Tom and the knockers

Written by Cornwall Folktale

From the time that Tom was old enough to handle pick and shovel, he had worked in the tin mines. And very lucky he was, always finding rich lodes of tin, or stumbling on heaps of Cornish diamonds that some unknown hands had piled up to carry off.

One night Tom was working hard in an old mine - a very ancient mine indeed - when he heard sounds like those, of tiny shovels and picks.

"It is the Knockers!" said Tom to himself, and he listened quietly. Then he heard, as if only two or three yards away, little miners doing all sorts of underground work. Some were wheeling barrows, others were shovelling; and he could distinguish even the sounds of boring, swabbing the holes, and blasting.

The noises came nearer and nearer, and Tom heard distinctly many squeaky voices all talking at once, and strange cackling laughter. He grew quite savage listening to all this clatter, and to the squeaking and tee-hee-ing; and being a rash fellow, he struck the wall before him violently with his pick, and threw a handful of stones in the direction where the Knockers seemed to be working.

"Scat!" he shouted, "or I'll beat your brains out, I will, if you don't leave here!" The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when a shower of stones fell all around him, and on him, and frightened him nearly out of his senses.

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Judy and the fairy cat

Written by Ireland folktale

Late one Hallowe'en an old woman was sitting up spinning. There came a soft knock at the door.

"Who's there?" asked she.

There was no answer, but another knock.

"Who's there?" she asked a second time.

Still no answer, but a third knock. At that the old woman got up in anger.

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Mahmood's mirror

Written by Oriental folktale

The Sultan Mahmood, who had a great deal of wit and courage, but whose face was anything but handsome, had heard himself called so often, by his courtiers, Star of the World, Source of Consolation, Delight of the People, Image of the Sun, that when, in their audacity, they went so far as to eulogize his beauty, he finished by believing that he was really handsome.

But one day, when he was walking in a great gallery, he looked by chance upon a mirror, and saw with astonishment that he was everything else.

"Either my courtiers tell me falsehoods," he said, "or this mirror is bad. So many eyes, which find me handsome, cannot however he easily deceived. The fault, beyond a doubt, must be in this mirror."

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The King's Treasure

Written by Persian fairy tales

Accurately relating how a marked advance in material and political prosperity accrued to Abdul Karim, and the part played by a monarch whose philosophy included the immediate advancement of a worthy subject.

A Laboring man named Abdul Karim, with his wife, Zeeba "the beautiful one" lived in a sheltered valley, surrounded by hills, the sides of which were covered with fine gardens, in which the peach, the grape, the mulberry, and other delicious fruits grew in great profusion.

Although his wife's name was Zeeba, as a matter of fact, she was very plain in appearance. But from having been named Zeeba, she really thought she was beautiful, and thus it came about that, moved by vanity, her two children were named, the boy, Yusuf, or Joseph, who as you know, was sold by his brethren into Egypt and became next to the King; and the girl, Fatima, after Fatima, the favorite daughter of Mahomet, and the wife of the famous Ali.

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The jelly fish and the monkey

Written by Yei Theodora Ozaki

Long, long ago, in old Japan, the Kingdom of the Sea was governed by a wonderful King. He was called Rin Jin, or the Dragon King of the Sea. His power was immense, for he was the ruler of all sea creatures both great and small, and in his keeping were the Jewels of the Ebb and Flow of the Tide. The Jewel of the Ebbing Tide when thrown into the ocean caused the sea to recede from the land, and the Jewel of the Flowing Tide made the waves to rise mountains high and to flow in upon the shore like a tidal wave.

The Palace of Rin Jin was at the bottom of the sea, and was so beautiful that no one has ever seen anything like it even in dreams. The walls were of coral, the roof of jadestone and chrysoprase, and the floors were of the finest mother-of-pearl. But the Dragon King, in spite of his wide-spreading Kingdom, his beautiful Palace and all its wonders, and his power which none disputed throughout the whole sea, was not at all happy, for he reigned alone.

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Story of Coquerico

Written by Spanish tale collected by Édouard René de Laboulaye

Once upon a time there was a handsome hen who lived like a great lady in the poultry-yard of a rich farmer, surrounded by a numerous family which clucked about her, and none of which clamored more loudly or picked up the corn faster with his beak than a poor little deformed and crippled chicken.

This was precisely the one that the mother loved best. It is the way with all mothers; the weakest and most unsightly are always their favorites. This misshapen creature had but one eye, one wing, and one leg in good condition; it might have been thought that Solomon had executed his memorable sentence on Coquerico, for that was the name of the wretched chicken, and cut him in two with his famous sword.

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The recompense

Written by Oriental folktale

The Caliph HAROON-AL-RASCHID, being one day at the chase, met an old man who was planting a walnut-tree.

"What a fool is this old man!" said the Caliph to his suite; "he acts as if he were still a youth, and were to enjoy the fruits of that tree."

As his followers likewise made a jest of the old man, the Caliph approached him, and asked him what age he was.

"Eighty years complete, my lord ; and I am, thank God, still as well as a man of thirty."

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The first horse

Written by Greek mith

There was a king of the olden time who heard a prophecy that the child of his only daughter would destroy him. This daughter was the loveliest princess in the world, and her name was Danae.

Her father loved her well, but when he heard that prophecy, he shut her up all alone in a brazen tower, and let no one come near her except himself, for he thought, "My daughter shall never marry, lest she have a child who brings me doom."

The fair young princess was very lonely in her tower ; all day she had nothing to do but comb her golden hair and spin with her silver distaff, and gaze through barred casements at the hills and woods, where she longed to wander free. The stern King forbade her even to show herself on the roof of the tower by day, but at night she would often go there to weep and bewail her lot under the stars.

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The thanksgiving of the Wazir

Written by Traditional Punjabi story // Collected by Andrew Lang

Once upon a time there lived in Hindustan two kings whose countries bordered upon each other; but, as they were rivals in wealth and power, and one was a Hindu rajah and the other a Mohammedan badshah, they were not good friends at all.

In order, however, to escape continual quarrels, the rajah and the badshah had drawn up an agreement, stamped and signed, declaring that if any of their subjects, from the least to the greatest, crossed the boundary between the two kingdoms, he might be seized and punished.

One morning the badshah and his chief wazir, or prime minister, were just about to begin their morning's work over the affairs of the kingdom, and the badshah had taken up a pen and was cutting it to his liking with a sharp knife, when the knife slipped and cut off the tip of his finger.

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From Birth till Death

Written by Feruza

There is a country which is living completely with the social projects.

But problem is that they never know that this is social project - they call it being a Human.

From birth of the child of their Neighbour or Friend each of the acquaintance or the friend trying to visit this family with their gift for the child. Usually these gifts are clothes.

The same time guest are having meal together and making very nice wishes to the new born child.

The same time these people taking part in both helping position one is feeding another one giving clothes.

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