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The Fox and the Crayfish

The Fox was always teasing the Crayfish". One day he said: "You are so slow, Mr. Crayfish, you can only move backwards."

The Crayfish thought a little, then said: "Let's run a race, Mr. Fox."

"How can you run a race with me, Mr. Cray­fish?" said the Fox. '"You"don't know how to run like a real animal."

"Well, don't talk about it," said the Crayfish. "Let's try and see. Let's run as far as that tree over there, and see who gets there the first."

"Very well, let's run and see," said the Fox. As the Fox turns his back to the Crayfish, the Crayfish ratches_hold of the Fox's tail with his claws.

The Fox ran as fast as he could. He ran so fast that his feet hardly touched the ground. And he said to himself: " How silly that Crayfish is! He thinks that he can win in a race with me."

All the time the Crayfish was hanging on the end of the Fox's tail. When they got to the tree, the Fox stopped and looked around for the Cray­fish. Then the Crayfish let go the Fox's tail and said: "Well, Mr. Fox, I am already here. I'm waiting for you." The Fox was so tired that he did not say a word.

The Vain Crow

A crow who thought that she was very beauti­ful —- though really she looked just like any other crow — sat on the branch of a tree. She had a piece of cheese in her beak which she had stolen from a farmer's house.

At the foot of the tree there sat a fox who saw the piece of cheese in the Crow's beak and he wanted to get it.

The Fox stood up and cried to the Crow: "I am very glad to see you, my friend. You look very beautiful today."

The Crow sat quietly and did not say anything, though she was very pleased.

"You are so beautiful that I think you must be our queen. Can you talk? I am sure that your voice is very beautiful too."

The Crow still did not say anything, because she had the cheese in her beak.

The Fox was silent for a moment. Then he said: "Oh, I see. You can't talk. And of course we can't make you our queen, if you can't talk."

Now the vain Crow wanted to show that she could talk, and she opened her beak. The piece of cheese fell to the ground. The sly Fox rushed to it and began to eat it. The silly Crow looked sadly at him from the tree. And the Fox laughed.

"My dear friend," he said, "now I see that you have a voice, but it is a pity that you have not got something more important. You have not got brains."

The Tiger and the Fox

One day a fox met a tiger in the forest. The Tiger rushed at the Fox ready to tear him to pieces. But the Fox was not frightened. He said to the Tiger: "Don't think you are the strongest animal in the forest. It is true that I am smaller than you, but people are less afraid of you than they are of me. 1 can prove it to you right now. Come with me to the road where the people pass by. I shall walk in front of you and you will see that they run away as soon as they see me, After that you can tear me to pieces."

The Tiger agreed and they went to the road.

Not long afterwards a group of travelers came along the road. As soon as they saw the Tiger walking behind the Fox they ran away terrified.

"Do you believe me now?" asked the Fox. The sil­ly Tiger was so frightened that he did not reply. He ran back into the forest. He really believed that the Fox was a terrible and dangerous animal.

The Rabbit and the Fox

One day the Rabbit took the road to the Fox's house. Suddenly he saw a doll on the ground. The doll was quite black. The Rabbit came nearer. "What a funny doll! Some children left it here, I suppose."

The Rabbit came quite near.

"Oh, how funny it is! I must touch it!" And the Rabbit touched it. The moment he touched the doll, it stuck to his paws. The doll was made of tar. The sly Fox made it to catch the Rabbit. The poor Rabbit tried to free himself but he could not.

The Fox came. He had been hiding behind a bush.

"Good morning! What are you doing here?" he said.

"This is the end of me," thought the poor Rabbit, but he answered bravely: "I am playing with a doll. Don't you see?"

"Very strange at your age," said the Fox, coming quite near.

"Now I shall eat you up," said the Fox and seized the poor Rabbit.

The Rabbit was terribly frightened. "I know you will kill me," he said, "but I ask you only one thing. Don't throw me into a thorn-bush. I don't want to die there."

"Well, let me see what I can do for you," said the Fox. "I wanted to roast you but there is no fire to hand. Perhaps I shall drown you in the river."

"Do anything what you like but don't throw me into a thorn-bush," said the Rabbit again.

"I wanted to do what you wish but the river is too far," said the Fox and threw the Rabbit into a thorn-bush.

That was just what the Rabbit wanted. He rolled and rolled among the branches, and the thorns took off all the tar from his fur. But he did not forget to shout.

When his shouts died away, the Fox came up to the thorn-bush. He thought the Rabbit was dead. But he heard a laugh. The Rabbit was sitting in the hill. He was laughing at the Fox. The Fox rushed at the Rabbit, but it was too late.

The Lazy Ass

Once a tradesman had an ass who was very strong animal but very lazy. The Tradesman was a kind man and fed the Ass well, but the animal was always displeased and grumbled that he had to carry heavy sacks.

The Tradesman travelled from town to town with all kinds of goods and came home only late in the evening.

When the Ass was in the stable at night with the other animals, he always grumbled that he was very tired, and that his master made him carry very heavy loads.

And the other animals shook their heads in sympathy, and they believed the Ass.

One day the Tradesman bought two sacks of salt which he wanted to sell in another town. So he loaded the sacks on the Ass's back and they started off.

On their way they came to a bridge across a river. Right in the middle of the bridge the Ass slipped and fell into the river. The master ran around to the bank and went into the water to help the animal back to dry ground.

Now the Ass noticed that his load was much lighter as the water had washed away part of the salt.

"Ah, that's good!" thought the lazy animal. "Why did not I think of that before?"

As the salt was no good at all now the Tradesman returned to town and brought some other goods with which he loaded the Ass. Then they started again and when they came to the bridge the second time the Ass jumped into the water. As the sacks did not contain salt this time but cloth instead, they became very heavy. The master helped the silly Ass back to the road. Now the load was twice heavy because it was wet. But as nobody wanted to buy the wet cloth, the Tradesman could not sell it that day and the Ass had to carry the heavy-sacks home again on his back.

The Rats and Their Daughter

Once upon a time there were two rats who had many fine children but the one they loved most was their youngest daughter. She was a nice little rat. She had the most beautiful grey coat and the brightest little eyes and such dear little ears. And her parents thought that she was the most beauti­ful rat in the world.

When she was old enough to marry they began to think of her future husband.

"She must have a very mighty husband," they said. "No one but the mightiest in the world shall marry our beautiful daughter."

But where was the mightiest? It was not easy to tell and they did not know.

So they went to a very old and clever rat and asked him. He answered: "Go to the Sun and ask him to be your daughter's husband. 1 am sure no one is mightier than the Sun."

So Mr. and Mrs. Rat went to the Sun and asked him to marry their daughter. The Sun answered: "It is very nice of you to ask me to marry your daughter, but please, tell me, why did you choose me?" "We wish to give our daughter to the mightiest in the world, and of course no one can be mightier than you." "I see," said the Sun, "but I'm afraid it is not true, there is one mightier than I am. and you must give your daughter to him." "Who can be mightier than you?" asked Mr. Rat and the Sun answered: "When I wish to shine on the earth, a cloud often comes along, and my light cannot pass through it or drive it away. You must go to the Cloud."

So Mr. and Mrs. Rat went to the Cloud and told him their wish. "1 am not the mightiest," said the Cloud. "The Wind is mightier than I. When the Wind blows, he drives me along and I can do nothing against him."

So Mr. and Mrs. Rat went to the Wind. But the Wind said: "Yes, I am mightier than the Cloud. But I am not the mightiest in the world. The Wall is sometimes in my path and I blow and blow, but the Wall is still there and I cannot pass through it."

Again Mr. and Mrs. Rat went on till they came to the Wall. But the Wall said: "You are right. I am mightier than the Wind. But there is the Rat who makes holes in me — thenI can do nothing against him. The best thing for you is to choose a rat for your daughter's husband."

Then Mr. and Mrs. Rat came back home and their beautiful daughter married a rat, and they lived happily for many, many years.

The Clever Poor Man

One day a poor man was travelling on horse­back. In the afternoon when he was tired and hungry he tied his horse to a tree and sat down to have his dinner. A rich man came to that place and began to tie his horse to the same tree.

"Do not tie your horse to that tree," said the poor man, "my horse is wild, it will kill your horse. Tie it to another tree." But the rich man answered: "I shall tie my horse where I like." So he tied up his horse and also sat down to eat his dinner. But a few minutes later they heard a terrible noise and saw that the two horses were fighting. They ran up to them, but it was too late — the rich man's horse was dead.

"See what your horse has done!" cried the rich num. "You will have to pay for it." And he brought the poor man before the judge.

The judge asked the poor man: "Is it true that your horse killed his horse?" But the poor man answered nothing. Then the judge asked the poor man many other questions, but he did not say anything.

At last the judge cried: "What can I do? This man is dumb. He cannot speak!" "Oh," said the rich man, "he can speak as well as you or I. He spoke to me when I met him,"

"Are you sure?" asked the judge. "What did he say?"

"Of course I am sure," answered the rich man. "He told me not to tie my horse to the same tree where his horse was tied. He said that his horse was wild and would kill my horse."

"Oh," said the judge, "now I see that you are not right. He warned you before. So he shall not pay for your horse now.'

Then he turned to the poor man and asked him why he had not answered all his questions.

The poor man said: "I did not answer you as I knew that you would believe a rich man more than a poor man. So I wanted him to tell you everything and now you see who was right and who was wrong,"

How Fifty Crocodiles Wanted to Eat up One Little Rabbit

One day a rabbit went to eat some grass near the river. He ate some grass, drank some water and then went to sleep under a tree.

That night it rained, and in the morning the ground on which the Rabbit had slept was like an island. There was water all round it. The poor little Rabbit did not know what to do. He could not jump to the other bank of the river because at that place the river was very wide after the rain. And he was afraid to swim, because there were many crocodiles in the river.

One of the crocodiles put his head out of the water and said: " I am happy to see you, Rabbit! Come nearer, my dear. We shall eat you up, my

friends and I. Your meat must be very good."

The Rabbit was frightened. But he did not show that he was frightened. And he answered: "My meat is very good only if crocodiles eat very little of it. How many of you are here?"

"We are thirty." answered an old crocodile.

"That's very bad," said the Rabbit. "You must be fifty at least. My meat is poisonous and you must eat very little of it. You may eat me up now, but you will all die tomorrow."

"If you say so," said the old Crocodile, "then three crocodiles will go and ask twenty other cro­codiles to come here and help us to eat you up. And twenty-seven crocodiles will stay here and see that you don't run away."

Soon three crocodiles came back and with them were twenty other crocodiles. The old Crocodile said: " Now we are fifty, Rabbit, and we shall eat you up."

"If you are fifty, not more and not less, you may eat me up," answered the Rabbit. "But did you count well? Are you fifty?"

"Yes, we are fifty."

"If you did not count well, you will all die," said the Rabbit.

The crocodiles were frightened. They thought: "What if we are forty-nine or fifty-one?" And they said to the Rabbit: "Please, little Rabbit, count us again! You are so clever!"

"No, I don't want to do it," answered the Rabbit.

"Dear little Rabbit, count us, please! You will do it better than we!"

"Well, if you want, I shall count you! But you must lie down side by side in the water, from this island to the bank of the river. Then I shall see all of you and count you well."

The crocodiles did as the Rabbit told them. Then the Rabbit said to the Old Crocodile: "May I walk over the backs of your friends? I must see them all and count them well."

The Old Crocodile answered: "Do as you like, dear Rabbit, only count us well."

The Rabbit began to count. As he counted, he jumped over the backs of the crocodiles: "One, two, three, four... ten... fifteen... twenty-five... fifty !"

When he counted fifty, he jumped to the bank of the river and ran away into the forest.

The Tortoise Who Talked

There was once a tortoise who talked too much.

He lived in a pond. He talked to the birds, and he talked to the fishes, and to the monkeys all day long. At last they did not want to see or hear him any more. "He does a lot of harm to everybody, this Talking Tortoise," said the fishes to each other, as they lay under the bank. "He tells the cranes where we hide, and then the cranes fish us out, and eat us. And he told the king of the parrots thai the monkeys spoke ill about his tail, and so there was a quarrel between the monkeys and the par­rots."

"He is a very bad tortoise!" said the birds. "But he says that he will go and stay with somebody in summer. How nice that will be! We shall have a real holiday."

"He, will not go away from here," said the fishes. "Where will he go? Who will ask him? No one! He will stay herg.atl his life !"

Summer came, and indeed the Tortoise stayed in the garden. Nobody asked him to come and stay for the summer.

One morning the Tortoise lay in the sun on the bank of the river. Two white ducks alighted on the ground near him.

"Where are you going?" the Tortoise asked them. "We are going to a beautiful place. Its name is the Beautiful Mountain."

"I like the name," said the Tortoise. "Have you a pond there?"

"No, but we have lakes and rivers, which are much better. Come with us and you will see."

"I cannot fly," the Tortoise said. "But I want to go with you."

"Oh, we shall take you!" said the ducks. "We shall take the two ends of a stick in our beaks, and you will hold on to the middle by your mouth. You must only keep your mouth shut all the time." "I can do that very well," said the Tortoise.

The ducks flew up into the air, with the Tortoise between them.

"Don't come back again, Talking Tortoise," cried the little fishes.

The Tortoise wanted to say, "I shall not!" but he tried to keep his mouth shut. He did not want to fall back into the pond.

They flew over fields, and forests, and towns, And when they stopped, the ducks told the Tortoise to keep his mouth shut.

The next day, when they were in the air, a woman in the field looked up and said, "Two wild ducks are carrying a tortoise," The Tortoise wanted very much to say, "And what is that to you, you silly woman?" but he thought about it in time and kept his mouth shut.

Soon they flew over the king's summer palace, and in the town near it some boys threw stones at the wild ducks. " Drop the fat old Tortoise!" they cried. "We shall make soup ot him!"

It was too much tor the Tortoise. "Soup!" he cried. "You will be made into soup yourself!" But the moment he opened his mouth, he fell down, and this was the end of the Talking Tortoise.

The Hare and the Elephant

Once upon a time a hare lived in the jungle. She was very timid, and so she was thinking that something was going to happen. One day she heard a great noise that frightened her very much. She thought the world must be breaking up, and she started to run away.

She met a deer, who was also easily frightened.

"Where are you going?" asked the Deer. "The world is breaking up, and 1 am running away," answered the Hare. "I think I shall go with you," said the Deer. And away they ran.

Soon they met a fox who was hunting for some­thing to eat. "Where are you going this fine morning?" asked the Fox. "The world is breaking up, and we are running away," answered the Deer. "I think I shall go with you," said the Fox. "I can run as fast as you can."

Soon they met a lion, who was always ready to hear the news. "Where are you going?" asked the Lion. "The world is breaking up, and we are running awa " said the Fox. "Then I shall go with you," said the Lion, for he wanted to see what would happen.

On the way they met a tiger, who was much surprised to see the Hare, the Deer, the Fox, and the Lion running together through the tall grass, "Where are you going?" asked the Tiger, "The world is breaking up, and we are running away," said the Lion. "I shall go with you," said the Tiger. "It is a good morning for a run, and perhaps I'll get something for my dinner,"

Away they all ran, up the hill and down the hill, and through the jungle. After a while they came upon an elephant, who was rocking from side to side. He chewed the long jungle grass. "Where are you going?" asked the Elephant. "The world is breaking up, and we are running away," said the Tiger.

"Who told you?" asked the Elephant. "The Lion told me," said the Tiger, "The Fox (old me," said the Lion. "The Deer told me," said the Fox. "The Hare told me," said the Deer. They all looked at the Hare. "How did you find out about it?" the Elephant asked the Hare.

"I heard a loud noise," said the Hare, "and thought the world was breaking up."

"Was this the noise you heard?" asked the Elephant, He lifted his trunk and made a loud noise.

"Yes, that was the noise," said the Hare. "It soun­ded as if the world was breaking up."

"Nonsense," said the Elephant. "1 was only saying 'Good morning' to the jungle."

"What do you think of it?" said the Tiger and he looked at the Hare, but the Hare turned and ran through the jungle as fast as she could.

 

 

Jokes, Laughs, Smiles

Two Brothers

Once upon a time there were two brothers. One was called Paul and the other was Bernard. Now, Paul was keen on riding and so was Bernard.

On Tuesday they both went out to buy a horse. Bernard bought a horse and Paul bought a horse.

"Oh, dear," said Bernard, "how are we going to tell our horses apart? How shall I know which is my horse and which is your horse?"'

"That's easy," said Paul, "you cut the tail of your horse shorter than mine." So Bernard cut his horse's tail and then they could tell the two horses apart. But time passed and the tail of Bernard's horse grew, so they had to think again.

"I know!" exclaimed Bernard excitedly. "You cut the mane of your horse very short and I'll leave mine as it is."

But eventually the manes of the two horses were the same length again.

"Do you know what we should do?" suggested Paul. "We should measure the length of the horses. Perhaps one is longer than the other." They did this, and sure enough, they found that the black horse was three centimetres longer than the white one.

The Picture

Artist: In this picture, sir, you can see a cow.

It is eating the grass.

Visitor: Where is the grass?

Artist: The cow has eaten it.

Visitor: But where is the cow?

Artist: You don't suppose she'd be fool enoughto stay there after she'd eaten the grass, do you?

Which of You Three? "Hello! Is that Ted Wells?" "Yes. Who is speaking?" "Sam."

"Who? I don't hear!"

"I said Sam: Sid, Ada, Mary. Do you hear?" "Yes, I do. But which of you three is speaking now?"

* * *

Teacher: Why are you late? Jimmy: Well, a sign down the street said... Teacher: What does a sign have to do with it? Jimmy: The sign said: "School ahead, go slow."

* * *

Little Willie, aged six, was walking around the Zoo with his father. Suddenly he noticed a zebra.

"Daddy," he cried, "are zebras yellow animals with black stripes or black animals with yellow stripes?"