The bear sat under the mulberry tree feeling tired. Then the fox passed by him and heard him speaking complaining: Cursed be it, what does she think of herself? Let her think I’m a bear, and a bear is a bear. Yes, I’m a bear, and this is… The fox stopped near him and said: It seems that the lice have been infesting your head, oh bear. The bear woke up and stood up, saying: She told me, oh my friend, that there’s no benefit from me. ...
Once upon a time, there was a swarm of evil goblins who lived in a forest. They had spent a lot of their time mocking an old man who couldn’t move, see, or hear. They didn’t show him any respect and kept mocking and making fun of him, until his condition became so terrible that the great physician decided to teach the goblins a lesson they wouldn’t forget. Where a strange amulet fell on the goblins’ heads, since that moment every mother of theirs would turn toward the old man and make his condition better. This had a strange effect on the scold who was in charge of them. And naturally, the goblins didn’t know anything about that amulet or what was happening. Whenever they described the goblin to the man as foolish and old, his head became smaller and softer, while the scold who burned and boiled him became angrier and angrier. ...
The story of the date palm and the woodcutter is one of the world’s wonderful children’s stories, collected and composed by Toshio Ozawa. The story of the date palm and the woodcutter is a tale from old Japanese legends, or more precisely, it’s Japanese myths from ancient times that are taught to Japanese children until the end of the elementary stage. The story is told as follows: Master Kichiumo and cutting wood logs: One day, Master Kichiumo was cutting a log of wood under a date palm tree behind his house. When he struck with his axe, the ground shook and a very ripe date palm fruit fell on his head. ...
The story of sweets and poison is one of the world’s wonderful children’s stories, collected and composed by Toshio Ozawa. The story of sweets and poison is a tale from old Japanese legends, or more precisely, it’s Japanese myths from ancient times that are taught to Japanese children until the end of the elementary stage. The story is told as follows: The priest and the three novice monks: Once upon a time, in ancient times, in the past era, in one of the countries, there was a priest and three novice monks living with him in the temple. The priest would take out from the wall cupboard every day a jar containing a type of liquid sweets, eating whatever he wanted without any invitation to the novice monks. ...
The story of the claimer of knowledge is one of the world’s wonderful children’s stories, collected and composed by Toshio Ozawa. The story of the claimer of knowledge is a tale from old Japanese legends, or more precisely, it’s Japanese myths from ancient times that are taught to Japanese children until the end of the elementary stage. The story is told as follows: The village near the sea and the claimer of knowledge: Once upon a time, in ancient times, in the past era, in a village near the sea, there was a man who boasted that he knew everything and never stopped repeating that. He would always say: I know everything, and there is nothing I don’t know. I know everything, and there is nothing I don’t know. I know everything, and there is nothing I don’t know. ...
A story from the wonders of international children’s stories, collected and formulated by Toshio Ozawa. The story of Congratulations and Excellent is a tale from old Japanese stories, or more precisely, it is Japanese folklore from past times, which is taught to Japanese children until the end of elementary school. The story of Congratulations and Excellent is told as follows. A Newborn: Once upon a time in ancient days, in ages of old, in one of the countries, there were two farmer couples. Their firstborn was a son, and they rejoiced greatly with him, saying to each other: As for the name, we must find him a beautiful name! And they named him Congratulations. ...
One day, there was a fox who hadn’t found anything to eat all day. During his search for prey, he went hoping in the forest. But he heard a noise and feared when he heard it. The fox thought this was a big noise and felt the entire forest had shaken as if a new animal had come. He said to himself: “It’s better that I flee.” The fox thought again: “If I flee like this, I will suffer hunger to death.” ...
The days laughed at one of the misers, and he became a governor. This governor, despite his miserliness, was hated. People didn’t befriend him, didn’t love him, and couldn’t tolerate his company. Every night, he would send for Ashab to keep him company and make him laugh. But Ashab would flee from him or hide at one of the neighbors because he would stay with this governor all night, talking to him and making him laugh without finding at the end of the night a morsel to satisfy his hungry stomach or a dirham to buy something for his children. ...
There was once a man called Bahlul who was walking in his habit in the markets of Baghdad. He met one of the merchants in his path, who greeted him, then said: I want your advice in a matter concerning my trade. Bahlol wondered, saying: What took you away from the wise ones to come to my advice? Then he stopped for a while and completed his speech, saying: Please… what is it that you want from me? ...
Our Arab folk heritage abounds with many grandmothers’ stories that they used to tell us when we were small children. Among those folk stories is the story of the Locust and the Bird from our brotherly Tunisian heritage. Zahra was staying at her grandmother’s house for several consecutive days. During the period she stayed, she would go out every day to water the flowers in the backyard garden. One day, she saw a shiny green locust standing on one of the flowers. She kept contemplating it until her grandmother came, grabbed the locust with her hands, and said to the children, “Here is the bird’s wife, oh children.” The boys cheered a lot, but Zahra asked her grandmother to tell her the story. ...