Fiction Card Stories

A plain grey bird was wandering through a field one day when it found a feather that a peacock had dropped. It was long and shimmering, blue and green and gold. The bird looked at its own dull feathers and had an idea.

It gathered every peacock feather it could find and tucked them into its tail. Then it strutted over to the peacocks and joined their parade, holding its head high as if it had always belonged there.

The peacocks were not fooled for long. They saw the plain grey feathers underneath and pecked the borrowed ones right out. The bird ran back to its own flock, but the other birds had watched the whole thing. "You were too good for us this morning," they said, and turned away.

A fisherman had been on the river all day and caught nothing but one very small fish. As he lifted it out of the water, the fish began to plead.

"Please let me go," it said. "Look how small I am. I would barely make a mouthful. Throw me back, and in a year or two I will be big and fat. Come back then and catch me, and you will have a real meal."

The fisherman shook his head. "I have you in my hand right now," he said. "If I throw you back, I may never see you again. A small fish today is worth more than a big fish I might never catch."

And he dropped the little fish into his basket.

A young frog came hopping home to the pond, wide-eyed. "I saw the most enormous creature," he told his father. "It was huge, with horns and a long tail, and hooves the size of my whole body."

"That was only an ox," said the old frog. "He is not so big. Watch, I can make myself just as large."

The old frog took a deep breath and puffed himself up. "Was he this big?"

"Much bigger," said the young frog.

The old frog breathed in again and swelled even more. "This big?"

"Bigger still," said his son.

The old frog took one last enormous breath and strained with all his might, until suddenly he burst.

The peacock was the most beautiful bird in the world, with a tail like a fan of jewels. But the peacock was not happy. One day it went to Juno, the queen of the gods, to complain.

"You gave the nightingale a voice so sweet that everyone stops to listen," said the peacock. "When I open my mouth, all that comes out is a harsh screech. Everyone laughs at me."

Juno answered kindly. "Every creature has its own gift. The eagle has strength, the nightingale has song, and you have beauty beyond any bird alive. No one has everything."

But the peacock kept begging for a nightingale's voice.

"Then be content with what you have," said Juno, "or you will never be content at all."

A hungry fox was sniffing around the woods when it found a hollow tree. Inside was a pile of bread and meat that some shepherds had hidden away for their lunch.

The fox squeezed through the narrow opening and began to feast. It ate and ate until every scrap was gone. Then it turned to leave.

But its belly was now so round and full that it could not fit back through the hole. The fox pushed and wriggled and groaned, and finally began to howl.

Another fox passing by heard the noise and looked in. "What is the matter?"

"I am stuck," said the fox inside.

"Then you will have to stay there," said the second fox, "until you are as thin as you were when you went in."

A crow had been flying all day under the hot sun, and its throat was dry with thirst. At last it spotted a tall jar on the ground with a little water at the bottom.

The crow pushed its beak into the jar, but the water was too far down to reach. It tried tipping the jar over, but it was too heavy to move. It tried breaking it, but the jar was too strong.

Then the crow noticed some pebbles lying nearby. It picked one up and dropped it into the jar. The water rose a tiny bit. It dropped in another, and another, one pebble at a time.

Slowly the water crept higher and higher, until at last it reached the top of the jar, and the crow drank its fill.

A crow found a fine piece of cheese and flew up to a branch to eat it in peace. A fox passing below caught the smell and stopped.

"Good morning, beautiful crow," said the fox. "What glossy feathers you have. What bright eyes. If only your voice were as lovely as the rest of you, you would surely be the queen of all birds."

The crow, who had never been called beautiful before, was very pleased. It wanted to show the fox that it had a fine voice too. So it opened its beak wide and let out a loud "Caw!"

Down fell the cheese. The fox snapped it up at once.

"You do have a voice," said the fox as it trotted off. "What you do not have is good sense."

A fox invited a stork to dinner. But the fox loved a joke, and it served the soup in a wide, shallow plate. The fox lapped it up easily. The stork could only dip the tip of its long beak in the plate and went home hungry, while the fox laughed.

A few days later the stork invited the fox to dinner in return. When the food came, it was served in a tall jar with a narrow neck. The stork slipped its long beak inside and ate every bite. The fox could only lick the outside of the jar.

"I hope you enjoy your dinner," said the stork, "as much as I enjoyed mine."

A cat lived in a house full of mice. She caught them one by one, until the mice grew clever and stopped coming out of their holes.

The cat needed a new trick. So she climbed up onto a peg on the wall and hung there, limp and still, with her eyes closed, hoping the mice would think she was dead.

One old mouse peeked out and saw her hanging there. "I know you, my friend," it called out. "You may hang there like a bag of flour, but I am not coming any closer. Once I have seen your tricks, I do not need to see them twice."

And the mice stayed safely in their holes.

A lion was sleeping in the sun when a little mouse ran across his nose and woke him. The lion slapped a great paw down on the mouse and opened his jaws to eat it.

"Please, King Lion," squeaked the mouse. "Let me go, and one day I will repay you."

The lion laughed so hard that he lifted his paw. "You? Help me?" But he was amused, and he let the mouse go.

Some time later, hunters came to the forest and caught the lion in a net of strong ropes. He roared and struggled, but he could not get free.

The little mouse heard the roaring and came running. It gnawed through the ropes with its sharp teeth, one strand at a time, until the lion was free.

An old lion could no longer hunt, so he pretended to be sick. He lay in his cave and sent word through the forest that he was dying and wished to say goodbye to his friends.

One by one, the animals came to visit him. A goat went in. A sheep went in. A rabbit went in. None of them were seen again.

At last a fox came to the mouth of the cave. It stopped a little way off and called out, "How are you feeling, my lord?"

"Very weak," groaned the lion. "Come in and comfort me."

But the fox was studying the ground. "I would love to," it said, "but I notice something strange. Every footprint here leads into your cave, and not one leads out."

And the fox turned and trotted away.

A goat was grazing on a rocky ledge high up a cliff, where the footing was narrow but safe. Down below, a wolf spotted her and licked his lips.

He could not climb the cliff, so he tried another way. "Good morning, goat," he called up sweetly. "It looks so dangerous up there. Why not come down to the meadow? The grass here is green and sweet, much better than that dry stuff you are eating."

The goat looked down at him. "That is kind of you," she said. "But I do not think you are worried about my lunch. I think you are thinking about yours."

And she went on eating exactly where she was.

The mice of a certain house were living in terror. A cat prowled the halls day and night, and no mouse could go looking for food without risking its life.

So the mice called a meeting. Everyone had an idea, but none seemed good enough. Then a young mouse stood up.

"The problem," it said, "is that we never hear the cat coming. So let us hang a bell around its neck. Then whenever the cat comes near, the bell will ring and we will all have time to hide."

The mice cheered. It was a brilliant plan. They were about to vote for it when an old mouse cleared its throat.

"A fine idea," said the old mouse. "Just one question. Which of us is going to put the bell on the cat?"

The room went silent. Nobody volunteered.

A fox fell into a deep well and could not climb out. It tried and tried, but the walls were too steep.

After a while a thirsty goat came by and looked over the edge. "Is the water good down there?" she asked.

"Wonderful," said the fox. "The best water I have ever tasted. Come down and try it. There is plenty for both of us."

The goat did not stop to think. She jumped straight in and drank. Then she looked around. "How do we get out?"

"Easy," said the fox. "Put your front feet up on the wall and stretch your neck. I will climb up your back and out, and then I will pull you up after me."

The goat did as she was told. The fox scrambled up her back, jumped out of the well, and trotted away, leaving the goat behind.

A hare was always bragging about how fast he could run. "Nobody can beat me," he said. "Not in a race, not ever."

A tortoise, who had heard this many times, finally spoke up. "I will race you."

The hare laughed until he fell over. But he agreed, and all the animals came to watch.

The race began. The hare shot off like an arrow and was soon so far ahead that the tortoise was out of sight. "This is too easy," said the hare. "I have time for a little nap." He lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

The tortoise kept walking. Step by step, never stopping, never hurrying, he plodded down the road.

When the hare woke up, he leaped to his feet and raced for the finish line. But the tortoise was already there.

A mighty oak tree grew beside a stream. In the water at its feet grew a patch of thin reeds.

The oak looked down at them and laughed. "You poor things. Every little breeze bends you double. Look at me. I stand straight and tall no matter what the wind does."

"We are not worried," said the reeds. "We bend, but we do not break."

One night a great storm came roaring through. The wind howled and the rain lashed down. The reeds bowed low to the ground and let the wind pass over them.

The oak stood stiff against the storm. It would not bend. And in the fiercest gust of all, it cracked at the roots and crashed to the ground.

In the morning the reeds straightened up in the sunshine, beside the fallen giant.

A donkey found a lion's skin that a hunter had left lying in the forest. It pulled the skin over its back and trotted out to see what would happen.

The other animals took one look and ran. The rabbits hid. The foxes fled. Even the wolves slunk away. The donkey had never been so pleased with itself. It strutted through the forest, and everything scattered before it.

Then a fox came by. The donkey wanted to frighten the fox too, so it drew a big breath and let out a great roar. But what came out was a loud, braying "Hee-haw!"

The fox stopped and looked back. "I might have been afraid of you," it said, "if I had not heard you speak."

A tiny gnat buzzed around a meadow and landed on the tip of a bull's horn. It sat there for a long time, resting in the sun.

At last the gnat got ready to fly away. Before it went, it spoke politely to the bull.

"Excuse me," said the gnat. "I have been sitting on your horn for quite a while. I hope I have not been too heavy for you. If it has been a burden, I will leave at once."

The bull slowly turned its great head. "Oh," it said. "Were you there? I did not notice you land, and I will not notice when you go."

A rooster was scratching in the dirt of the farmyard, looking for something to eat. He kicked up straw and dust and pebbles, hunting for a seed or a bug.

Suddenly his claw hit something hard and bright. He looked down. There in the dirt lay a jewel, shining in the sun.

The rooster looked at it for a moment. "You are a fine thing, I suppose," he said. "If a person found you, they would be delighted. But you are no use to me. I cannot eat you. One single grain of barley would be worth more to me than all the jewels in the world."

And he kicked the jewel aside and went on scratching for corn.

A wild donkey lived free in the hills, but life there was hard. Food was scarce and the winters were cold.

One day it saw a farm donkey grazing in a sunny meadow, sleek and fat. "How lucky you are," said the wild donkey. "You have all the grass you want and a warm barn at night. I wish I had your life."

The farm donkey said nothing.

The next day the wild donkey saw the farm donkey again. This time it was staggering along the road under a heavy load of sacks, while a driver walked behind, whipping it every time it slowed down.

The wild donkey watched for a long moment. Then it turned and trotted back to the hills.

"I do not envy you anymore," it said. "Your dinner costs too much."

A deer stopped at a pool to drink and saw himself in the still water. He admired his antlers, wide and branching like a crown. "How fine they are," he thought.

Then he looked at his legs. They were thin and spindly. "How ugly," he said. "I wish my legs were as splendid as my antlers."

Just then he heard hunting dogs. He bolted. His thin legs carried him swiftly across the open ground, and the dogs fell far behind.

But then he ran into the woods. His great antlers caught in the low branches and tangled in the brush. He pulled and twisted, but he could not get free. The dogs came closer.

"The legs I was ashamed of nearly saved me," he thought. "And the antlers I was so proud of have caught me."

An eagle sat on a high rock, gazing across the valley for prey. It did not see the archer creeping up below.

The archer drew his bow and let fly. The arrow struck the eagle in the breast, and it fell from the rock.

As it lay dying, the eagle looked at the arrow that had brought it down. The shaft was tipped with feathers to make it fly straight, and the feathers were an eagle's own.

"How bitter this is," said the eagle. "I have been destroyed by something that came from myself."

All summer long, a grasshopper sat in the sunshine and sang. He hopped from stalk to stalk and had a wonderful time.

Nearby, a line of ants worked without stopping. They carried grains of corn and seeds back to their nest, trip after trip after trip.

"Why work so hard?" the grasshopper called to them. "It is a beautiful day. Come and sing with me."

"We are storing food for winter," said the ants. "You should do the same."

"Winter is a long way off," said the grasshopper, and he went on singing.

Then winter came. Snow covered the fields. The grasshopper had nothing to eat and was weak with hunger. He crept to the ants' nest and begged for a little food.

The ants looked at him. "You sang all summer," they said. "Now you can dance all winter."

A little red hen found some grains of wheat. "Who will help me plant this wheat?" she asked.

"Not I," said the dog. "Not I," said the cat. "Not I," said the pig.

"Then I will do it myself," said the hen. And she did.

The wheat grew tall. "Who will help me cut it?" she asked.

"Not I," said the dog. "Not I," said the cat. "Not I," said the pig.

"Then I will do it myself." And she did. She threshed it herself, carried it to the mill herself, and baked the flour into a beautiful golden loaf, all by herself.

The smell of fresh bread floated across the farm. "Who will help me eat this bread?" asked the hen.

"I will!" said the dog. "I will!" said the cat. "I will!" said the pig.

"No," said the little red hen. "I did all the work. I will eat it myself." And she did, every crumb.

A wagoner was driving a heavy cart down a muddy country road. The wheels sank deeper and deeper until the wagon stopped altogether, stuck fast in the mud.

The wagoner stood there and looked at it. Then he fell to his knees and began to pray to Hercules, the strongest of all the heroes. "Hercules, help me! Come and pull my wagon out!"

To his surprise, Hercules appeared. But the hero did not touch the wagon.

"Get up," said Hercules. "Put your shoulder to the wheel. Whip up your horses. Do what you can do yourself first. Then, if you still need help, ask for it. But do not stand there and pray while your own hands hang empty."

An old farmer was dying. He called his sons to his bedside, because he was worried. They were lazy, and he feared the farm would go to ruin when he was gone.

"My sons," he whispered, "I am leaving you a great treasure. It is buried somewhere in the vineyard. Dig, and you will find it."

After the farmer died, the sons hurried out with spades and picks. They dug up every inch of the vineyard, turning the soil over and over. They found no gold, no jewels, no chest of coins.

But that year the vines, with their roots loosened and the earth so well turned, grew better than ever before and gave the richest harvest the farm had ever seen.

Then the sons understood what their father had meant.

A shepherd boy watched the village sheep on a lonely hillside. It was boring work, so one day he thought of a game.

"Wolf! Wolf!" he shouted. "A wolf is attacking the sheep!"

The villagers dropped their tools and ran up the hill. When they got there, the boy laughed at them. There was no wolf.

A few days later he did it again. "Wolf! Wolf!" Again the villagers came running, and again there was nothing. They went home angry.

Then one evening a real wolf crept out of the forest and leaped at the flock. "Wolf!" the boy screamed. "Please, help! Wolf!"

But the villagers had heard that cry before. They shook their heads and stayed where they were. And the wolf did as it pleased.

A wolf watched a flock of sheep from the edge of the forest, but the shepherd and his dogs kept too close a guard. The wolf could never get near.

One day the wolf found a sheepskin that a farmer had thrown away. It pulled the skin over its back, tucked its tail out of sight, and walked slowly into the middle of the flock.

None of the sheep noticed. The shepherd counted the flock and counted one extra, but he saw only wool and did not look closer.

That night the flock was shut into the pen, and the wolf was shut in with them. When the shepherd was gone and the barn was dark, the wolf threw off its disguise.

A dog was looking for a place to nap and found a manger in the barn, piled high with soft hay. The dog climbed in, curled up, and went to sleep.

Later the oxen came in from the field, tired and hungry. They went to the manger to eat their supper. But the dog woke up and growled. It bared its teeth and snapped at every ox that came near.

"You cannot eat hay," said one of the oxen. "It is no use to you at all. Why keep it from us?"

The dog did not answer. It only growled louder and settled deeper into the hay.

A wolf was gobbling his dinner too fast, and a bone got stuck in his throat. He could not swallow it and he could not cough it out. He ran around in a panic, begging every animal for help and promising a fine reward.

At last a crane agreed to try. The wolf opened his jaws wide, and the crane slid its long neck and beak down the wolf's throat. It found the bone, gripped it, and pulled it out.

"There," said the crane. "Now, about my reward."

The wolf grinned. "Your reward?" he said. "You put your head inside a wolf's mouth and took it out again in one piece. What more could you possibly want?"

A young crab was scuttling along the beach when his mother called to him.

"Why do you walk sideways like that?" she said. "It looks ridiculous. Walk straight ahead, with your toes pointing forward, the way you should."

"I would be happy to, Mother," said the young crab. "Show me how, and I will follow you."

So the mother crab tried to walk straight. She set her legs and pushed forward, and went skittering off sideways exactly as she always had. She tried again and again, and could not do it.

A man was lost in the woods on a bitter winter night. A satyr, a creature half goat and half man, found him shivering and offered to share his fire and his supper.

As they walked, the man lifted his hands to his mouth and blew on them.

"Why do you do that?" asked the satyr.

"My hands are cold," said the man. "My breath warms them."

Later they sat down to eat, and the satyr gave the man a bowl of hot soup. The man raised the spoon to his lips and blew on it.

"Why do you do that?" asked the satyr.

"The soup is hot," said the man. "My breath cools it."

The satyr stood up. "You must leave," he said. "I want nothing to do with someone who blows hot and cold from the same mouth."

A poor woodcutter was chopping trees beside a deep river when his axe slipped from his hands and sank out of sight. It was the only axe he had. He sat on the bank and wept, because without it he could not work.

The god of the river heard him and rose out of the water. "Why are you crying?"

The woodcutter explained. The river god dived down and came up holding an axe of solid gold. "Is this yours?"

"No," said the woodcutter. "Mine was plain iron."

The river god dived again and came up with an axe of silver. "This one?"

"No," said the woodcutter. "That is not mine either."

The river god dived a third time and came up with an old iron axe. "This one?"

"Yes!" cried the woodcutter. "That is mine."

The river god was so pleased with his honesty that he gave him all three axes to keep.

A mother goat had to go out to find food. Before she left, she warned her kid. "Lock the door behind me. Do not open it for anyone. And if someone knocks, ask them to prove who they are."

A wolf had been hiding nearby and heard every word. When the mother goat was gone, the wolf crept to the door and knocked. Then it made its voice as high and gentle as it could.

"Little one, open the door. It is your mother."

The kid pressed its ear to the door. The voice sounded almost right. But not quite.

"Show me your paw under the door," said the kid.

The wolf hesitated. Then it pushed a big grey paw under the door.

"My mother has white feet," said the kid. "You are a wolf. Go away."

And the door stayed shut.

A town mouse went to visit his cousin in the country. The country mouse was delighted to see him and served the best he had: barley, a few roots, and some acorns.

The town mouse nibbled politely, then said, "Cousin, how can you live like this? Come to town with me and I will show you what real food is."

So they went. The town mouse led him into a grand house and up onto a dining table covered in leftovers: cheese, cake, honey, and figs. The country mouse could hardly believe it.

They had just begun to eat when a door slammed and a great dog came barking in. The mice fled and hid, trembling, until it was safe to creep back. They had barely taken another bite when the cat appeared. They ran again.

The country mouse picked up his bag. "Thank you, cousin," he said. "But I would rather eat barley in peace than cake in terror."

A lion and a bear both pounced on a young deer at the same moment. Each one wanted it, and neither would give it up.

So they fought. They clawed and bit and wrestled for hours. Both were badly hurt, and at last they fell to the ground, so exhausted that neither could get up.

A fox had been watching from behind a tree the whole time. When the lion and the bear lay panting and helpless, the fox stepped out, picked up the deer, and carried it off.

The lion and the bear watched it go. "What fools we are," said the lion. "We did all the fighting, and the fox has the dinner."

A scorpion came to the bank of a river and wanted to cross, but scorpions cannot swim. It saw a frog nearby.

"Frog," said the scorpion, "will you carry me across on your back?"

"Certainly not," said the frog. "You would sting me."

"Why would I do that?" said the scorpion. "If I stung you while we were swimming, you would sink, and I would drown with you."

The frog thought about it. That did make sense. So it let the scorpion climb on, and pushed off into the water.

Halfway across, the frog felt a sharp stab in its back. The scorpion had stung it. As they both began to sink, the frog gasped, "Why? Now we will both drown!"

"I know," said the scorpion. "But it is my nature."

A father had several sons who were always quarrelling. Nothing he said could make them stop. So one day he tried something different.

He brought in a bundle of sticks tied tightly together and handed it to his oldest son. "Break this," he said.

The son strained and grunted, but the bundle would not break. He passed it to the next brother, who tried and failed. Every one of them tried. None could snap it.

Then the father untied the bundle and gave each son a single stick. "Now break this."

Each one snapped his stick easily.

"You see," said the father. "As long as you stay together, no one can break you. But if you split apart and fight among yourselves, anyone can break you one at a time."

A driver was taking a donkey and a mule down a mountain road. Both carried loads, but the donkey's was far heavier, and it was piled with sacks until its legs shook.

Halfway down, the donkey stumbled. "Please," it said to the mule, "take a little of my load. Just a bit, or I will not make it."

The mule tossed its head. "Not my problem. Carry your own."

The donkey struggled on. A little farther down the road, it collapsed and could not get up again.

The driver had no choice. He took every sack off the donkey and piled it all onto the mule, on top of the load it already carried. And the mule staggered down the mountain under both burdens.

"If I had helped a little when I was asked," it groaned, "I would not be carrying everything now."

On a hot summer day, a lion and a wild pig came to a small spring at the same time to drink.

"I was here first," said the lion.

"No, I was," said the pig.

Neither would give way, and soon they were fighting, snarling and slashing at each other with tooth and tusk. They fought until both were bleeding and gasping for breath.

They paused to rest, and as they did, they looked up. Circling in the sky above them were vultures, waiting patiently.

The lion and the pig looked at each other. "They are waiting for one of us to die," said the lion. "Whoever loses will be their dinner."

"Then let us both drink," said the pig, "and neither of us will be."

And they made peace at the spring.

A fox was walking through an orchard on a hot day when it saw a bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine high above.

"Just the thing," said the fox, and it jumped for them. It missed. It backed up, ran, and jumped again. It missed again. It jumped and jumped until it was tired and sore, and still the grapes hung out of reach.

At last the fox gave up. It turned its nose in the air and walked away.

"I did not really want them anyway," it said. "They were probably sour."

The North Wind and the Sun were arguing about which of them was stronger. They argued for a long time, until they saw a traveler walking along the road below, wrapped in a heavy coat.

"Here is a test," said the Sun. "Whoever can make that traveler take off his coat is the stronger. You go first."

The North Wind gathered all its power and blew. It howled and shrieked and tore at the coat. But the harder it blew, the tighter the traveler pulled the coat around himself, until the Wind gave up, exhausted.

Then the Sun came out from behind the clouds and shone down, warm and gentle. The traveler unbuttoned his coat. The Sun shone a little warmer. The traveler wiped his brow, took off the coat, and carried it over his arm.

A miller and his son were walking their donkey to market. A group of girls passed and laughed. "Look at those fools, walking when they could ride!"

So the miller put his son on the donkey. Soon they passed some old men. "See that lazy boy, riding while his poor father walks!"

So the boy got down and the miller got up. Next they met some women. "Shame on you, riding in comfort while your little son trudges along!"

So the miller pulled the boy up behind him. Then a traveler stopped them. "Two big people on one small donkey? You should be carrying it, not the other way around!"

So they climbed down, tied the donkey's legs to a pole, and carried it between them. Everyone in town came out to laugh at them. On the bridge, the donkey kicked free, tumbled into the river, and was swept away.

A milkmaid was walking to market with a pail of fresh milk balanced on her head. As she walked, she began to dream.

"When I sell this milk," she thought, "I will buy some eggs. The eggs will hatch into chickens. When the chickens are grown, I will sell them and buy a beautiful new dress. And I will wear it to the fair, and all the young men will come to talk to me, and I will toss my head and walk right past them, like this."

And she tossed her head.

The pail slid off, hit the ground, and every drop of milk spilled into the dust.

The frogs in a pond decided they wanted a king. They called out to Zeus, the ruler of the gods, and begged him to send them one.

Zeus laughed and tossed a big log into the pond. It landed with a huge splash. The frogs hid in terror. But the log just floated there. After a while the frogs crept closer, then climbed on it, then sat on it. It never moved.

"This is no king," they said. "It does nothing." And they called to Zeus again. "Send us a real king! A strong one!"

This time Zeus sent a stork. The stork strode into the pond on its long legs and immediately began snapping up frogs and swallowing them one after another.

The frogs cried out to Zeus to save them. But Zeus said, "You asked for a strong king. Now you have one."

A farmer and his wife owned a goose that was like no other. Every single morning, it laid one egg of pure gold.

The farmer sold each egg and grew richer day by day. But the richer he got, the more impatient he became. One egg a day began to feel like too slow a way to get wealthy.

"Think how much gold must be inside that bird," he said to his wife. "If we cut it open, we could have it all at once instead of waiting."

So they killed the goose and cut it open. Inside, it was just like any other goose. There was no gold at all.

And there were no more golden eggs, ever.

Six blind men lived in a village, and none of them had ever met an elephant. One day an elephant was brought to town, and they went to find out what it was like.

The first man touched its side. "An elephant is like a wall."

The second grabbed a tusk. "No, it is smooth and sharp, like a spear."

The third felt the trunk. "You are both wrong. It is like a thick snake."

The fourth held a leg. "It is like a tree trunk."

The fifth touched an ear. "It is like a big fan."

The sixth caught the tail. "It is like a rope."

They argued and argued, and each was sure he was right, because each was telling the truth about the part he had touched. But not one of them had the whole elephant.

A horse and a deer shared a meadow, but they quarrelled over the grass, and the deer drove the horse away. The horse wanted revenge.

It went to a hunter. "Help me get back at the deer," it said.

"Gladly," said the hunter. "But if I am to help you, I will need to put a bridle on your head and a saddle on your back, so I can ride you into the fight."

The horse agreed. The hunter bridled it, saddled it, climbed on, and together they chased the deer out of the meadow for good.

"Thank you," said the horse. "Now please take off the bridle and let me go."

"Oh no," said the hunter, settling into the saddle. "I like this arrangement far too much to end it now."

And the horse wore the bridle for the rest of its life.

One day a great mountain began to rumble. The ground shook. Smoke rose from its peak. Terrible groaning noises came from deep inside.

The people of the nearby villages gathered to watch, terrified. "Something enormous is happening," they said. "The mountain is about to give birth to something. A monster, maybe, or a giant. Something that will change the world."

For days the mountain shook and roared and smoked. The crowds grew larger. Everyone waited, holding their breath.

At last, with one final tremendous groan, the mountain split open.

And out ran a mouse.

The people looked at each other, and then they went home.

A turtle lived on the ground and spent all day watching the birds fly overhead. It became discontented.

"I want to fly," it told an eagle. "Teach me. Carry me up into the sky and I will learn."

"You have no wings," said the eagle. "Turtles cannot fly. You would fall."

"I do not care," said the turtle. "I know I could do it if you just gave me the chance. Take me up, and I will give you anything you want."

The eagle warned it again, but the turtle would not listen. At last the eagle gripped the turtle in its claws and carried it high above the fields.

"Now let go," said the turtle. "I will fly."

The eagle let go.

The turtle did not fly.