Kids Stories

  T here was once a little jackal who lived in the jungle. He was a greedy little jackal, and one of his favourite meals was fresh crabs from the river. One day he went down to the big river near his home and put his paw in the water to pull out a crab.   Snap! A large, lazy crocodile who had been lying in the water snapped his jaws and caught the jackal's paw. The little jackal did not cry out, although he was very frightened. Instead he laughed.   "Ha! Ha! That crocodile in the river thinks he has caught my paw, but the stupid animal does not realize he has snapped up a piece of wood and is holding it in his jaws".   The crocodile immediately opened his mouth for he did not want to be seen with a log of wood in his jaws. Quickly the little jackal danced away and called cheekily from a safe distance:   "I'll catch some crabs another day, Mr. Crocodile".   The crocodile lashed his tail with rage and resolved to catch the little jackal and eat ...

O ne winter a beautiful queen sat sewing by a window. As she gazed down at the snow-covered garden she saw a black raven and, at the same moment, she happened to prick her finger on her needle - a drop of blood fell on the snow. The colours were so strong that the queen said to herself'. If only I could have a child whose skin was as white as snow, with hair as black as a raven and lips as red as blood.   Not long afterwards the queen had a baby daughter, and when she saw her jet black hair, snowy white skin and red lips she remembered her strange wish on that winter's day and named her Snow White.   But after a few years Snow Whites mother died and her father married again. The new queen, Snow White's stepmother, was beautiful too, but she was also proud and vain. She had a magic mirror and each day she would admire herself in it and ask,   "Mirror, mirror, on the wall,   Who is the fairest one of all?"   and the mirror would always reply,  ...

  T his story is one of the tales that the ancient Greeks told about their gods. It is the story of Persephone, the lovely daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest.   Demeter travelled around the world with Persephone, visiting all the trees and plants that produce food. As she passed by, they grew and flourished, and their fruit ripened. On hot days as she walked through a field of corn, the husks would swell and the corn would turn golden. Whenever she visited orchards and vineyards, the apples, peaches, pears and grapes would be sweet and ready to eat. Persephone would dance with joy to see how lovely the flowers looked when Demeter touched them.   One day Persephone asked her mother if she could go and play with her friends on the mountainside. Demeter agreed, but warned her not to stray too far. While Demeter visited some valleys where the harvest was late, Persephone and her friends scrambled happily over the mountainside. They found many flowers growin...

A n old woman was baking one day, and she made some gingerbread. She had some dough left over, so she made the shape of a little man. She made eyes for him, a nose and a smiling mouth all of currants, and put currants down his front to look like buttons. Then she laid him on a baking tray and put him in the oven. After a little while, she heard something rattling at the oven door. She opened it and to her surprise out jumped the little gingerbread man. She tried to catch him, but he slipped past her, calling as he ran, "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" She chased after him into the garden where her husband was digging. He put down his spade and tried to catch him too, but the gingerbread man ran past him, calling "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" He ran down the road with the old woman and the old man following. Soon he passed a cow. The cow called ou...

O ne dark and stormy night, a tramp knocked on the door of a cottage and asked for shelter. An old woman answered the door and told the tramp sourly that he could come in if he wanted, but he must not expect any food for she had none in the house. "And don't think you'll get a bed to sleep on either", she added, "as I only have one and that is where I sleep". The tramp was hungry, but he could see he wasn't going to get any food, so he sat by the fire and took an old nail out of his pocket and tossed it from hand to hand. "Do you see this nail here?" he said at last. "You'd never believe it, but last night I made the finest soup I have ever eaten by cooking this nail, and what is more I still have it to make more tonight. Would you like me to make you some nail soup?" "Nail soup!" snorted the old woman. "I have never heard of such a thing. Don't talk nonsense". But the tramp could see she was curiou...

Once upon a time there was a shoemaker who made very good shoes. But though he worked hard in his shop, times were difficult and he became poorer and poorer. One evening he realized he had only enough leather to make one more pair of shoes. He cut up the leather and laid the pieces out on his workbench to sew in the morning when the light was better. "I may never make another pair of shoes", he sighed as he put up the shutters over his shop window. The next morning when he went back to his workbench he found a beautiful pair of shoes. He examined them carefully and discovered they were made from the leather he had cut out the night before. The stitches were exquisite, very tiny and neat, and he knew the shoes were far better than any he could have made. Quickly he took down his shutters and placed the shoes in his shop window. Soon the door opened and in came a grand gentleman. He bought the shoes and paid four times more than the price of an ordinary pair. Wit...

There was once a gentleman who lived in a fine house, with his kind and gentle wife and their pretty daughter. His wife died, so the gentleman married again. His new wife was not at all kind or pretty. She had been married before and had two daughters who were known, behind their backs, as the Ugly Sisters. Although they had no reason to be unkind, the two sisters were horrid to their new stepsister. They ordered her about, scolded her and made her do all the work in the big house. Her clothes became ragged and thin and far too small. The poor girl was always cold and tired. In the evenings she would rest on a stool close to the fire, almost in the cinders and ashes. "Cinderella, That's the perfect name for you", jeered the stepsisters when they saw her trying to keep warm. Now the king and queen of their country had a son, and they planned a big ball for the prince in the hope that he might find a bride. Invitations were sent to all the big houses. When ...

One summer's day, when the corn was golden yellow and the hay was being dried in the fields, a mother duck was sitting on her nest of eggs. She sat in the rushes of a deep moat that surrounded a lovely country manor and waited for her eggs to hatch. They were taking a very long time and she was getting very tired. At last she felt a movement beneath her. The eggs began to crack and out popped tiny fluffy ducklings. All the eggs hatched except for one, which was larger than the rest. The mother duck was impatient to take her new ducklings swimming but could not leave the last egg unhatched. She sat, and she sat, and she sat, and just as she was about to give up, she heard a tap. Out of the egg tumbled the oddest ugliest duckling imaginable. She took the babies into the water and proudly watched as they all swam straightaway, even the ugly duckling. She led them in a procession around the moat, showing them off to the other ducks. As they bobbed along behind her she heard many...

Have you ever watched a bird flying gracefully through the air and wished that you could do the same?   Some years ago two American boys dreamed of flying, too. Today because of their hard work, you can fly much faster and farther than any bird in a machine much heavier than air. This machine is called an aeroplane.   Wilbur and Orville Wright had always wanted to fly. As children they loved the old story about a Greek boy, Icarus, who flew with wings that were held to his arms by wax. But, so the story goes, he flew so high that the wax melted in the heat of the sun. His wings fell off and he dropped into the sea.   "What we need to fly are wings with a machine," said Wilbur. And so the young Orville Wright brothers began to think about how they could build an aeroplane. They owned a bicycle shop. All the money they made from selling and mending bicycles was used in trying to build aeroplanes.   In 1896 a german man named Otto Lilienthal was killed while ...

"Be a lady dear. That's what we want! " How many times pretty young Florence Nightingale heard these words from her father and mother! But for her, being a lady was not enough. She wanted to do something for others. Florence's father was a very rich man. Florence took lessons in music and drawing, and read great books. She could speak French, German, and Italian as well as English. And she travelled a great deal with her mother and father. As a child she felt that visiting sick people was both a duty and a pleasure. She enjoyed helping them. As often as she could, she visited hospitals in others countries. She saw so much suffering that she knew she must help. At last her mind was made up: "I'm going to be a nurse," she decided. "Nursing isn't the right work for a lady," her father told her. "Then I will make it so," she smile. And she went to learn nursing in Germany and France. When she returned to England, Florence,...

"What a country!" This famous exclamation from Russian-American comedian Yakov Smirnoff perfectly captures the blend of surprise, delight, and confusion that often greets newcomers to the United States. For many, America is a land of incredible opportunity and bewildering contradictions. While the initial shock might be the scale of its cities and landscapes, the long-term mystery is often the American people themselves. To understand the American character is to understand a nation built on diversity. Any attempt to define a single "American outlook" must be made with caution, taking into account the country's immense size, its varied geography, and what President John F. Kennedy famously called its identity as "a nation of immigrants." This article delves into the key elements that shape this complex and ever-evolving identity. A Land of Astonishing Scale and Variety The sheer physical scale of the United States is often the first thing that overwh...

On the wild, granite uplands of Cornwall in southwest England, a modern legend stalks the misty landscape. It is known as the Beast of Bodmin Moor, a large, panther-like creature that for decades has occupied the space between folklore and fact. While official reports have dismissed it, a growing and indisputable body of evidence—from chilling eyewitness accounts to video footage and even biological remains—suggests that something very real is prowling the English countryside. For years, the question has lingered: Is the Beast of Bodmin a ghost from the past, a native cat thought to be extinct? Or is it a modern secret, an escaped exotic pet whose owners are too afraid to come forward? Let's delve into the sightings, the evidence, and the theories behind one of Britain's most enduring mysteries. Decades of Whispers and Witnesses The legend is not new. Since 1983, there have been over sixty official sightings of a large, mysterious cat in and around Bodmin Moor, a designated Are...

Few fairytales are as universally recognized and beloved as "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." This deceptively simple story of a curious little girl and a family of anthropomorphic bears has captivated generations of children. While often celebrated for its repetition and engaging narrative, the tale is a subtle yet effective exploration of boundaries, consequences, and the enduring human quest for the perfect fit—a concept now famously known as the "Goldilocks Principle." Beyond its charming characters and memorable catchphrases, this classic fable offers gentle lessons on respect for property, the dangers of impulsivity, and the universal desire for things to be "just right." The Allure of the Forbidden: A Curiosity Ignites an Adventure The story begins with the three bears—Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear—leaving their cozy cottage for a walk while their breakfast porridge cools. This simple act creates the perfect opportunity for our protagonist...

*   Dave married   Dave married, and when his new wife saw the clothes in his cupboard, she said, "Dave, you have only got one good shirt. The other are very old, and they've got holes in them. I'm going to buy you a new one this afternoon".   Dave liked his shirts, but he loved his wife too, so he said, "All right, Beryl, but please don't throw any of the old ones away".   Dave went to work, and when he came back in the evening, Beryl said to him, "Look, Dave, I've bought you a nice shirt. Here it is. Put it on".   Dave put the shirt on, and then he said, "Look at the sleeves, Beryl. They're too long".   "That's all right," Beryl answered. "They'll get shorter when I wash the shirt".   Then Dave said, "But the neck's too small".   "That's all right," Beryl answered. "It'll get bigger when you wear the shirt, Dave".     Better than a chicken...