Fairy tales
The Ant and the Grasshopper
In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great effort an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
«Why not come and chat with me,» said the Grasshopper, «instead of toiling and moiling away?» «I am helping to lay up food for the winter,» said the Ant, «and recommend you to do the same.» «Why bother about winter?» said the Grasshopper; «we have got plenty of food at present.»
But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.
Then the Grasshopper knew…
The Lion and the Mouse
Once when a Lion was asleep, a little Mouse began running up and down upon him. This soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him and opened his big jaws to swallow him.
«Pardon, O King!» cried the little Mouse, «Forgive me this time. I shall never repeat it and I shall never forget your kindness. And who knows, but I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days?»
The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let him go.
Sometime later a few hunters captured the King and tied him to a tree while they went in search of a wagon to carry him on.
Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, ran up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts. «Was I not right?» said the little Mouse, very happy to help the Lion.
The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs
Once upon a time, a man and his wife had the good fortune to have a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough.
They imagined that if the bird must be able to lay golden eggs, its insides must be made of gold. And they thought that if they could get all that precious metal at once, they would get mighty rich very soon. So the man and his wife decided to kill the bird.
However, upon cutting the goose open, they were shocked to find that its innards were like that of any other goose!
A Horse and a Dog
Once upon a time there was a horse whose name was Reginald. Every morning he was delivering milk, he usually met his friend Blackie, who was a little black dog.
Reginald didn’t want to be a milkman’s horse. He wanted to be a racehorse and win the Derbi.1 And Blackie, who had rather short legs, wanted to be able to run very fast, like a hound.
One afternoon they were sitting in Reginald’s stable. Suddenly Blackie said that he had, an idea.
«Why do we not eat coal?» — he said. «Trains eat coal a run fast.»
They thought about this for a long time, and at last Reginald said: «Let’s try it,»
So they went down to the coal cellar. They were going to take some some coal, when Mrs Marry, the landlady, came in.
«What! You are stealing my coal!» — she began to cry, and she picked up a piece of coal and threw it at them. They ran away. They had never run so fast in their lives before.2
Just then the Mayor was looking out of the window.
«Oh, that horse can run fast I’m sure it can win the Derby, look at the dog; it’s a real hound I’ll give them each a medal.» And he did.
The Round Little Bun.
Once there lived an old man and old woman.The old man said,
“Old woman, bake me a bun.”
“What can I make it from? I have no flour.” “Eh, eh, old woman! Scrape the cupboard, sweep the flour bin, and you will find enough flour.”
The old woman picked up a duster, scraped the cupboard, swept the flour bin and gathered about two handfuls of flour.
She mixed the dough with sour cream, fried it in butter, and put the bun on the window sill to cool. The bun lay and lay there. Suddenly it rolled off the window sill to the bench, from the bench to the floor, from the floor to the door. Then it rolled over the threshold to the entrance hall, from the entrance hall to the porch, from the porch to the courtyard, from the courtyard trough the gate and on and on.
The bun rolled along the road and met a hare.
“Little bun, little bun, I shall eat you up!” said the hare. “Don’t eat me, slant-eyed hare! I will sing you a song,” said the bun, and sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And cooled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma
And I’ll get away from you, hare!
And the bun rolled away before the hare even saw it move!
The bun rolled on and met
a wolf.
“Little bun, little bun, I shall eat you up,” said the wolf.
“Don’t eat me, gray wolf!” said the bun. “I will sing you a song.” And the bun sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And cooled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma
I got away from the hare,
And I’ll get away from you, gray wolf!
And the bun rolled away before the wolf even saw it move!
The bun rolled on and met
a bear.
“Little bun, little bun, I shall eat you up,” the bear said.
“You will not, pigeon toes!”
And the bun sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And cooled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma
I got away from the hare,
I got away from the wolf,
And I’ll get away from you, big bear!
And again the bun rolled away before the bear even saw it move!
The bun rolled and rolled and met
a fox.
“Hello, little bun, how nice yor are!” said the fox.
And the bun sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And cooled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma,
I got away from the hare,
I got away from the wolf,
I got away from bear,
And I’ll get away from you, old fox!
“What a wonderful song!” said the fox. “But little bun, I have became old now and hard of hearing. Come sit on my snout and sing your song again a little louder.”
The bun jumped up on the fox’s snout and sang the same song.
“Thank you, little bun, that was a wonderful song. I’d like to hear it again. Come sit on my tongue and sing it for the last time,” said the fox, sticking out her tongue.
The bun foolishly jumped onto her tongue and- snatch!- she ate it.
The Turnip
Grandpa planted a turnip. The turnip grew bigger and bigger. Grandpa came to pick the turnip, pulled and pulled but couldn’t pull it up! Grandpa called Grandma.
Grandma pulled Grandpa,
Grandpa pulled the turnip.
They pulled and pulled but couldn’t pull it up! Granddaughter came.
Granddaughter pulled Grandma,
Grandma pulled Grandpa,
Grandpa pulled the turnip. They pulled and pulled but couldn’t pull it up!
The doggy came.
Doggy pulled Granddaughter,
Granddaughter pulled Grandma,
Grandma pulled Grandpa,
Grandpa pulled the turnip. They pulled and pulled but couldn’t pull it up!
A kitty came.
Kitty pulled doggy,
Doggy pulled Granddaughter,
Granddaughter pulled Grandma,
Grandma pulled Grandpa,
Grandpa pulled the turnip. They pulled and pulled but couldn’t pull it up!
A mouse came.
The mouse pulled kitty,
Kitty pulled doggy,
Doggy pulled Granddaughter,
Granddaughter pulled Grandma,
Grandma pulled Grandpa,
Grandpa pulled the turnip. They pulled and pulled and pulled the turnip up!
The fox and the crane
The fox made friends with the crane. The fox once had a notion to treat the crane to dinner and went to invite him to her house.
“Come godfather! Come dear! How I’ll entertain you!”
The crain went to the dinner party. The fox had cooked farina cereal and spread it over a plate. She served it and urged.
“Eat, my friend-godfather, I cooked it myself. ”
The crane went peck-peck with his bill, knocked and knocked, but got nothing. Meanwhile, the fox licked and licked the cereal until she had eaten it all.
The cereal eaten, the fox said,
“Don’t be offended dear godfather. There is nothing more to offer you.”
“Thank you, godmother for that. Come to visit me.”
The next day the fox went, and
the crane made cold soup.
He poured it into a pitcher with a narrow neck and put it on the table. He said,
“Eat godmother. Truly, there’s nothing more offer you.”
The fox began to spin around the pitcher. She approached it one way, then another. She licked it and sniffed it, but couldn’t get anything. Her head wouldn’t fit into the pitcher.
Mean-while the crane sucked and sucked until he had eaten everything up.
“Don’t be offended godmother. There’s nothing more to offer you.”
The fox was annoyed, having thought she would eat for the whole week. She went home having gotten nothing.
It was tit for tat! From that moment on, the friendship between fox and crane was over.