STORY

There was once a handsome young prince who had the misfortune to offend a wicked fairy. To avenge herself she turned him into an ugly frog and put him into a well. Now it happened that the well was in the courtyard of a king's palace and on fine days, when the sun shone warmly, the king's youngest daughter sometimes came there to amuse herself by tossing a golden ball high into the air and catching it as it fell. The poor frog watched her running to and fro in the sunshine. He thought she was the prettiest princess he had ever seen. One day, the princess threw the ball up so high that when she stretched out her hand to catch it the ball bounced on the stones and fell with a splash into the water. She ran to the edge of the well and gazed down. But the golden ball had sunk far, far out of sight. Only a little ring of bubbles showed her where it had disappeared. She began to cry bitterly. The frog popped his head out of the water. "Don't cry, Princess!" he said. ...

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD. 3 Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness t...

Long, long ago there lived an old woman who sold the best soup in the market. It was chicken soup. Nobody knew the old woman's name. Nobody knew where she lived. Nobody knew why her soup was always the best in the market and why it was so hot. But people did not think about that. They bought the soup and ate it. Every morning the old woman came to the market square. She carried a big black pot of hot chicken soup on her head. Then she sat down under a tree, and it did not take her long to sell her soup. There lived a small boy not far from the market square. His name was Kalari. He liked the soup very much. He wanted to know where the old woman came from. One day when the old woman put her empty pot on her head and left the market square, Kalari followed her, but she did not see him. hey went a long, long way, they climbed up a high hill. Evening came. Kalari was afraid, but he went on. At last the woman came to a little hut on that high hill. There stood a very large pot. "Ho...

This Short Story The Magic Pot is quite interesting to all the people. Enjoy reading this story. Once upon a time a farmer, Gopi, lived in a village. He had few acres of land. One hot afternoon, the poor farmer was digging his field. All of a sudden, his spade hit something. Then he continued his digging. “It is a big metal pot,” said Gopi. It was big enough to boil rice for more than hundred people. “It does not seem to be of any use to me. I will dig deeper. May be I will find something else,” thought Gopi. He continued to dig. After he had dug for a long time, Gopi felt tired. “It is of no use. There is nothing in this field” he thought. Then at once, he threw the spade into the pot in frustration and sat under a tree to take rest for a while. After a while, when he got up to leave, he could not believe his eyes. There were one hundred spades in the pot. “This is a magical pot. I will put this mango inside the pot and see what happens,” Gopi thought. Then Gopi put a mango into the p...

Once upon a time, in a land far away and in a time not so different from our own, existed a young prince whose life was caught up in a battle between good and evil. La Fée Misérable has enslaved the willing heart of the young prince. Amidst the terror of the court, the good fairy, La Bonne Fée, arrived to guide the prince from evil. As the air filled with explosions of light, innocent victims were caught in the crossfire and La Fée Miserable stood triumphant over the prince. La Bonne Fée could not break the power of La Fée Misérable but she could cause the evil ugliness to come to the surface leaving the Prince with a clean heart but a beastly exterior. Faced with this reality, La Fée Misérable deserted the Beast. As the Beast stared at La Bonne Fée, holding a magnificent rose and a mirror, he heard her intone: When the day comes that this rose is picked, you will know it for both your hope and your doom. The man who picks this rose will have three daughters. If one of the daughters, o...

Since Birbal always outwitted Akbar, Akbar thought of a plan to make Birbal look like a fool. He gave one egg to each of his ministers before Birbal reached the court one morning. So when Birbal arrived, the king narrated a dream he had had the previous night saying that he would be able to judge the honesty of his ministers if they were able to bring back an egg from the royal garden pond. So, Akbar asked all his courtiers to go to the pond, one at a time and return with an egg. So, one by one, all his ministers went to the pond and returned with the egg which he had previously given them. Then it was Birbal's turn. He jumped into the pond and could find no eggs. He finally realized that the King was trying to play a trick on him. So he entered the court crowing like a cock. The Emperor asked him to stop making that irritating noise and then asked him for the egg. Birbal smiled and replied that only hens lay eggs, and as he was a cock, he could not produce an egg. Everyone laughed...

King Akbar was very fond of Birbal. This made a certain courtier very jealous. Now this courtier always wanted to be chief minister, but this was not possible as Birbal filled that position. One day Akbar praised Birbal in front of the courtier. This made the courtier very angry and he said that the king praised Birbal unjustly and if Birbal could answer three of his questions, he would accept the fact that Birbal was intelligent. Akbar always wanting to test Birbals wit readily agreed. The three questions were 1. How many stars are there in the sky 2. Where is the centre of the Earth and 3. How many men and how many women are there in the world. Immediately Akbar asked Birbal the three questions and informed him that if he could not answer them, he would have to resign as chief minister. To answer the first question, Birbal brought a hairy sheep and said � There are as many stars in the sky as there is hair on the sheep � s body. My friend the courtier is welcome to count them if he ...

Emperor Akbar's court was famous for its witty question and answer sessions. On one of these occasions, the Emperor asked Birbal if there was anything that the sun and the moon could not see. Birbal's reply was 'darkness'. Akbar was pleased. Next, he asked what was the difference between a truth and a lie. To which Birbal replied that it was the distance between the ears and the eyes because what you see with your eyes is true, but what you hear with your ears is generally false. Akbar was satisfied. Lastly, Emperor Akbar drew a line on the floor and asked Birbal to shorten it without wiping out the ends. Birbal drew a longer line below the line drawn by Akbar and remarked that though he had not rubbed off the original line he had definitely succeeded in making it shorter.

On a cold winter day Akbar and Birbal took a walk along the lake. A thought came to Birbal that a man would do anything for money. He expressed his feelings to Akbar. Akbar then put his finger into the lake and immediately removed it because he shivered with cold. Akbar said "I don't think a man would spend an entire night in the cold water of this lake for money." Birbal replied "I am sure I can find such a person." Akbar then challenged Birbal into finding such a person and said that he would reward the person with a thousand gold coins. Birbal searched far and wide until he found a poor man who was desperate enough to accept the challenge. The poor man entered the lake and Akbar had guards posted near him to make sure that he really did as promised. The next morning the guards took the poor man to Akbar. Akbar asked the poor man if he had indeed spent the night in the lake. The poor man replied that he had. Akbar then asked the poor man how he managed to spe...

One fine day, Akbar, accompanied by his two sons and his clever Minister Birbal, went to the river to take a bath. They asked Birbal to hold their clothes while they were bathing and took off their clothes and stepped into the river. Birbal stood at the bank of the river, waiting for them, with their clothes on his shoulder. Looking at Birbal standing like this, Akbar felt like teasing him and remarked that Birbal looked like a washerman's donkey with a load of clothes. Birbal quickly retorted that he was carrying the load of not just one donkey, but actually three. The emperor was speechless.

One night, Emperor Akbar dreamt that he had lost all his teeth, except one. The next morning he invited all the astrologers of his kingdom to interpret this dream. After a long discussion, the astrologers prophesized that all his relatives would die before him. Akbar was very upset by this interpretation and so sent away all the astrologers without any reward. Later that day, Birbal entered the court. Akbar related his dream and asked him to interpret it. After thinking for a while Birbal replied that the Emperor would live a longer & more fulfilled life than any of his relatives. Akbar was pleased with Birbal's explanation and rewarded him handsomely.

I am not related to Mickey, Minnie, or Mighty, (even though there is a small resemblance to that super-hero Mighty mouse). I live in the attic in Cinderella's house. You might say Cindy and I were roommates. When she was small, and her father was alive, we shared a beautiful room downstairs. But after her father died, she was put in the attic. I naturally followed, because I knew she would need my company. And need me she did. At first, she thought of me only as a common ordinary mouse. Night after night she would throw me crumbs. (I thought she was very kind). Then one night, after her step-mother locked the door, she began to cry. I climbed up on Cindy's lap. She talked to me and gave me my name. I thought at the time it was a nerdy name, "Oscar", but I am used to it now. I even kind-of like it. Everyday I watched Cindy work sooo hard. Finally one day, quite by accident, I found a way to help her. You see, her step-sisters were ordering her around, and they made her...