Kid Stories

  Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giants garden.   It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. "How happy we are here!" they cried to each other.   One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he was determined to return to his own castle. When he arrived he saw the children playing in the garden.   "What are you doing here?" he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.   &q

  There was once a little mouse who lived very happily in the country. He ate grains of wheat and grass seeds, nibbled turnips in the fields, and had a safe snug house in a hedgerow. On sunny days he would curl up on the bank near his nest and warm himself, and in the winter he would scamper in the fields with his friends.   He was delighted when he heard his cousin from the town was coming to visit him, and fetched some of the best food from his store cupboard so he could share it with him. When his cousin arrived, he proudly offered him some fine grains of dried wheat and some particularly good nuts he had put away in the autumn.   His cousin, the town mouse, however, was not impressed.   "You call this good food?" he asked. "My dear fellow, you must come and stay with me in the city. I will then show you what fine living is all about. Come with me tomorrow, for not a day should be lost before you see the excellent hospitality I can offer".   So the tw

Long ago an old man called Uncle Remus used to tell stories to a little boy. The two of them lived on a plantation in the southern states of America, and the stories were always about certain animals. Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox in particular, but several others too, Brer Bear and Brer Possum for instance. All too often Brer Rabbit, who was an impudent scoundrel, came out best, although he was one of the smaller creatures. Of course, to do this he had to use his wits.   One evening, Uncle Remus ate his supper as usual and then looked at the child over his spectacles.   "Now then, honey", he said. "Let's see if I can call to mind how old Brer Rabbit got himself a two-storey house without paying much for it".   He paused a moment. Then he began:   It turned out one time that a whole lot of creatures decided to build a house together. Old Brer Bear, he was among them, and Brer Fox and Brer Wolf and Brer Coon and Brer Possum, and possibly Brer Mink too. A

One day a poor woodcutter was working in the forest chopping down trees and sawing them into logs. He stopped for a moment and saw a fairy sitting on a leaf nearby.   "I have come", she told him, "to give you three wishes. The next three wishes you make will come true. Use them wisely".   After work, the woodcutter returned home and told his wife what had happened. She did not believe a word he said.   "You've just dreamt it", she laughed. "Still, just in case, you'd better think carefully before you wish".   Together they wondered. Should they wish for gold, jewels, a fine home? They argued and disagreed about everything until the woodcutter shouted crossly, "I'm hungry after all my work. Let's eat first".   "I'm afraid there's only soup", his wife replied. "I'd no money to buy any meat".   "Soup again!" grumbled the woodcutter. "How I wish that we had a fin

  T here was once a pretty little girl who lived in a cottage on the edge of a wood. Her grandmother, who lived at the other side of the wood, had made her a warm red cape with a hood and, as she often wore it, she became known as Little Red Riding Hood.   One day her mother called her and said, "Little Red Riding Hood, will you take this basket of food to your grandmother? She isn't very well; Carry the basket carefully for I have filled it with some cakes, some fresh bread and some butter".   Little Red Riding Hood put on her red cape and, carrying the basket carefully, she set off through the wood to her grandmother's cottage. By and by she wandered off the path to pick some flowers. Then, quite unexpectedly, she met a wolf. He could have eaten her there and then, but he could hear some woodcutters working close by.   "Where are you going, little girl?" he asked instead.   "I'm going to my grandmother", Little Red Riding Hood answ

  O nce upon a time there was a little red hen. She lived with a pig, a duck and a cat. They all lived in a house which the little red hen kept clean and tidy. The others never helped. Although they said they meant to, they were all far too lazy. The pig liked to grunt in the mud outside, the duck used to swim in the pond all day, and the cat enjoyed lying in the sun, purring.   One day the little red hen found a grain of corn.   "Who will plant this grain of corn?" she asked.   "Not I", grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.   "Not I", quacked the duck from her pond.   "Not I", purred the cat from his place in the sun.   So the little red hen found a nice bit of earth, scratched it with her feet and planted the grain of corn herself.   During the summer the grain of corn grew. First it grew into a tall green stalk, then it ripened in the sun until it had turned a lovely golden colour.   "Who will help me cut

A long time ago, a husband and wife lived happily in a cottage at the edge of a wood. But one day the wife fell ill. She could eat nothing and grew thinner and thinner. The only thing that could cure her, she believed, was a strange herb that grew in the beautiful garden next to their cottage. She begged her husband to find a way into the garden and steal some of this herb, which was called rapunzel.   N ow this garden belonged to a wicked witch, who used it to grow herbs for her spells. One day, she caught the husband creeping into her garden. When he told her what he had come for, the witch gave him some rapunzel, but she made him promise to give her their first-born child in return. The husband agreed, thinking that the witch would soon forget the promise. He took the rapunzel back to the cottage and gave it to his wife. As soon as she had eaten it she felt better.   A year later, a baby girl was born and the witch did come and take her away. She told the couple they would