151 Folk Tales

Long ago, the Sun and the Moon were a couple. One day, the Moon had to gather vegetables in the forest and asked the Sun to watch over their children. She warned him not to get too near the children as they would get burned. The Sun watched the kids from a distance, but he […]

There were two brothers, one rich and one poor. One day, the poor brother met an elf who gave him a magical mill. The mill gave him everything he wanted. He became very rich. Now, the rich brother heard about it. He wanted the mill so that it might grind salt and he could sell

Once, a young girl wanted to celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus by offering something to Him. Seeing the gold, frankincense and myrrh brought by others, she despaired that she had no gift to bring, for she was poor indeed. She thought she could gift some flowers but winter had been cold and harsh and

On a terribly cold day, a poor little girl roamed through the streets. She carried a number of matches in her hands. No one had bought anything of her the whole day. The poor little girl was so tired and cold that she fell on the snow and went off to sleep. In her sleep,

Once, a king joked about the large nose of a witch. Instantly, the fuming witch shouted, “When you have a son, he shall have an enormous nose; a nose that shall remain until the moment he realizes what a long nose he has.” Soon the queen had a son named Andre. He was very pretty,

There was a time when the sky was very low. It was so low that people could touch it if they raised their hands. Now, in a village there lived an old woman all by herself. One day, she saw that her courtyard was very dirty. She picked her broomstick up and swept the ground

Once, a man was passing through a forest when he saw an elf. The man thought, ‘Hmm! I am sure he knows where to find some gold.’ Thinking so, the man started talking to the elf. However, after a few minutes of idle conversation, the man became impatient. He grabbed the elf and demanded to

Once, a white elephant was hurt. He came limping where some carpenters were working. The carpenters saw that his foot was swollen and sore. There was a splinter in the sore foot. They pulled it out and washed the sore carefully. Thankful for the cure, the elephant thought, “These carpenters have done so much for

Once, a mouse was of a marriageable age. But he was very choosy and could not find someone suitable. So, his desperate parents visited God to ask him for a wife for their son. God said, “Go to the Wind. He is very strong.” But the Wind said, “I am not the strongest. The Mountain

It was Christmas time. A mother was busy cleaning her house for Christmas. All the spiders ran to the attic. When the cleaning was over, the spiders slowly crept downstairs to see the Christmas tree. They excitedly ran up the tree and along the branches. They were very happy to see the tree. But sadly,

Many years ago, there was no system of transport in the desert. People had to face many difficulties. Then one day, a man saw a huge animal. It was a camel. The man thought, ‘What creature is this? It has a huge hump.’ The camel came and started drinking water from a pool. Soon, other

Long ago, there was a man who was equal to the size of a thumb. But he was very intelligent. Therefore, the king made him his minister. One day, an argument arose between his country and another country. The king did not know how to solve the matter. So, he sent his minister to the

Once, a bee took honey for god Zeus. Delighted by the bee’s offering, Zeus ordered that she should be given whatever she asked for. Now, the bee had a very strange wish. He said to Zeus, “Grant me a sting so that I may defend myself and my honey.” Zeus was not sure what to

One day, a tortoise heard of a feast that the sky-gods were giving for their friends, the birds. The feast was to be in the sky. The tortoise pleaded with the birds to take him. The birds agreed. Each bird stuck a few feathers onto the tortoise till he was covered with many feathers. He

Once, there was a poor fisherman and his troublesome wife. One day, the fisherman caught a golden fish. The fish pleaded, “Please let me go! I am the king of the sea! I will grant you any wish!” The fisherman let the fish go. He told his wife everything and she became angry. She said,