Folk Tales (for Crystal)

Laila and the wolf

This is a famous story from my childhood. Once upon a long time ago, there was a beautiful and energetic little girl named Laila. She always obeys and listens to her mother. One day, the mother made some cake, and asked Laila to take it to her old grandmother in the woods. Laila said "heard and obedience, Mom," and took the cakes from her mother, and went to the woods. She was happy to visit her grandmother who did not see for a long time. Laila was singing and dancing in her way to her grandmother small house. In the middle of the road, she heard some noise behind the trees. Laila walked towards the voice and then saw a wolf. He looked at her and said "Where are you going?" She said "I am going to my grandmother's house; at the last part of the jungle." The wolf asked her another question; “why do you want to go there?" Laila said "to give her the cake that my mom made to her. Then the wolf thought quickly and decided to reach the house before Laila. He took a short cut throughout the woods and arrived at the house before her. He knocked on the door and a weak voice came out from inside "who is at the door?" The wolf changed his vice and said "I'm Laila grandmother; I brought you some cake!” The grandmother respond "oh dear, I cannot get out of the bed, pull the rope in the door and come in” The wolf opened the door, walked into the house, and ate Laila’s grandmother. After that, he worn the grandmothers’ clothes, and lay down into her bed. After a while, Laila arrived and knocked at the door. The wolf imitated her grandmother’s voice and asked "who is it at the door?" Laila responded "I'm Laila grandmother; I brought you some cake. The wolf said "I cannot get out of the bed, pull the rope and come in” She opened the door and entered the house. She went to her grandmother's bed and she was amazed by her body under the blanket. Laila asked "Why your eyes are big my grandmother?" The wolf said " so that I can see you well, Laila" She asked another question "why do you have big ears my grandmother?" The wolf said "so that I can hear you clearly" Laila said "Why your nose looks bigger?" He said "so that I can smell better.” Laila said with a scared voice “why your mouth looks bigger my grandmother?" He laughed and said “to eat you!” and jumped from the bed to attack Laila, but Liala ran away from the house and the wolf behind her. Accidentally, a fishman saw that sense and he was carrying his gun, so he killed the wolf. Laila was sad because of her grandmother and happy that she still alive. She thanked the fisherman for his help and said to the wolf "you deserve this because you are a vicious animal." (Eve)

The Tortoise and the Hare 

The tortoise was slow, but even-tempered, and he didn't mind going on a long walk in the countryside, just on general principle. The Hare, however, really didn't like running, since he did it for a living. He knew he could beat the Tortoise in a race, because he was way faster than the Tortoise, so when he had the opportunity, he challenged the Tortoise, and they both set off on a fine spring day.

The sun was shining and a gentle breeze was blowing, and the Hare became very overconfident. He thought he could stop and take a nap for a while, and still beat Tortoise. He picked the finest tree and settled in for a long nap. He probably still could have beat Tortoise, if he'd woken up, but he didn't. For some reason, he was quite short of sleep, and slept right on through afternoon tea.

Tortoise won the race, because he never stopped, or quit, or even slowed down. And, the amazing thing was, he wasn't really mean to Hare at all. Hare was already very embarrassed, since he lost a race to the Tortoise, and on top of that, he was confused, as one often is, if one takes a long nap in the afternoon. Some of the animals were yelling at them. But it was mostly because most of them realized that this was a special event, one that they wouldn't see very often. The Tortoise had actually beaten the Hare.  (Tom L.)

John Henry

Once upon a time, when the first railroads where being built across the country, there lived a man named John Henry. John Henry was a steel driving man who drove steel faster than any other man alive. One day a man arrived from out east with a steam powered hammer. The man claimed that this hammer could drive steel faster than any man. When John Henry heard this, he challenged the man to a competition to see who could clear a tunnel in the mountains faster, John Henry or the steam hammer. John Henry drove steel as fast as he could, and his heart was pumping as fast as it could. In the end, John Henry beat that steam hammer, but he paid a terrible price, for his heart gave out just as he finished, and he lay down and died at that spot. (Dustin)

Mr. Ye Likes the Dragon

Once upon a time, in ancient China, there was a man who liked the Chinese dragon very much. In his house, the walls and the columns were decorated with dragons of different shapes and different styles. His clothes have various dragon patterns. He talked about dragons all the time. The real dragon in the heaven heard of Mr. Ye’s obsession with him. He was moved so he decided to visit Mr. Ye in person.

One day, the thunder striked and the lightening came. The real dragon came to Mr. Ye’s home through the open window. Mr. Ye saw the real dragon. Instead of embracing him, Mr. Ye screamed and ran away.

Mr. Ye in this folk story just liked the dragon in the pictures instead of the real one. So many people claim to hold some kind of view, but in reality it is simply a lie. (Lucy)

Princess and the Pea

Once upon a time there was a prince who lived in a huge castle with his mother, the queen. The queen desperately wanted her son to find someone he could call his princess. The prince courted many ladies, but inevitably, there was always something wrong with them.

“She’s too thin!” he would say. “Her nose is too small!” his mother would say. And on and on.

One night there was a terrible storm that made all the roads in the kingdom impassable. The prince was sleeping soundly in his room, and the queen was making her way to her chambers, when there was a knock at the castle door. The queen opened the door to a young woman, soaking wet from the rain.

“Hello, I’m a princess. May I please stay here tonight?” the young woman asked the queen.

“Why, certainly,” the queen said. “I’ll have a room set up at once.”

The queen, determined to have her son married off, devised a plan to test the girl to see if she was truly a princess, worthy of the prince. Once the spare room was ready, the queen hid a single pea under the mattress of the bed.

“If she’s a true princess,” mused the queen, “she will not be able to sleep a wink tonight.”

The girl was shown to her room, and told to ring a bell if she required anything. Cold and tired from her journey, the princess climbed into the bed and curled up under the covers. But she could not sleep. The bed was so uncomfortable the princess could swear she could feel her back bruising. And so she rang the bell and was delivered a second mattress, placed on top of the first. But still she could not sleep. Again she rang the bell, and again another mattress was added to the bed. On and on this continued until finally there were 20 mattresses piled to the ceiling, and yet the girl could not sleep.

The next morning, the queen sent for the girl, eager to see if the girl had passed the test.

“I trust you slept well,” said the queen to the girl.

“Sadly, I was unable to sleep,” replied the princess, forgetting her manners. “The bed was so uncomfortable that my back is surely covered in bruises.”

The queen was overjoyed! The girl was indeed a true princess; finally, the prince would have a wife. Delighted, the queen addressed the girl,

“My dear, I am sorry that your back is bruised, but perhaps this piece of good news will help ease the pain: Last night was a test, a test to see if you were truly of royal blood, and therefore worthy of marrying my son.”

The princess looked at the queen and said, “That is crazy. I never asked to marry your son, I did not even know you had a son. What you did was super weird and I would never consider marrying into this family.”

And with that the princess left the castle, thanking her lucky stars she had escaped a terrible fate.*

The end (Rachel Berlingeri)

*Ending has been adapted for modern audiences

Dinu’s Bill

In a small town there was a small family of three people, Mr. and Mrs Oak and their young son named Dinu. Dinu’s dad was a doctor and he had his own clinic. Dinu was just starting to go to primary school. He loved reading storybooks and counting numbers. He was also interested in learning new things. He used to help his mother, who was a homemaker, to do small household chores. He used to go to his dad’s clinic to see how his dad worked. He loved the way people were happy after his dad gave them medicines and treatment.

One such afternoon he was sitting in his dad’s clinic and observing the overall routine of patients. He noticed that all the patients had different concerns; some said they had fever, some said there stomach aches while some had cold or headache. He observed that whatever their concerns, everyone got a bill. He now understood everything that happened in the clinic except that bill. So one day he decided he would ask his father what a bill was. When he asked his father about it, his father handed him someone’s bill. He asked his dad, “What does this mean?” His dad said, “These are the fees we get from our patients, for example, there is a fee of $20 for checking them, there is a $10 fee per visit, there is $5 fee for medicines I gave them, etc., and here is the total, $35. I get paid for all these kinds of work I do for the patients.” Dinu kept looking at the bill for a long time. He suddenly remembered something and smiled to himself.

Later in the evening as he came home and had his supper, and he started writing a bill for his mother. He wrote, $2 for helping with the dishes, $2 for watering the plants, and $3 to watch the baby, and that made a total of $7. He kept this paper in his mom’s room and went to sleep. Next morning as he got up, he noticed his $7 placed on his desk. He grabbed the money and was about to start planning what to do with it, when he saw a paper lying on the desk. He picked up the paper and started reading. It was his mom’s handwriting. She had written a bill for Dinu. She wrote, fees for raising you up till now - ‘nothing’, fees for staying up late when you were ill,- ‘nothing’, everyday preparing food for you - ‘nothing’, every day dropping you off and picking you up from school - ‘nothing’ and the total for all - ‘nothing’. As he completed reading this bill, he understood he had done wrong. He ran to his mom and said nothing. He hugged her tight and burst into tears. His mom hugged him and kissed him back and said, “Now your bill is paid; I love you too.”

Moral: There is no measure to parents love. It cannot be repaid. (Snigdha)

The Nightingale and the Rose

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful nightingale in the forest. She liked singing a lot, especially singing for love. One day she heard a young student crying sadly. “If I could give her a red rose, my love would dance with me tomorrow and we will definitely have a wonderful time at the ball. But where can I find a red rose?” the student cried. It was already winter and there were no red roses in the garden. The nightingale was deeply moved by the young man. “I always sing for the lovers but have never seen them before. This young student is a true lover I finally see. He is so beautiful, sincere but hopeless. What a sad love story!”

The nightingale decided to help the young student and flew over to all the rose trees around. However, they only had white roses or yellow roses. She didn’t give up and finally found one red rose tree. “Please give me one red rose and I can sing my best song for you,” the nightingale said to the tree. “I wish I could help, but it’s too cold and my veins are blocked. I don’t have any red rose now. There’s only one way for you to have a red rose by tomorrow, but it’s terrible,” said the tree. “I’m willing to know it”, the nightingale insisted. The tree told her that she had to irrigate the rose by her sweetest singing and also her blood from her heart. “Life is so precious. Life is so beautiful. But love is even more precious and beautiful than life”, the nightingale said.

She decided to help the young student and sacrifice herself. That night, she kept singing for love and let the thorns of the rose prick her chest. Little by little, the rose became marvelous red, as beautiful as a ruby. But the nightingale couldn’t see it. Her only wish was that the young student could keep loyal and dedicate himself to love.

The next day, the young student was so surprised by the amazing red rose and ran to the girl’s house without waiting. “Here’s a wonderful red rose for you, and please dance with me tonight as you agreed,” the young student said happily. But the girl was not willing to and they had a quarrel. The red rose irrigated by the nightingale’s blood was thrown.

“Love is so silly. It is not practical at all. I need to learn something logical and useful,” the student said as he walked back to his home. (Songjing)

Two Brothers and the Starfruit Tree

A long time ago, in a remote village of Vietnam, there were two brothers. Although their late parents had left them a great fortune, the greedy older brother kept the best things for himself and left the worst things for his younger brother. The older one lived in a large house made of wood and brick, his rice field extended to the horizon, and his pocket was full of gold. The younger one lived in an old cottage made of mud and straw, his garden was limited to several footsteps, and his pocket was empty.

The poor young one had to struggle for his life. In the morning, he worked on the rice field of his brother and in the evening, he raised a small starfruit tree in his garden. As time went by, the tree grew bigger and became laden with fruits. The man was happy because he could sell the starfruits in the village market for extra income. One day, a giant bird came and ate all of the fruits on his tree. It was a huge craven with its wingspan matching the height of the tree. Therefore, the man could do nothing to stop the bird although he was sad and angry. Hopelessly, he asked the craven, “How can you steal my starfruits? I am poor and these starfruits are my only valuable things.”

The giant creature slowly looked at him. Suddenly, it said to him with a gentle voice, “I ate your starfruits and I will pay you with gold. Sew a three hand-span bag and meet me tomorrow under the tree. “

Then the strange winged creature flew away. The young man was frightened and fascinated at the same time. He believed that the bird was a magical creature that came to help him escape his poverty. Thus, he stayed up all night to sew a three hand-span bag and hoped that good things could happen to him.

The next day, the giant craven put the man on its back and carried him across the sea to a faraway island, which was covered with fog and gold. The man was astonished with the enormous treasure but he only took enough gold to fill his bag and then the bird carried him back home.

From that day, the young man did not have to work on his brother’s rice field anymore. He bought land for himself and kept working as a diligent farmer. The older brother was curious about the sudden wealth of his sibling so he pursued the young man to get him to tell him the truth. Jealous with his brother’s luck, the greedy man asked his young sibling to give him the cottage and the garden with the starfruit tree in exchange for all of his properties. Then the greedy man sewed a ten hand-span bag and waited for the giant bird to come.

One day, the huge craven returned to eat its favorite starfruits. The greedy man eagerly came out of his cottage and shouted at the bird, “How dare you steal my starfruits? You must pay for the fruits you have eaten.”

The strange creature looked at him carefully and said, “I ate your starfruits and I will pay you with gold. Sew a three hand-span bag and meet me tomorrow under the tree. “

The next day, the giant bird put the greedy man on its back and carried him across the sea to a faraway island, which was covered with fog and gold. Astonished by the enormous treasure, the older brother gathered as much gold as he could. He filled up his ten hand-span bag as well as all the pockets on his clothes with gold. The bird asked the older brother to throw away some of his treasure so it could safely carry him home but he refused. Finally, the bird could not withstand the weight of the greedy man and his gold. Therefore, it dropped him in the middle of the sea. (Hoa)

A Little Horse Crossing the River

A little horse and his mom lived in a small village. One day, little horse’s mom asked him to send a bag of wheat to a mill. The little horse felt so excited about this task. He carried the wheat and left his house. On the way to the mill, he met a river. He was anxious about the river because he wasn’t sure if he could cross the river safely. Luckily, the little horse saw that aunt cow just passed by the river. So he asked, ”Aunt cow, is the river deep?” Aunt cow said, “Don’t worry, child, the river is very shallow. Water can only reach my knees.” The little horse felt much better and planned to cross the river. At that moment, a little squirrel saw his behavior. The little squirrel shouted at the little horse, “Don’t cross the river. The river is so deep. My friend drowned in the river yesterday.” The little horse got shocked. He didn’t know what he could do. So he went home. His mom was surprised to see him so soon. The little horse told his mom what had happened. After his story, his mom smiled and she encouraged the little horse to cross the river by himself. The little horse got his mom’s encouragement and decided to try if he could cross the river by himself. When he arrived at the river, he walked in a few steps in the river. He found the water was just below his belly. Finally, he crossed the river successfully.

This story tells children a principle: when they face some problems, they should be brave and try to figure them out by themselves first. (Yu)

The Egret and the Fox

A long time ago, when all animals could talk, there lived an egret and a fox in a deep forest. They had a very good friendship. One day, the fox invited the egret to have dinner with him. The egret was very happy to get the invitation. But his happiness did not last long when he came to the fox’s house. The fox made soup and served it with a flat plate so that the egret could not eat much. Then the fox said to the egret: “Take it my friend. I have made it with my hands.” But the egret was not able to eat that with its long beak. In the meantime, the fox ate everything and said to the egret, “Sorry, my friend. There’s no more left. I have eaten everything.” The egret replied, “It’s alright, I’m full.” Then the egret was planning to take revenge. This time, he invited the fox to his house. He served food to the fox in a narrow jug and said, “Eat my friend. It’s delicious.” The fox was very sad. He thought he would eat a lot of food. But he returned home in an empty stomach. After that, their friendship ended and the fox learned a good lesson – “As you sow so shall you reap”. (Hla)

The King and his Daughters

A long time ago, there was a king who had three beautiful daughters. He loved them so much. He used to spend considerable time with his children from his busy schedule of royal activities.

The king planned to ask the same question to all his daughters about how much they loved him. At first, he asked the question to his elder daughter. She replied that she loved her father as much as like ‘sugar’. The king was very happy with her answer. Second, he asked her second daughter the same question. She told that she like her father like ‘fruit’. This answer from his daughter also made him happy. Last, he asked her younger daughter how much she liked him. The younger daughter responded that she liked him like ‘salt’. The king was disappointed with her answer but he did not say anything.

The little princesses grew up as time passed. The king started to think about their marriage. He found a good looking prince from another kingdom and arranged a lavish marriage ceremony for the first princess. He gave them a lot of presents. For the second daughter, he arranged an even more lavish marriage ceremony. The king provided a seven-day ceremony. People from all over the kingdom came and enjoyed the marriage ceremony. After that he left with his younger daughter. The king did not forget the answer from his little daughter that she gave in childhood. There was no big celebration in this case. Her husband was a poor farmer. The king did not give any presents. She cried a lot and went to her husband’s house with an unhappy face.

The king used to visit his two daughters frequently. He skipped going to his younger daughter’s house. However, he managed time and went her house once. She was very happy and made a very good arrangement within her capability for her beloved father. At dinner, she served various items of cooked foods. The king ate them but he did not enjoy any food item. He told her daughter that she might have forgotten to put salt in all the foods after dinner. She chuckled and told that it was not a mistake. She deliberately did not put salt in foods. The king realized and praised his most intelligent daughter. As he got older, he wanted to retire from all royal works. He made his younger son in law as king of his province. (Nazir)

Story

Once upon a time in a faraway village there lived a couple that had no kid but a weak donkey. The village had been struck by a severe famine for several years. Nevertheless the couple had strong association with the place where they were born and grown up. They did not want to leave the village as they had sweet memories of childhood, early days of friendship, and their marriage. Both husband and wife wished every day that it would rain the other day but their wish never came true. One day they had to say goodbye to their home to find a better place where they could live the rest of their lives. The wife’s brother lived three villages away from their place in a place which had lush green fields and wells filled with clean water. The husband packed a few things from their home into a big piece of cloth and tied the cloth onto a stick. They took their donkey and set off on their journey. They preferred the path where they could pass through some villages as they thought that they would eat food and take rest there. When they were passing from the first village, the villagers started mocking them and said, “Just look at these idiots. They have a donkey and instead of riding on it, they are walking”. The husband felt insulted, asked his wife to sit on the donkey, and went away. As they were passing through the second village, the villagers started laughing and said, “How cowardly a man he is. His wife must be very bossy and he even has no courage to ask her to come down and walk.” That time the wife asked him to sit on the donkey and said that she would rather choose to walk all the way to her brother’s home. In the next village, the residents again started verbally bashing the husband and said, “This man is the devil. He is a burden on the poor animal and a rascal to his wife. Alas! The unlucky woman and the poor animal!” Then the wife said to her husband that people were going to say whatever first thing would come to their minds. It was better to walk silently and pay no heed to what others were saying. When one of them would be tired, he or she would get on the donkey and switch when other one was exhausted. Therefore the couple continued their journey without a break and reached their family members’ home.

Moral: What other people think of you is none of your business. (Fahad)

Folk Tale

In Saudi Arabia, there is a very famous and beautiful tale that everyone enjoys both young and old. The story is about a young girl named Sally. Sally was a beautiful wealthy and kind girl. She was the daughter of a very wealthy businessman who worked with diamonds and other very valuable rocks. Sally lived with her father in India. Her mother had passed away when she was young. Sally’s father took very good care of her and he loved her very much. He also made sure that she got the best education and he taught her French alongside the English language.

Sally’s father sent Sally to a private school in London. There, she studied with many other wealthy students. However, because Sally was very intelligent and beautiful, there were some people who were very jealous of her including the head of the school. Sally was a very kind girl and she liked to help others. She was also very nice to poor people including her driver and servants in the private school. Unfortunately, one day Sally’s father lost all his money and he passed away. As a result, Sally was alone and had no money or any place to go. The head of the school was pleased to see Sally so sad and broken and she decided to make Sally an offer. She offered Sally a job, which was to work as a servant in the school. By working as a servant, Sally would have a place to stay and some food to eat. Sally became friends with a servant called Viki. Sally was very sad and went through very difficult times.

One day, a man who was very close to her father bought a house next to the private school by coincidence. This man was very wealthy and worked with Sally’s father as his business partner. This man had a monkey and one day the monkey wandered away and jumped through the window into Sally’s room. Sally figured out that the monkey belonged to the man who lived next to the school and she decided to take the monkey to the man. When she met the man, she introduced herself. The man also noticed that Sally spoke French and knew some Indian words. He figured out that this was his business partner’s daughter Sally.

He informed Sally that he had paid for all of her father’s debts and he decided to make Sally his business partner. Sally became wealthy again and her father’s partner became her guardian. Sally travelled back to India with her father’s friend and she took her friend Viki with her. The moral of this story is to never lose hope and that becoming poor after being rich does not mean that it is the end of the world. (Abdullah Hidan)

Folk Tale

Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived two sisters named Teton Buri and Boka Buri. Teton was very cunning and Boka was foolish. Before death, their father left three things for them: a blanket, a mango tree and a cow.

As Teton was very cunning, she came up with a sneaky idea about sharing their property. She proposed that Boka would get the blanket during the day and she would get it during the night. Boka was very simple and foolish. So she accepted the proposal. Daytime was warmer, so the blanket had no use for her. But at night, when the weather was colder, Teton used it to cover her to get warm. Boka was shivering from cold, but could do nothing as she already agreed to the proposal.

Teton proposed that she wanted the back end of their cow and Boka could get the front end. Boka foolishly accepted the proposal. Every day Boka fed their cow while Teton took milk from it. She used to make cheese and butter from the milk and sold it to the market. She was getting rich.

Teton also suggested that Boka should get the bottom half of the mango tree. Boka watered the tree while Teton picked the sweet and ripe mangoes from the tree. Boka cried to Teton for a mango. But Teton was shrewd and never shared the mangoes.

One day Boka went to a market where she met a wise man. She shared her stories with the wise man. He was sad to hear her stories and gave her some advice to cope with her sister.

She returned home and applied those tricks. She wetted the blanket before giving it to her sister. Teton used the blanked at night and suddenly she realized that it was wet. For the whole night Teton shivered in cold and realized how her sister was sleeping without having the blanket.

In the morning, Teton went to milk the cow. But Boka kept the cow starved. So Teton could not milk the cow. Then she went to pick up mangoes from the mango tree. Seeing her, Boka approached the tree with an axe and started to cut it into halves. Teton requested that she stop. She understood that it was the wise man’s idea.

She went to the wise man for a solution. The wise man asked to bring Boka with her. Next day both the sisters went to his house. He advised them to share their property equally between themselves. Then they went home. They shared their blanket, milked the cow and picked mangoes together. They shared their profit from butter and cheese that they sold in the market. From then on, they were living happily for the rest of their life. (Sheik Tanveer)

The Story of Meng’s Mother

Meng was a great educationalist, ideologist and philosopher in old China. His father died when he was a child. His mother sold handmade fabric to make a living. Although she was poor, she tried to make a good opportunity for her son Meng to study like other children. Environment or studying surrounding, she thought was a significant aspect for Meng, because bad neighbors would have bad influence on the young, i.e. they would imitate whatever they saw. During that time, they lived in a noisy alley with many naughty boys. One day, Meng’s mother saw her son fighting with one of the neighbor’s boys; then, she decided to move. She said, if Meng always fought with others, he would not understand what humility is.

They came to their new home, which was near a smithy. Meng went there every day, played with the coal, and got dirty everywhere. Meng’s mother thought that Meng would not have knowledge if he spent his all time with a blacksmith.

This time, Meng’s mother believed that a silent place would be helpful for Meng to read books; therefore, they left downtown, moving to the countryside. However, not like Meng’s Mother’s thought, there were ceremonies of funerals every day with people crying and shouting. Meng imitated their behavior and buried a branch while crying. Meng’s mother was afraid that Meng would be pessimistic if things went on this way.

Finally, Meng and his mother moved to a new place which was near a school. Meng began reading books and discussing them with teachers like other students in the classroom. Meng’s mother was satisfied with the new environment and decided to settle down. (Yuan Li)

Folk Tale

Once upon a time, a fox was crossing a farm. In his way, he saw a cock who was eating seed from the ground. The fox went to the cock and started talking to him in a very friendly manner saying that, “I know your father and I enjoy his nice voice when he sings. I wonder if your voice is as good as your father?” In his excitement, the cock decided to show how professional he was in singing, so he closed his eyes and sang from his heart. All of a sudden, the fox grabbed the cock and began running. The cock screamed and asked for help. Dogs of the village who were the fox‘s enemy ran after him. The cock, whose life was in danger, had to take action to rescue himself. He said, “If you want to get rid of the dogs, you should tell them that you have not stolen me from their village.” The fox, in spite of being well-known for his smartness, listened to the cock and opened his mouth to yell at the dogs. At the same time, the cock flew from his mouth to the top of a tree. The fox, being fairly disappointed, looked up at the cock on top of the tree and whispered, “Damn on a mouth which opens untimely!” and the fox replied back, “Damn on an eye which closes untimely!” (Mahshad)

Silver Ax and Gold Ax

Once upon a time, a diligent and honest but very poor woodcutter lived in a small town. One day, as always, he went to the mountain for getting wood for sale. He tried to find good quality wood and finally found that near a pond. He was very happy and started to cut the wood. The wood was so big and hard, he could not cut it easily. He was very eager to cut itbut he dropped his ax into the pond by mistake.

“Oh, no! My ax!”

The ax was only one thing he had; he cried beside the pond. After for a while, the water spirit appeared and asked woodcutter, “Is this shiny silver ax is yours?”

“No, that’s not mine” the woodcutter said.

“I see” and the water spirit and disappeared.

The water spirit returned with a gold ax, and asked again.

“Is this brilliant gold ax is yours?”

“No,” he replied.

Then the water spirit came out with the old ax and asked again, “Is this plain ax is yours?”

“Yes, that is mine.” He answered.

“You are so honest.”

“These are all yours, take them all.” The water spirit said while smiling.

He brought them all to his home.

On his way home with axes, he met a man, who was hunks. He heard about the woodcutter’s news and went to the pond right away. Then he dropped his ax into the pond on purpose. And he also cried. Then water spirit came out with silver ax.

“Is this silver ax is yours?”

“Yes, that one is mine,” said the man very quickly.

“You know this one is not yours.” The water sprit said with angry voice and disappeared.

The man’s couldn’t get anything and also lost his own ax too. (Jimin)