The Fox and the Eels

      A fisherman was returning home after a day by the river with his cart full of eels. Reynard the fox saw him and immediately thought of a way of getting himself a sumptuous dinner. He down in the middle of the road and pretended to be dead.

      When the fisherman saw him, he fell for the trick. He picked up the fox, convinced that he had found himself a beautiful fox skin, and put it in the back of his cart. Once on the move, Reynard emptied all the eels out into the road, gathered them up and ran off. So the gullible fisherman lost both his fox fur skin and his fish.

The Rabbit Became White

      Eye of the Eagle an Indian brave was a great hunter. One summer the weather was so hot and dry that all the prairie animals moved away in search of water, and even Eye of the Eagle could find no game with which to feed his tribe. Things got so bad that one day he got into his canoe and decided that he would have to follow the wild animals into the Great North where they had fled.

      He paddled and paddled and went so far, that one day he was surprised to find himself in a snowstorm. This, however, did not disturb him, because he knew he could follow more easily on the snow the tracks left by animals. When he found the tracks of a deer, he began to follow them; but the snow fell so heavily that the hunter was blinded and became lost. He came across a brown rabbit and it offered to help him by guiding him back to his canoe. The rabbit’s dark skin stood out clearly against the snow.

      In this way, Eye of the Eagle was saved. He was so grateful to the rabbit that he chanted a magic spell which made its fur turn white. This meant that the rabbit could no longer be seen against the snow in winter and so no-one could hunt it again.

The Frog Prince

       A young and very beautiful princess lost her ball in the water, while she was playing by the side of a lake. She began to cry so sadly that the frog who sat beside the lake croaked to her, “What will you give me if I get you your ball back?”

      "All the gold you could wish for!” replied the princess. “No, I ask only that I am allowed to stay with you and be your friend,” said the frog. The prin­cess gave her word (what did such a promise cost her if it meant she could have her ball back?), but she had absolutely no intention of keeping her promise. In fact, the moment she had her ball back she ran off so fast that the frog could not keep up with her. Nevertheless, after a while the frog arrived at the palace.

      As soon as she saw the frog, the princess was frightened. She ran to ask for help from her father, but the king, who knew what had happened, ordered his daughter to keep herpromise. So the princess picked the frog up gently in her hand, but, with a shiver of disgust, she let it drop to the ground again. But that one brief touch was enough to break the spell that bound that frog, and caused it to turn back into the young and hand­some prince he had been before.

      The story ends with the happiest of wedding ceremonies.

The Scorpion and the Tortoise

      A scorpion and a tortoise became best friends and they took a vow that they would never be separated. So, when one of them was obliged to leave his native land, the other promised to go with him. One day, they have to travel outside their village. When they had traveled only a short distance, hey came to a wide river. The scorpion was now in great trouble.

"Alas," he said, "You, my friend, can easily swim, but how can a poor scorpion like me ever get across this stream?"

"Never fear," replied the tortoise. "Just place yourself on my broad back and I will carry you safely."

      Then, the scorpion settled on the tortoise's broad back, and then the tortoise crawled into the water and began to swim. Halfway across, he was startled by a strange rapping on his back, which made him ask the scorpion what he was doing.

"I am whetting my sting to see if it is pos­sible to pierce your hard shell, "answered the scorpion.

"Ungrateful friend," said the tortoise. "You know very well that I have power to both save myself and punish you as you deserve." And then he sank his back below the surface and shook off the scorpion into the water.

Magic Broom and Cloth

      There was a poor little girl, named Wulan, who lived with her stepmother and two stepsisters. Her father was a merchant, who always left home very early in the morning and arrived home late at night. He never knew that Wulan was treated very badly by her stepmother and stepsisters. Wulan had to do the house chores herself. She had no time to rest, until her father came home.

      One day, Wulan helped an old woman. In return, the woman gave her a magic broom and cloth, to help her with the house chores. She just needed to say, "Broom and cloth, please clean the house." and they would start cleaning the house. When she said, "It's done, thank you:',   they would stop working. Since then, Wulan did not need to work hard.

      Wulan's stepmother and stepsisters knew how Wulan did the house chores. Then, they tried to use the magic broom and cloth. They asked them to clean their bedrooms. However, they didn't know how to stop the broom and cloth, after everything was done. Finally, the broom and the cloth kicked them out of the house. Since then, Wulan lived happily.

The King and the Beggar

     There was once a poor beggar sitting alongside the road, he begged from morning until night, all he had received was a few grains. But in hopes he may earn more, he continued to beg. Soon the beggar noticed the king coming towards him. The beggar was excited. "May be the king will give me something expensive" he thought. "I'll sell it, and then I will buy myself some food."

     The king got out his chariot and walked towards the beggar, but just as the beggar's hopes were raised, the king reached his hands out and begged before the beggar himself could beg!, the beggar was confused "what i give him?" he thought. Not knowing what else to do, he reached into his bag and gave the king a few of his grains. The king took the grains and walk off. The beggar went home sad and sullen. He was upset about not having received anything from the king.

     "The townspeople are selfish," he thought. "Nobody gives, nobody cares"

With such thoughts racing through his mind, the beggar dashed his bag of grains against the ground, two golden coin sprung out from the bag as it hit the ground, the king had granted the beggar these two coins without him knowing, he had given them in exchange for the grains.

"What a fool I am!" the beggar thought

"I would have received so much more if I had given the king the whole bag!"

The foolish donkey

      Once, a farmer owned a donkey and a lapdog. The donkey worked hard all day, hauling heavy loads. The lapdog stayed with its master all day and lived in the house with him. It did not work, but was allowed to sit on its master's lap. The donkey grew jealous of the lapdog.

      "Perhaps if I behave like the dog, like wag my tail and jump on the master, the master will start loving me as much as he does the dog." So the donkey waited for its chance.

      One day, when it was left unattended, the donkey broke its halter and ran into the farmhouse kitchen, where the farmer sat at the table. The donkeyrushed up to him and began wagging its tail vigorously and knocked off all the things on the table. It then started jumping around and frolicking like a little dog and finally, plunked itself down on the farmer's lap. The shocked farmer yelled for help. The farmhands came running in and dragged the donkey off to its stable and gave it a beating it would never forget for the rest of its life.