Wise Fairy Tales from Around the World E-Book

Compiled by Shavarsh Karapetyan

• Herausgeber: Edit Print
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

King Solomon asked for wisdom from God. And as it was the most important thing in the world, God granted him all the other gifts of life as well. Throughout their history all the nations of the world have been seeking for perfect wisdom and on that thorny path they have opened many closed doors. The spiritual and intellectual treasures hidden behind those doors have also been reflected in fairy tales and passed on from generation to generation. The fairy tales included in this book comprise ancient, time-tested truths and values still relevant to this day. Each of these tales is a separate unique world. Taking a journey through that wonderful world you will open or rediscover new layers of wisdom and discover the fairy tale inside you. Fairy tales teach us such virtues as diligence, dignity, honesty, loyalty, benevolence, tenacity, respect to the elderly people and so on and so forth. And they show the path to success by living, struggling and creating through those virtues.   Let’s open the door to wisdom by reading!

Leseprobe

TABLE OF CONTENT

Strong-willed Jun Su (Chinese Folk Tale)

The Most Important Thing (Italian Folk Tale)

The Pawned Beard (Persian Folk Tale)

Wisdom of the Aged (Bulgarian Folk Tale)

The Haughty Bat (American Folk Tale)

The Stepfather (Ukrainian Folk Tale)

The First Lessons of the King’s Son (Armenian Folk Tale)

The Wise Owl (Tuvinian Folk Tale)

The Poor Man and Happiness (Arabian Folk Tale)

The Best Treasure (Japanese Folk Tale)

The Pecked out Heart (French Folk Tale)

A Lesson for Kings(Indian Folk Tale)

The Nail from Father’s House (Swedish Folk tale)

A Man Is Not Born for Himself (Mongolian Folk Tale)

The Silver Shilling by Hans Christian Andersen

A Pair of Slippers (Indonesian Folk Tale)

Misfortune (Karelian Folk Tale)

Mother Love (Korean Folk Tale)

Golden Hands (Bashkir Folk Tale)

Three Pieces of Advice More Valuable than Gold (Bulgarian Folk Tale)

А Stolen Thing Won’t Fill Your Belly (Belarusian Folk Tale)

A Good Deed (Filipino Folk Tale)

Public Opinion (Ethiopian Folk Tale)

Father and His Children (Croatian Folk Tale)

Luck’s Return (Ingush Folk Tale)

Wit and Diligence(Burmese Folk Tale)

The Bag of Apples by Vladimir Sutеev

Three Bricks of Gold (Pakistani Folk Tale)

The Eagle in a Dove Nest (English Folk Tale)

The Pleasure (Chinese Folk Tale)

The Clever Boy (Jewish Folk Tale)

The Old Grandfather and His Grandson by Brothers Grimm

How Father Taught His Son Some Good Sense (Circassian Folk Tale)

The Goldfish (Russian Folk Tale)

The Earned Rouble (Georgian Folk Tale)

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining (Afghan Folk Tale)

Father’s Three Pieces of Advice (Tatar Folk Tale)

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

A Covetous Eye Is Satiated Only When Covered with Earth (Armenian Folk Tale)

King Suleiman and the Wise Crane (Indian Folk Tale)

Wise Fairy Tales from around the World.

King Solomon asked for wisdom from God. And as it was the most important thing in the world, God granted him all the other gifts of life as well. Throughout their history all the nations of the world have been seeking for perfect wisdom and on that thorny path they have opened many closed doors. The spiritual and intellectual treasures hidden behind those doors have also been reflected in fairy tales and passed on from generation to generation. The fairy tales included in this book comprise ancient, time-tested truths and values still relevant to this day. Each of these tales is a separate unique world. Taking a journey through that wonderful world you will open or rediscover new layers of wisdom and discover the fairy tale inside you. Fairy tales teach us such virtues as diligence, dignity, honesty, loyalty, benevolence, tenacity, respect to the elderly people and so on and so forth. And they show the path to success by living, struggling and creating through those virtues. 

Let’s open the door to wisdom by reading!

Strong-willed Jun Su (Chinese Folk Tale)

Once upon a time there lived a little boy called Jun Su in Fujiang Village. His father had died very early leaving his wife and son all alone. They were very poor and lived in a shabby hut. Very often they didn’t even have a handful of rice to eat.

Thus Jun Su grew up and when it was time for him to go to school he had neither paper, nor a pen. But he made up his mind to study by all means. “I must study,” he said to himself, and he thought and thought and thought and at last thought of a way out of poverty.

He went to his rich neighbour one morning and said, “I hear that you are looking for someone to do the work about the house. Take me. I know I’m still very young to work but I don’t ask much for my job. Just let me watch you sons doing their lessons from time to time and that’s all.” The rich man was very happy to find a worker he wouldn’t have to pay wages and agreed readily.

Jun Su worked very hard from morning till night in the rich man’s house. He did all the hard and dirty work about the house but instead he could watch his master’s children studying and look through their textbooks. Sometimes he even managed to hear their whole lesson. When the children’s teacher came Jun Su hid himself in a corner and listened.

In a year he learnt a lot of new words. He knew many words but unfortunately he still couldn’t write. And what should he write on, anyway? “What shall I do?” he thought. He thought and thought and thought and at last he thought of a way.

Jun Su and his mother lived at the seaside. The sea waves smoothed the fine beach sand all day long.

Jun Su took a long stick and went to the seaside. He quickly wrote a word on the sand with his stick. The waves came and wiped off the word. So he wrote another word and again the waves came and wiped it off. Thus he could write endlessly without a pen or paper. But he had no books.

One day he went up to his rich master and said, “All this time I’ve been working for you for free. But from now on I want you to pay me. Or if you allow me to read your books, I will serve you for free one more year.”

The rich man didn’t want to lose such a cheap worker and agreed. So Jun Su already had books, too.

With the approach of winter, days began to get shorter. Jun Su worked till dark as daylight hours were not enough to do the whole work. Jun Su was too poor to buy oil for the lamp. But he was a very strong-willed and diligent boy. At moonlit nights Jun Su read and wrote by the moonlight and when the clouds hid the moon he gathered glowworms sparkling in the grass and attached them to a cotton stick. And the diligent boy read by their faint light at dark nights, too. Years passed by. Jun Su achieved his goal and became a great scientist. And people still remember and admire poor little Jun Su’s strong will and diligence.

The Most Important Thing (Italian Folk Tale)

Once, two friends began arguing what was the most important thing in a man’s life.

“It’s beyond all doubt that money brings happiness!” One of them exclaimed, “You know how I became a poet, don’t you? Nobody wanted to publish my poems. But my aunt left all her fortune to me after her death and I published my poems. Now publishers are running after me. If I didn’t get my aunts money, nobody would even know that I was a poet.”

“That’s nonsense!” his friend interrupted him, “Everything is in the hands of fate. Now I’m the best singer in Italy but not so long ago nobody wanted to hear me and I sang to the fish on the seashore. But fate willed it that count Luigi should go for a sail just when I was singing on the seashore. The count heard me and invited me to sing at his fiancée’s ball. So that’s how it all began. And money has nothing to do with it. Fate is the most important thing in the world, my friend!”

The poet and the singer argued a lot but couldn’t convince one another of the truth of their words and decided to go out for a walk. They went out of the house and walked where their feet would take to. They reached the suburbs of the town and saw a half-ruined hut there. A boy in rags was sitting on the threshold of the hut and was playing the guitar.

“I see you’re very happy, boy.” the poet said to him.

“How can a man be happy when he hasn’t seen food for two days?” the boy answered.

“Then why are you playing the guitar?” the singer asked.

“What else can I do? This guitar is the only thing my father has left me.”

The friends looked at each other; the same thought crossed their minds; “That’s just the thing. Now we’ll know what is more important.”

Each of them took fifty scudos out of their pockets and gave them to the guitar player.

“Hundred scudos!” the boy cried out, “Thank you, kind signori!”

“No need to thank us. We’ll visit you this day next year to see whether the money helped you or not.” the friends said and went back.

When the men left, the boy whose name was Alcide thought, “First of all, I’ll buy a lot of sausages, and later I’ll think of what I shall do with all this wealth I’ve got so suddenly.”

So the boy put the money under his hat and headed for a shop. But hardly had he made a few steps when all of a sudden a black crow flew down from an olive tree and snatched Alcide’s hat away.

“Thief! Give me back my money!” the poor boy shouted.

But the crow flapped its wings faster and flew away.

A year passed. The poet and the singer came to Alcide’s hut again. They didn’t have to knock on the door for the boy was playing the guitar on the threshold of the hut as before.

“How come?” the friends exclaimed in astonishment, “Are you still playing the guitar?”

“What else can I do? A black crow took away my happiness together with my hat.” Alcide answered sadly and told them how the crow had snatched away his hat and the money in it.

“See!” the singer said to the poet, “Didn’t I tell you that fate sends us happiness or misfortune? Well, let’s suppose that the crow was tired of sleeping on dry brunches of his nest and decided to find a soft cloth to sleep on. But can you explain me why the crow would need Alcide’s hat just the moment when the boy put his money there?”

“That’s nonsense!” the poet cried out, “If the crow didn’t take the money, Alcide would be living like a lord now. Isn’t that so, my friend? Money is everything!”

At these words the poet again took one hundred scudos out of his pocket and gave them to Alcide. The boy thanked him heartily. The friends shook their heads, promised to come back in a year and left.

This time Alcide decided to be more careful. Before going to the shop to buy sausages (as you remember he couldn’t buy sausages a year ago) Alcide put a silver coin in his mouth and hid the other ninety-nine coins in a safe place. Where do you think he hid the coins? He hid them in an old shoe lying in a corner.

“Now no crow will get them.” said Alcide happy with his invention, “Neither will a thief want such an old junk.” 

But as soon as Alcide went to the shop, the neighbor’s cat sneaked into his hut.

The cat’s masters fed it only when they themselves had eaten their fill which never really happened. Suddenly a mouse ran out of the hole. The cat ran after it. The mouse ran hither and thither and got into the very shoe Alcide had hidden his money. The cat turned over the shoe with its paw and the coins rolled out of it at once. And the mouse again got back into its hole. Then the cat began playing with the coins. It rolled them along the floor and stuck all the coins into the mice hole. When Alcide came back he found out that he was no longer rich. All the money was gone. It’s lucky that this time he managed to eat a sausage at least. And it’s no wonder that a year later the singer and the poet again found Alcide playing his guitar at the threshold of his shabby hut.

“Well man, it’s unheard of!” the poet cried out, “What has happened this time? Have mice taken away your money?”

“Alas, kind signori!” Alcide sighed, “I can’t tell you anything for I don’t know myself how the money was gone.”

“Do you see now that everything is determined by fate?” said the singer.

“On the contrary,” the poet answered, “Now I’m convinced more than ever that only money can make a man happy. But I won’t try to prove it anymore for it costs me too dear. Now you prove your words.”

“I’ll try.” the singer said. He fumbled about in his pocket and took out a small lead ball. To tell the truth, the singer didn’t remember what ball was that and how it had appeared in his pocket.

“Here, take this, boy.” said the singer and held out the ball to Alcide, “You may need this more than money.”

The men said goodbye to the boy and went away. The ball had been in the singer’s pocket for a very long time, but it remained in Alcide’s pocket even longer. When Alcide felt pinched with hunger he remembered the ball in his pocket. Even the guitar no longer did any good to him. Alcide took the ball out of his pocket and started playing with it and meanwhile he thought, “What shall I do with this ball? Shall I sell it? No, no one will give me a soldo for this. Yet, if someone has made it, it means it’s worth something.” and suddenly Alcide struck his forehead, “I’ve got it! I can catch fish with it.”

The boy cut a long flexible willow twig, bent a pin into a hook and tightly tied the ball to it. And he went to the seashore to catch fish. He sat on the seashore, cast the rod into the sea and waited. An hour passed and then another but, as ill luck would have it, the fish wouldn’t come near the bait. Alcide stayed on the seashore from morning till noon, and from noon till evening. Many would have already given up in his place but Alcide wouldn’t lose hope so easily. He never did things by halves. He was more stubborn than the fish and finally he had his will. At sunset the fish began getting closer to the bait. So the young fisher began catching fish one after another. Hardly did he take the fish out of the water and cast his rod into the water again when another fish jumped at the bait.

That night Alcide had a very tasty fish soup. He had caught so much fish that he sold the half of it in the market next morning. Later he ran to the seashore again. And here we go again! Fish jumped at the bait one after another. From then on the boy went to the seashore every day and sat there with the rod in his hand all day long. Half a year later he bought a net. After another six month he bought a boat. So Alcide became a real fisherman.

And what happened to the poet and the singer? Oh, they were so busy with their own affairs that they totally forgot the poor guitar player. Both of them went on a long journey; one of them travelled west, the other travelled east. Five years later they met in their homeland. They remembered Alcide and decided to pay him a visit. They went to the same place where they had first met the boy. But the old shabby hut was gone and there was a beautiful house in place of the hut. Two children were playing near that house and a young woman was standing on the threshold and watching the children with a smile.

“Do you know where guitar player Alcide lives now?”

“Of course, I do. Hubby, two gentlemen have come to see you.” the woman called her husband.

Hearing his wife, Alcide came out of the house. Out fell a shower of questions. They sat down on the threshold and Alcide told them everything that had happened to him. But we won’t bore our reader repeating all the story again and will only add some parts we’ve missed before. So listen.

“So I bought a boat and a good fishing net and became a fisher. Then I fell in love with Giovanna and she loved me too. I must confess, my guitar helped me greatly to win her love. And we got married. You know, a hut is not a good place to live for a young married couple. So we decided to build a house in its place. And we pulled the hut down. Please listen attentively, dear signori, for I’m sure you’ll be interested in what I’m going to tell you now. So we pulled the hut down and found a crow’s abandoned nest in the old chimney of the hut. My hat was in that very nest and the hundred scudos you’d given me were still in the hat. I’m very glad that I can pay my debt back to you at last.”

At those words Alcide ran in and brought his torn up hat with clinking coins in it. He gave the poet and the singer fifty scudos each and went on with his story.

“And that’s not the half of the story. When we broke the floor of the hut, we found ninety-nine scudos in a mice hole in the corner. I had bought a sausage with the hundredth one. But I’ve put back the missing coin.”

Giovanna went in and came back with a beautiful purse. There were hundred scudos in the purse. Alcide gave the purse to the poet.

“And I want to keep the ball as a remembrance, if you don’t mind.” said Alcide.

Thus he finished his story. The friends began arguing heatedly on the same old topic again.

“Fate!” the singer would shout loudly.

“Money!” the poet would shout even louder.   

And again they recalled the aunt’s fortune and count Lugi’s accidental sail on the sea.

Alcide was attentively listening to their argument.

“Do you know what I think, signori?” at last he cut in, “Both the money and fate are of great importance but believe me, diligence and obstinacy are the most important. True, the fortune you inherited from your aunt really helped you, signor poet. But you kept on writing your poems even when you were still poor and unknown. You never gave up, did you? And you, signor singer, say that you became famous with the help of count Luigi. That’s true but the fact is you never stopped singing until the lucky moment he heard you. As to me, all I’ve got now is the product of my hard work.”

The poet and the singer were silent for a few minutes then cried out unanimously,

“Madonna Mia! He is right!”

The Pawned Beard (Persian Folk Tale)

Once, a man went to a wealthy merchant to borrow money.

“I need some money for my trading. Will you lend me some?” he asked, “I’ll pay off the debt by all means, I promise.”

“I can lend you money only if a reliable man goes guarantee for you.” the merchant said.

“I’ve never dealt with a reliable merchant so far and I don’t know someone who’ll go guarantee for me.” the man said.

“Well.” the merchant said, “I’ll help you but you must give me a hair of your beard in pawn.”

“Ok, but please, bring me some rose water and a mirror.” the man said.

The merchant gave him rose water and a mirror. The man first sprinkled his beard with rose water, then he took a comb out of his pocket and started combing his beard carefully. After that he took a hair from between the comb teeth and put it in a silk handkerchief, folded it and humbly handed it to the merchant.

Some time later the man grew very rich and went to his lender, thanked him and paid off his debt.

One day that man gave a big party. During the party one of the guests asked him,

“As far as I remember you were as poor as I am. How did you get all this wealth?”

And the man honestly told him the story of his pawned beard.

The next day the poor man went to the same merchant and asked to lend him some money. When the merchant asked him who would go guarantee for him, the poor man said,

“By God, I don’t have any reliable friends. I am just a poor man who lives from hand to mouth.”

At this the merchant said,

“Give me a hair of your beard in pawn and I’ll lend you the money.”

“Only a hair?” the man said in surprise and he pulled a bunch of hair out of his beard and offered it to the merchant.

When the merchant saw that he thought, “If this man has no respect towards himself, he will clearly treat the others even worse.” And so that he didn’t go and cheat the other merchants, he said loudly,

“Your beard is not worth to take in pawn. So I can’t lend you money.”

Wisdom of the Aged (Bulgarian Folk Tale)

Once, a very cruel king gave an order to kill all the old people in his country.

“They are good for nothing!” the king said, “They can neither plough, nor reap, nor chop wood. They just waste our food and get under our feet constantly. We can live much better without them.”

So the king’s executioner’s got to work. They killed all the old people in the kingdom. Only one old man was left alive. He was the father of a duke. The duke pitied his father, hid him in his house and secretly gave him food every day.

The cruel king had a stubborn, unruly black steed that kicked, jibbed, reared up and threw its riders off. Nobody could ride that horse. One day the king heard of a wise healer that lived in the capital of the kingdom. He ordered to bring her to his palace. And when the healer came, the king asked her how he could bridle the unruly horse.

“Your Majesty,” the healer said, “Order your dukes to weave a rope of sand and tie the legs of the horse with that rope. After that your horse will become as meek as a lamb.”

The king scratched his head and called his dukes.

“I order you to bring me a rope of sand tomorrow morning. If you come back to my palace without the rope, I’ll have your heads cut off.” he cried.

The dukes went away hanging their heads. It was impossible to fulfill the king’s order.

The duke who had spared his father’s life was also among them. He came home thoughtful and sad.

“Why are you so sad, my son?” his father asked him.