In Partial Fulfillment for the Subject

Children and Adolescent Literature

(Semi Finals)

SUBMITED BY:

JOELA S. CASTIL

BSED-ENGLISH2

SUBMITTED TO:

MS. DINA D. GUINITARAN

INSTRUCTOR
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

NURSERY RHYMES:
 MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
MOTHER GOOSE NURSERY
 I HAD A LITTLE HEN
RHYMES
 TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY
BEAR
 E BABY, DON’T SAY A
WORD
 THE THREE LITTLE
KITTENS, THEY LOST
THEIR MITTENS

 THE VERY HUNGRY

PICTURE BOOKS CATERPILLAR

 THE CAT IN THE HAT
 THE GIVING TREE
 THE WOLF IN SHEEP’S
TRADITIONAL LITERATURE CLOTHING
AESOP’S FABLES  THE EAGLE AND THE
BEATLE

 THE RED SHOES FAIRY

ANDERSENE FAIRY TALES TALE

 THE BLUE TIN
 SOLDIER FAIRYTALE
 MRS. FOX WEDDING
THE GRIMM BROTHERS (FIRST TALE AND
TALES SECOND TALE)
BY: JACOB AND
WILHELM GRIMM
 THE BRAVE LITTLE
TAILOR
BY: JACOB AND
WILHELM GRIMM
 TUKO AND THE BIRDS

FILIPINO FOLKTALES BY: SHIRLEY CLIMO

 THE TURTLE AND THE
MONKEY
BY: PAUL GALDENE
 HOW THE WORLD WAS

FILIPINO LEGENDS MADE

 THE LEGEND OF THE
PINEAPPLE
 PETTER RABBIT

MODERN FABLES BY: B. PATTER

 CHARLOTTE’S WEB
BY: E.D WHITE
 WINNIE THE POOH
 BY: A.A MILME
 A CHRISTMAS CAROL

MODERN FANTASY BY: CHARLES DICKENS

 ALICE’S ADVENTURES
IN WONDERLAND
BY: LEWIS CAROL
 HARRY POTTER
BY: J.K. ROWLING
 CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE:

Today's baby and teenage creature is wandering.

For example, a small red fish that has been abandoned
in the endless ocean. Today, the child pushes the
green button to control television or satellite
against unlimited imagery, movies and music. Versus a
variety of cultures and literature from different
countries with all the good and the other. Today, the
child bypasses the search engines to the infinite
world of information on a computer today. The child
today is different with the baby today.
 Now the children are like aphids stepping into
the small world of the world. The child's baby
quickly spans a light year, perhaps less than an
eyelid on a head screw, and we stood at the bottom of
the passage of time. Of course, it may be a little
late, but everyone in their field should think about
this and make appropriate choices for this lovely
creature, the child. Perhaps one of these paths is
literature. A solid shield rooted in the depths of
the culture of the children's culture of this border.
This revision is also in the field of child
literature. Looking at a variety of young and young
children's books, the publication of the book has
become a slap. The slip that sometimes becomes
destructive and destructive, in

which the works of translation can be mentioned, are

worthless literally. Some people believe that the
child's literature is subject to destruction and
destruction in light of the rapid development of the
world today. And others also believe in the belief
that it is the writer's and child's literature to
deal with this flood.

Definition of child and adolescent

literature
Children's and adolescent literature tell
children's and adolescents' special literary texts.
This kind of literature also includes a part of the
popular oral culture, such as Lullabies, parables,
stories, as well as stories, plays and poems, as well
as writings in the fields of religion, social
science, science and its applications, art and
entertainment. Authors and poets create for children
and adolescents.
The History of Mother Goose Rhyme
Old Mother Goose,

When she wanted to wander,

Would ride through the air

On a very fine gander.

Jack’s mother came in,

 And caught the goose soon,

And mounting its back,

Flew up to the moon.

The figure of Mother Goose is an imaginary author

of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes –
often published as Mother Goose Rhymes. As a
character, she only appears in one nursery rhyme.
‘Mother Goose’ is generally depicted in illustrations
as an elderly country woman in a tall hat and shawl
(a costume identical to the peasant costume worn in
Wales in the early twentieth century). But she is
also sometimes depicted as a goose (usually wearing a
bonnet). She is credited with the Mother Goose
stories and rhymes popularized in the 1700s in
English-language literature, although no specific
writer has ever been identified with such a name.

Seventeenth century English readers would have

been familiar with ‘Mother Hubbard’, a stock figure
when Edmund Spenser published his satire Mother
Hubberd’s Talein (in 1590). They would also have
known similar fairy tales told by ‘Mother Bunch’ (the
pseudonym of Madame d’Aulnoy) in the 1690s. An early
mention appears in an aside in a French versified
chronicle of weekly happenings, Jean Loret’s La Muse
Historique, collected in 1650. Loret’s remark, comme
un conte de la Mère Oye (‘like a Mother Goose story’)
shows that the term was readily understood.
 In ‘The Real Personages of Mother Goose’ (1930),
Katherine Elwes-Thomas has argued that the image and
name ‘Mother Goose’, or ‘Mère L’Oye’ may have been
based upon ancient legends. These legends were of the
wife of King Robert II of France, known as ‘Berthe la
fileuse’ (‘Bertha the Spinner’) or Berthe pied d’oie
(‘Goose-Foot Bertha’). She was often referred to in
French legends as spinning incredible tales that
enraptured children. Another, slightly more eccentric
theory comes from America – where the original Mother
Goose is thought to have been a Bostonian wife of an
Isaac Goose. She was either named Elizabeth Foster
Goose (1665 – 1758) or Mary Goose (d. 1690, aged
forty-two), who is interred at the Granary Burying
Ground on Tremont Street.

According to Eleanor Early, a Boston travel and

history writer of the 1930s and ’40s, the original
Mother Goose was this lady. She reportedly used to
sing songs and ditties to her grandchildren all day,
and other children swarmed to hear them. Finally, her
son-in-law gathered her jingles together and printed
them. The initiator of the literary fairy tale genre,
Charles Perrault (1628 – 1703) published a collection
inspired by the old oral traditions of French and
European folklore. It was released in 1697, and
titled Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals
(‘Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé’). It was
subtitled Tales of Mother Goose (‘Les Contes de ma
Mère l’Oye’). Perrault’s publication marks the first
authenticated starting-point for Mother Goose
stories. In 1729 an English translation of Perrault’s
collection appeared; Robert Samber’s Histories or
Tales of Past Times, Told by Mother Goose. This work
introduced Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood,
Puss in Boots, Cinderella and other Perrault tales to
English-speaking audiences. The first public
appearance of the Mother Goose stories in the New
World was in Worcester, Massachusetts. The printer,
Isaiah Thomas reprinted Samber’s volume under the
same title, in 1786.

The name ‘Mother Goose’ has been associated with

children’s poetry in England ever since John
Newbery’s compilation of English nursery rhymes. It
was entitled Mother Goose’s Melody, or, Sonnets from
the Cradle. It was published in 1780/1 by Thomas
Carnan and the ‘Stationer’s Company’. L. Frank Baum
(the American author chiefly known for penning The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz) also published a collection
of twenty-two children’s stories based on Mother
Goose nursery rhymes (Mother Goose in Prose). This
was released in 1897. It was the first ever
children’s book that he wrote, and also the first
book illustrated by the legendary Maxfield Parrish
(1870 – 1966). Many variations on the Mother Goose
theme have since been published. They have featured
wonderful illustrations by artists such as William
Wallace Denslow (for an edition of Mother Goose
published in 1901), Henriette Willebeek Le Mair (Our
Ould Nursery Rhymes, 1911), Jessie Willcox Smith
(Mother Goose, 1914), Blanche Fisher Wright (for Rand
McNally’s The Real Mother Goose, 1916), Eulalie
Minifred Bank (Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, 1923).

From this time onwards, ‘Mother Goose’ has

captured the public’s imagination. She frequently
appears in many classic British pantomimes. The
transition from a shadowy generic figure to one with
such concrete actions was effected at a pantomime
Harlequin and Mother Goose: or, The Golden Egg. This
was in 1806–07, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
(London). It was written by Thomas Dibdin (1771 –
1841), who recreated her more as a ‘witch-figure’
appearing in the first scene ‘raising a storm and
flying a gander.’ As a testament to this character’s
ability to inspire and entertain generations of
readers, Mother Goose continues to influence popular
culture internationally. The rhymes lend plot
elements, allusions and tropes to a wide variety of
artistic mediums.

Mother Goose:

Mother Goose is often

cited as the author of hundreds
of children’s stories that have
been passed down through oral
tradition and published over
centuries. Various chants, songs, and even games have
been attributed to her, but she is most recognized
for her nursery rhymes, which have been familiar with
readers of all generations. Her work is often
published as Mother Goose Rhymes.

The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary

author of a collection of French fairy tales and
later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she
appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often
functions now as a nursery rhyme.This, however, was
dependent on a Christmas pantomime, a successor to
which is still performed in the United Kingdom.
Despite her celebrated place in children’s
literature, the exact identity and origin of Mother
Goose herself is still unknown. Some believe that the
original Mother Goose was a real woman who lived in
Boston during the later half of the 17th century.
After being widowed by Isaac Goose, a woman named
either Elizabeth Foster Goose or Mary Goose
(depending on sources) moved in with her eldest
daughter, entertaining her grandchildren with amusing
jingles which quickly gained popularity with the
neighborhood children. According to the legend, her
son-in-law, a publisher, printed her rhymes, and thus
the reputation of Mother Goose was born.

However, literary historians often dismiss the

possibility of a Bostonian Mother Goose, as the
existence of various French texts that refer to
Mother Goose at a much earlier date make the American
legend improbable. These texts, dating as early as
1626, even show that the French terms “mere l’oye” or
“mere oye” (Mother Goose) were already familiar to
readers and could be referenced. The figure of Mother
Goose may even date back as the 10th century,
according to other sources. In an ancient French
legend, King Robert II had a wife who often told
incredible tales that fascinated children. The term's
appearance in English dates back to the early 18th
century, when Charles Perrault’s fairy tale
collection, Contes de ma Mère l'Oye, was first
translated into English as Tales of My Mother Goose.
Later a compilation of English nursery rhymes, titled
Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle,
helped perpetuate the name both in Britain and the
United States.

Regardless of Mother Goose’s origins, Charles

Perrault was the first to actually publish a Mother
Goose collection of rhymes and other folk tales in
1697, essentially initiating the fairy tale genre.
With the subtitle Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oie (Tales
of my Mother Goose), the collection quickly gained
popularity all over France. By 1729, Perrault’s
collection had been translated into English, in the
form of Robert Samber’s Histories or Tales of Past
Times, Told by Mother Goose. Samber’s volume was
eventually republished in 1786 and brought to the
U.S. English publisher of children’s literature John
Newbery later focused on the nursery rhymes,
publishing Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the
Cradle, which helped Mother Goose become further
associated with children’s poetry.

Through nursery rhymes, children learn many

aspects of language such as rhythm, vocabulary. the
structure of language and more. When singing and
reading with our little ones, we engage together in a
fun and meaningful interaction like no other. Some
nursery rhymes are accompanied by hand movements,
while others contain uncommon words perfect for
language development.
Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb

Its fleece was white as snow

And everywhere that Mary went

The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day

That was against the rule.

It made the children laugh and play

To see a lamb at school.

 MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
We all know the delightful story of a young girl
named Mary who brought her beloved pet lamb with her
to school one day. In fact, I’d bet money that you
have the sing-song tune playing in your head right
now just reading about it.

The lyrics of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” were

inspired by Mary Sawyer, who lived in Sterling,
Massachusetts, in the 1800s, reports the New England
Historical Society. Mary took the young animal under
her care after the poor thing was rejected by her
sheep mother on the family’s farm. After nursing her
unusual pet to good health, the lamb became Mary’s
shadow and, indeed, “everywhere that Mary went, the
lamb was sure to go.”

When Mary described the day her lamb joined her

at school, she said, “I hadn’t seen her before
starting off and, not wanting to go without seeing
her, I called. She recognized my voice, and soon I
heard a faint bleating far down the field. More and
more distinctly I heard it, and I knew my pet was
coming to greet me. My brother Nat said, ‘Let’s take
the lamb to school with us.’” Makes you wonder if Nat
was ever annoyed that he didn’t merit a mention in
the classic rhyme.
 As the story goes, Mary did try to hide the lamb
under her desk in a basket at her feet, but she was
quickly discovered by the teacher who made the animal
wait outside until class was over. The original poem
was penned by one of Mary’s schoolmates, John
Roustone, who witnessed the whole thing. In 1830,
poet Sarah Josepha Hale added a few stanzas with a
moral lesson about treating others with kindness and
love.

Later in life, Mary donated socks made with

“knitted wool from the first fleece of Mary’s Little
Lamb.” She wasn’t trying to profit off her fuzzy
friend, but instead raise funds to save a local
historical building, the Old South Meeting House in
Somerville, Massachusetts. It worked and further
secured Mary and her lamb’s impressive (and adorable)
legacy.
I had a Little Hen
I had a little hen,

The prettiest ever seen,

She washed up the dishes,

And kept the house clean.

She went to the mill

To fetch me some flour,

And always got home

In less than an hour.

 She baked me my bread,

She brewed me my ale,

She sat by the fire

And she told a fine tale!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

By: Mother Goose

Teddy bear, teddy bear,
touch the ground.
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
turn around.

Teddy bear, teddy bear,

walk upstairs.
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Say your prayers.

Teddy bear, teddy bear,

turn out the light.
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Say good night
E baby, don’t say a word,”

BY: MOTHER GOOSE

Hush little baby, don’t say a word,

Papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.

And if that mockingbird won’t sing,

Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.

And if that diamond ring turns to brass,

Papa’s gonna buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,

Papa’s gonna buy you a billy goat.

And if that billy goat won’t pull,

Papa’s gonna buy you a cart and bull.

And if that cart and bull turn over,

 Papa’s gonna buy you a dog named Rove

And if that dog named Rover won’t bark,

Papa’s gonna buy you a horse and cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,

You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town!

"The three little kittens, they
lost their mittens,"
BY:  MOTHER GOOSE

The three little kittens, they lost their mittens,

And they began to cry,

"Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear,

That we have lost our mittens."

"What!   Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!

Then you shall have no pie."

"Meow, meow, meow."

"Then you shall have no pie."

The three little kittens, they found their mittens,

And they began to cry,

"Oh, mother dear, see here, see here,

For we have found our mittens."

"Put on your mittens, you silly kittens,

And you shall have some pie."

"Purr, purr, purr,

 Oh, let us have some pie."

The three little kittens put on their mittens,

And soon ate up the pie,

"Oh, mother dear, we greatly fear,

That we have soiled our mittens."

"What, soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens!"

Then they began to sigh,

"Meow, meow, meow,"

Then they began to sigh.

The three little kittens, they washed their mittens,

And hung them out to dry,

"Oh, mother dear, do you not hear,

That we have washed our mittens?"

"What, washed your mittens, then you're good kittens,

But I smell a rat close by."

"Meow, meow, meow,

We smell a rat close by."

 The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
BY:  EDWARD LEAR
I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

 And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

II
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!

How charmingly sweet you sing!

O let us be married! Too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-Tree grows

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

 III
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

 Little Riding Hood

By: Roald Dahl

As soon as Wolf began to feel

That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma's door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, "May I come in?"
 Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
"He's going to eat me up!" she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, "That's not enough!
I haven't yet begun to feel
that I have had a decent meal!"
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
"I've got to have a second helping!"

Then added with a frightful leer,

"I'm therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood."

He quickly put on Grandma's clothes,

(Of course he hadn't eaten those).
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that,
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.

In came the little girl in red.

She stopped. She stared. And then she said,
"What great big ears you have, Grandma."
  "All the better to hear you with,"
the Wolf replied.
"What great big eyes you have, Grandma."
 Said Little Red Riding Hood.
"All the better to see you with,"
the Wolf replied.
He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I'm going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma,
She's going to taste like caviar.

Then Little Red Riding Hood said, "

But Grandma, what a lovely great big
furry coat you have on."

"That's wrong!" cried Wolf.

"Have you forgot
to tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I'm going to eat you anyway."

The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.

She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head,
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.

A few weeks later, in the wood,

I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, "Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry wolf skin coat.
 The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Aesop’s Fable
A certain Wolf could not get enough to eat
because of the watchfulness of the Shepherds. But one
night he found a sheep skin that had been cast aside
and forgotten. The next day, dressed in the skin, the
Wolf strolled into the pasture with the Sheep. Soon a
little Lamb was following him about and was quickly
led away to slaughter.

That evening the Wolf entered the fold with the

flock. But it happened that the Shepherd took a fancy
for mutton broth that very evening, and, picking up a
knife, went to the fold. There the first he laid
hands on and killed was the Wolf.

The evil doer often comes to harm through

his own deceit.
 The Eagle & the Beetle
Aesop’s Fable

A Beetle once begged the Eagle to spare a Hare

which had run to her for protection. But the Eagle
pounced upon her prey, the sweep of her great wings
tumbling the Beetle a dozen feet away. Furious at the
disrespect shown her, the Beetle flew to the Eagle’s
nest and rolled out the eggs. Not one did she spare.
The Eagle’s grief and anger knew no bounds, but who
had done the cruel deed she did not know.

Next year the Eagle built her nest far up on a

mountain crag; but the Beetle found it and again
destroyed the eggs. In despair the Eagle now implored
great Jupiter to let her place her eggs in his lap.
There none would dare harm them. But the Beetle
buzzed about Jupiter’s head, and made him rise to
drive her away; and the eggs rolled from his lap.

Now the Beetle told the reason for her action,

and Jupiter had to acknowledge the justice of her
cause. And they say that ever after, while the
Eagle’s eggs lie in the nest in spring, the Beetle
still sleeps in the ground. For so Jupiter commanded.
 Even the weakest may find means to avenge a wrong.

The Red Shoes Fairy tale

By: Hans Christian Andersen

There was once a little girl, very nice and very

pretty, but so poor that she had to go barefooted all
summer. And in winter she had to wear thick wooden
shoes that chafed her ankles until they were red, oh,
as red as could be.

In the middle of the village lived “Old Mother

Shoemaker.” She took some old scraps of red cloth and
did her best to make them into a little pair of
shoes. They were a bit clumsy, but well meant, for
she intended to give them to the little girl. Karen
was the little girl’s name.
 The first time Karen wore her new red shoes was
on the very day when her mother was buried. Of
course, they were not right for mourning, but they
were all she had, so she put them on and walked
barelegged after the plain wicker coffin.

Just then a large old carriage came by, with a

large old lady inside it. She looked at the little
girl and took pity upon her. And she went to the
parson and said: “Give the little girl to me, and I
shall take good care of her.”

Karen was sure that this happened because she

wore red shoes, but the old lady said the shoes were
hideous, and ordered them burned. Karen was given
proper new clothes. She was taught to read, and she
was taught to sew. People said she was pretty, but
her mirror told her, “You are more than pretty. You
are beautiful.”

It happened that the Queen came traveling through

the country with her little daughter, who was a
Princess. Karen went with all the people who flocked
to see them at the castle. The little Princess, all
dressed in white, came to the window to let them
admire her. She didn’t wear a train, and she didn’t
wear a gold crown, but she did wear a pair of
splendid red morocco shoes. Of course, they were much
nicer than the ones “Old Mother Shoemaker” had put
together for little Karen, but there’s nothing in the
world like a pair of red shoes!
 When Karen was old enough to be confirmed, new
clothes were made for her, and she was to have new
shoes. They went to the house of a thriving
shoemaker, to have him take the measure of her little
feet. In his shop were big glass cases, filled with
the prettiest shoes and the shiniest boots. They
looked most attractive but, as the old lady did not
see very well, they did not attract her. Among the
shoes there was a pair of red leather ones which were
just like those the Princess had worn. How perfect
they were! The shoemaker said he had made them for
the daughter of a count, but that they did not quite
fit her.

“They must be patent leather to shine so,” said the

old lady.

“Yes, indeed they shine,” said Karen. As the shoes

fitted Karen, the old lady bought them, but she had
no idea they were red. If she had known that, she
would never have let Karen wear them to confirmation,
which is just what Karen did.

Every eye was turned toward her feet. When she

walked up the aisle to the chancel of the church, it
seemed to her as if even those portraits of bygone
ministers and their wives, in starched ruffs and long
black gowns-even they fixed their eyes upon her red
shoes. She could think of nothing else, even when the
pastor laid his hands upon her head and spoke of her
holy baptism, and her covenant with God, and her duty
as a Christian. The solemn organ rolled, the children
sang sweetly, and the old choir leader sang too, but
Karen thought of nothing except her red shoes.

Before the afternoon was over, the old lady had

heard from everyone in the parish that the shoes were
red. She told Karen it was naughty to wear red shoes
to church. Highly improper! In the future she was
always to wear black shoes to church, even though
they were her old ones.

Next Sunday there was holy communion. Karen

looked at her black shoes. She looked at her red
ones. She kept looking at her red ones until she put
them on.

It was a fair, sunny day. Karen and the old lady

took the path through the cornfield, where it was
rather dusty. At the church door they met an old
soldier, who stood with a crutch and wore a long,
curious beard. It was more reddish than white. In
fact it was quite red. He bowed down to the ground,
and asked the old lady if he might dust her shoes.
Karen put out her little foot too.

“Oh, what beautiful shoes for dancing,” the soldier

said. “Never come off when you dance,” he told the
shoes, as he tapped the sole of each of them with his
hand.

The old lady gave the soldier a penny, and went

on into the church with Karen. All the people there
stared at Karen’s red shoes, and all the portraits
stared too. When Karen knelt at the altar rail, and
even when the chalice came to her lips, she could
think only of her red shoes. It was as if they kept
floating around in the chalice, and she forgot to
sing the psalm. She forgot to say the Lord’s Prayer.

Then church was over, and the old lady got into
her carriage. Karen was lifting her foot to step in
after her when the old soldier said, “Oh, what
beautiful shoes for dancing!”

Karen couldn’t resist taking a few dancing steps,

and once she began her feet kept on dancing. It was
as if the shoes controlled her. She danced round the
corner of the church-she simply could not help it.
The coachman had to run after her, catch her, and
lift her into the carriage. But even there her feet
went on dancing so that she gave the good old lady a
terrible kicking. Only when she took her shoes off
did her legs quiet down. When they got home the shoes
were put away in a cupboard, but Karen would still go
and look at them.

Shortly afterwards the old lady was taken ill,

and it was said she could not recover. She required
constant care and faithful nursing, and for this she
depended on Karen. But a great ball was being given
in the town, and Karen was invited. She looked at the
old lady, who could not live in any case. She looked
at the red shoes, for she thought there was no harm
in looking. She put them on, for she thought there
was no harm in that either. But then she went to the
ball and began dancing. When she tried to turn to the
right, the shoes turned to the left. When she wanted
to dance up the ballroom, her shoes danced down. They
danced down the stairs, into the street, and out
through the gate of the town. Dance she did, and
dance her must, straight into the dark woods.

Suddenly something shone through the trees, and

she thought it was the moon, but it turned out to be
the red-bearded soldier. He nodded and said, “Oh,
what beautiful shoes for dancing.”

She was terribly frightened, and tried to take

off her shoes. She tore off her stockings, but the
shoes had grown fast to her feet. And dance she did,
for dance she must, over fields and valleys, in the
rain and in the sun, by day and night. It was most
dreadful by night. She danced over an unfenced
graveyard, but the dead did not join her dance. They
had better things to do. She tried to sit on a
pauper’s grave, where the bitter fennel grew, but
there was no rest or peace for her there. And when
she danced toward the open doors of the church, she
saw it guarded by an angel with long white robes and
wings that reached from his shoulders down to the
ground. His face was grave and stern, and in his hand
he held a broad, shining sword.

“Dance you shall!” he told her. “Dance in your red

shoes until you are pale and cold, and your flesh
shrivels down to the skeleton. Dance you shall from
door to door, and wherever there are children proud
and vain you must knock at the door till they hear
you, and are afraid of you. Dance you shall. Dance
always.”

“Have mercy upon me!” screamed Karen. But she did not
hear the angel answer. Her shoes swept her out
through the gate, and across the fields, along
highways and byways, forever and always dancing.

One morning she danced by a door she knew well.

There was the sound of a hymn, and a coffin was
carried out covered with flowers. Then she knew the
old lady was dead. She was all alone in the world
now, and cursed by the angel of God.

Dance she did and dance she must, through the

dark night. Her shoes took her through thorn and
briar that scratched her until she bled. She danced
across the wastelands until she came to a lonely
little house. She knew that this was where the
executioner lived, and she tapped with her finger on
his window pane.

“Come out!” she called. “Come out! I can’t come in,

for I am dancing.”

The executioner said, “You don’t seem to know who

I am. I strike off the heads of bad people, and I
feel my ax beginning to quiver.”
“Don’t strike off my head, for then I could not
repent of my sins,” said Karen. “But strike off my
feet with the red shoes on them.”

She confessed her sin, and the executioner struck

off her feet with the red shoes on them. The shoes
danced away with her little feet, over the fields
into the deep forest. But he made wooden feet and a
pair of crutches for her. He taught her a hymn that
prisoners sing when they are sorry for what they have
done. She kissed his hand that held the ax, and went
back across the wasteland.

“Now I have suffered enough for those red shoes,”

she said. “I shall go and be seen again in the
church.” She hobbled to church as fast as she could,
but when she got there the red shoes danced in front
of her, and she was frightened and turned back.

All week long she was sorry, and cried many

bitter tears. But when Sunday came again she said,
“Now I have suffered and cried enough. I think I must
be as good as many who sit in church and hold their
heads high.” She started out unafraid, but the moment
she came to the church gate she saw her red shoes
dancing before her. More frightened than ever, she
turned away, and with all her heart she really
repented.

She went to the pastor’s house, and begged him to

give her work as a servant. She promised to work
hard, and do all that she could. Wages did not
matter, if only she could have a roof over her head
and be with good people. The pastor’s wife took pity
on her, and gave her work at the parsonage. Karen was
faithful and serious. She sat quietly in the evening,
and listened to every word when the pastor read the
Bible aloud. The children were devoted to her, but
when they spoke of frills and furbelows, and of being
as beautiful as a queen, she would shake her head.

When they went to church next Sunday they asked her

to go too, but with tears in her eyes she looked at
her crutches, and shook her head. The others went to
hear the word of God, but she went to her lonely
little room, which was just big enough to hold her
bed and one chair. She sat with her hymnal in her
hands, and as she read it with a contrite heart, she
heard the organ roll. The wind carried the sound from
the church to her window. Her face was wet with tears
as she lifted it up, and said, “Help me, O Lord!”

Then the sun shone bright, and the white-robed

angel stood before her. He was the same angel she had
seen that night, at the door of the church. But he no
longer held a sharp sword. In his hand was a green
branch, covered with roses. He touched the ceiling
with it. There was a golden star where it touched,
and the ceiling rose high. He touched the walls and
they opened wide. She saw the deep-toned organ. She
saw the portraits of ministers and their wives. She
saw the congregation sit in flower-decked pews, and
sing from their hymnals. Either the church had come
to the poor girl in her narrow little room, or it was
she who had been brought to the church. She sat in
the pew with the pastor’s family. When they had
finished the hymn, they looked up and nodded to her.

“It was right for you to come, little Karen,”

they said. “It was God’s own mercy,” she told them.

The organ sounded and the children in the choir

sang, softly and beautifully. Clear sunlight streamed
warm through the window, right down to the pew where
Karen sat. She was so filled with the light of it,
and with joy and with peace, that her heart broke.
Her soul traveled along the shaft of sunlight to
heaven, where no one questioned her about the red
shoes.
 The Brave Tin Soldier Fairy tale

By: Hans Christian Andersen

There were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers.

They were all brothers, born of the same old tin
spoon. They shouldered their muskets and looked
straight ahead of them, splendid in their uniforms,
all red and blue.
 The very first thing in the world that they heard
was, “Tin soldiers!” A small boy shouted it and
clapped his hands as the lid was lifted off their box
on his birthday. He immediately set them up on the
table.

All the soldiers looked exactly alike except one.

He looked a little different as he had been cast last
of all. The tin was short, so he had only one leg.
But there he stood, as steady on one leg as any of
the other soldiers on their two. But just you see,
he’ll be the remarkable one.

On the table with the soldiers were many other

playthings, and one that no eye could miss was a
marvelous castle of cardboard. It had little windows
through which you could look right inside it. And in
front of the castle were miniature trees around a
little mirror supposed to represent a lake. The wax
swans that swam on its surface were reflected in the
mirror. All this was very pretty but prettiest of all
was the little lady who stood in the open doorway of
the castle. Though she was a paper doll, she wore a
dress of the fluffiest gauze. A tiny blue ribbon went
over her shoulder for a scarf, and in the middle of
it shone a spangle that was as big as her face. The
little lady held out both her arms, as a ballet
dancer does, and one leg was lifted so high behind
her that the tin soldier couldn’t see it at all, and
he supposed she must have only one leg, as he did.
“That would be a wife for me,” he thought. “But maybe
she’s too grand. She lives in a castle. I have only a
box, with four-and-twenty roommates to share it.
That’s no place for her. But I must try to make her
acquaintance.” Still as stiff as when he stood at
attention, he lay down on the table behind a
snuffbox, where he could admire the dainty little
dancer who kept standing on one leg without ever
losing her balance.

When the evening came the other tin soldiers were

put away in their box, and the people of the house
went to bed. Now the toys began to play among
themselves at visits, and battles, and at giving
balls. The tin soldiers rattled about in their box,
for they wanted to play too, but they could not get
the lid open. The nutcracker turned somersaults, and
the slate pencil squeaked out jokes on the slate. The
toys made such a noise that they woke up the canary
bird, who made them a speech, all in verse. The only
two who stayed still were the tin soldier and the
little dancer. Without ever swerving from the tip of
one toe, she held out her arms to him, and the tin
soldier was just as steadfast on his one leg. Not
once did he take his eyes off her.

Then the clock struck twelve and – clack! – up

popped the lid of the snuffbox. But there was no
snuff in it, no-out bounced a little black bogey, a
jack-in-the-box.

“Tin soldier,” he said. “Will you please keep your

eyes to yourself?” The tin soldier pretended not to
hear.

The bogey said, “Just you wait till tomorrow.”

But when morning came, and the children got up,

the soldier was set on the window ledge. And whether
the bogey did it, or there was a gust of wind, all of
a sudden the window flew open and the soldier pitched
out headlong from the third floor. He fell at
breathtaking speed and landed cap first, with his
bayonet buried between the paving stones and his one
leg stuck straight in the air. The housemaid and the
little boy ran down to look for him and, though they
nearly stepped on the tin soldier, they walked right
past without seeing him. If the soldier had called,
“Here I am!” they would surely have found him, but he
thought it contemptible to raise an uproar while he
was wearing his uniform.

Soon it began to rain. The drops fell faster and

faster, until they came down by the bucketful. As
soon as the rain let up, along came two young
rapscallions.

“Hi, look!” one of them said, “there’s a tin soldier.

Let’s send him sailing.”
 They made a boat out of newspaper, put the tin
soldier in the middle of it, and away he went down
the gutter with the two young rapscallions running
beside him and clapping their hands. High heavens!
How the waves splashed, and how fast the water ran
down the gutter. Don’t forget that it had just been
raining by the bucketful. The paper boat pitched, and
tossed, and sometimes it whirled about so rapidly
that it made the soldier’s head spin. But he stood as
steady as ever. Never once flinching, he kept his
eyes front, and carried his gun shoulder-high.
Suddenly the boat rushed under a long plank where the
gutter was boarded over. It was as dark as the
soldier’s own box.

“Where can I be going?” the soldier wondered. “This

must be that black bogey’s revenge. Ah! If only I had
the little lady with me, it could be twice as dark
here for all that I would care.” Out popped a great
water rat who lived under the gutter plank.

“Have you a passport?” said the rat. “Hand it over.”

The soldier kept quiet and held his musket

tighter. On rushed the boat, and the rat came right
after it, gnashing his teeth as he called to the
sticks and straws:

“Halt him! Stop him! He didn’t pay his toll. He

hasn’t shown his passport. “But the current ran
stronger and stronger. The soldier could see daylight
ahead where the board ended, but he also heard a roar
that would frighten the bravest of us. Hold on! Right
at the end of that gutter plank the water poured into
the great canal. It was as dangerous to him as a
waterfall would be to us.

He was so near it he could not possibly stop. The

boat plunged into the whirlpool. The poor tin soldier
stood as staunch as he could, and no one can say that
he so much as blinked an eye. Thrice and again the
boat spun around. It filled to the top – and was
bound to sink. The water was up to his neck and still
the boat went down, deeper, deeper, deeper, and the
paper got soft and limp. Then the water rushed over
his head. He thought of the pretty little dancer whom
he’d never see again, and in his ears rang an old,
old song:

“Farewell, farewell, O warrior brave,Nobody can

from Death thee save.” And now the paper boat broke
beneath him, and the soldier sank right through. And
just at that moment he was swallowed by a most
enormous fish. My! How dark it was inside that fish.
It was darker than under the gutter-plank and it was
so cramped, but the tin soldier still was staunch. He
lay there full length, soldier fashion, with musket
to shoulder.

Then the fish flopped and floundered in a most

unaccountable way. Finally it was perfectly still,
and after a while something struck through him like a
flash of lightning. The tin soldier saw daylight
again, and he heard a voice say, “The Tin Soldier!”
The fish had been caught, carried to market, bought,
and brought to a kitchen where the cook cut him open
with her big knife. She picked the soldier up bodily
between her two fingers, and carried him off
upstairs. Everyone wanted to see this remarkable
traveler who had traveled about in a fish’s stomach,
but the tin soldier took no pride in it. They put him
on the table and-lo and behold, what curious things
can happen in this world-there he was, back in the
same room as before. He saw the same children, the
same toys were on the table, and there was the same
fine castle with the pretty little dancer. She still
balanced on one leg, with the other raised high. She
too was steadfast. That touched the soldier so deeply
that he would have cried tin tears, only soldiers
never cry. He looked at her, and she looked at him,
and never a word was said.

Just as things were going so nicely for them, one

of the little boys snatched up the tin soldier and
threw him into the stove. He did it for no reason at
all. That black bogey in the snuffbox must have put
him up to it.

The tin soldier stood there dressed in flames. He

felt a terrible heat, but whether it came from the
flames or from his love he didn’t know. He’d lost his
splendid colors, maybe from his hard journey, maybe
from grief, nobody can say. He looked at the little
lady, and she looked at him, and he felt himself
melting. But still he stood steadfast, with his
musket held trim on his shoulder.

Then the door blew open. A puff of wind struck

the dancer. She flew like a sylph, straight into the
fire with the soldier, blazed up in a flash, and was
gone. The tin soldier melted, all in a lump. The next
day, when a servant took up the ashes she found him
in the shape of a little tin heart. But of the pretty
dancer nothing was left except her spangle, and it
was burned as black as a coal.
 Mrs. Fox’s Wedding

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

First Tale
Once upon a time there was an old fox with nine
tails. He did not believe that his wife was faithful
to him and wanted to put her to the test. He
stretched himself out beneath the bench, did not move
a limb, and pretended to be stone dead.
 Mrs. Fox locked herself in her room, and her
maid, Miss Cat, sat on the hearth and cooked. As soon
as it became known that the old fox had died, suitors
began to appear. The maid heard someone knocking at
the front door. She opened it, and there stood a
young fox, who said: What are you doing, Miss Cat?
Are you asleep, or are you awake?

She answered: I’m not asleep; I am awake. Do you

want to know what I am doing? I am cooking warm beer
with butter in it.

Would you like to be my guest?

“No thank you, Miss,” said the fox. “What is Mrs. Fox
doing?”

The maid answered:

She is sitting in her room Mourning and grieving.

She has cried her eyes red, Because old Mr. Fox is
dead.

“Miss, tell her that a young fox is here who would

like to court her.”

“I’ll do that, young man.” The cat went upstairs and

knocked on the door.

“Mrs. Fox, are you there?”

“Yes, my dear, yes.”

“A suitor is outside.”

“What does he look like? Does he have nine bushy

tails like the late Mr. Fox?”
“No,” answered the cat. “He has but one.”

“Then I’ll not have him.”

Miss Cat went downstairs and sent the suitor

away. Soon afterward there was another knock at the
door. Another fox was there who wanted to court Mrs.
Fox. He had two tails, but he did not fare any better
than the first one. Then others came, each with one
additional tail, but all were turned away until
finally one came who had nine tails, just like old
Mr. Fox. When the widow heard that, she spoke
joyfully to the cat: Open up the door and throw old
Mr. Fox out.

They were just about to celebrate the wedding

when beneath the bench old Mr. Fox began to stir. He
attacked the entire party with blows and drove them
all out of the house, including Mrs. Fox.

Second Tale
Following the death of old Mr. Fox, the wolf
presented himself as a suitor. The cat, who was
serving as Mrs. Fox’s maid, opened the door. The wolf
greeted her, saying:

Good day, Mrs. Cat,

Why are you sitting alone?

What good things are you making there?

The cat answered:

Bread and milk.

Would you like to be my guest?

“No thank you, Mrs. Cat.” Answered the wolf. “Isn’t

Mrs. Fox at home?”

The cat said:

She’s upstairs in her room

Mourning and grieving,

Bemoaning her plight,

Because old Mr. Fox is dead.

The wolf answered: If she wants another man, Just

have her come downstairs. The cat ran upstairs To
give her the news. She ran to the great room, And
knocked on the door with her five golden rings.

“Mrs. Fox, are you in there?

Do you want another man?”

Mrs. Fox asked, “Is the gentleman wearing red

breeches, and does he have a pointed little face?”
“No,” answered the cat. “Then he’s of no use to me.”

After the wolf had been sent away there came a

dog, a deer, a hare, a bear, a lion, and all the
other animals of the forest, one after the other. But
each one lacked one of the good qualities that old
Mr. Fox had had, and the cat had to send each of the
suitors away. Finally a young fox came.
 Mrs. Fox asked, “Is the gentleman wearing red
breeches, and does he have a pointed little face?”

“Yes,” said the cat, “that he does.”

“Then let him come upstairs,” said Mrs. Fox, and she
told the maid to make preparations for the wedding
feast. Cat, sweep out the kitchen, And throw the old
fox out the window. He brought home many a big fat
mouse, But he ate them all alone, And never gave me a
one.

Then Mrs. Fox married young Mr. Fox, and everyone

danced and celebrated, and if they have not stopped,
then they are dancing still.
 The Brave Little Tailor

By: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

One summer morning a little tailor was sitting on his
table near the window. In good spirits, he was sewing
with all his might. A peasant woman came down the
street crying, “Good jam for sale! Good jam for
sale!” That sounded good to the little tailor, so he
stuck his
dainty head out the window and shouted, “Come up
here, my dear woman! You can sell your goods here!”

The woman carried her heavy basket up the three

flights of stairs to the tailor, who had her unpack
all of her jars. He examined them, picking each one
up and holding it to his nose. Finally he said, “This
jam looks good to me. Weigh out four ounces for me,
even if it comes to a quarter pound.” The woman, who
had hoped to make a good sale, gave him what he asked
for, then went away angry and grumbling.

“May God bless this jam to give me health and

strength,” said the little tailor. Then taking a loaf
of bread from his cupboard, he cut himself a large
slice and spread it with the jam. “That is not going
to taste bad,” he said, “but I will finish the jacket
before I bite into it.”

He laid the bread aside and continued his sewing,

happily making his stitches larger and larger.
Meanwhile the smell of the sweet jam rose to the wall
where a large number of flies were sitting. Attracted
by the smell, a swarm of them settled onto the bread.

“Hey! Who invited you?” said the little tailor,

driving away the unbidden guests. However, the flies,
who did not understand German, would not be turned
away, and they came back in ever-increasing numbers.
Finally, losing his temper, he reached for a piece of
cloth and shouted, “Wait, now I’m going to give it to
you!” then hit at them without mercy. When he backed
off and counted, there were no fewer than seven of
them lying dead before him, with their legs stretched
out.

“Aren’t you someone?” he said to himself, surprised

at his own bravery. The whole town shall hear about
this.” He hastily cut out a banner for himself, then
embroidered on it with large letters, Seven with one
blow. “The town?” he said further. “The whole world
shall hear about this!” And his heart jumped for joy
like a lamb’s tail.

The tailor tied the banner around his body and set
forth into the world, for he thought that his
workshop was too small for such bravery. Before
leaving he looked about his house for something that
he could take with him. Finding nothing but a piece
of old cheese, he put that into his pocket. Outside
the town gate he found a bird that was caught in a
bush. It went into his pocket with the cheese.

He bravely took to the road, and being light and

agile he did not grow weary. The road led him up a
mountain, and when he reached the top a huge giant
was sitting there, looking around contentedly.

The little tailor went up to him cheerfully and said,

“Good day, comrade. Are you just sitting here looking
at the wide world? I am on my way out there to prove
myself. Do you want to come with me?” The giant
looked at the tailor with contempt, saying, “You
wretch! You miserable fellow!”

“You don’t say!” answered the little tailor.

Unbuttoning his coat, he showed the banner to the
giant. “You can read what kind of man I am.” The
giant read Seven with one blow, and thinking that the
tailor had killed seven men, he gained some respect
for the little fellow. But he did want to put him to
the test, so he picked up a stone and squeezed it
with his hand until water dripped from it.

“Do what I just did,” said the giant, “if you have
the strength.”

“Is that all?” said the little tailor. “That is

child’s play for someone like me.” Reaching into his
pocket he pulled out the soft cheese and squeezed it
until liquid ran from it. “That was even better,
wasn’t it?” he said.

The giant did not know what to say, for he did not
believe the little man. Then the giant picked up a
stone and threw it so high that it could scarcely be
seen. “Now, you little dwarf, do that.”

“A good throw,” said the tailor, “but the stone did

fall back to earth. I’ll throw one for you that will
not come back.” He reached into his pocket, pulled
out the bird, and threw it into the air. Happy to be
free, the bird flew up and away, and did not come
back. “How did you like that, comrade?” asked the
tailor.
“You can throw well enough,” said the giant, but now
let’s see if you are able to carry anything proper.”
He led the little tailor to a mighty oak tree that
had been cut down and was lying on the ground. He
said, “If you are strong enough, then help me carry
this tree out of the woods.”

“Gladly,” answered the little man. “You take the

trunk on your shoulder, and I will carry the branches
and twigs. After all, they are the heaviest.”

The giant lifted the trunk onto his shoulder, but the
tailor sat down on a branch, and the giant, who could
not see behind himself, had to drag long the entire
tree, with the little tailor sitting on top. Cheerful
and in good spirits, he whistled the song “There Were
Three Tailors Who Rode Out to the Gate,” as though
carrying a tree were child’s play.

The giant, after dragging the heavy load a little

way, could not go any further, and he called out,
“Listen, I have to drop the tree.” The tailor jumped
down agilely, took hold of the tree with both arms,
as though he had been carrying it, and said to the
giant, “You are such a big fellow, and you can’t even
carry a tree.”

They walked on together until they came to a cherry

tree. The giant took hold of the treetop where the
ripest fruit was hanging, bent it down, and put it
into the tailor’s hand, inviting him to eat. However,
the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree,
and when the giant let go, the tree sprang upward,
throwing the tailor into the air. When he fell back
to earth, without injury, the giant said, “What? You
don’t have enough strength to hold that little
switch?”

“There is no lack of strength,” answered the little

tailor. “Do you think that that would be a problem
for someone who killed seven with one blow? I jumped
over the tree because hunters are shooting down there
in the brush. Jump over it yourself, if you can.” The
giant made the attempt, but could not clear the tree
and got stuck in the branches. So the little tailor
kept the upper hand here as well.

The giant said, “If you are such a brave fellow, then
come with me to our cave and spend the night with
us.”

The little tailor agreed and followed him. When they

reached the cave, other giants were sitting there by
a fire. Each one had a roasted sheep in his hand and
was eating from it. The little tailor looked around
and thought, “It is a lot more roomy here than in my
workshop. The giant showed him a bed and told him to
lie down and go to sleep. However, the little tailor
found the bed too large, so instead of lying there he
crept into a corner. At midnight the giant thought
that the little tailor was fast asleep, so he got up,
took a large iron bar, and with a single blow smashed
the bed in two. He thought he had put an end to the
grasshopper.

Early the next morning the giants went into the

woods, having completely forgotten the little tailor,
when he suddenly approached them cheerfully and
boldly. Fearing that he would strike them all dead,
the terrified giants ran away in haste.

The little tailor continued on his way, always

following his pointed nose. After wandering a long
time, he came to the courtyard of a royal palace, and
being tired, he lay down in the grass and fell
asleep. While he was lying there people came and
looked at him from all sides, and they read his
banner, Seven with one blow.

“Oh,” they said, “what is this great war hero doing

here in the midst of peace? He must be a powerful
lord.”

They went and reported him to the king, thinking that

if war were to break out, he would be an important
and useful man who at any price should not be allowed
to go elsewhere. The king was pleased with this
advice, and he sent one of his courtiers to the
little tailor to offer him a position in the army, as
soon as he woke up. The messenger stood by the
sleeper and waited until he stretched his arms and
legs and opened his eyes, and then he delivered his
offer. “That is precisely why I came here,” answered
the little tailor. “I am ready to enter the king’s
service.” Thus he was received with honor and given a
special place to live.

However, the soldiers were opposed to the little

tailor, and wished that he were a thousand miles
away. “What will happen,” they said among themselves,
“if we quarrel with him, and he strikes out against
us? Seven of us will fall with each blow. People like
us can’t stand up to that.” So they came to a
decision, and all together they went to the king and
asked to be released. “We were not made,” they said,
“to stand up to a man who kills seven with one blow.”

The king was sad that he was going to lose all his
faithful servants because of one man, and he wished
that he had never seen him. He would like to be rid
of him, but he did not dare dismiss him, because he
was afraid that he would kill him and all his people
and then set himself on the royal throne. He thought
long and hard, and finally found an answer. He sent a
message to the little tailor, informing him that
because he was such a great war hero he would make
him an offer. In a forest in his country there lived
two giants who were causing great damage with
robbery, murder, pillage, and arson. No one could
approach them without placing himself in mortal
danger. If he could conquer and kill these two
giants, the king would give him his only daughter to
wife and half his kingdom for a dowry. Furthermore, a
hundred horsemen would go with him for support.
“That is something for a man like you,” thought the
little tailor. “It is not every day that someone is
offered a beautiful princess and half a kingdom.”

“Yes,” he replied. “I shall conquer the giants, but I

do not need the hundred horsemen. Anyone who can
strike down seven with one blow has no cause to be
afraid of two.” The little tailor set forth, and the
hundred horsemen followed him. At the edge of the
forest, he said to them, “You stay here. I shall take
care of the giants myself.”

Leaping into the woods, he looked to the left and to

the right. He soon saw the two giants. They were
lying asleep under a tree, snoring until the branches
bent up and down. The little tailor, not lazy, filled
both pockets with stones and climbed the tree. Once
in the middle of the tree, he slid out on a branch
until he was seated right above the sleepers. Then he
dropped one stone after another onto one of the
giant’s chest. For a long time the giant did not feel
anything, but finally he woke up, shoved his
companion, and said, “Why are you hitting me?” “You
are dreaming,” said the other one. “I am not hitting
you.”

They fell asleep again, and the tailor threw a stone

at the second one.

“What is this?” said the other one. “Why are you

throwing things at me?”
“I am not throwing anything at you,” answered the
first one, grumbling. They quarreled for a while, but
because they were tired, they made peace, and they
both closed their eyes again. Then the little tailor
began his game again. Choosing his largest stone, he
threw it at the first giant with all his strength,
hitting him in the chest.

“That is too mean!” shouted the giant, then jumped up

like a madman and pushed his companion against the
tree, until it shook. The other one paid him back in
kind, and they became so angry that they pulled up
trees and struck at each other until finally, at the
same time, they both fell to the ground dead.

Then the little tailor jumped down. “It is

fortunate,” he said, “that they did not pull up the
tree where I was sitting, or I would have had to jump
into another one like a squirrel. But people like me
are nimble.”

Drawing his sword, he gave each one a few good blows

to the chest, then went back to the horsemen and
said, “The work is done. I finished off both of them,
but it was hard. In their need they pulled up trees
to defend themselves. But it didn’t help them, not
against someone like me who kills seven with one
blow.”

“Are you not wounded?” asked the horsemen.

“Everything is all right,” answered the tailor. “They
did not so much as bend one of my hairs.” Not wanting
to believe him, the horsemen rode into the woods.
There they found the giants swimming in their own
blood, and all around lay the uprooted trees.

The little tailor asked the king for the promised

reward, but the latter regretted the promise, and
once again he began to think of a way to get the hero
off his neck. “Before you receive my daughter and
half the kingdom,” he said, “you must fulfill another
heroic deed. In the woods there is a unicorn that is
causing much damage. First you must capture it. “I am
even less afraid of a unicorn than I was of two
giants. Seven with one blow, that is my thing.”

Taking a rope and an ax, he went into the woods. Once

again he told those who went with him to wait behind.
He did not have to look very long. The unicorn soon
appeared, leaping toward the tailor as if it wanted
to spear him at once.

“Gently, gently,” said the tailor. “Not so fast.” He

stopped, waited until the animal was very near, then
jumped agilely behind a tree. The unicorn ran with
all its might into the tree, sticking its horn so
tightly into the trunk that it did not have enough
strength to pull it out again, and thus it was
captured.

“Now I have the little bird,” said the tailor, coming

out from behind the tree. First he tied the rope
around the unicorn’s neck, then he cut the horn out
of the tree with the ax. When everything was ready,
he led the animal away and brought it to the king.
The king still did not want to give him the promised
reward and presented a third requirement. Before the
wedding, the tailor was to capture a wild boar that
was causing great damage in the woods. Huntsmen were
to assist him.

“Gladly,” said the tailor. “That is child’s play.” He

did not take the huntsmen into woods with him, and
they were glad about that, for they had encountered
the wild boar before and had no desire to do so
again.

When the boar saw the tailor he ran toward him with
foaming mouth and grinding teeth, wanting to throw
him to the ground. But the nimble hero ran into a
nearby chapel, then with one leap jumped back out
through a window. The boar ran in after him, but the
tailor ran around outside and slammed the door. Thus
the furious animal was captured, for it was too heavy
and clumsy to jump out the window. The little tailor
called to the huntsmen. They had to see the captured
boar with their own eyes.

The hero reported to the king, who now – whether he

wanted to or not – had to keep his promise and give
him his daughter and half the kingdom. If he had
known that it was not a war hero, but rather a little
tailor standing before him, it would have been even
more painful for him. The wedding was thus held with
great ceremony but little joy, and a king was made
from a tailor. Some time later the young queen heard
in the night how her husband said in a dream, “Boy,
make the jacket for me, and patch the trousers, or I
will hit you across your ears with a yardstick.” Thus
she determined where the young lord had come from.
The next morning she brought her complaint to her
father, asking him to help her get rid of the man,
who was nothing more than a tailor.

The king comforted her, saying, “Tonight leave your

bedroom door unlocked. My servants will stand
outside, and after he falls asleep they will go
inside, bind him, and carry him to a ship that will
take him far away from here.” The wife was satisfied
with this. However, the king’s squire, who had a
liking for the young lord, heard everything and
revealed the whole plot to him.

“I’ll put a stop to that,” said the little tailor.

That evening he went to bed with his wife at the
usual time. When she thought he was asleep she got
up, opened the door, and then went back to bed. The
little tailor, who was only pretending to be asleep,
began crying out with a clear voice, “Boy, make the
jacket for me, and patch the trousers, or I will hit
you across your ears with a yardstick! I have struck
down seven with one blow, killed two giants, led away
a unicorn, and captured a wild boar, and I am
supposed to be afraid of those who are standing just
outside the bedroom!” When those standing outside
heard the tailor say this, they were so overcome with
fear that they ran away, as though the wild horde was
behind them. None of them dared to approach him ever
again. Thus the little tailor was a king, and he
remained a king as long as he lived.
 “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp”

The Arabian Nights: One Thousand and

One Nights

Aladdin is a truant child, living with his mother

in poverty in a Chinese town. His father is dead. One
day, an African magician approaches Aladdin while the
boy plays in the streets. Claiming to be the boy’s
uncle, he recruits Aladdin to work with him,
insisting he will be able to turn the boy into a
wealthy merchant afterwards. Aladdin’s mother also
believes the lie, and gives her permission.

Aladdin agrees, and the magician leads him to a

booby-trapped cave. There, he instructs Aladdin to
fetch an oil lamp from within, not explaining that
the cave’s spells require the magician to receive the
lamp from another. He grants the boys one of his
magic rings as protection.

However, after finding the lamp, Aladdin refuses

to send it to him before he leaves the cave. In a fit
of rage, the magician traps Aladdin inside, still
holding the lamp. After two days miserable and alone,
Aladdin accidentally rubs the ring the magician gave
him, and a jinn (or genie) appears. At the boy’s
mercy, the ring jinn asks what Aladdin wants, and the
boy asks to be brought home. The spirit complies.

Back home, Aladdin’s mother attempts to clean the

lamp so they can sell it. When she rubs it, an even
more powerful jinn appears, promising to do their
bidding. They request something to eat, and the lamp
jinn brings them an amazing feast. Though Aladdin’s
mother fears they are cavorting with devils, Aladdin
insists they take advantage of their good fortune.
They live in prosperity for years in this way, until
one day Aladdin catches sight of the sultan’s
daughter, and decides he must marry her. He sends his
mother to the sultan’s palace with some jewels
conjured by the lamp jinn, to impress the sultan into
approving the marriage with the beautiful princess.
Amazed by the display of wealth, the sultan agrees,
though the sultan’s greedy vizier convinces him to
wait three months, hoping his own son can woo the
princess with an even greater gift during that time.
 Two months later, Aladdin learns the vizier’s son
has indeed won the princess for his bride. Outraged,
he demands the jinn transport the bride and groom to
him on the night of their wedding. The couple is
transported in their bed, and the jinn sends the
vizier’s son outside while Aladdin spends the night
with the princess. The next morning, the bed is
transported back and the son returned. The process is
repeated for a few nights, terrifying the married
couple. Believing themselves cursed, they tell the
sultan what has happened, and decide to separate.

One month later (at the end of the original three

month period), Aladdin’s mother reminds the sultan of
his promise, and he marries his daughter to Aladdin,
who has the lamp jinn create a magnificent palace for
their home. From his home in Africa, the magician
hears of this story, and realizes that Aladdin must
have survived and kept the lamp. So one day, when
Aladdin is away, he travels to the palace disguised
as a merchant who is trading new, polished lamps for
old ones. The sultan’s daughter falls for the ruse,
and gives him the magic lamp. The magician
immediately uses the lamp jinn to transport the
palace and princess to Africa.

Shocked, the sultan threatens to kill Aladdin if

he does not bring the princess back within forty
days. Aladdin still has the magic ring, so he uses
its jinn to transport him to Africa. There, he and
the princess prepare a plan. She dresses alluringly
one night and swears she has forgotten Aladdin.
Excited, the magician pours some fine wine, which she
then drugs to kill him. The couple then steals the
lamp and returns home to China with the palace. All
is not well yet, though; the magician has a brother,
who is even more wicked. Bent on revenge, the
magician’s brother disguises himself as a holy woman
and visits the palace. There, he convinces the
princess that the place would benefit from having a
hanging roc’s egg. She begs Aladdin to request this
from the jinn, which he does.

However, this request angers the jinn, since the

roc is his master. He threatens to destroy the
palace, but quickly surmises that Aladdin has been
tricked by the magician’s brother. He warns them of
the danger, and Aladdin kills the impostor once and
for all. They live happily ever after, and Aladdin
eventually becomes sultan himself.
 Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp
Although it wasn’t added to the collection until
the 18th century by French scholar Antoine Galland,
‘Aladdin’ is one of the most popular tales from 1,001
Nights because of its modern Disney adaptation. In
the original tale, Aladdin is a poor, young man in
‘one of the cities of China.’ A sorcerer deceives
Aladdin and persuades him to steal an oil lamp from a
magic cave. Aladdin accidentally releases a genie
from the lamp, and so a series of events unfold in
which Aladdin’s every wish comes true, but only to be
dismantled by the villain.

The Three Apples

In this tale, a fisherman discovers a chest in
the Tigris River that he sells to Harun al-Rashid,
the Abbasid Caliph. Harun finds that it contains the
body of a dead woman and orders his adviser, Ja’far,
to solve the crime. The dead woman’s husband and
father both claim to have killed her, but the caliph
believes the story of the husband who believed her to
have been unfaithful. The husband had bought three
unique apples for his wife when she was ill, and when
he found a slave with one of the apples, the slave
claimed his girlfriend gave it to him. In a rage, the
man killed his wife. The slave who stirred up all the
trouble ends up being Ja’far’s slave, and Ja’far begs
for a pardon.
 The Tale of the Three Apples

The Arabian Nights: One Thousand and

One Nights
A man wrongly kills his wife, cuts her into
pieces and throws her into the river Tigris. He did
so because a slave tricked the man in believing she
was his mistress. The slave had a rare apple which
the man had brought to his wife and the slave uses
this as proof. The Wazir (Ja’afar) finds out it was
one of his slaves but asks the Caliph’s pardon,
because it is not as wondrous as one of his tales.

Caliph Harun al-Rashid summons his Wazir Ja’afar

and tells him he wants to question the common folk.
They meet an old man with a fishing net lamenting
over something. The Caliph wants to help him and says
he will give the man hundred gold pieces, but during
his next catch the Caliph will get what’s in the net.
It turns out to be a heavy chest. Its contents is
palm-leaves, a carpet, a woman’s mantilla and a woman
cut in nineteen pieces. The Caliph demands the
murderer to be found. When Ja’azar gets the
assignment to find the murderer within three days he
cannot fulfil this task because he can never be
certain who is the murderer. After three days the
Caliph commands Ja’afar to be hanged with forty of
his family and companions for not obeying his orders.

However, when Ja’afar is about to be hanged a

young and an old man claim both they are the one
murderer of the lady. When brought before the Caliph
they still claim either of them is the murderer. But
the younger man gives details of the contents of the
chest and the Caliph asks the story behind it. He
tells the Caliph that the woman was his wife. One day
she fell ill and she asked for an apple. The man
could not find any apples, although he was willing to
pay a high sum for them. Then he was informed that
the Commander of the Faithful at Bassorah has apples
in his Garden. He travelled for fifteen days to get
them and brought three apples to his wife. She had
grown weaker and could not eat the apples.

Some time later the man saw an ugly slave with an

apple, and he asked how he got it. The slave told him
he got it from his mistress who told him her husband
had brought them. Upon hearing this he cut the throat
of his wife, hewed off her head and her limbs in
pieces, put it all into a chest and threw it into the
river Tigris.

When he went home he found this son crying. He

told his father that he took one of apples from his
mother and went playing. Then a slave came to him and
stole his apple. He cried giving him the details of
the story of the apples. Knowing the true content of
the slave’s story, the man had mourned for the last
five days. Now, he is asking the Caliph to kill him
for the unjustly deed. But the Caliph spares his life
and asks Ja’afar to find the slave and if he does not
find him in three days, again, Ja’afar will be
killed. Knowing he cannot fulfil this task Ja’afar
waits for three days and awaits his fate.

However, when he says farewell to his family he

finds an apple with his daughter who tells him
Rayhan, their slave, sold it to her for two dinars.
On the apple was written the name of the Caliph. When
the slave is summoned he tells the whole story (he
did not steal it from the Caliph’s Gardens but from a
boy). He then takes the slave to the Caliph and tells
him the story of the slave. But Ja’afar also says
that the story is not as wondrous as the tale of
Wazir Nur al-Din Ali of Egypt and his brother Shams
al-Din Mohammed. The Caliph asks him to tell the
story and will spare his slave if the story is more
wondrous than the story of the three apples.
 Tuko and the Birds:

A Tale from the Philippines (Shirley

Climo)
Tuko and the Birds: A Tale from the Philippines
is a story about a Tuko arriving in a peaceful small
Philippine island of Luzon. The men fished, the women
cooked, the children played games, and the birds
sang. Everyone knew it was time for bed when they
heard the birds’ good-night song. Then Tuko arrived.
Tuko, the gecko, bellowed his name five times every
time he ate—day or night. Everyone was miserable from
lack of sleep. That is, until Haribon the eagle
devised a plan to trick Tuko into leaving for good.
Tuko and the Birds is a 2009 Bank Street—Best
Children’s Book of the Year.

The Turtle and the Monkey

(Paul Galdone)
The Turtle and the Monkey is a story about a
Turtle who needs Monkey’s help in getting the banana
tree out of the river, but he’s sorry later when
greedy Monkey demands more than his share of the
fruit.
 Tuko and the Birds:

A Tale from the Philippines

(Shirley Climo)

The Philippines consists of 7,107 islands spread

in the western Pacific Ocean of Southeast Asia.
According to legend, a giant once hurled a huge rock
into the sky. It fell into the Pacific Ocean and
broke to bits, creating the Philippine Islands. The
tokay gecko, a large lizard found throughout
Southeast Asia, is called a tuko in the Philippines.
Legend says that whenever a tuko swallows anything,
it calls its name five times. This fable of tuko is
still favorite tale of the Filipino people.

Once on the Philippine island of Luzon, a little

house stood on top of Mount Pinatubo, overlooking the
bay and its city of Maynilad. Over the years, its
thatched palm roof blended with growing trees. All
the people forgot about the house except the birds,
which used it to practice singing.

The people living by the water enjoyed evenings

with birdsongs, carried down the mountainside. The
children playing with sand, the women washing the
cooking pots, and the men fishing with nets upon
hearing the birds, they knew it was time to go to
bed.

One night, the birds were awakened by an ear-

shuttering sound of “TUKO! TUKO! TUKO! TUKO! TUKO!”
“What was that?” They chirped all at the same time.
Suddenly, something dreadful crouched by the door.
The creature was the size of a young crocodile,
similar in looks as well, except it was covered with
orange-spotted scales.

“What are you?” trembled the pigeon.

“I already told you five times,” snapped the

creature. “I am Tuko the gecko, and I’ve come to sing
with you.” The birds looked at each other, “How did
you find us?”

“My ears followed your singing,” responded Tuko.

“Can you sing for us?” asked robin.

“TUKO! TUKO! TUKO! TUKO! TUKO!” a dreadful sound

pierced the birds’ ears.He screeched all night. The
sleepless birds collapsed in the morning.

He continued his screeching for the whole week.

The weary birds couldn’t sleep or sing. The people of
Maynilad were tired, too. Without the birds’ singing,
they didn’t know when to go to bed.“He needs to go,”
whispered the talon.“But how will we make him go?”
chimed in the parrot.
 “We’ll think of something,” responded the eagle.
He spent the morning circling the island of Luzon
until he spied a wasps’ nest dangling from a branch
of a tall tree. “This might be Tuko’s favorite
snack.” He snipped the hive and carried it back to
Mount Pinatubo.

“Tuko I brought you something,” called the eagle.The

creature woke up from its nap and his tongue flicked,
“Zap! Zap! Zap!” All wasps were gone.

“I see that wasps must be your favorite food,” said

the talon. “Oh, no,” responded gecko. “I like
rhinoceros beetles best. They’re nice and chewy.”

“Good to know. I may get you some,” replied the

eagle with a sly smile. He knew exactly what to do
and where to find it. He flew to the other side of
the island to a gum tree. He pecked the trunk with
his beak. Sap oozed from the holes in the bark. He
caught the milky liquid in half a coconut shell. With
the shell full of sap, he returned to Mount Pinatubo
and formed the rubbery sap into five rhinoceros
beetles. He lined them on the stump and called for
Tuko.

“Beetles! Beetles!” yelled happy gecko. He popped one

beetle after another. When he pushed the fifth
beetle, he mumbled something. His tongue was stuck to
his teeth with getah gum. Tuko tried to dig with his
feet, but they stuck to his teeth, too. He tripped
and tumbled down the hill. He rolled faster and
faster down the mountain. And never was heard from or
seen again.

The same day, in the evening, the birds opened

their beaks, and rejoice to sing. Down the mountain,
the people were happy to hear the birds’ singing
again. They knew when to go to bed and get a good
night sleep.
 The Turtle and the Monkey

By:(Paul Galdone)

Described as “a Philippine tale,” this story of a

turtle who finds a Banana tree in the river and a
monkey who cheats her out of its fruit begins with a
catchy folklore situation but ultimately trails off
in bits and pieces. As Turtle can’t carry the tree to
her garden by herself, she asks Monkey for help and
agrees to give him his share in return.

Monkey then insists on splitting the tree now,

not the bananas later, and chooses the showier top
half for himself. Though it is Turtle’s half that
survives and bears fruit, once more she must turn to
Monkey, offering him some of the bananas if he will
climb the tree and throw some down.

Instead, he merely climbs up and eats his fill.

Snappy enough so far, the story needs only a fitting
comeuppance, but Turtle’s strewing thorns and
prickers around the tree and Monkey’s painful hopping
about on his descent doesn’t quite answer.

Grafted onto this is a briar-bush routine, with

Monkey threatening reprisal and Turtle begging not to
be thrown into the river and then, when she is,
paddling happily downstream, the bananas forgotten.
Even Galdone’s drawings lack spirit, with repetitive,
minimally varied shots of Monkey and Turtle facing
off against a slapdash tropical background.
 How the World Was Made
This is the ancient Filipino account of the creation

Thousands of years ago there was no land nor sun

nor moon nor stars, and the world was only a great
sea of water, above which stretched the sky. The
water was the kingdom of the god Maguayan, and the
sky was ruled by the great god Captan.

Maguayan had a daughter called Lidagat, the sea,

and Captan had a son known as Lihangin, the wind. The
gods agreed to the marriage of their children, so the
sea became the bride of the wind. Three sons and a
daughter were born to them. The sons were called
Licalibutan, Liadlao, and Libulan; and the daughter
received the name of Lisuga.

Licalibutan had a body of rock and was strong and

brave; Liadlao was formed of gold and was always
happy; Libulan was made of copper and was weak and
timid; and the beautiful Lisuga had a body of pure
silver and was sweet and gentle. Their parents were
very fond of them, and nothing was wanting to make
them happy. After a time Lihangin died and left the
control of the winds to his eldest son Licalibutan.

The faithful wife Lidagat soon followed her

husband, and the children, now grown up, were left
without father or mother. However, their
grandfathers, Captan and Maguayan, took care of them
and guarded them from all evil.

After a time, Licalibutan, proud of his power

over the winds, resolved to gain more power, and
asked his brothers to join him in an attack on Captan
in the sky above. At first they refused; but when
Licalibutan became angry with them, the amiable
Liadlao, not wishing to offend his brother, agreed to
help. Then together they induced the timid Libulan to
join in the plan.

When all was ready the three brothers rushed at

the sky, but they could not beat down the gates of
steel that guarded the entrance. Then Licalibutan let
loose the strongest winds and blew the bars in every
direction. The brothers rushed into the opening, but
were met by the angry god Captan. So terrible did he
look that they turned and ran in terror; but Captan,
furious at the destruction of his gates, sent three
bolts of lightning after them.

The first struck the copper Libulan and melted

him into a ball. The second struck the golden
Liadlao, and he too was melted. The third bolt struck
Licalibutan, and his rocky body broke into many
pieces and fell into the sea. So huge was he that
parts of his body stuck out above the water and
became what is known as land.

In the meantime the gentle Lisuga had missed her

brothers and started to look for them. She went
toward the sky, but as she approached the broken
gates, Captan, blind with anger, struck her too with
lightning, and her silver body broke into thousands
of pieces. Captan then came down from the sky and
tore the sea apart, calling on Maguayan to come to
him and accusing him of ordering the attack on the
sky. Soon Maguayan appeared and answered that he knew
nothing of the plot as he had been asleep far down in
the sea. After a time he succeeded in calming the
angry Captan.

Together they wept at the loss of their

grandchildren, especially the gentle and beautiful
Lisuga; but with all their power they could not
restore the dead to life. However, they gave to each
body a beautiful light that will shine forever.

And so it was that golden Liadlao became the sun,

and copper Libulan the moon, while the thousands of
pieces of silver Lisuga shine as the stars of heaven.
To wicked Licalibutan the gods gave no light, but
resolved to make his body support a new race of
people. So Captan gave Maguayan a seed, and he
planted it on the land, which, as you will remember,
was part of Licalibutan’s huge body.

Soon a bamboo tree grew up, and from the hollow

of one of its branches a man and a woman came out.
The man’s name was Sicalac, and the woman was called
Sicabay. They were the parents of the human race.
Their first child was a son whom they called Libo;
afterwards they had a daughter who was known as
Saman. Pandaguan was a younger son and he had a son
called Arion.

Pandaguan was very clever and invented a trap to

catch fish. The very first thing he caught was a huge
shark. When he brought it to land, it looked so great
and fierce that he thought it was surely a god, and
he at once ordered his people to worship it. Soon all
gathered around and began to sing and pray to the
shark. Suddenly the sky and sea opened, and the gods
came out and ordered Pandaguan to throw the shark
back into the sea and to worship none but them.

All were afraid except Pandaguan. He grew very

bold and answered that the shark was as big as the
gods, and that since he had been able to overpower it
he would also be able to conquer the gods. Then
Captan, hearing this, struck Pandaguan with a small
thunderbolt, for he did not wish to kill him but
merely to teach him a lesson. Then he and Maguayan
decided to punish these people by scattering them
over the earth, so they carried some to one land and
some to another. Many children were afterwards born,
and thus the earth became inhabited in all parts.

Pandaguan did not die. After lying on the ground

for thirty days he regained his strength, but his
body was blackened from the lightning, and all his
descendants ever since that day have been black. His
first son, Arion, was taken north, but as he had been
born before his father’s punishment he did not lose
his color, and all his people therefore are white.

Libo and Saman were carried south, where the hot sun
scorched their bodies and caused all their
descendants to be of a brown color.

A son of Saman and a daughter of Sicalac were

carried east, where the land at first was so lacking
in food that they were compelled to eat clay. On this
account their children and their children’s children
have always been yellow in color.

And so the world came to be made and peopled. The

sun and moon shine in the sky, and the beautiful
stars light up the night. All over the land, on the
body of the envious Licalibutan, the children of’
Sicalac and Sicabay have grown great in numbers. May
they live forever in peace and brotherly love!
 The Legend of the Pineapple:
A Filipino Legend

Once upon a time, there was a woman who lived

with her daughter Pina in a tiny hut in the village.
They were poor, and the mother worked day and
night to make both ends meet. No matter how hard she
worked, though, she never got any help from her
daughter. Pina was a lazy, spoiled kid who liked to
play in the backyard all day. Whenever her mother
asked for help around the house or tried to send her
on an errand, she would always find an excuse by
saying she can’t find the object that was needed to
complete that task. If her mother asked her to sweep
the house, for example, she would say she cannot find
the broom, even if it was right there in front of
her. Needless to say, her mother always ended up
doing the work herself.
      One day, her mother became very ill. She called
out to Pina, who as usual was playing in the
backyard.

      “Pina! Pina! Come over here, anak. I am very

sick. Can you cook some porridge for me please? I am
too weak to get up.”
      Pina ignored her mother and continued to play.

      “Pina, come over here this very instant, or

else!” Pina’s mother mustered all her strength just
to say this, but it worked. Pina grudgingly stopped
playing and went inside the house. She poked her head
inside her mother’s room.

      “What do you want, Nanay (mother)? You really

expect me to cook for you? That’s too hard,”
protested Pina, pouting and stomping her feet.
      “Pina, it is very simple. Just put some rice in
a pot and add water. Once the water boils, let it
simmer for awhile. Stir it occasionally with a ladle.
Everything you need should be right there in the
kitchen.”

      Pina reluctantly left and went to the kitchen.

Her mother could hear her banging the drawers and
cabinets. Then her mother heard her open the back
door and sneak out into the backyard. Her mother
waited and waited. Finally, she called out to Pina
again.

      “Pina, did you cook like I told you to?”

      “No,” was the defiant response.

      “And why not?” was her mom’s exasperated

response.

      “Because I could not find the ladle,” was her

flippant reply.

      “Oh, you lazy child! You probably did not even
bother to look for it! What am I going to do with
you?  Here I am, sick, and I cannot even count on
you!” 

      Her mother wept bitterly. In her anger, she

shouted, “I wish you would grow a thousand eyes all
over your head! Then you can find what you’re looking
for. Maybe then you won’t have any more excuses.” 

      As soon as she said this, there was complete

silence. Her mother thought, “She is trying to be
quiet so I will forget about asking her again.” She
sighed.

      She waited a little bit to see if Pina would

come back. Realizing the wait was futile, she wearily
got up to do the cooking herself. When she looked out
into the backyard, Pina was nowhere to be found. She
sighed again and said to herself,  “That lazy kid
probably went to a friend’s house so she did not have
to do any more errands for me.”

      Exhausted from the exertion, she soon went back

to her room for a much-needed rest. Weak as she was,
she just tried to do everything by herself, having
given up on any help from Pina. Hours passed by, and
then days. Still no sign of her wayward daughter.
With a heavy heart, she thought that Pina had ran
away for sure. 

      When she finally recovered from her illness,

the first thing she did was look for Pina. No one had
seen or heard from her. It was like she disappeared
into thin air. Months passed and still no sign of
her. The mother felt bad for her angry outburst,
and she feared that she might probably never see her
daughter again.

       One day, she was sweeping the backyard where

Pina used to play. For months now, she had noticed
this strange plant growing on the very spot where she
last saw Pina. By this time, the leaves of the plant
had fully opened. Inside, she saw this strange yellow
fruit that resembled a child’s head with a thousand
eyes. A thousand eyes…

      She suddenly remembered the spiteful words she

used that fateful day. With horror, she realized that
in the same way
her mother’s love had
spoiled her daughter, so
did her
anger  unwittingly curse 
her.  Somehow, her daughter had been turned into this
plant.

      To honor the memory of her beloved

daughter, she named the fruit Pina. She took such
loving care of it like it was her own daughter. The
fruit flourished so well that it bore more and more
fruits, and became popular among the village and the
entire country. Its name later evolved to pinya, or
pineapple in English. That’s how the pineapple came
to be, according to folklore, named after a spoiled
child who was cursed with a thousand eyes.
 The Tale of Peter Rabbit

By: Beatrix Potter

ONCE upon a time there were four little Rabbits,

and their names were— Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and
Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank,
underneath the root of a very big fir tree.
 “NOW, my
dears,” said old
Mrs. Rabbit one
morning, “you may
go into the
fields or down
the lane, but
don’t go into Mr.
McGregor’s
garden: your
Father had an
accident there;
he was put in a
pie by Mrs.
McGregor. "NOW
run along, and don't get into mischief. I am going
out." THEN old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her
umbrella, to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown
bread and five currant buns. FLOPSY, Mopsy, and
Cottontail, who were good little bunnies, went down
the lane to gather blackberries; MR. McGREGOR was on
his hands and knees planting out young cabbages, but
he jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and
calling out, "Stop thief!"

PETER was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed

all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way
back to the gate. He lost one of his shoes among the
cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes.
 AFTER losing them, he ran on four legs and went
faster, so that I think he might have got away
altogether if he had not unfortunately run into a
gooseberry net, and got caught by the large buttons
on his jacket. It was a blue jacket with brass
buttons, quite new.

PETER gave himself up for lost, and shed big

tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly
sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and
implored him to exert himself.

MR. McGREGOR came up with a sieve, which he

intended to pop upon the top of Peter; but Peter
wriggled out just in time, leaving his jacket behind
him. And rushed into the toolshed, and jumped into a
can. It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in,
if it had not had so much water in it. MR. McGREGOR
was quite sure that Peter was somewhere in the
toolshed, perhaps hidden underneath a flower-pot. He
began to turn them over carefully, looking under
each. Presently Peter sneezed— "Kertyschoo!"

Mr. McGregor was after him in no time, and tried

to put his foot upon Peter, who jumped out of a
window, upsetting three plants. The window was too
small for Mr. McGregor, and he was tired of running
after Peter. He went back to his work.

PETER sat down to rest; he was out of breath and

trembling with fright, and he had not the least idea
which way to go. Also he was very damp with sitting
in that can. After a time he began to wander about,
going lippity— lippity—not very fast, and looking all
around. He found a door in a wall; but it was locked,
and there was no room for a fat little rabbit to
squeeze underneath. An old mouse was running in and
out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans
to her family in the wood. Peter asked her the way to
the gate, but she had such a large pea in her mouth
that she could not answer. She only shook her head at
him. Peter began to cry.

THEN he tried to
find his way straight
across the garden,
but he became more
and more puzzled.
Presently, he came to
a pond where Mr.
McGregor filled his
water-cans. A white
cat was staring at
some gold-fish; she
sat very, very still,
but now and then the
tip of her tail
twitched as if it
were alive. Peter
thought it best to go
away without speaking
to her; he had heard about cats from his cousin,
little Benjamin Bunny.

He went back towards the toolshed, but suddenly,

quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe—scr-
r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scratch. Peter scattered
underneath the bushes. But presently, as nothing
happened, he came out, and climbed upon a
wheelbarrow, and peeped over. The first thing he saw
was Mr. McGregor hoeing onions. His back was turned
towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!

PETER got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow,

and started running as fast as he could go, along a
straight walk behind some black-currant bushes. Mr.
McGregor caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter
did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was
safe at last in the wood outside the garden.

MR. McGREGOR hung up the

little jacket and the shoes for a
scare-crow to frighten the
blackbirds. Peter never stopped
running or looked behind him till
he got home to the big fir-tree. He
was so tired that he flopped down
upon the nice soft sand on the
floor of the rabbit-hole, and shut
his eyes. His mother was busy
cooking; she wondered what he had done with his
clothes. It was the second little jacket and pair of
shoes that Peter had lost in a fortnight! I AM sorry
to say that Peter was not very well during the
evening. His mother put him to bed, and made some
chamomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!

"One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time."

BUT Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and

milk and blackberries, for supper.
 Charlotte's Web

By: ED White

One morning at the breakfast table, eight year

old Fern sees her father leave the house with an axe
and asks her mother where he’s going. Her mother
delivers the shocking news that Mr Arable is going
out to kill a runt that was born the night before.
Fern chases her father down and persuades him to
spare the runt, telling him that it is unjust to kill
a piglet just because it is small. Moved by his
daughter’s plea, Mr Arable decides to give the runt
to her to look after.

Fern names the piglet Wilbur and looks after him

like a baby, pushing him in her pram alongside her
doll and feeding him with a bottle. At five weeks old
Mr Arable insists that Wilbur is sold and he goes to
live in the Zuckerman barn down the road.

Wilbur initially struggles at the barn because he

misses Fern so much but soon he becomes acquainted
with new friends, the best of whom is a lady grey
spider called Charlotte. Wilbur is fascinated by
Charlotte, although to begin with he is slightly
suspicious of the way she catches her food – he
doesn’t like the idea that she spins bugs in her web
and sucks their blood. He soon realizes that
Charlotte is everything but cruel and bloodthirsty
and that her method of eating is entirely necessary
for a spider.

Wilbur is complete happy during the summer days –

Fern comes to visit and his new friend tells him
exciting stories and has the patience to try and
coach him about how to spin a web (although she knows
fine well he will never be able to) but one day he
gets some terrible news that puts an end to his
carefree attitude. The sheep tells Wilbur that Mr
Zuckerman is fattening him up for Christmas dinner
and Wilbur is distraught – he is so happy on the farm
and doesn’t want to die. Charlotte calms him down and
promises him that she won’t let him be killed. She
hasn’t worked out how to save him yet, but she is
determined that she will.

One morning as Lurvy pours Wilbur’s slops, he

notices Charlotte’s twinkling spider web in the
morning fog. The words ‘SOME PIG’ have been weaved
into the web. Lurvy is gobsmacked and utters a
prayer. He quickly tells Mr Zuckerman who is equally
amazed and soon the news spreads near and far.
Worried that people may be getting bored of ‘SOME
PIG’, Charlotte asks Templeton the rat to aid her in
finding more words to write in her web. Knowing that
if Wilbur is killed he won’t have access to his
slops, Templeton reluctantly scavenges for newspaper
clippings to help Charlotte. The next word she writes
is ‘TERRIFIC’ and after that, ‘RADIANT.’

Meanwhile, Mrs. Arable is concerned that Fern is

spending too much time down at the barn and becomes
even more alarmed when her daughter tells her about
Charlotte and the stories Charlotte tells. Mrs Arable
decides to go and see Dr. Dorian to ask him what he
makes of Fern thinking the animals can talk and what
he makes of the mysterious writing in the web. Dr
Dorian is very calm and rational and says that the
real miracle is not the writing in the web but the
fact that a spider instinctively knows how to build a
web without any tuition. He says that it is quite
possible that animals can talk and that the reason
that adults cannot hear them might be because they
talk too much to hear what is going on in nature.

With the news of Zuckerman’s famous pig

spreading, the Zuckermans and Arables decide to take
Wilbur to the County Fair. Charlotte agrees to go too
although she is feeling tired and soon has to build a
sac to hold her eggs. At the fair, Charlotte is
disappointed to see that beside Wilbur’s pen is a
much larger spring pig called Uncle. Knowing he is
fierce competition, Charlotte decides to spin another
web and once again Templeton is sent off to find a
word. The adults and children enjoy themselves at the
fair and Avery and Fern are particularly excited that
they are allowed to go off without their parents all
afternoon. Fern spends all afternoon with Henry Fussy
and they go on the Ferris wheel together. For months
after, Fern will look back nostalgically at her time
on the Ferris wheel with Henry.

Before nightfall Charlotte weaves her web with

the new word ‘HUMBLE’ written into it and throughout
the night she makes her egg sac. In the morning the
Zuckermans and Arables see the web but they also
notice that Uncle has a blue tag on his pen – he has
already won first prize. Mr Zuckerman ignores the tag
and tells everyone to buck up and give Wilbur a
buttermilk bath. Everyone who comes to Wilbur’s pen
has something good to say about him. Suddenly, over
the loudspeaker a voice is heard asking Zuckerman to
bring his famous pig to the judges’ booth for a
special award. Wilbur is awarded a medal for being
phenomenal and completely out of the ordinary and Mr
Zuckerman is given $25. Since the writing first
appeared in the web, the miracle has been on
everyone’s mind. After the press photos and the
commotion, Wilbur is returned to his pen.
 Wilbur notices that Charlotte is quiet and looks
unwell. She tells him that she is content now that
she knows he is safe – she knows Mr Zuckerman will
never harm him now, but she tells Wilbur that she is
failing and will be dead in a day or two. Panicked
and distraught Wilbur races around the pen, begging
Charlotte to come home with him, but she hasn’t
enough energy to move. Wilbur decides to take
Charlotte’s egg sac and promises Templeton first
choice of his slops if he retrieves the sac. As
Wilbur carries the sac in his mouth and is led into
the crate, he winks at Charlotte and she musters all
the energy she can to wave goodbye. The next day, as
the Ferris wheel is being taken apart, Charlotte
dies.

Back at the Zuckerman’s, Wilbur is given a noisy

welcome home. He waits patiently for the birth of
Charlotte’s children and often looks longingly at her
empty, broken web. When her children are finally
born, Wilbur is distraught to see them let out loose
clouds of fine silk that carries them far away on the
breeze. Three of Charlotte’s children stay in the
barn with Wilbur, however and become his good
friends. Year after year new spiders are born to
replace the old but no one ever replaces Charlotte in
Wilbur’s heart.
 Winnie-the-Pooh Summary

By: A. A. Milne

CHAPTER 1: IN WHICH WE ARE INTRODUCED TO WINNIE THE

POOH AND SOME BEES AND THE STORIES BEGIN

This is the first story about the teddy bear

Winnie the Pooh. Christopher Robin comes asking the
narrator to tell him a story about the Pooh bear, as
the Teddy loves hearing stories about himself, and
the narrator obliges. This story is about Pooh’s
attempts to get honey from a honeycomb on the top of
a tall tree. At first, he tries climbing it but falls
down. Then he goes and borrows a blue balloon from
Christopher Robin to blend in with the sky and rolls
in mud to disguise himself as a black cloud. But the
bees get on to the disguise and Christopher Robin has
to rescue him from the bees using his toy gun.

CHAPTER 2: IN WHICH POOH GOES VISITING AND GETS INTO

A TIGHT PLACE

Pooh decides to go and visit his friend Rabbit,

at whose home he is sure to get something to eat.
When he visits there, the Rabbit does not open the
door, rather insisting that there is nobody home, as
he had been planning to visit his friend Pooh.
Finally, when Pooh manages to convince Rabbit that he
is the same Winnie the Pooh, the Rabbit invites him
in and offers him bread and honey. Pooh soon finishes
the whole pot and is not able to get out through
Rabbit’s door. Christopher Robin, who is called for
help advises that Pooh should stay there for a week
till he gets thin. At the end of a week, Christopher
Robin, Rabbit and Rabbit’s friends together manage to
pull Pooh out after a lot of effort.

CHAPTER 3: IN WHICH POOH AND PIGLET GO HUNTING AND

NEARLY CATCH A WOOZLE

The story finds Piglet clearing Snow in front of

his house and Pooh is walking around in circle
nearby. Suddenly Piglet spots the footprints and
expresses fear that it might be ‘woozles’. Pooh and
Piglet try to trace the footprints back, but with
each time, there seem to be more footprints on the
ground. They soon spot a second set of smaller
footprints, and Piglet gets afraid. They find
Christopher Robin in a tree, and Piglet being too
scared leaves. Christopher Robin explains to Pooh how
they had been following their own footprints, and
they have a good laugh.

CHAPTER 4: IN WHICH EEYORE LOSES A TAIL AND POOH

FINDS ONE

This story begins with Eeyore feeling down in the

dumps when Pooh comes along and spots that Eeyore is
missing his tail. Pooh promises to find Eeyore his
tail and goes to find the Owl. The owl comes up with
a plan to have Christopher Robin write a notice
promising a reward to whoever finds it. Pooh keeps
saying yes and no absentmindedly when he finally
notices that the Owl’s bell rope looks like a
donkey’s tail and finds Christopher Robin to pin the
tail on Eeyore again.

CHAPTER 5: IN WHICH PIGLET MEETS A HEFFALUMP

Piglet and Pooh decide to catch a Heffalump and

so they make a trap for it. They dig a huge pit and
leave a jar of honey in it, hoping that a Heffalump
would come for honey and fall into the pit. But that
night Pooh gets hungry and goes to eat the pot of
honey early the next morning. His head gets stuck in
the pot as he tries to lick up the honey, and he
cries for help. Piglet, who had come at the time to
see if they had caught a Heffalump, sees Pooh with
this head in a jar. He gets frightened and runs to
Christopher Robin for help, who comes and realizes
what had happened and laughs.

CHAPTER 6: IN WHICH EEYORE HAS A BIRTHDAY AND GETS

TWO PRESENTS

Pooh finds Eeyore gloomy because nobody remembers

his birthday. So pooh decides to gift him a pot of
honey. On the way home to get the honey, he reminds
Piglet of the birthday, and Piglet decides to get
Eeyore a balloon. On the way to find Eeyore, Pooh
forgets and eats the honey himself. When he realizes
it, he decides to give the pot to keep something
useful in and gets Owl to write Happy Birthday on it.
Piglet, on the other hand, had fallen on the ballon
and burst it, and so gives Eeyore the damaged
balloon. Eeyore is a bit disappointed at first but
later gets excited as he is able to keep the balloon
in Pooh’s pot. The story ends with the narrator
telling Christopher that he had arranged a party for
Eeyore and had given him a box of paints.
CHAPTER 7: IN WHICH KANGA AND BABY ROO COME TO THE
FOREST AND PIGLET HAS A BATH

In this story, the characters Kanga and Baby Roo

arrive. The other animals get suspicious of the new
arrivals and Rabbit concocts a plan to kidnap Baby
Roo, so to convince Kanga to leave. According to the
plan, Piglet was to hop into Kanga’s pouch, being of
the same size as Baby Roo. But the plan fails when
Kanga doesn’t recognize Piglet, but thinking of him
as Baby Roo, gives Piglet a bath. Piglet being scared
of baths runs away as soon as possible. Baby Roo
becomes great friends with Rabbit, and Pooh with
Kanga, and peace is restored in the Hundred Acre
Woods.

CHAPTER 8: CHRISTOPHER ROBIN LEADS AN EXPOTITION TO

THE NORTH POLE

Here, Christopher Robin decides to take all the

animals of the Hundred Acre Wood on an expedition to
find the North Pole. Christopher has no idea what it
is and thinks it is a pole stuck on the ground. They
look around for it in vain, till Roo falls into a
pool and Pooh rushes in with a pole to rescue Roo.
Christopher Robin believes that Pooh had found the
North Pole and the expedition ends successfully.
CHAPTER 9: IN WHICH PIGLET IS ENTIRELY SURROUNDED BY
WATER

The Hundred Acre Woods get torrential rain, and

piglet being frightened of drowning writes a note and
leaves it in a bottle. Pooh finds it and takes it to
Christopher Robin, who sends Owl to tell Piglet that
rescue is on the way. They brainstorm together and
Pooh comes up with a solution of using Christopher
Robin’s umbrella as a boat and so they save Piglet.

CHAPTER 10: IN WHICH CHRISTOPHER ROBIN GIVES POOH A

PARTY AND WE SAY GOOD-BYE

In this story, Christopher Robin gives Pooh a

party for his brainwave on how to rescue Piglet. At
the party, as a gift is passed to Pooh, Eeyore
mistakes the gift as being for himself and makes a
speech. Christopher Robin corrects the mistake and
Pooh opens the gift which contains a Special Pencil
Case marked HB for Helping Bear and pencils marked BB
for Brave Bear and the Party ends on a satisfied
note.

As the stories end, Pooh is taken back to his room by

Christopher Robin in the same as he was brought, with
his head bumping on the stairs.
 A Christmas Carol

By: Charles Dickens

A mean-spirited, miserly old man named Ebenezer

Scrooge sits in his counting-house on a frigid
Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in
the anteroom because Scrooge refuses to spend money
on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred,
pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual
Christmas party. Two portly gentlemen also drop by
and ask Scrooge for a contribution to their charity.
Scrooge reacts to the holiday visitors with
bitterness and venom, spitting out an angry “Bah!
Humbug!” in response to his nephew’s “Merry
Christmas!”
 Later that evening, after returning to his dark,
cold apartment, Scrooge receives a chilling
visitation from the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob
Marley. Marley, looking haggard and pallid, relates
his unfortunate story. As punishment for his greedy
and self-serving life his spirit has been condemned
to wander the Earth weighted down with heavy chains.
Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same
fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits will
visit him during each of the next three nights. After
the wraith disappears, Scrooge collapses into a deep
sleep.

He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost

of Christmas Past, a strange childlike phantom with a
brightly glowing head. The spirit escorts Scrooge on
a journey into the past to previous Christmases from
the curmudgeon’s earlier years. Invisible to those he
watches, Scrooge revisits his childhood school days,
his apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named
Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who
leaves Scrooge because his lust for money eclipses
his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved,
sheds tears of regret before the phantom returns him
to his bed.

The Ghost of Christmas Present, a majestic giant

clad in a green fur robe, takes Scrooge through
London to unveil Christmas as it will happen that
year. Scrooge watches the large, bustling Cratchit
family prepare a miniature feast in its meager home.
He discovers Bob Cratchit’s crippled son, Tiny Tim, a
courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms
Scrooge’s heart. The specter then zips Scrooge to his
nephew’s to witness the Christmas party. Scrooge
finds the jovial gathering delightful and pleads with
the spirit to stay until the very end of the
festivities. As the day passes, the spirit ages,
becoming noticeably older.

Toward the end of the day, he shows Scrooge two

starved children, Ignorance and Want, living under
his coat. He vanishes instantly as Scrooge notices a
dark, hooded figure coming toward him.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge

through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to
an unnamed man’s recent death. Scrooge sees
businessmen discussing the dead man’s riches, some
vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash, and
a poor couple expressing relief at the death of their
unforgiving creditor. Scrooge, anxious to learn the
lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name
of the dead man. After pleading with the ghost,
Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit
pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone
and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately
implores the spirit to alter his fate, promising to
renounce his insensitive, avaricious ways and to
honor Christmas with all his heart. Whoosh! He
suddenly finds himself safely tucked in his bed.
 Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem
himself and grateful that he has been returned to
Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street
hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He
sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house
and attends Fred’s party, to the stifled surprise of
the other guests.

As the years go by, he holds true to his promise

and honors Christmas with all his heart: he treats
Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, provides lavish
gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human
beings with kindness, generosity, and warmth.
 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

By: Lewis Carol

Alice sits on a riverbank on a warm summer day,

drowsily reading over her sister’s shoulder, when she
catches sight of a White Rabbit in a waistcoat
running by her. The White Rabbit pulls out a pocket
watch, exclaims that he is late, and pops down a
rabbit hole. Alice follows the White Rabbit down the
hole and comes upon a great hallway lined with doors.
She finds a small door that she opens using a key she
discovers on a nearby table. Through the door, she
sees a beautiful garden, and Alice begins to cry when
she realizes she cannot fit through the door. She
finds a bottle marked “DRINK ME” and downs the
contents. She shrinks down to the right size to enter
the door but cannot enter since she has left the key
on the tabletop above her head. Alice discovers a
cake marked “EAT ME” which causes her to grow to an
inordinately large height.

Still unable to enter the garden, Alice begins to

cry again, and her giant tears form a pool at her
feet. As she cries, Alice shrinks and falls into the
pool of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and
as she treads water she meets a Mouse. The Mouse
accompanies Alice to shore, where a number of animals
stand gathered on a bank. After a “Caucus Race,”
Alice scares the animals away with tales of her cat,
Dinah, and finds herself alone again.

Alice meets the White Rabbit again, who mistakes

her for a servant and sends her off to fetch his
things. While in the White Rabbit’s house, Alice
drinks an unmarked bottle of liquid and grows to the
size of the room. The White Rabbit returns to his
house, fuming at the now-giant Alice, but she swats
him and his servants away with her giant hand.

The animals outside try to get her out of the

house by throwing rocks at her, which inexplicably
transform into cakes when they land in the house.
Alice eats one of the cakes, which causes her to
shrink to a small size. She wanders off into the
forest, where she meets a Caterpillar sitting on a
mushroom and smoking a hookah (i.e., a water pipe).
The Caterpillar and Alice get into an argument, but
before the Caterpillar crawls away in disgust, he
tells Alice that different parts of the mushroom will
make her grow or shrink. Alice tastes a part of the
mushroom, and her neck stretches above the trees. A
pigeon sees her and attacks, deeming her a serpent
hungry for pigeon eggs.

Alice eats another part of the mushroom and

shrinks down to a normal height. She wanders until
she comes across the house of the Duchess. She enters
and finds the Duchess, who is nursing a squealing
baby, as well as a grinning Cheshire Cat, and a Cook
who tosses massive amounts of pepper into a cauldron
of soup. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice and then
departs to prepare for a croquet game with the Queen.
As she leaves, the Duchess hands Alice the baby,
which Alice discovers is a pig. Alice lets the pig go
and reenters the forest, where she meets the Cheshire
Cat again. The Cheshire Cat explains to Alice that
everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice
herself. The Cheshire Cat gives directions to the
March Hare’s house and fades away to nothing but a
floating grin.

Alice travels to the March Hare’s house to find

the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse
having tea together. Treated rudely by all three,
Alice stands by the tea party, uninvited. She learns
that they have wronged Time and are trapped in
perpetual tea-time. After a final discourtesy, Alice
leaves and journeys through the forest. She finds a
tree with a door in its side, and travels through it
to find herself back in the great hall. She takes the
key and uses the mushroom to shrink down and enter
the garden.

After saving several gardeners from the temper of the

Queen of Hearts, Alice joins the Queen in a strange
game of croquet. The croquet ground is hilly, the
mallets and balls are live flamingos and hedgehogs,
and the Queen tears about, frantically calling for
the other player’s executions.

Amidst this madness, Alice bumps into the

Cheshire Cat again, who asks her how she is doing.
The King of Hearts interrupts their conversation and
attempts to bully the Cheshire Cat, who impudently
dismisses the King. The King takes offense and
arranges for the Cheshire Cat’s execution, but since
the Cheshire Cat is now only a head floating in
midair, no one can agree on how to behead it.

The Duchess approaches Alice and attempts to

befriend her, but the Duchess makes Alice feel
uneasy. The Queen of Hearts chases the Duchess off
and tells Alice that she must visit the Mock Turtle
to hear his story. The Queen of Hearts sends Alice
with the Gryphon as her escort to meet the Mock
Turtle. Alice shares her strange experiences with the
Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, who listen
sympathetically and comment on the strangeness of her
adventures. After listening to the Mock Turtle’s
story, they hear an announcement that a trial is
about to begin, and the Gryphon brings Alice back to
the croquet ground.

The Knave of Hearts stands trial for stealing the

Queen’s tarts. The King of Hearts leads the
proceedings, and various witnesses approach the stand
to give evidence. The Mad Hatter and the Cook both
give their testimony, but none of it makes any sense.
The White Rabbit, acting as a herald, calls Alice to
the witness stand. The King goes nowhere with his
line of questioning, but takes encouragement when the
White Rabbit provides new evidence in the form of a
letter written by the Knave. The letter turns out to
be a poem, which the King interprets as an admission
of guilt on the part of the Knave. Alice believes the
note to be nonsense and protests the King’s
interpretation. The Queen becomes furious with Alice
and orders her beheading, but Alice grows to a huge
size and knocks over the Queen’s army of playing
cards.

All of a sudden, Alice finds herself awake on her

sister’s lap, back at the riverbank. She tells her
sister about her dream and goes inside for tea as her
sister ponders Alice’s adventures.
 Harry Potter

By: J.K. Rowling

Mr. Dursley, a well-off Englishman, notices

strange happenings on his way to work one day. That
night, Albus Dumbledore, the head of a wizardry
academy called Hogwarts, meets Professor McGonagall,
who also teaches at Hogwarts, and a giant named
Hagrid outside the Dursley home. Dumbledore tells
McGonagall that someone named Voldemort has killed a
Mr. and Mrs. Potter and tried unsuccessfully to kill
their baby son, Harry. Dumbledore leaves Harry with
an explanatory note in a basket in front of the
Dursley home.

Ten years later, the Dursley household is

dominated by the Dursleys’ son, Dudley, who torments
and bullies Harry. Dudley is spoiled, while Harry is
forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. At
the zoo on Dudley’s birthday, the glass in front of a
boa constrictor exhibit disappears, frightening
everyone. Harry is later punished for this incident.

Mysterious letters begin arriving for Harry. They

worry Mr. Dursley, who tries to keep them from Harry,
but the letters keep arriving through every crack in
the house. Finally, he flees with his family to a
secluded island shack on the eve of Harry’s eleventh
birthday. At midnight, they hear a large bang on the
door and Hagrid enters. Hagrid hands Harry an
admissions letter to the Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that the
Dursleys have tried to deny Harry’s wizardry all
these years.

The next day, Hagrid takes Harry to London to

shop for school supplies. First they go to the wizard
bank, Gringotts, where Harry learns that his parents
have left him a hefty supply of money. They shop on
the wizards’ commercial street known as Diagon Alley,
where Harry is fitted for his school uniform. Harry
buys books, ingredients for potions, and, finally, a
magic wand—the companion wand to the evil
Voldemort’s.

A month later, Harry goes to the train station

and catches his train to Hogwarts on track nine and
three quarters. On the train, Harry befriends other
first-year students like Ron Weasley and Hermione
Granger, a Muggle girl chosen to attend Hogwarts. At
school, the first-years take turns putting on the
“Sorting Hat” to find out in which residential house
they will live. Harry fears being assigned to the
sinister Slytherin house, but he, Ron, and Hermione
end up in the noble Gryffindor house.

As the school year gets underway, Harry discovers

that his Potions professor, Snape, does not like him.
Hagrid reassures Harry that Snape has no reason to
dislike him. During their first flying lesson on
broomsticks, the students are told to stay grounded
while the teacher takes an injured boy named Neville
to the hospital. Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin bully,
snatches Neville’s prized toy and flies off with it
to the top of a tree. Harry flies after him. Malfoy
throws the ball in the air, and Harry speeds
downward, making a spectacular catch. Professor
McGonagall witnesses this incident.

Instead of punishing Harry, she recommends that

he play Quidditch, a much-loved game that resembles
soccer played on broomsticks, for Gryffindor. Later
that day, Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizard’s duel
at midnight. Malfoy doesn’t show up at the appointed
place, and Harry almost gets in trouble. While trying
to hide, he accidentally discovers a fierce three-
headed dog guarding a trapdoor in the forbidden
third-floor corridor.

On Halloween, a troll is found in the building.

The students are all escorted back to their
dormitories, but Harry and Ron sneak off to find
Hermione, who is alone and unaware of the troll.
Unwittingly, they lock the troll in the girls’
bathroom along with Hermione. Together, they defeat
the troll. Hermione tells a lie to protect Harry and
Ron from being punished. During Harry’s first
Quidditch match, his broom jerks out of control.
Hermione notices Snape staring at Harry and muttering
a curse. She concludes that he is jinxing Harry’s
broom, and she sets Snape’s clothes on fire. Harry
regains control of the broom and makes a spectacular
play to win the Quidditch match.

For Christmas, Harry receives his father’s

invisibility cloak, and he explores the school,
unseen, late at night. He discovers the Mirror of
Erised, which displays the deepest desire of whoever
looks in it. Harry looks in it and sees his parents
alive. After Christmas, Harry, Ron, and Hermione
begin to unravel the mysterious connection between a
break-in at Gringotts and the three-headed guard dog.
They learn that the dog is guarding the Sorcerer’s
Stone, which is capable of providing eternal life and
unlimited wealth to its owner and belongs to Nicolas
Flamel, Dumbledore’s old partner. A few weeks later,
Hagrid wins a dragon egg in a poker game. Because it
is illegal to own dragons, Harry, Ron, and Hermione
contact Ron’s older brother, who studies dragons.
They arrange to get rid of the dragon but get caught.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione are severely punished, and
Gryffindor is docked 150 points. Furthermore, part of
their punishment is to go into the enchanted forest
with Hagrid to find out who has been killing unicorns
recently. In the forest, Harry comes upon a hooded
man drinking unicorn blood. The man tries to attack
Harry, but Harry is rescued by a friendly centaur who
tells him that his assailant was Voldemort. Harry
also learns that it is Voldemort who has been trying
to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry decides that he must find the stone before

Voldemort does. He, Ron, and Hermione sneak off that
night to the forbidden third-floor corridor. They get
past the guard dog and perform many impressive feats
as they get closer and closer to the stone. Harry
ultimately finds himself face to face with Quirrell,
who announces that Harry must die. Knowing that Harry
desires to find the stone, Quirrell puts Harry in
front of the Mirror of Erised and makes him state
what he sees. Harry sees himself with the stone in
his pocket, and at that same moment he actually feels
it in his pocket. But he tells Quirrell that he sees
something else. A voice tells Quirrell that the boy
is lying and requests to speak to Harry face to face.
Quirrell removes his turban and reveals Voldemort’s
face on the back of his head. Voldemort, who is
inhabiting Quirrell’s body, instructs Quirrell to
kill Harry, but Quirrell is burned by contact with
the boy. A struggle ensues and Harry passes out.

When Harry regains consciousness, he is in the

hospital with Dumbledore. Dumbledore explains that he
saved Harry from Quirrell just in time. He adds that
he and Flamel have decided to destroy the stone.
Harry heads down to the end-of-year banquet, where
Slytherin is celebrating its seventh consecutive win
of the house championship cup. Dumbledore gets up and
awards many last-minute points to Gryffindor for the
feats of Harry and his friends, winning the house cup
for Gryffindor.