlord of the tavern tried to give orders to the table he had stolen, a stick appeared and give him a good thrashing!

The Sick Lion and the Prudent Fox

The lion was old and tired and realised that, if he still wanted to get enough to eat, he would have to resort more to cunning and less to force. So he pretended to be sick and retired to his den. Then, every time that one of his subjects came by, the lion would reach out with his paw, grab the visitor and eat him.

It came to the fox's turn, but the fox remained at the entrance.

'Do come in, fox!' said the lion cordially. 'Thank you, but I'd really rather not,' the fox replied. 'Although I can see so many footprints going in, I cannot see one which comes out!'

He Told No Lies

A farmer had a younger brother, who had the bad luck to be in love with the daughter of a duke. Her father was so mean that he would never agree to give her hand in marriage to anyone who was not rich. The elder brother therefore decided to do something to help the younger one.

First, he made his brother put on his oldest suit, which was patched with dozens of pieces of cloth. Then he got him to sit beside the fireplace, where the roof was sound. Then he put a bowl on his lap, and gave him two gold coins which he was to pass from one hand to the other, then into the bowl, then round again. Then he went to see the duke.

'How is your brother off for money?' the miserly father asked.

'I can honestly say that money is passing through his hands all the time?'

'What's the state of his house?'

'He has a sound roof over his dead.'

'Ah! So he is rich and has his own house!' exclaimed the duke. 'And what about his wardrobe?'

Said the older brother: 'He has far more pieces of cloth to wear than I have.

The miser was most impressed, not realising that he had not had a direct answer to any of his questions.

In his way, without telling a single lie, the wedding was quickly arranged.

The Cossack and the Witch

A valiant cossack came across some splendid apples on a tree, but they were enchanted and had been placed there by a witch in order to capture men. In fact, the cossack had scarcely touched one of the apples with when the witch appeared.

'I will give you a chance to save yourself,' she said. 'You must hide and I must try to find you. If you are clever enough to remain hidden for ten hours, then I shall marry you; if not, then you will be my slave!'

Now the cossack was very good friends with a fairy who changed herself into a great eagle and told the cossack to leap up onto its shoulders.

'I will carry you so high up that the witch will never be able to see you'.

Unfortunately, the witch had a magic book which told her everything, No sooner had she asked the book than she learnt exactly where the cossack was hiding. 'Come down out of the sky at once!' she screamed.

The friendly fairy then transformed the cossack into a needle, with which she sewed the pages of the witch's book together. The witch, thus, lost the challenge and had to keep her promise to marry the cossack. But she reformed completely and the two lived long and happily together.

The Stag and the Lion

A stag was immensely proud of his majestic set of antlers. Yet, on the other hand, he was extremely dissatisfied with his slender legs and hoofs.

One day a lion began to chosen him. By virtue of his speed, the stag succeeded in fleeing from the lion, but then he ran into a thicket and his antlers caught in the branches and he was trapped.

'Alas and woe is me!' thought the stag. 'How wrong I was to complain about my slender legs and delicate hoofs which have served me so well. How wrong I was to be so proud of my large antlers which are now the cause of my ruin!'

The Magicians' War

The Wizard of Ah had declared war on the Wizard of Oh. Oh changed himself into a wild horse and galloped away. Ah observed his escape and changed himself in his turn into a hare which ran off in pursuit. Just as Ah was about to catch up, Oh changed again into a wolf and threw himself on the hare. Ah would have been torn to pieces had he not changed into a bear, then Oh transformed himself into a lion.

To escape the wild fury of the lion, Ah became a swan and flew away. He realised that Oh was chasing him in the form of a falcon, and threw himself into the sea, where he took the form of a fish. Oh, who had now become a shark, was about to eat him in a single mouthful, when Ah succeeded in reaching shore just at the spot where the princess was about to pick up, when Oh appeared beside her in the form of a gold ring. She had just placed the ring on her finger, when a merchant, who was really Ah, arrived and bought the ring from the princess. the ring shattered into grains of wheat which fell to the ground. The merchant became a hen which gobbled up the grains, but one grain remained hidden and it now changed into a handsome prince, who, of course, married the princess.