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1.Piccola

Once there lived in France a little girl name Piccola. When she was very young, her father died, and her mother was very, very poor.
    One Christmas Eve Piccola said to her mother, \"Mamma, will Uncle Santa come to our house tonight?\" Her mother felt very sad and shook her head.
    Before she went to bed, Piccola took off her little wooden shoes and put them on the floor near the chimney. She said to her mother, “Perhaps Uncle Santa will come.”
    All was white with snow outside, and it was very cold.
    In the night a little bird with a broken wing fell down the chimney and hopped into one of the shoes. Very early in the morning Piccola woke up. She jumped out of bed and ran to look into her shoes.
    There she saw the little bird in one of the shoes. She picked up the shoe and ran to show her Christmas present to her mother. She said, \"Santa Claus did not forget me, Mamma.\"

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2.Pandora's box

Many years ago all the word was very beautiful and nobody was ever sick or unhappy.
    At that time there lived a beautiful little girl named Pandora. One day gave her a wonderful box tied with a golden cord and made her promise not to open it. Pandora and her little playmate, Epimetheus, often looked at the box and wondered what was in it.
    For a long time Pandora kept her promise to the fairy, but at last she wanted to peep into the box. She untied the cord and lifted the cover only a little.
    Out flew hundreds of bad little fairies. They stung Pandora and she fell on the floor and screamed. They stung Epimetheus, too.
    Then they flew out of doors and stung all the children in the land. By and by Pandora heard a little voice crying, “Let me out, and I will help you,”
    She opened the box, and out flew a beautiful little fairy. She told Pandora that her name was Hope. She kissed her and Epimetheus, and made them well. Then away she flew to help the other children.
    To this day, when people are sick or unhappy, the good little fairy, Hope, comes to comfort them.

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3.The Crab and His Mother

“My child,” said a Crab to her son, “why do you walk so awkward? If you wish to make a good appearance, you should go straight forward, and not to one side as you do so constantly.”
    “I do wish to make a good appearance, Mamma” said the young Crab; “and if you will show me how, I will try to walk straight forward.”
    “Why, this is the way, of course,” said the mother, as she started off to the right, “No, this is the way,” said she, as she made another attempt, to the left.
    The little Crab smiled. “ When you learn to do it yourself, you can teach me,” he said, and he went back to his play.

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4.The Wolf and The Crane

One day a Wolf, who was eating his dinner much too fast, swallowed a bone, which stuck in his throat and pained him very much. He tried to get it out, but could not.
    Just then he saw a Crane passing by. “Dear fiend,” said he to the Crane, “ there is a bone sticking in my throat. You have a good long neck; can't you reach down and pull it out? I will pay you well for it.”     “I'll try,” said the Crane. Then he put his head into the Wolf’s mouth, between his sharp teeth, and reaching down, pulled out bone. “There!” said the Wolf, “I am glad it is out; I must be more careful another time.” “I will go now, if you will pay me,” said the Crane.
    “Pay you, indeed!” cried the Wolf. “Be thankful that I did not bite your head off when it was in my mouth. You ought to be content with that.”

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. Handel, The Musician

Long ago they're lived in Germany a little boy named George Frederick Handel.
    He loved music and wanted to learn to play the piano, but his father wanted him to become a lawyer and would not let him take music lessons.
    There was a little, old-fashioned piano up in the attic. At night, when everybody was asleep, the little boy used to creep up the stairs and play softly to himself.
    When he was about seven years old, he went with his father to visit a wealthy Duke. The Duke lived in a beautiful palace with many large rooms. There was a wonderful organ in one of the rooms.
    While his father and the Duke sat talking, little Handel slipped away. He sat down at the organ and began to play. His little hands moved over the keys and the room was filled with a sweetest music.
    When he finished playing, he turned around and saw his father and the Duke looking at him. The Duke asked him where he had learned to play, and the boy told him about the piano in the attic.
    Then the Duke persuaded Handle's father to let him study music, and he became a famous composer.

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8. Good For Evil

  One evening a settler in the wilds of America was standing in his door. An Indian, who was tired and hungry, came and asked him for something to eat. The settler said sharply, “I have nothing for you.”
     The Indian then asked for a glass of milk, and the settler again refused. The Indian then begged for a little cold water, but the settler only answered roughly, “go away, you Indian dog!” the Indian fixed his eyes on the settler for a moment, and then turned away.
    Some days after that, the same settler went hunting, and lost his way in a dense wood, and wandered about till it grew dark. By and by he saw a dim light through the trees, and he went toward it. He found that the light came from the fire in an Indian hut.
    So he went up to the hut, and asked the way to his home. But the Indian said: “it is a long way off, and the night is dark. You cannot get home tonight. If you wander about in the wood, you will fall a prey to the hungry wolves. But if you don’t mind to stay with me for the night, you may.”
     The settler gladly accepted the offer of the kind Indian. And the Indian broiled some venison for him, and gave him clear water to drink, and then spread a warm deerskin for him to lie upon. Early the next morning the Indian called the hunter and said:” the sun is up. Your home is a long way off, but I will show you the way.”
    The Indian shouldered his gun and went on ahead, while the hunter followed in his footsteps. They had traveled thus for many miles, when the Indian turned to the hunter on.”
     The Indian then fixed his keen eyes on the hunter, and said, “do you know me?”
    “I think I have seen you before,” said the hunter.
    “Yes, you have seen me at your own door,” said the Indian. “and now, at parting, let me give you a piece of advice. When a poor Indian. Hungry and thirsty and faint, again asks you for a little food of drink, do not say to him---- go away, you Indian dog!”
    Tthe settler felt very ashamed of what he had done, and begged the Indian to forgive him. He returned a sadder and a wiser man.

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10. Going Halves

Once an Italian nobleman was going to be married, and everybody at his castle was busy making preparations for the grand marriage-feast.
    Everything was ready, but one thing. The weather had been so stormy that no fish was to be had for love or money.
    On the morning of the feast, however, a poor fisherman came to the castle with a very large salmon on his back. It was so large that the man was sinking under his burden.
    The nobleman was delighted with the fish, and said to the fisherman, “ Name your price, and it shall be given you.”
    To the surprise of everybody, the fisherman said, “ My price, my lord, is one hundred floggings on my back.”
    “ What a nonsense!” said the nobleman. “You are joking, aren't you? Come, tell us quickly. How much do you want for the fish? ” Still the fisherman made the same answer as before.
    “ Well,” said the nobleman, “this is a strange joke. But, at all events, we must have the fish. So you shall have your price-(turning to his attendants)-only lay on the floggings lightly.”
    When fifty floggings had been counted, the fisherman cried out, \"Stop! I have a partner in the business, and he must have his share!\"
    \" What!\" exclaimed the nobleman. “Are there two such madmen in the world? Where is your partner ? Bring him here!”
    “Oh!” said the fisherman, “my partner is no other than your own porter, my lord. He would not let me in, till I promised hem one half of what I should get for the fish, and so I must keep my promise.” “Aha!” said the nobleman, “bring the porter here right now.”
     The porter was brought, and received his full share of the floggings--and you may be sure that they were not laid on lightly this time.
    The porter was then discharged from the nobleman's service, and the fisherman was sent off with a handsome

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12.Silence Is Gold

At an Indian fair there was a merchant who had an elephant for sale. He saw an American who was examining it with very great care-walking round and round it, putting his head on one side, and taking in everything.
    The merchant went up to the American, and said, “Don't say anything about the elephant till I have sold it, and I will make you a present.\"
    “All right,” said the American.
    After the elephant was sold, the merchant gave him one-tenth of the price he had got for it, and said: “Now tell me how you found out that blemish on the left foreleg of the elephant. I thought it was quite concealed.”
    “Blemish !”said the American. \"I never found any blemish.\"
     “Then, why did you examine the elephant so closely?” asked the merchant.
    “Because I had never seen an elephant before, and wanted to see what it was like,” said the American.

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120.Three Men in a Boat
　　Three men were sitting on a park bench. The one in the middle was reading a newspaper; the others were pretending to fish. They baited imaginary hooks, cast lines and reeled in their catch.


　　A passing policeman stopped to watch the spectacle and asked the man in the middle if he knew the other two.


　　\"Oh yes, \" he said. \"They are my friends.


　　\"In that case, \" warned the officer, \"you'd better get them out of here!\"


　　\"Yes, sir, \" the man replied, and he began rowing furiously.


Notes:

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A Womans answer
　　A husband said to his wife, \" Why did God create women to be beautiful but foolish?\"


　　\"Well,\" his wife answered at once.\" The reason is very simple. God made us beautiful so men would love us; God made us foolish so we would marry them.\"


Notes: