The Tale Of The Clever Peasant Once upon a time in a village in Ukraine, there lived a rich landlord. He owned many farms, fields and forests. He owned so much land, that the peasants of the village treated him as their chief. The chief however was an arrogant and petty minded man, with very little regard for the peasants and poor men who depended on him. He was greedy, very proud of his wealth and considered the peasants, poor and filthy, who smelt like dung. He would never entertain any peasant in his mansion, nor let any poor farmer come near him. The poor farmers and peasants cons ... read more

The Tale Of The Tyrant And The Butler Bernardo Visconti, the despot of Milan was in his day more feared than any other ruler was. Although he was pitiless, there was always a shade of justice in his cruelty. This is the story of a wealthy man and owner of one of the castles given to him by Bernardo. He was well known for his miserliness. One instance he was summoned to the court for having failed to feed his bullmastiffs (dogs), which had become vicious and attacked cattle. Therefore, he was condemned by Bernardo to pay a fine of four florins (gold coins). Upon hearing the amount, the mi ... read more

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful warrior called Chang’e who was married to a brave and strong archer named Houyi. The couple were both immortals who lived in the heavens, and both were well known for their brave acts of courage against many dangerous adversaries. One day, the Queen Mother of the West summoned Chang’e and Houyi to earth because the Jade Emperor’s ten sons had turned themselves into orange balls of fire and were sitting in the sky above the earth. The heat was too much for the earth. Ten burning suns in the sky meant that it was never night time, and the earth neve ... read more

Nasreddin Hodja is the name of the wise fool in so many Turkish tales, and tales beyond Turkey through the Middle East and North Africa and far into the Balkans, into Russia, as far as India and China… Hodja Nasreddin had a lamb that was now fully grown. His neighbours came. ‘Nasreddin Hodja, your sheep is fat. Let us go and slaughter it by the river. The sun is shining. We will have a feast!’ ‘I don’t think so,’ said Nasreddin. ‘But, Nasreddin, haven’t you heard? The world is going to end tomorrow!’ ‘The world is going to end…? Very well.’ And they led the sheep down to the ... read more

THE VALUABLE GIFT John had a desire to have a bicycle of his own but his father was not rich enough to afford the same. One day, when John was on his way to school, he saw a big boy on a cycle. As the boy was turning around a corner, the cycle skidded on a puddle of water and the boy fell down. John went to him and helped him to get up. The boy was badly injured. John first took him to a doctor and then helped him to reach his house. The boy belonged to a rich family and gladly presented the cycle to John.