Professional Documents
Culture Documents
-MRS. W. K. CLIFFORD
He had journeyed a long way, and was very tired. It seemed like a dream
when he stood up after a sleep in the field, and looked over the wall, and
saw the garden, and the flowers, and the children playing all about. He
looked at the long road behind him, at the dark wood and the barren hills; it
was the world to which he belonged. He looked at the garden before him, at
the big house, and the terrace, and the steps that led down to the smooth
lawnit was the world which belonged to the children.
"Poor boy," said the elder child, "I will get you something to eat."
"But where did he come from?" the gardener asked.
"We do not know," the child answered; "but he is very hungry, and mother
says we may give him some food."
"I will take him some milk," said the little one; in one hand she carried a
mug and with the other she pulled along her little broken cart.
"But what is he called?" asked the gardener.
"We do not know," the little one answered; "but he is very thirsty, and
A mouse was having a very bad time. She could find no food at all. She
looked here and there, but there was no food, and she grew very thin.
At last the mouse found a basket, full of corn. There was a small hole in the
basket, and she crept in. She could just get through the hole.
Then she began to eat the corn. Being very hungry, she ate a great deal,
and went on eating and eating. She had grown very fat before she felt that
she had had enough.
When the mouse tried to climb out of the basket, she could not. She was too
fat to pass through the hole.
" How shall I climb out?" said the mouse. "oh, how shall I climb out?"
"Yes," answered the frog who had climbed up. " I can see it. It looks just like
our village."
Then the frogs thought that it was not worthwhile going any farther. They
went back and told the frogs round the village that they had seen the city,
and it was just like theirs.
image: http://www.kidsgen.com/short_stories/images/wizard.gif
found that his daughter had already bolted the front door and gone to bed.
Knock as he would, there was no answer. So he had to sleep outside on the
doorstep.
Next morning, the woodcutter awoke while it was still dark. He told himself, I
might as well go out right now and get another big load of wood. Then I can
sell twice as much and buy even more date cakes.
So he left his load and went back to the desert to gather more bushes. But
again he took longer than he meant to, and when he got back, it was dark
and the door was bolted. So again he had to sleep on the doorstep.
He awoke once more before dawn. There's no sense wasting a day, he said.
I'll go back out for one more big load. How many date cakes we'll have then!
But yet again he took too long, and yet again the door was bolted when he
got back.
The woodcutter sank to the doorstep and wept.
What's wrong, old man?
He looked up to see a dervish in a long green robe and a tall green cap.
Holy sir, for three days I have gone out to gather thorn bushes, and for three
days I have come home too late to get into my house. And in all that time,
I've had nothing to eat.
What night is this, old man?
The woodcutter said, Why, Friday eve, of course.
That's right. It's the eve of our holy day. And that's the time of Mushkil
Gusha.
Mushkil Gusha? said the woodcutter.
father's private gardens, and she brought along the woodcutter's daughter.
There was a small lake there, so they decided to go for a swim.
The princess took off her necklace and hung it on a branch overlooking the
water. But when she came out, she forgot all about it.
A few days later at the palace, the princess looked for the necklace but
couldn't find it. She turned angrily to the woodcutter's daughter.
You stole my necklace! You must have taken it when we went for our swim!
No, Your Highness, I wouldn't do that!
You're a thief and a liar too! I'll show you what happens to people of your
kind! Get out of my sight!
The woodcutter's daughter ran home in tears. But an hour later, soldiers
came to the door. They arrested the woodcutter and carried him off to a
public square in front of the prison. Then they locked his feet in the stocks
and left him there.
The woodcutter had to suffer the taunts and jeers of the passersby. Some
people were kinder, though, and even threw him scraps of food.
Now, that evening was Friday eve. As the sun set, the woodcutter cast his
thoughts over all that had happened to him in the past weeks. All at once,
he cried out.
Oh, what a foolish, ungrateful wretch I am! Didn't the dervish say to share
what I have each Friday eve and tell of Mushkil Gusha? Yet I haven't done it
once!
Just then, a packet of chickpeas and raisins landed by the woodcutter. When
he looked up, he didn't see who had thrown it. But he did see a beggar boy
coming by.
Young friend! called the woodcutter. Please share this with me while I tell
you a story.
The boy sat down and gratefully took what was offered. As he ate, the
woodcutter related everything that had happened, from when his daughter
asked for date cakes, to when he was put in the stocks.
Thank you, sir, said the boy. I needed the food, and the story was good too.
I hope it has a happy ending.
The beggar boy went on his way. But he'd only gone a block when a rich
merchant stopped him.
My one and only son! Ever since you were stolen at birth, I've looked for that
birthmark on your left cheek. Now at last I've found you!
But they leave our story here.
The next day, the princess had another picnic in her father's private garden,
and again she went down to the lake for a swim. She was about to step into
the water when she saw the reflection of her necklace. She looked up into
the tree -- and there was the necklace itself, right where she had left it.
That woodcutter's daughter didn't take it at all!
By the end of the day, the woodcutter was free from the stocks, and his
daughter was back in the palace.
And every Friday eve after that, the woodcutter always remembered to find
someone in need, share what he had, and tell his tale of Mushkil Gusha.
The Wolf, however, did truly come at last. The Shepherd-boy, now really alarmed,
shouted in an agony of terror: "Pray, do come and help me; the Wolf is killing the
sheep"; but no one
image: http://www.kidsgen.com/short_stories/images/wolf.gif
The Miser
Aesop
miser sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in
the ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at daily. One of his workmen
observed his frequent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements. He
soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the
lump of gold, and stole it. The Miser, on his next visit, found the hole empty and
began to tear his hair and to make loud lamentations. A neighbor, seeing him
overcome with grief and learning the cause, said, "Pray do not grieve so; but go
and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there.
It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not,
as you did not make the slightest use of it."
image: http://www.kidsgen.com/short_stories/images/snowqueen.gif
him new strength and kept him moving onwards. At last, after many days climbing,
he saw glinting in the sunshine before him, the tall transparent spires of the ice
palace.
Summoning all his courage, the young man entered the Throne Room. But he was
so struck by the Snow Queen's beauty that he could not utter a word. Shy and
timid, he did not dare speak. So he knelt in admiration before the Queen for hours
on end, without opening his mouth. The Queen looked at him silently, thinking all
the while that, provided he did not ask her hand in marriage, there was no need to
call the goblins.
Then, to her great surprise, she discovered that his behaviour touched her heart.
She realised she was becoming quite fond of this hunter, much younger and more
handsome than her other suitors. Time passed and the Snow Queen dared not
admit, not even to herself, that she would actually like to marry the young man.
In the meantime, the goblins kept watch over their mistress; first they were
astonished, then they became more and more upset. For they rightly feared that
their Queen might be on the point of breaking the Law and bringing down on the
heads of all the Mountain People the fury of Fate.
Seeing that the Queen was slow to give the order to get rid of her suitor, the
goblins decided to take matters into their own hands. One night, as dusk fell, they
slipped out of the cracks in the rock and clustered round the young chamois hunter.
Then they hurled him into the abyss. The Snow Queen watched the whole scene
from the window, but there was nothing she could do to stop them. However, her
icy heart melted, and the beautiful cruel fairy suddenly became a woman.
A tear dropped from her eye, the first she had ever shed. And the Snow Queen's
tear fell on to a stone where it turned into a little silvery star.
This was the first edelweiss ... the flower that grows only on the highest, most
inaccessible peaks in the Alps, on the edge of the abyss and precipice . . .
One day a man was going to market with his son and his ass. they met a couple on the
way.
"Why walk when you have an ass to ride?" called out the husband, "seat the boy on
the ass."
"I would like that," said the boy, "help me up father."
image: http://www.kidsgen.com/moral_stories/images/please2.jpg
So, the boy got onto the ass too. As they went on, they met some travellers.
image: http://www.kidsgen.com/moral_stories/images/please3.jpg