英语阅读100篇 (100个小故事)英语学习的绝好资料

000 The Hen and the Little Girl

In a country home, a mother hen and her cute chicks were living happily. A little girl came to visit the country home, but was very bored. One night, the girl went into the chicken house. As soon as she went in, there was disorder.

Here and there cries of the chickens could be heard. The father, who was inside, woke up.

"What's going on? Why are you bothering the chickens?" "Because I'm bored." "You have to sleep now, go inside."

The girl went into the chicken house, again, the next day. There was a racket again, as the chickens were frightened. The moon in the night sky was worried. This time, the little girl's father will not be forgiving.

Finally, the sleeping father woke up. "Why are the chickens crying? By chance" The father was angry and came out to the yard. "What's wrong with you? Is it okay to bother animals that can't talk? You need to be punished." When the little girl saw her father's angry face, she began to cry.

"It is true that I bothered the chickens, but I was bored yesterday. But today I went in to apologize to the chickens. I was going to hug the chickens."

When the father heard what his daughter said, a smile quickly appeared on his face. "You are truly my daughter." The father praised his daughter. He was proud of his daughter that knew how to apologize. The moon in the sky gave a big laugh, too.

001 The Mermaid Princess

In the deep, sea palace, there lived a mermaid princess. Whenever she sang a song with her beautiful voice, everyone envied her. However, the mermaid princess wanted to go to the outside world.

"I would like to hear the beautiful sound of birds. "The king promised her. "When you turn 15 years old, you can go and see the life above the sea." "Oh, I can't wait!

Finally, it was the mermaid princess' 15th birthday. She went up to the sea. The princess saw a great ship. And she saw a handsome prince standing on the ship. The princess fell in love with him at first sight.

However, as thunder and lightning struck, the ship sank on its side. The prince lost his consciousness and fell deep into the sea. "Oh, no! The prince fell into the water. Let me hurry and save him."

The princess saved the prince and laid him on the sand. The princess took care of him all night. When the prince opened his eyes, the mermaid princess hid from him. She thought he might get scared by her tail. Just then, a princess from a neighbor land came out to see the sea and she saw the prince.

The princess watched from a far the prince who always came out to the sea at night. The princess was very sad. She wanted to become a human so that she could be with the prince.

She asked the witch. "Okay, I will make you into a human, but you must give me your beautiful voice. If the prince marries someone else, you will become a water bubble. You must marry the prince."

On the sand, she drank the medicine that the witch had given her. With the big sudden pain, she turned into a human. Just then, the prince who came out to the sea saw the princess.

The prince took the princess who could not speak, to his palace. Although she could not speak, she was happy to be living near the prince. The prince was going to be married to a princess from a neighbor land.

"I will be marrying the princess that saved my life." 'I am the one that saved your life.' But, her voice could not be heard.

At night, the mermaid princess' older sisters came up to the sea. They gave the mermaid princess a knife and said, "If you stab the prince with this knife, you can be a mermaid again. If you don't, you will become a water bubble."

On the night of the wedding, the mermaid princess was going to stab the sleeping prince with the knife. But, she could not kill the loving prince. "It's best that I just turn into a water bubble. "When morning came, the mermaid turned into a water bubble and went up to heaven.

002 The Naked King

Long, long time ago, there lived a very fancy king. The king changed his clothes 12 times a day. He really liked to show off to his subjects. "My clothes are the best in the world."

One day, two tailors planned a trick. "Why don't we teach that stupid and extravagant king a lesson. He doesn't even worry about his starving people." "That's right! He thinks he's the best."

The two men went to see the king. "Oh, the world's most marvelous king! We have brought the most beautiful cloth in the whole world." "However, not everyone is able to see the cloth. Those that tell lies and have bad hearts are not able to see this fine cloth."

After the king heard those words, he became very interested. "Could there really be such a cloth? If I can make clothes out of those cloths, my clothes will be the best in the whole world. Hurry and show me the cloth." The king began to get more and more greedy.

The tailors pretended that the cloth was real, as they showed it to the king. The king and the fine-spoken subjects could not see anything before them. But, none of them could show that they could not see it.

The king and his fine-spoken subjects just looked at each other. Then, the tailor quickly spoke in a arrogant manner. "Well, is there no honest man here? How can you look at this beautiful cloth and not praise it."

Among the subjects, one of them made a flattering comment out loud. "Wow! This is the first time that I have seen such a wonderful cloth." All the subjects tried to be the first to praise the cloth. Then, the king was amazed with the beauty of the cloth, too.

The king gave the money and ordered them to make his clothes. For several days, the tailors pretended to be making the clothes. The king became worried and told one of his subjects to go and see how the clothes was coming along.

The subject could not say how much the clothes had been completed. As hard as he looked, he could not see it. But, he could not say that he was unable to see it. Instead, he pretended to be amazed at how beautiful it was coming along.

A few days later, the tailors came back with the King's clothes. "Here you are, try on this clothes." The king was not able to honestly say that he could not see the clothes. He, too, pretended to look over it.

One man said, "Your majesty, lets go and show off this finest clothes in the world." The subjects all agreed at the same time. "Yes, that is a good idea."

The king walked out to the street very proudly and walked with pride. All the people in the land came out to see the king's new clothes. They were all surprised, though.

Just then, a little girl shouted out, "Our king is naked!" Then everyone said,"He's naked, he's naked!"

The king now realized the truth. However, with only his undergarments on, he still walked in a dignified manner. Even though he was embarrassed, he could not stop walking. Why not? Because he was the king.

003 The Elf of the Rose

There once was a rose bush in full bloom in a big garden. An elf was living in the most beautiful rose in the garden, and she was so small that people could not see her. She had long blond hair to her toes and beautiful wings.

One day, it got dark before she got home. She had been dancing and flying around so she didn't have time to get back to the rose bush. Suddenly, the weather got cold, evening dew started to fall, and a strong wind began to blow. She could not stay in the other flowers because they were all closed up.

"What am I going to do now? It's too cold." She got scared because she had never stayed outside at night. There was a twinkling light from the other side of the garden. "It's too cold, and I am scared. Maybe I should spend tonight there."

The elf flew to a pavilion on the other side of the garden in a hurry. But there were already two people in the pavilion. A beautiful young lady and a handsome man were praying that they would never be apart from each other. They were in love. "But we must go far away from each other soon." "Your brother is sending me away because he does not like our marriage. Oh my bride, please wait for me until I come back to you!" She sobbed and nodded her head.

She pulled off a rose from the bush which was aside her and kissed it. Then she gave him the rose as a token of her love. At that moment, the rose opened up. The elf went into the rose secretly.

At that moment, a horrible looking man entered the pavillion. He was the brother of the young lady. "What? You want to marry

my sister?" He drew his sword and cut the young man and buried him under a linden-tree.

"He is gone forever now, and he will forget my sister. How dare the poor little boy want to marry my sister? It is common to die during a trip, so nobody will suspect me of murdering him." The brother brushed up his clothes and disappeared.

The elf woke up and found she was in the middle of a dark forest. "Oh my! The forest is moving!" But it was not a forest. It was the hair of the young lady's brother. She shivered with fear and anger.

When they got in the house, the young lady from the garden was crying. The man looked at his sister and gave her a chilly smile, and went to bed. "Oh my lover, my dear fiance, please come back safely." She sobbed sadly and fell asleep.

The elf sat down quietly spreading her wings and told the young lady what she saw that day. "What I am trying to say now is not a dream. If you dig under the linden-tree in the garden, you will find your fiance. It is your brother who killed him."

The beautiful young lady woke up. She secretly went out of her room and dug under the linden-tree as the elf had said.

Her lover was lying in the ground, cold dead. She cried out sadly and killed herself right next to her fiance. After some time passed, a flower called, 'Jasmine' came into bloom at the place where the two lovers had died. The Jasmine had big white flowers on the branch and had a sweet smell.

Incidentally, the young lady's brother was walking down the road and he pulled off a branch of the jasmine and put it near his bedside. When night fell, two bees with poison stingers came out of the jasmine flowers and bit the brother's ears and mouth, and then they vanished.

004 The Ugly Duckling

A mother duck was brooding on her eggs near the margin of a pond. A flock of lovely baby ducks was soon born, making sweet peeping sounds when the eggs were broken. But one egg remained unbroken. "It is strange. Why has this egg not broken?"

The mother duck continued her brooding. At last, the egg was broken and a baby duck was born. However that baby duck was very ugly compared to the other baby ducks.

The mother duck was worried, but still she took the baby ducks near the water and taught them how to swim. The ugly duckling also swam with his brothers and sisters, moving his legs eagerly. "It is lucky though. That baby swims well." Still his brothers pecked at the ugly duckling with their bills.

"How hideous this baby duck is. We don't want to see you. Go to a cat." His brothers gave a very hard time to the poor duckling. "Stop it, don't do that!" The mother duck sighed and said, "Ah! I wish that this baby could live happily at another place."

The baby duck heard what his mother said and dropped tears of sorrow saying, "Mom, I will leave. Good-bye." The ugly duckling left his nest beyond the pond.

When he entered the forest, other birds were frightened by the baby duck and ran away. "Why do they run away? Is it because I am so awful?" The baby duck became sadder and plodded along the field.

Near the water beside the field, two wild ducks were playing around. "Yah, what is that ugly duck? Let's make fun of him." The two wild ducks flew up in the air and threw stones at the baby duck.

"Bang! Bang!" At that time, a hunter shot his gun. The two wild ducks fell down dead to the ground. "Uh? What is this small bird?" The hunter took home the awkward little baby duck along with the two wild ducks.

"Dad, what is this poor-looking bird?" "I took it with me in order to give it to you, my son. It was trembling with fear in the water." The children gave a hard time to the baby duck by pulling its wings and tail.

"That hurts! Ow!" The baby duck spilled a jug of milk while running away from the cruel hands of the children. The dishes on the table were also broken. The angry hunter sent out the baby duck with a flourish of his broomstick. And so the after being cast out from the house of the hunter, the ugly duckling spent a long and cold winter alone.

Finally spring came. The baby duck had a good stretch and flew up in the air vigorously. "Uh! I am flying!"

Upon the lake, a flock of white and pretty swans were playing around while swimming. "They are indeed pretty birds." The baby duck became sad. "Those birds may not like me as I am so ugly."

The baby duck tried to run away from the group of beautiful swans. "Hi! Where are you going? Come and play around with us!" The baby duck approached the swans hesitatingly. At that moment, the baby duck saw his own appearance reflected to the lake. There was one more beautiful swan gliding gracefully across the water.

The ugly duckling who overcame all suffering had finally become a beautiful swan. And so he lived happily ever after.

005 Nightingale

A long time ago in China there lived an emperor. The emperor loved to read books. One day, in the book he was reading, it wrote, "The most beautiful precious treasure is the bird nightingale."

The emperor had never seen or heard of nightingale. "What is nightingale?" No one has ever seen or heard of it.

The emperor was very curious as to what nightingale was. "Bring nightingale to me at once". The servants were worried by the emperor's command. They looked here and there.

One day a little girl said that she knew of nightingale. She said that the bird she had was nightingale. It was a small cute bird. At once nightingale was brought to the emperor.

The emperor was very happy. "Ah ~ is this bird called nightingale?" For the first time in his life, he heard the beautiful voice and was impressed and deeply moved.

"Please give me nightingale and I will reward you handsomely." So nightingale came to live in the palace. Everyday Nightingale sang for the emperor.

Emperor was happy every time he heard Nightingale sing. He was so proud of Nightingale that he allowed the servants to hear it too. However, Nightingale was not happy. Nightingale felt trapped and had no freedom.

One day the neighboring country sent a gift to the emperor. It was a nightingale doll made of jewels and gold. Every time the doll was wound up it sang beautifully. Furthermore, the emperor if wanted could hear it everyday.

"It's really amazing. It's beauty is the finest in the world." The real Nightingale was sad. The real Nightingale decided to leave. It flew off into the forest of freedom.

The Nightingale doll kept on singing. One day the doll broke. No body was able to fix it. The emperor was heart broken.

The emperor became ill. He just laid there waiting to die. Just then, from the window, a beautiful song came flowing in. Everyone looked.

Sitting by the window, Nightingale began singing. Shortly after, the emperor became better. Nightingale was happy. Soon, the emperor's face was filled with happiness once again.

006 The Wild Swans

Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there were eleven Princes and a single Princess, by the name of Elisa. One day, their mother died of a disease.

Eventually the King married again. The new Queen hated the twelve children.

She said craftily, "Elisa is weak, and it would be good for her to go to the country for recuperation." The King was grateful to the Queen, as she seemed to care for the health of his daughter. Therefore, the Princess was sent off to the remotest corner of the country.

The Queen then changed the eleven Princes into swans through her magic power, and sent them away from the royal palace. The Princes flew away crying sadly. "Oh! I feel good. It is my world now."

After some time, the King missed Princess Elisa and sent for her. The Queen had Princess Elisa wear a dirty and worn-out dress. The King was very surprised to see the dirty Princess Elisa. "Elisa, how do you dress yourself?" Then the Queen said quickly, "Dear Lord, it seems that Princess Elisa has gone mad." The King was furious and sent the Princess away from him.

"Ah! Where are my brothers?" The Princess asked a man passing by, "Have you ever seen eleven Princes?" The man said, "I have not seen eleven Princes but I have seen eleven swans. Strangely the swans wore golden crowns. You may find them near the river."

Princess Elisa waited for her brothers near the river hoping to find them. At night, eleven swans swooped down to the ground and were turned into the form of Princes. "My brothers!" "Elisa!" They cried and embraced each other.

The brothers were trapped under the spell of the wicked Queen, and were forced to become swans and fly around to look for something to eat during the day. Elisa prayed earnestly, "Dear God, please release the magic curse from my brothers." In her dreams that night, a fairy appeared and said, "Make mantles for your brothers with hemp and have them wear the mantles. However, you should not speak at all until those mantles are made completely."

The Princes thought that Elisa, who did not speak and merely kept knitting, had become strange. One day, a Prince from a

neighboring kingdom saw the knitting Princess when he was out hunting. The Prince took Elisa to his palace saying to himself, "She is a really beautiful lady. I am going to make her happy."

But Elisa did not say anything, and only kept knitting eagerly. At nightfall of the next day, the hemp was all used up. Elisa picked some more hemp near a grave but was caught by the Prince. The Prince said, "You dared to go to a grave at night? You must be a witch. Take this witch and burn her at the stake!"

Princess Elisa was unable to say anything and was imprisoned. Princess Elisa continued knitting without taking rest even in the prison. Princess Elisa was finally knitting the eleventh mantle, while being carried on a cart going to the burning place. The villagers threw stones at her while shouting, "That witch is still knitting. Burn her at the stake!"

At that precise moment, the eleven swans flew in. Princess Elisa threw the finished mantles to the swans. Only then, Princess Elisa opened her mouth. "I now can speak. I am not a witch."

They donned the knitted hoods they were turned back into Princes. The Princess told the Prince what had happened up to that time. Thereafter, the Prince and Princess Elisa lived happily together in their kingdom.

007 The Unwise Hans

In the countryside, there lived three brothers. The first and second brothers were very wise. But the third was not very wise. People called him unwise Hans. All three of the brothers wanted to marry the princess. The princess had said that she wanted to marry the wisest man on the land. "We only have one week."

So in order to marry the princess, they hurried off on their way. The father of the three brothers gave horses to only two of the sons. The first brother got a brown horse and the second brother got a white horse. But, no horse was given to Hans. The unwise Hans left on a goat, instead of a horse.

The older brothers laughed at Hans. Still, Hans left with his brothers. After sometime, Hans picked up a dead crow on the road. "Brothers, look at this." "What are you going to do with that?" "I'm going to give it to the princess." The brothers continued to laugh at Hans.

As Hans was going along the road, besides the crow, he picked up an old wooden clog and good quality mud. The older brothers no longer paid attention to Hans' strange behavior and hurried off on their horses reaching the castle before Hans.

In front of the castle there stood the princess and many people who wanted to marry her. However, all the people who went inside of the princess' room came out stuttering and muttering quietly to themselves. Finally the first brother went in. "You're not right. Please go."

The first brother had forgotten everything that he had memorized. So, he could not say one word. Next the second brother went in. The princess told him to leave, as well. The second brother could not understand the princess’ question. Hans was the las t person to go in.

"The room is hot." "The rooster is being roasted." "Then roast my crow, as well, please." "What should we do? There is no plate." "Here it is."

Hans showed the old wooden clog that he had hidden. The princess made a smile on her face. "Then where can we get the sauce?"

Hans showed her the mud that he had picked up on the road, too. "Ha, Ha, Ha- this is really fun."

The unwise Hans gave the princess the wisest answers. That's how the princess and the unwise Hans got married. The unwise Hans became the king of that land.

008 Thumbelina

Once upon a time, there lived a woman who had no children. The woman went to a sorcerer and begged, "I want to raise a pretty baby." The sorcerer then gave her a flower seed. As soon as the seed was planted, a tulip blossomed forth. From the floral leaf, a lovely baby girl who was as short as a thumb was born.

"Mother, how are you?" The baby girl who came out from the flower said hello to her mother with a beautiful voice. The woman was very happy and wanted to give her a pretty name. "A baby who is as short as a thumb...I will name her as Thumbelina."

Thumbelina led a happy life sailing her ship across a pond filled with flowers. But one night, there appeared a horrible-looking toad when Thumbelina was asleep. "She is really a pretty girl. I am going to make her my bride." The toad carried the sleeping girl on his warty back and went to his pond. Thumbelina woke up in the morning, and was so surprised that she could do nothing but weep silently.

She thought that she would rather die than become the wife of a toad. The fish who saw this unhappy event were sympathetic towards the poor girl, and said, "Thumbelina is pitiful. Let's help her." The fish cut the leaf of a lotus flower on which Thumbelina was riding, so that she could run away from the toad. She was roaming around the riverside riding on the leaf of a lotus flower. At that time, a beetle came flying about and spied the top of the head of Thumbelina.

"Uh! She is a very pretty girl. Okay, I am going to make her my friend." The beetle grabbed Thumbelina and flew into the forest. "How about that? She is my friend. Isn't she very pretty?" The beetle bragged about her to his other beetle friends, but they all thought that she was an odd creature. "What? She only has two legs but has no wings like we do. It is really strange."

With his friends making fun of him, the beetle began to dislike Thumbelina. He went away with his friends, leaving the girl alone in the branches. She spent many lonely days eating tree fruits and flowers. "Dear God, please send me to my mother." Thumbelina wandered around the forest shivering from cold and hunger.

After some time, it began to snow. Thumbelina was looking for a place to take shelter when she finally saw a twinkling light. "I am Thumbelina. Please allow me to take a rest in your house." A field mouse woman greeted the girl warmly saying, "Oh my dear, please come in."

The field mouse woman loved Thumbelina as if she were her own daughter. One day, a rich mole from a neighboring burrow came to the house for a holiday. He said, "She is a really pretty girl. It would be good if she became the wife of my son." The field mouse woman was very happy about what the rich mole said. But Thumbelina did not like that haughty fellow. Yet she was unable to reject what the field mouse woman wanted.

Thumbelina was taking a walk sadly in an underground passage, which was actually the house of the mole. At that time, she found a swallow that had fallen on the ground. "Ah, poor swallow. Please gain your strength." Thumbelina nursed the swallow earnestly. Finally, spring came, and the swallow gained strength and was about to leave the underground passage. He said, "Dear Thumbelina, come with me to the flower country where there is nothing but sun and flowers."

She agreed and rode on the back of the swallow to the flower land, where the Prince of the country greeted her saying, "Welcome, Thumbelina! I was waiting for you." There began a great party to welcome the happy girl. The Prince said, "Dear Thumbelina, would you please marry me and become the Queen of the flower country?"

She said, "Yes, I will!" The Prince then gave his royal crown and wings to Thumbelina. To her bird companion she said, "Dear swallow, please deliver this news to my mother." Thereafter, the Prince and Thumbelina led a very happy life in the flower country.

009 The Terrible King

A long time ago, there lived a terrible king. The terrible king's wish was that all the people would shake in fear at the sound of his name. The terrible king made the lives of the people in the neighbor land horrible. "Here! Take everything!"

The Terrible King

The terrible king viciously took away all the belongings of the neighbor land. He even scared the poor women and children. The king was not even sorry to the children and women. The terrible king bothered the people of the neighbor land worse and worse everyday. The palace became more and more magnificent.

"Put up a statue in the church!" Now the terrible king was ordering the church to place a statue of himself there. However, the ministers could not do that." Your majesty may be great, but God is even greater."

The terrible king was becoming angry. It was because he thought that he was the greatest in the whole world. Then the king was angry. "What! He is greater? Then I will defeat God."

In a loud voice, the terrible king said that he would win against God. That's why he ordered that a magnificent ship be built in order to go to the heaven. He said he would ride the ship to go and defeat God. The terrible king rode the ship up to heaven. From the sky, an angel was sent. However, the terrible king shot over a thousand bullets at the angel. "Ahhhhhh" Being shot, the angel was bleeding. The blood dropped unto the terrible king's ship. The angel's blood was so heavy that the king's ship

sank.

The terrible king became angry, again. "Build a more stronger ship." The terrible king wanted a better ship, so he ordered all the workers in his kingdom to build it. "I will defeat God for sure!"

The terrible king went up to heaven, once more. God sent mosquitoes to the terrible king. The terrible king just laughed at the mosquitoes. "Go and bring me the best carpet."

The king made another command. He thought that if he wrapped the carpet around his body the mosquitoes would not be able to bite him. But one mosquito went inside of the carpet. Because of that one mosquito, the terrible king was rolling around screaming. The terrible king that couldn't even catch one mosquito was a laughingstock for his troops.

010 Last Dream for an Old Oak Tree

Once upon a time, there was a large oak tree in the forest. This oak tree was very old. One day during the hot summer, a mayfly flew by and alighted on a leaf of the oak tree.

"Mayfly, you must be so sad." "Why?" "You get to live only one day." The oak tree felt sorry for the mayfly. Mayfly asked, "Don't you live for one day?" "No. I live much longer than you do."

The mayfly nodded and asked, "Really? Then, are you happy now?" "Yes, I am very happy," replied the oak tree.

Then the mayfly smiled and said, "I am very happy, too. Although I get to live only one day, it doesn't matter. You get to live much longer than I do, but we are both happy, aren't we?" The oak tree and the mayfly kept on talking to each other. Eventually, the mayfly leaned on the oak tree and fell asleep. "Mayfly!" The oak tree called the mayfly, but the mayfly did not respond.

It had died. "Mayfly, have a happy dream." The oak tree blessed the mayfly for the last time.

Many weeks then passed. Spring, summer and fall went by, and winter came. Finally, the long-awaited day of Christmas came. The oak tree wanted to rest now.

The oak tree had a dream on Christmas day. In it, pretty flowers were abundant and butterflies were flying in a green forest. In this dream, the oak tree met the mayfly. The mayfly said, "Come play here. It is such a happy place." The oak tree was very pleased indeed to see the mayfly.

While the oak tree was sleeping, its roots were cut. It was time for the oak tree to die. The oak tree went to a happy world, dreaming.

011 The Happy Couple

A long time ago, there was a happy prince and princess in a country. They took care of and loved each other very much, and their country was happy, too. Therefore they didn't envy anything else. There was one thing they worried about. They wanted to make sure they could live happily forever like this

One day, one of the subjects found out the couple's worry and told them, "Prince, I heard that there is a magic charm, and it can protect you from any unfortunate event. If you always carry the magic charm with you, your fear and worry will disappear." "Is it true? Where can I find that charm?" The prince asked him joyfully. "There is an old man in the forest, and he knows about everything. You can ask him."

The couple visited the old man, and asked for help with their worries and fears. The old man nodded his head as if he knew everything and said, "Travel all around the world. Then, when you meet a very happy couple, ask them to cut a piece of their underwear. If you keep the piece of the underwear, your fear and worry will go away."

The couple appreciated the old man's kindness and set out on the journey. The couple wandered around everywhere and heard about a happy knight and his wife of one town. They went to visit the knight. "Are you really happy like the rumor?" Then the knight answered. "Of course, we are, Prince. But our only worry and problem is that we didn't have any children."

They had to find an absolutely happy couple, so they continued their journey. They visited a happy couple who were famous for their happiness in the next town. And they asked the couple if they were really happy. The couple answered. "Yes, we are very happy. But we have too many children. A mother with a large brood never has a peaceful day. We worry too much about our

children."

They could not get a magic charm this time too, and kept going on their trip. It was very hard to find the happiest couple in the world. One day, the prince couple met a shepherd and his wife in a big field.

The shepherd was playing a flute and driving a herd of sheep, and his wife took their two children to him. As soon as the shepherd saw his family, he ran to them directly. He kissed and embraced each of them by turns. They sat in a circle and had lunch after the wife had prepared it.

The prince couple watched for a while and approached them. "Excuse me. You look so happy!" The shepherd smiled and said, "Sure, any king or queen can never be happier than we are."

The prince couple thought that they finally found what they were looking for. "I am sorry, but could you please cut a piece of your underwear for us?" The prince couple asked them very politely, but the shepherd couple felt confused and said, "Of course we would like to help you, but we don't wear any underwear."

In the end, the couple set out on their journey again with nothing. Finally they came back to their home because they were so tired, and because they couldn't find the magic charm too. As soon as they came back to their country, they visited the old man. The prince told their story to the old man and asked him. "Why did you make us suffer from the long trip for a charm which doesn't even exist?" The old man smiled and said, "Well, do you really think your trip was a vain effort? Think about it carefully. While you were traveling around, you learned many things about how other people live, didn't you?"

The prince thought to himself for a while and said, "Ah, now I understand. You mean that true happiness is up to yourself." The prince's wife smiled and nodded her head. The happy couple held their hands and looked in each other's eyes.

The old man said as he watched them. "The true magic charm that you are searching for is in your mind. Keep it carefully from now on. Then, you'll never be unhappy with whatever comes your way."

012 The Cripple Hans

There once was a rich feudal lord. He and his wife had a big farm. They wished everyone else would live as happily as they did. On one Christmas Eve, a beautifully decorated Christmas tree stood in their big hall, and firewood was burning vigorously. The couple invited all the poor children and their parents of the country to their house.

Traditional Christmas meals were served to everyone, and people went back to their homes and talked about the dinner and the gifts. Kersten and Ole, who were working in a garden, received the gifts for their children and went back home. "Both masters are very kind, but that's because they are rich. They are enjoying themselves."

"We have only four suits of clothes. Why didn't they give anything to Hans? Maybe it's because Hans is a cripple, so they forgot him." Hans was a very active and smart boy, but he had to stay in bed for five years because of his weak legs. "Oh, but I received a book for Hans" Hans was so happy because of the book. The thick fairy tale book had a lot to read and to think about deeply.

Kersten and Ole were always complaining because they were always busy. "Some people have both happiness and wealth at the same time, but for other people, the only thing they have is poverty. Why do we have to suffer so much because of Adam and Eve? If we were Adam and Eve, we would not behave like them." "You would do same as they did. This book can tell you why."

"What did the book say?" Hans read a story to his parents loudly. 'One woodcutter couple always complained that their unhappiness began because of Adam and Eve. At that time, a King was riding a horse and heard them and said, "Come to my palace with me. You can live as luxuriously as I can. You have seven kinds of wonderful dishes and deserts at every meal." "Never touch the plate covered with a lid in the middle of the table. As soon as you touch the plate, your peaceful and luxurious life will be over." The woodcutter couple lived luxuriously after that, but soon they became curious what was on the plate under the lid. After a while, they uncovered the lid of the plate.

"That's it. Now go back where you came from. Do not blame Adam and Eve any more. You have the same amount of curiosity as they did, and besides you cannot appreciate God's grace and gifts." Hans' parents were surprised by the story about the woodcutter couple, and they told Hans to read the same story every night.

One night, Hans read his parents a story about a man who does not know both sadness and dissatisfaction. 'A long time ago, a King became ill, and there was only one cure the underwear of a man who never knew both sadness and dissatisfaction. His

subjects visited every king and nobleman of the world searching for the cure, but they could not find it.'

One day, a swineherd was sitting next to a ditch said, "I don't know anything about sadness and dissatisfaction. I have always have been living my life happily." "Give me your underwear. We will give you half of our kingdom in exchange for that." Even though the subjects tried to persuade him, the swineherd did not have underwear to give to the subject of the King. Hans' parents laughed loudly as if they had not laughed for a long time.

"What are you so happy about? It's been a long time since I saw you smiling." "Hans read a story about a man who does not know about sadness and dissatisfaction. He is too poor to have any underwear. Try to imagine him! Everyone has his own burden to carry by himself. But if you listen to other people's stories, you will feel your burden of life is much lighter than before."

"Where did you get this book?" "One year ago at the Christmas party, the mistress gave us as a gift. At that time, we wanted to have underwear as a gift rather than a book. But this book is like magic. It gives us the answers to what we always were curious about." After that day, the schoolmaster visited Hans, who always stays in his bed in the afternoons, gave him a lot of knowledge that children at school could learn.

The schoolmaster got invited to the feudal lord's mansion and had a meal with them. In the middle of dinner, he told them the book that they had given to Hans was such a blessed gift for the family. The mistress gave some silver coins to the schoolmaster, and asked him to give them to Hans. Hans' parents were very happy to get the silver coins. "Crippled Hans brings us blessings."

A few days later, the mistress herself visited Hans with a basket of delicious bread, fruit and juice, and a cage with a black bird. Hans was so happy for the gift, but his parents were not. "Rich people cannot think. If Hans cannot take care of the bird, we have to do the troublesome work. In the end, a cat will eat the bird anyway."

A cat often visited the room, but it seemed that it was not interested in the black bird. One afternoon, when Hans was reading the book, the cat was staring at the bird in the cage above a dresser. The cat jumped up to the window frame next to the cage in a breath. Hans worried about the bird, and he tried to throw his fairy tale book at the cat, but it did not reach the cat.

Hans wielded a bedcover, but it was a vain effort. The cat jumped up to the dresser and dropped the cage to the ground. At the same time, Hans suddenly leaped to his feet from his bed, picked up the cage and shooed the cat away. Hans saw himself holding the cage in his hand. He realized what happened to him and ran out to the road.

"I can walk. Now I can walk!" On that day, Hans' family had a big party. The feudal lord and his wife were happy as if their own son could walk again. "You have a good mind, God bless you always." Hans went to a school in Copenhagen because he was so smart, and he could understand so well what he read. His parents were sad that they could not live with their son, but they were very happy whenever they got a letter with happy news from him.

"What happened to Hans is proof that God does not forget poor children." "What happened to Hans is such a miracle. Is it like one of the stories which Hans used to tell us?" Hans' parents held each other's hands and looked at each other piously.

013 The Shadow

A scholar who used to live in a cold region took a trip to a place of tropical weather. He stayed in the house all day because it was too hot to go out. "Phew. It is so hot. I can't even go outside."

At night, people came out from their houses to get fresh air. The scholar also went out of his house and looked around here and there. "There are a lot of people here. Now I feel better. But how come the house across the street is so quiet?"

"Music flows from the house, and such beautiful flowers are in the house. There must be a pretty woman living in that house. "Then, one evening.

"That house is quiet again. The only thing that moves in the house is my shadow." The scholar acted as if he was talking to his own shadow.

Suddenly, his shadow on the house went into the inside the house. The scholar was shocked. Then, the next day. "How can I lose my own shadow? People will laugh at me. Phew. What am I going to do? I feel awful. What am I going to do now?"

In a tropical region, everything grew really fast. Fortunately, the scholar's shadow grew a lot in a week.

Then, one evening. Someone visited the scholar. "Who is it? Please come in." A well-dressed gentleman came into his house. "Excuse me, but have we meet before?" The gentleman answered. "Don't you recognize me? Well, I guess you've never imagined that I would show up in front of you with this kind of look. I have been enjoying my own life very much since I left

you." "Then, you must be." "That's right! I am your shadow." "How amazing! How can this happen? And how are you doing?" "I will tell you everything. But promise me one thing before I tell my story. Don't you ever tell anyone that I used to be your shadow." "I promise!"

"I went into the house across the street and met a Goddess. I learned a lot of things while I was staying there with her. Then, she allowed me to live my own life all by myself. Sometimes I gave severe punishments to bad people. People always welcomed me wherever I was. They just loved me." "Really? That's amazing! How can this happen?" "I've to go now. See you next time."

A few years later, the shadow visited the scholar again. The scholar was writing a book, but he was so sad because no one read his book. He felt tired of writing. "You look very exhausted." "No one can understand my book." "You have to take a rest. Let's go to a spa. I will pay for the trip for you. Instead, you should be my shadow." "Oh god! Do I really have to be your shadow?" After long thinking about the shadow's suggestion, the scholar decided to go on the trip and be a shadow.

There were lots of people in the spa, and a princess was one of them. The princess saw the shadow and thought, "He is so nice.

I want to go out with him."

She met the shadow. She liked him very much because he knew everything. The shadow pointed to the scholar and said, "He is my shadow. If you want to know about something, please ask him." "You look so smart."

The princess decided to get married to the shadow.

The shadow met the scholar and said, "I am going to marry the princess. You can come to the castle and live with us. But you have to be my shadow and have to live under my feet forever." "No, that doesn't make any sense. You are MY shadow."

The shadow put the scholar in prison, and then he told the princess. "My shadow is out of his mind. He kept insisting that I am his shadow. There seems to be no chance of his recovery. I will help him to disappear quietly." "Yes, you need to help him." The princess and the shadow finally got married. But the scholar died in prison.

014 The Rotten Apples and the Wife

There was a poor farmer in the country. He had a wife with a warm heart. The only things they had were a small piece of rice field, a farm and a horse.

One day, the farmer said to his wife. "We have to exchange the horse with other goods, tomorrow at the market." "Yes, we do. We don't need a horse because we have no chance of going far away." His wife agreed with him.

The next day, the farmer went to the market riding on horseback. He found a good cow while he was looking around the market. 'Mm. That cow will be good. We will be able to drink fresh milk everyday.' The farmer smiled and went close to the cow.

"If you want to sell this cow, how about exchanging your cow with my horse?" The owner of the cow took a look at the horse for a while. He felt strange because the horse was much more expensive than the cow. The horse looked healthy on the whole. The owner of the cow laughed loudly and agreed to the deal.

The farmer was very happy, too. 'Everything's okay. Now I have to go back to my house.' As he walked not a long distance with the cow, he saw a plump, soft-haired goat. Suddenly he wanted to have the goat. 'It would be much easier to raise a goat than a cow. And goat's milk tastes good.'

"Hey, why don't we exchange your goat with my cow?" The owner of the goat thought that was a golden opportunity, after he heard the farmer. "Of course, I'll be glad to." This was how the farmer exchanged his cow with the goat.

'Today is my lucky day.' The farmer even hummed to himself. After a while, he saw a young man holding a goose tightly with his two hands. 'That goose looks very healthy. Its hair is rich. It would be nice if we could raise such a great goose in our depression.' The farmer wanted to have the goose, so he exchanged his goat with the goose.

After a short time, he met a guy who was holding a cute hen in his arms. 'Cock-a-doodle-do, cock-a-doodle-do!' The hen's voice sounded very healthy. 'What a nice hen!' This time, he also wanted to have the hen. The farmer approached the guy and asked him to exchange his goose with the hen. Of course the owner of the hen agreed to his suggestion.

It was already late afternoon when he exchanged his animals several times. 'Oh, I am hungry! I am going to have lunch in a restaurant.' The farmer held his hen and headed to a restaurant. A young man was carrying a heavy bag on his shoulder in front of the restaurant.

"Look, young man. What's inside of that bag?" He looked at the bag and asked. "Oh, This? These are rotten apples. "The young

man said.

'Rotten apples? We had only one apple from our apple trees last year. That's amazing that he has such a lot of apples. If we use those rotten apples as fertilizer, our trees will bear lots of apples, too.' The farmer exchanged his hen with the rotten apples. Then, he went into the restaurant and had lunch. And he told his story how he happened to exchange one thing and another, and finally he got the rotten apples. An rich old man listened to the farmer's story and said, "You are such a hopeless fellow. If you go back to your house, your wife will be mad at you." "No way. My wife has never been angry at me." "All right, if your wife will not be angry about your story today, I will give you a package of gold coins."

After that, the farmer went back to his house with the old rich man. And he told his wife the whole story about how he came back with the rotten apples. Then, his wife said, "Oh, that's great. We will have as many apples as those rotten apples." The farmer's wife even smiled happily.

In the end, the old rich man had to give them a package of gold coins. Therefore the farmer became very rich.

015 The Anemone

It was winter with cold air and strong wind. A seed was still lying down in the bulb under the ground covered with snow. One day, it was raining, and the raindrops that soaked into the thick ground, touched the bulb and told stories of the world above the ground. Soon, the sunlight passed through, shone on the frozen ground and tickled the bulb

"Welcome." A seed said. "I am not strong enough to open your door and walk in, but in summer, I can." The sunlight said. "When does summer come?" Whenever the sunlight came down, the flower asked the same question, but summer was still too far away. There was snow on the ground, and the well was frozen hard at night.

"Oh, how much longer do I have to wait? I feel impatient. I want to go out. How glad I will be!" When the seed stretched in the bulb, the thin skin of the bulb was split. It was where the sunlight reached before. Green stems, a flower bud and leaves began to grow through the ground under the snow. There was still snow on the ground, but the flower could come out because the sunlight already passed through the ground.

"Welcome, come on!" The sunlight shouted. The bud stuck out her head of the ground covered with snow and saw the bright world. As the sunlight touched and kissed the bud, it started to open. It was a flower white as snow with thin green stripes. The flower lowered her head with a pleasant look and with modesty.

As soon as they saw the flower, the rays of sunlight said, "Oh, how beautiful you are! You are so full of life and pure. You are the first flower. Soon, snow will melt away, and the cold wind will stop. When we have control here, the whole world will turn green. And you will find your friends soon." It was such a big pleasure. The flower was so fragile and delicate that it seemed to be easy to break her down, but she was dazzlingly beautiful and kept singing for the coming summer.

But still it was far away from summer. The cloud hid the sun, and the strong wind blew hard. The cloud and the wind shouted to the flower. "You came out too early. We are still strong enough. It is not the right time to decorate yourself and walk around." "You will be broken. You will be frozen and dried to death. You were deceived by the temptation of the sun and bloomed too early. You are such a fool of summer which bloomed in winter."

It got colder, and there was not a single ray of sunlight in the dark sky even though many days had passed. She could freeze and die. But her faith that summer would come soon grew stronger and stronger. Even when cold snowflakes came down heavily, and ice-cold winds blew hard, she just lowered her head, and stood there in her white dress.

Then, children came out and shouted when they found the Anemone. "Wow, this is a fool of summer." It is not strange what they said. 'Anemone' means 'a fool of summer' in Danish.

"She is so beautiful and elegant. This is the first flower of this year and also the only flower in this garden. "The children said. The Anemone was so happy that she did not even know that they had pulled her up. One girl picked up and kissed the flower. She brought it to her house and put it in a vase. Anemone had the illusion that summer came because the air was so fresh and warm.

There was a custom that young people used to give and take their poems with the first Anemone of the year. The girl's boyfriend was staying in a big city for his studying. Inside of the envelope it was as dark as inside of the bulb. The letter set out for the journey in a mail bag, and the Anemone got to the final destination in the end after several times of being squeezed and squashed.

The boy who received the letter was so happy, kissed the Anemone and put her in a drawer of his desk with the letter. There were many letters in the drawer, but only one letter had the Anemone. The Anemone was veut happy. She stayed in the drawer even after summer and long winter passed by.

When summer came again, the boy took out the letter again. This time, he crumpled it harshly and threw it away on the floor of his room. The Anemone fell down to the floor from the impact. That's because the girl had another boyfriend. Even though the flower was dry and faded, she felt sad when she was treated that way.

The next morning, the sunlight came through the window and shone on the faded the 'fool of summer'. Then, a maid came into the room and found the flower. She put it in one of the books in the desk. The flower stayed inside the book with poems again, but those poems were much greater and more valuable than before.

Many years passed, and the book sometimes was taken out from the bookcase and read by someone. It was the book of a famous Danish poet. One day, a man was reading the book and shouted. "Oh, is this an anemone, a fool of summer? This poet was also a fool of summer who was ahead of his own age. Everybody used to laugh at him long ago, but he is the best poet of Denmark now. You look nice with this book!"

The Anemone was put in the book again. She was happy and proud of herself about how she was kept in that book of the poet. He was also a fool of summer who was standing firmly in the middle of cold winter dreaming summer just like the Anemone.

016 The Feather Pen and the Inkstand

There was an inkstand on the desk in a poet's room. Some strange sounds came out of the bottle. "How amazing! Anything can come out of that inkstand."

The inkstand was proud of herself when she heard that. "Yes, I am unbelievable." The inkstand told this to a feather pen and other writing materials. "Sometimes, even I am amazed by what comes out of me. One drop of me is enough to fill half a piece of paper."

The inkstand had no idea what was inside of her. But she thought she had everything. "Don't you think about yourself at all? If you had a chance to think abort who you really are, you would have found out that the only thing that you can do is drop ink." The feather pen said that he was the one who wrote on the paper. The inkstand and the feather pen had an argument. "You idiot, the poet can write his poems only because of me." The feather pen said that the only thing the inkstand can do is give him ink. They kept arguing.

"Inkstand! You don't know anything. People cannot write without a pen." "Without me, you are just a shabby little bird feather." The feather pen laughed at the inkstand.

At that moment, the poet came back from a concert. He opened the inkstand to write a poem. He started to write about the fantastic violin performance of that night. "The sound of the violin was just magnificent. But people think it is easy to play the violin."

The poet had a different opinion from those of other people. He wrote that the wonderful violin performance was because of the player's ability. Neither the inkstand nor the feather pen could recognize that their abilities were all precious until then. They are a gift from God.

017 The Candles

Once, there were two candles. One candle was made from beeswax and the other was made from animals' fat. "I am much brighter than other candles, and I can last longer than all of us can. That's why I should stand on a silver candle holder." The beeswax candle was proud of herself and said. The candle made from animals' fat envied the beeswax candle. 'The beeswax candle must live a great and splendid life.'

One day, there was a party in this house. "I will be great at the party." The Beeswax candle said arrogantly as if she was the hostess of the party.

Then, a master came in. "I have to light up a candle." After saying this, he took the beeswax candle. "The party must be wonderful!" The animal fat candle was left behind and became lonelier.

At that time, one little boy appeared with his torn basket at the kitchen door. In the basket, there were five or six potatoes and

one apple. A mistress of the house gave them to this poor boy. "I will give you this candle, too." The mistress slipped the animal fat candle into the boy's hand. The little boy was very happy and went back to his house.

'Where am I going?' The candle finally arrived at a poor and small hut. Three children and a mother were living in that small room with a low-ceiling. The candle stood on an iron candlestick.

"This is too much!" The candle grumbled to himself regretting for his miserable situation. 'The beeswax candle, went to the party, she must be standing on a great silver candle holder at this time.' The Candle made from animals' fat envied the beeswax candle very much.

The mother prepared dinner by boiling potatoes and peeling the apple. The three children and the mother had dinner happily. The animal fat candle shone their table brightly.

"This candle is very bright!" The boy said. "God bless this kind lady!" The mother prayed. It was a poor but peaceful and happy family. The animal fat candle felt happy as he enjoyed shining brightly for this family.

018 Little Ida's Flowers

A long time ago, there was a kid named 'Ida'. She liked flowers very much. One day, her flowers were all faded away. "My flowers are all dry and dead. What happened to them?" Ida asked a man sitting right next to her.

"The flowers went to a ball last night. That's why they are hanging their heads down." Ida felt strange to hear what he said. "How can flowers dance? I thought they could not dance."

"Late at night, flowers dance and run around from place to place. That castle over there is the place of the party." He kept talking. "If you go to the castle, you can see the flowers. Go to your garden and tell the flowers quietly that they have a party tonight. Then, one flower will tell the news to the others."

"How can the flowers speak?" Her curiosity grew bigger. "Flowers give and receive their messages through their body language. Have you seen the flowers shake their leaves when the wind blows?" "Wow, that's really interesting."

Then, a legal expert with no sense of humor listened to the conversation between the man and Ida. "You tell those unreasonable and fake stories to a little kid? Tusk, tusk!" Ida brought the flowers to her room. "Take a rest before the party begins."

Ida laid down the flowers and covered them with a blanket. After a while, the sound of a piano came out of her room. Ida went into the room.

The moonlight was bright, and the flowers were dancing to the melody. They danced with a teddy bear and the flowers asked the teddy bear. "We do not live very long. After dawn, we are all going to die. Would you bury us next to the grave of the canary? Then, we will wake up in summer again."

At that moment, the door opened, and the very beautiful flowers came into the room dancing. Ida thought to herself, 'They are so beautiful! They must be from the castle. 'Two roses with crowns and other flowers exchanged greetings and danced. After a while, they said good-bye to each other.

The next morning, Ida thought, "I have to make sure that the flowers are still laying down. Well, they are still there. Only they look more depressed than yesterday." Ida talked to her teddy bear. "Do you remember the message the flowers want you to give me?" The Teddy bear kept silent. "You are very bad. You even danced with those flowers, but you forgot the flowers' favor?" Ida came close to the dry flowers. "I will bury you in a pretty casket. Then, you will bloom in the summer beautifully, won't you?" Ida buried the flowers with her cousins. She dug a small grave and buried the flowers' casket in the ground.

019 The Little Match-Girl

It was a Christmas Eve with heavy snow. A little girl was selling matches on the street. "Matches, matches!"

But no one looked at her. She had lost her parents a few days ago, and she was selling matches without a coat in the cold weather. She didn't even sell one box. The girl was so hungry that she couldn't even open her mouth.

Then, a carriage came close to her. Trying to keep away from the carriage, she slipped and fell on the ice, and she lost her shoes. She had to walk on the snowy street with bare feet.

Over a window, she saw a family gathered under a warm and bright light. They seemed so happy. The snow began to fall more heavily. "It's cold. "Her body was frozen hard.

Even though she was hungry and felt pain in her feet, she couldn't go back home because she couldn't sell any matches. "Matches, you want some matches?" The people walking on the street looked very happy holding each other's arms. But no one bought the girl's matches.

"Ho~ ho~!" She tried to warm up her hands and feet, but it only made her hungrier. "It's so cold. Why is it so cold today? I have to skip my meal today because I couldn't sell any of these matches."

She lit a match to warm up her body. Even though it was a small light, it made her a little warmer. She felt as if she was sitting right next to a fireplace. "Oh, it's warm!" She kept lighting matches.

Suddenly, a table full of delicious food came up in front of her. "Oh, it looks delicious."

As she lit another match, a Christmas tree appeared. "How beautiful!"

She lit the last match. Then, her grandmother appeared. "Sweetie, come to Heaven with me." The girl's grandmother held her tight in her arms and rose up to the sky.

The next day, she was dead and found in the street. "Poor girl, Maybe she tried to warm herself with these matches. Tut, tut." People felt pity for the girl and buried her in the ground in the sunlight.

020 The Woodcutter and Hermes

A woodcutter was cutting trees next to a pond. Suddenly, he dropped his ax into the pond. He just sat down and cried because he couldn't get it out. "Oh, my ax!"

Then, Hermes, the guardian God of the town, showed up. "Young man, why are you crying?" The woodcutter answered. "I dropped my ax into the pond while I was cutting trees."

Hermes took pity on the woodcutter. "I will help you. Wait for a moment." Hermes jumped into the pond with a splash. After a little while, he brought out a gold ax.

"Is this gold ax yours?" "No, that's not mine." Hermes jumped into the pond with a splash again. This time, he brought out a silver ax. "Is this silver ax yours?" "No, that's not mine, either." Hermes jumped into the pond with a splash again.

He brought out an old and worn-out ax this time. "Is this yours?" "Yes. That's my ax."

Hermes like his honesty, so he gave all three axes to the woodcutter.

The woodcutter told his story to his friends. One of his friends went to the pond and dropped his ax on purpose into the water. "Oh gosh, What am I going to do? I lost my ax."

Then, Hermes appeared. Hermes listened to his story and jumped into the pond.

He came out with a gold ax. "Did you lose this gold ax?" The friend of the woodcutter was so happy when he saw the gold ax. "Yes, that's right. That gold ax is mine."

But Hermes already knew that he was lying. Hermes did not give him back not only the gold ax but also his own.

021 Big Klaus and Little Klaus

A long time ago, two farmers of the same name, "Klaus", lived in a town. One of the two had four horses, but the other had only one horse. So, people in the village called the first Klaus with four horses 'Big Klaus' and the second Klaus with one horse 'Little Klaus'.

The two Klauses lent each other their horses to plow the soil. The little Klaus lent his one horse for six days to the big Klaus, but the big Klaus lent his four horses to the little Klaus just for one day.But the diligent and warm-hearted little Klaus did not complain. The little Klaus shouted to the horses courageously. "Come on, cheer up, my horses!"

However, the big Klaus heard this sound and got angry. "Why are they yours? You have only one horse. If you call them yours again, I will kill your horse." But the little Klaus unconsciously repeated calling them 'my horses' while he was joyfully working. The big Klaus killed the little Klaus' horse as he said he would.

The little Klaus felt sad and removed the horse's skin. He carried it to the market to sell it. While he was heading to the market, it got dark. The little Klaus knocked on a door of a farmer's house near by. "Would you please let me stay in your house for tonight?" Then, the farmer's wife came out. "I can't let you sleep in my house, because my husband is not here." She said and closed the door.

He crawled into the barn secretly. The little Klaus was surprised. He could look into the farmer's house through a small window. There were wine and roasted meat on the table, and the wife of the farmer and a priest were having dinner happily.

In fact, the owner of the house hated the priest so much that the farmer's wife invited and served food to the priest secretly while her husband went out. But then, the farmer came back to his house suddenly. The surprised farmer's wife hid the priest in a box in a corner of the room, and she hid the food in the fireplace.

When the farmer came into the barn to tie his horses, he found the little Klaus in his barn. "Who is it? What are you doing here?" "Sir, I was on my way to sell this horse skin in the market, but I had to spend the night in this barn because it was dark outside." "Then, you can stay in my house." He took the little Klaus into his house.

The wife of the farmer served a cup of soup and pretended that nothing had happened. The little Klaus could not stop thinking about the delicious food that he saw before. 'I wish I could eat the delicious food.' He stepped on the bag with the horse's skin under his feet while he was thinking like this. "Peep!"

"What was that?" The farmer asked about the sound. The little Klaus thought for a moment and said, "The little juggler in my bag asked us to look in the fireplace." The farmer looked into the fireplace and shouted out loudly, "Oh, it's strange! There is delicious food in the fireplace!"

After having the delicious food and wine with the little Klaus, the farmer said, "I want to see a devil. Why don't you ask the juggler?" The little Klaus stepped on the bag again, and said, "He said there is one devil with the appearance of a priest in that box."

The farmer was surprised when he opened the box as the small Klaus had told him to do. "Oh my! It is true that there is a devil with the appearance of a priest in the box!" The farmer asked the little Klaus for a favor earnestly. "Please give me your bag and the juggler in it. I will give you a package of gold coins for it." "If you really want it. Ok, I will." "Instead, take that box and the devil away for me."

The little Klaus took the box away and left for his town. The little Klaus said loudly on purpose, "This box is too heavy. I will throw this box into a river." "Wait! I will give you a package of gold coins, so please let me out. "The priest in the box cried out in panic.

"Well, okay. I will let you out." The little Klaus opened the cover of the box and took out the priest. The priest gave him a package filled with gold coins. When the little Klaus came back to town with packages of gold coins, the big Klaus was astonished. "How on earth did a stupid guy like you make so much money?" "I just sold my horse skin." The little Klaus said pretending that nothing had happened.

As soon as the big Klaus heard the little Klaus, he killed his four horses and removed their skin. He went to the market to sell them, but no one wanted to buy his horse skin at an expensive price. The big Klaus was very angry when he found out that he was fooled and came back to town.

"You lied to me, you are evil!" The big Klaus seized the little Klaus and pushed him into a bag, and he bound it up tightly. "I will throw you into a river." While the big Klaus was carrying the bag on his shoulder to a river, he found a church. "I have to pray for a moment." The big Klaus put the bag down in front of the church and went in.

Then, a very old man fell over the bag when he was passing by the church with a number of cows. "Ouch, I am still young, but I have to go to Heaven now." The little Klaus shouted in surprise. The old man sighed with sadness when he heard the little Klaus. "Well, I am old enough to go to Heaven now, but I am still staying here."

"If you untie this bag and stay here instead of me, you can go to Heaven." The little Klaus shouted. "Is it true? I will do it delightfully." The old man untied the bag, and got into it. Then, he asked the little Klaus to do him a favor. "Young man, please take care of my cows for me." The little Klaus bound up the bag tightly and went back to his house with the herd of cows. After a while, the big Klaus went out of the church and went to the river with the bag. He had no idea what was in the bag and threw it into the river as hard as he could. The big Klaus felt happy and went back to his house, but he saw the little Klaus driving a herd of cattle.

The big Klaus was astonished and said, "What? What happened?" The little Klaus smiled and answered. "Thank you for throwing me into the river very much. I got these cows from a young lady at the bottom of the river."

As soon as the big Klaus heard the story, he asked the little Klaus to throw him into the river. "If I can't get cows, that will be your last day." They went to the river. The big Klaus went into a bag with rocks to reach the bottom of the river as fast as possible.

"Okay. Throw me into the river now." The little Klaus bound the bag tightly and threw the bag into the river. The bag dived with a splash and sank down in the river. At last, the greedy and stupid big Klaus could never go back to his house.

022 Grand mother

Grandmother is very old. Her face is crumpled, and her hair is white as snow. But her eyes are twinkling like two stars. When she looks at us with her generous and gentle face, we feel very happy. She tells us many good old stories. She has a lot of knowledge because she began her life even before my father and mother.

Grandmother often reads a hymnbook with a sliver clamper in her spare time. A dry rose is put between the leaves of the book. The rose is not as beautiful as a rose in a glass vase, but she sometimes smiles and cries quietly when she looks at the rose. When her tears fall down on the dry rose, it comes to life again, and its' peaceful and beautiful scent fill the whole room. The walls turn into a green forest, and the sunlight of summer shines through thick leaves of the trees, she changes into a beautiful girl with rose-colored and full cheeks and curly blond hair. A tall and healthy young man sits beside her and gives a rose to the girl. Then, she smiles beautifully.

The girl became a Grandmother and could not smile that beautifully, but she can smile graciously while she is recollecting her memories of the past. The handsome young man is gone, and the rose is dry and put between the leaves of the book. The girl became an old lady looking at the dry rose.

The Grandmother is passed away now. She fell asleep leaning her head on a chair. Her breath became quiet, and her face was full of happiness and peace. It seemed as if a ray of sunlight was shining on her face.

In a black casket, and in a white cloth, she was closing her eyes, but her wrinkles were gone so that she looked much younger. Her hair was shining, and she was smiling peacefully. The hymnbook with the dry rose was put beside her head. Then, she was buried.

People planted a rose tree on her grave next to the fence of a church. Moonlight was shining on the grandmother's grave. She was not in her grave. However, the dead people know much more than the living. They know that if they suddenly come up in front of us, we should be very terrified.

Dead people live a better life than we do. That's why they never come back. The leaves of the hymnbook, and the rose all returned to dust with her old memories. But the new roses come to bloom every year on her grave, nightingales sing beautiful songs, and an organ plays beautiful tunes.

The memory of the grandmother looking young, and having soft and generous eyes will remain forever. Someday, we may meet our warm-hearted grandmother. Even though she now became a pile of dust, we will always remember grandmother as a young and beautiful lady when she kissed the red and fresh roses.

023 Ingel who Trod on the Loaf

Once, there was a little baby girl. Her name was Ingel. Ingel's family was very poor, so her parents adopted her out to a rich family.

Fortunately, the mistress loved and treated Ingel like her own daughter. Ingel grew up not only beautifully but also she had too much vanity.

One year later after Ingel came to the house, the mistress called Ingel and spoke to her in a soft voice. "Ingel, go and visit your own mother and father in your old house." "Yes, ma'am." Ingel prepared herself for the visit and left her house.

She put on her best clothes and best shoes. She who had prettied beyond recognition wanted to boast herself. When Ingel reached the entrance to the village, a woman who bore firewood was taking a rest sitting on a rock by a roadside. She was Ingel's mother. 'I can't believe that woman with such a shabby outfit is my mother.' Ingel passed by the woman turning her head to another side and pretended as if she did not see her.

A mud puddle came in sight after walking further. "Oh! How can I pass this? My shoes and dress will get dirty. Oh, I have a

good idea." Ingel threw a big white loaf of bread in the middle of the puddle. It was a gift from the mistress to give her parents. She thought that she could pass the puddle by stepping on the bread, keeping her shoes clean.

When she stepped one foot on the bread and lifted the other foot, the bread sank in the puddle. "Oh, help me!" Ingel was swamped by the puddle.

After sinking for a long time, she arrived at the bottom of the deep swamp. There was an old evil lady in the swamp. When the old evil lady saw Ingel, she giggled creepily and said, "Welcome. A human like you is my favorite, ha, ha, ha."

The old evil lady forced Ingel to help her in her work. The old evil lady worked for the destruction of mankind. She was making shoes, which if one wore them, one soon wanted to steal something. Hats, which when one put it on, one wanted to be cruel to other people, and vests which made one lie once one wore them.

Ingel was hungry, but the old evil lady did not give food to Ingel at all. On the bottom of her shoe, some of the bread was still stuck on it. Ingel stretched out her hands and tried to grab the bread on the bottom of her shoe. But her body was hard as rock, and she could not reach there.

It was painful, so she shed tears. "I was such a fool!" She thought she got punished because she pretended that she did not know her own mother and tried to step on the bread. She regretted her silly behavior for the first time.

When her warm tears began to fall down to the bread under her shoe, the bread came off from it like magic. Ingel took the hard bread off and she lived barely by eating the bread little by little everyday. Ingel was determined to stop the old evil lady's work at any cost.

At that time, a ray of light appeared from somewhere and shone through the dark swamp. "Oh!" When the light shone on Ingel's head, she turned into a bird and flew up to the sky in the twinkling of an eye. Even the old evil lady could not stop her.

Ingel who became a bird now, flew in the sky happily and sang merry songs. Ingel flew around the house of her mother and father. She did not go anywhere but just stayed there.

024 The Shower and the Buckwheat

A long time ago, there was a big field in a village. The Barely and wheat were planted in that field. The buckwheat was also in the field.

The grains grew very well in summer with mild sunshine. "I am so beautiful. There is no comparison between me and barely or wheat. My flowers are as beautiful and white as those of apple trees!" The buckwheat boasted about herself. She paid no attention to any of the barely, wheat, trees or flowers of the riverside.

Right at that moment, "Grrrrrr, Boom boom! Flash flash!" It thundered with a rumbling sound, the lightning flashed. "Pitter patter, pitter patter!" And it showered heavily. Heavy raindrops came down with frightening speed.

"Oh, it's a shower!" "Lower your head, quickly!" Barely and wheat who were taking in the sun were astonished and shouted. Everyone lowered their heads, shut their buds and waited for the shower to pass by, but the buckwheat did not.

"Hum, what a fuss! It's only a shower." Rather, she raised her head arrogantly. "Buckwheat, lower your head quickly." Barely was surprised to see Buckwheat was raising her head and said.

"Why do I have to lower my head?" "Look at that heavy rain. You will get wounds from that beating rain all over your body. Besides, if your eyes are struck by the lightning, you'll be blind forever. God is inside of the lightning. We cannot look at him directly." Barely said impatiently.

"Is he really in the lightning? Well, I will look at him directly!" Buckwheat leaned backwards much more arrogantly than before. 'Flash!' At that moment, a very big lightning flashed. It looked like the whole world was on fire. "Oh my God!" All the grains shouted simultaneously and closed their eyes.

After a while, the shower stopped, and the sun shone gloriously. A beautiful rainbow appeared from the opposite side of the mountain. The grains slowly and carefully raised their heads after crouching themselves. They raised their moistly wet bodies and looked at the beautiful rainbow.

"Wow, what a beautiful rainbow!" "Yes, you're right. It is such a beautiful rainbow!" Rainbows after showers were always beautiful. Everyone felt cool and fresh, but buckwheat did not.

"Boo-hoo!" She lowered her head and was sobbing at one side. Buckwheat did not lower her head, so she got a big scar on her face from the heavy rains. On top of that, because she lost her sight from the lightning, she could never look at a rainbow again.

025 The Old House

There was a very old house in a street. A boy liked this house very much. An old man was living in that house.

The old man always looked out of the window. That's why they made a friendship with each other. The next Sunday morning, the boy visited the old house, and he talked to the old man.

"I have two toy soldiers, and this is one of them. I will give you one, because you look so lonely. ""Little friend, thank you for giving me such a nice gift and visiting me." The old man welcomed the boy and said.

The old man and the boy were so happy together. But the toy soldier started to complain. "I can't stand this house any more. I am too lonely and bored in this house." "Don't be sad. Instead, this house is beautiful, isn't it?"

"I am sick and tired everyday in here."" You have to stay here because you were the gift for my friend. Don't you understand that?" "I will go to a battlefield." The toy soldier yelled. The toy soldier fell to the ground, but nobody could find him.

"I will find where he is." But he couldn't find the toy soldier. It was too far away to be found. After dark the boy went back to his house. When the winter came, the old man died. A few days later after the old man's death, the old house was cleared away and a new house was built in that place. After many years, the little boy grew into a young man, and he married. He moved to the old man's house with a beautiful garden.

"Ouch! What is this?" His wife shouted out in pain. There was something sharp on the ground. Can you guess what it was? It was the toy soldier that he and the old man had been searching for. "Let me see."

The boy, now a grown-up, looked at the toy soldier carefully and smiled.

026 The Teapot

There was a teapot made of china, and she liked to boast about herself. She had one beautiful long mouth and a large grip on her front and rear, and she was particularly proud of them. But she hushed up about her ugly lid that was broken, cracked and glued loosely.

Teacups, a cream pitcher and a sugar bowl teased the teapot about her broken and scarred lid all the time. Whenever she listened to their teasing while she was boasting about herself, she suddenly felt depressed.

On all such occasions, she comforted herself by saying this, "Yes, I know what my weak point is. Everyone has not only his own weakness but also an excellent talent at the same time. The teacup has his grip, and the sugar bowl has his cover, but I have both. Besides, I have even a mouth that they don't have. Even if sugar bowl and cream pitcher stimulate people's appetite, I am the one who bestows favors on thirsty people. I am the Queen of a tea table!"

One day, a very beautiful and elegant hand picked up the teapot. But by mistake, the hand dropped the teapot to the floor. Her mouth and grip, which the teapot used to be proud of, and her lid were all broken into pieces, and people made such a fuss as they cleaned up the hot boiling water.

The teapot began to be treated as old and useless from that moment. She was shocked by the fact that everyone laughed at her instead of at the careless hand which dropped the teapot. The people gave her away to a beggar. "There's no hope for me." The teapot moaned and cried about her situation.

Even though the teapot had never imagined before, her new and different life began. One day, the teapot got filled with soil. She got another shock from it on that day, but someone planted a flower seed in her. The seed took root in the teapot and began to grow.

The teapot felt the seed as her heart. She came to life and breathed. While her heart was beating energetically, the seed pushed out new buds, and they bloomed. The teapot could forget her past, troubles and worries as she watched the flowers.

But the flowers did not even say thank you to the teapot. They seemed as if they didn't know that the teapot even existed.

Whoever looked at the flowers were all impressed by their beauty. The teapot just felt happy by watching them.

One day, someone moved the flowers from the teapot to a better flowerpot. The teapot was broken in two pieces and thrown away in the corner of a garden, but the teapot lived her life keeping her memories to herself.

027 The Jumper

A long time ago, there were a flea, a grasshopper and a paper doll. "I can jump higher than anyone else." The flea said arrogantly. "No, I can jump higher than you." The grasshopper shouted at the top of his voice. The dancing paper doll smiled without saying a word.

The flea and the grasshopper decided to compete with each other for the highest jump. They invited other people to their game. Even the king came to see their contest. "The one who jumps the highest can marry my daughter." The king said.

First, the flea introduced himself like a gentleman. "I am a Flea who lives with people. I can jump higher than anyone else in the world."

The grasshopper with his green cape stepped to the front and greeted the people. "My family is very famous for high jumping. My brothers are all wearing green capes and we can sing beautiful songs as well." Then the grasshopper sang a song in front of the audience. The people enjoyed his song very much and clapped.

Finally, the paper doll came to the front. He was so shy that he didn't say a word and just bowed.

"Well, let's start the match!" The flea took a deep breath and leaped up high. But something strange happened. The flea was too small for the audience to watch how high he jumped. "What? Did he jump or not?" The flea jumped up and fluttered as high as he could, but no one could see him.

The grasshopper was next. He put all of his strength in his hind legs and jumped up. When he came down, he landed on the king's face. "How dare you jump on my face!" The king felt unpleasant and got angry. "Put that rude grasshopper in jail!"

The paper doll got ready for the last turn. The king said to the paper doll in a loud voice. "I can't see the flea jumping, and that rude grasshopper dared to land on my face. If you make a fool of me like your two friends, you shall no longer live!"

The audience worried about the paper doll and said, "Can he jump high?" "I think maybe he can't. He will die." Then, the paper doll made up his mind and stepped to the front. The cool breeze blew gently.

The paper doll rose up in the air with the breeze. "He jumped up really high!" People were impressed by the paper doll. When he landed on the ground safely, the king was pleased with the paper doll very much and allowed him to marry his princess as he promised.

028 The Young Thief and His Mother

Long ago, there were a mother and a son living in a house. She worked hard everyday, but they were always poor.

One day, her son stole his friend's bag. "Mom, what do you think of this bag?" His mother praised her son rather than scolding him. "It looks great!"

The next time, he stole an overcoat. She praised him again when he stole it.

A few years later, he grew up to be a young man. He stole jewelry and brought them to his mother. "How beautiful!" This time, she did not scold her son again.

Then, because he was elated by his mother, he started to steal more expensive things. One day, the police caught him. Before putting him in jail, he begged the police to meet his mother. They took him to his mother.

As soon as he saw his mother, he bit her earlobe. "Ouch! What's the matter with you?" She finally scolded him. Her son answered. "If you had given me a scolding like that when I stole the first bag, I could not have become a thief."

She collapsed as she looked at her son heading to prison. "If I only could turn back time, I would scold him severely." She

regretted that she always praised him, whatever he did.

029 The Intimate Couple

There once was a top and a small ball in a big toy box. The top said to the ball. "We are living in this small box together, so why don't you marry me?" But the ball with a beautiful leather jacket, ignored his proposal.

The next day, the owner showed up. He painted the top with red and yellow colors and drove an iron nail into it. "Now, it looks perfect!" The owner spun the top round and round. When the top spun, he looked very nice.

"Look at me! I look great huh? Now, would you marry me?" The top asked the ball again. "We will be a great couple. You can jump up and down, and I can dance."

But the ball with the great leather jacket ignored him again. "I am wearing a wonderful and elegant leather jacket. There is no comparison between you and me." The ball was still cold. The top begged her to marry him. "But the master loves me very much. Please marry me."

"No way. I am engaged to a swallow. Whenever I jump up in the air, he asks me to marry him, and I say yes." "Really? Well, then there is nothing I can do about it." The top was very disappointed.

The next day, the owner brought the ball outside. The ball jumped very high and down. But this time, the ball didn’t come dow n after she jumped up. The owner searched everywhere, but he couldn't find the ball. The top sighed and said, "She must have followed the swallow. I hope she is happy with him."

But the top could never forget her. A few years passed. The top was all painted with a golden color. When he spun powerfully with a buzz, he looked wonderful.

One day, he spun so hard and fast that he flew away. The top landed on the roof. The roof was full of all sorts of things. "Oh, what is that crumpled thing over there?" The top went close to it. Even though she was worn-out, it was the ball with the leather jacket. "Hi!" The ball couldn't recognize the top because he looked so different than before.

"It's me. Top." She recognized him and cried. "I didn't follow the swallow. Actually I liked you, but my pride didn't allow me to marry you." After that, the top and the ball got married and lived happily ever after.

030 The Beauty of a Shabby Little Dandelion

Spring has come for the flowers and trees, in the forest and fields. Spring has also come on the wild flowers under the fence and on a small apple tree. There were red bursting flower buds hanging on the fresh apple tree branches.

The apple Tree Branches were proud of themselves knowing that they were very beautiful. A Countess admired the branches, so she broke one of them off, held it in her hand, and she went back to her splendid castle in her wonderful carriage. The Countess put the branch among the fresh and green beech trees, and she smiled with satisfaction.

The apple Tree Branch held up his head and looked at many kinds of people who came in and out. They all showed different reactions to the Apple Tree Branch. All the people reacted differently when they saw the Apple Tree branch. Some were expressionless without a word, some overpraised the beauty of the Apple Tree Branch, and others gazed at him with a satisfied look.

Seeing these various reactions from people, the Apple Tree Branch realized that people have as diverse personalities as plants and flowers do and that they are all different. The Apple Tree branch looked at the fields and a garden through the open window. There were shabby flowers and plants as well as beautiful ones in the garden.

'Those grasses are so pathetic. It's not their fault they have such ugly and squalid names. However, everything is different in this world.' The apple Tree Branch sympathized and looked at the little flowers blooming next to the fields and streams.

At that time, the Sun kissed the Apple Tree Branch, a dandelion in the field, the abundant beautiful flowers, and the shabby flowers and said, "Yes, there is difference among everything, but throw away your prejudice and look ahead with a broad point of view. What do you think the poorest plant is?" "A Dandelion. People do not use it even for a bouquet, and it is so common that people trample it down carelessly. It is not different from a weed at all."

At that time, children ran across the field, rolled about on the lawn, and picked and kissed the dandelions. They made necklaces and garlands of them. They looked wonderful with the golden flowers and green stems.