The wind and the sun

One day the wind said to the sun,"Look at that man walking along the road.I can get his cloak off more quickly than you can."

"We will see about that, "said the sun."I will let you try first."

So the wind tried to make the man take off his cloak.He blew and blew,but the man only pulled his cloak more closely around himself.

"I give up"said the wind at last."I cannot get this cloak off."

Then the sun tried.He shone as hard as he could.The man soon became hot and took off his cloak.

"I have won,"said the sun."I made him take his cloak off.

The trees and the axe

Once a man wanted to cut down some trees to make a house,but he could not use his axe because it had no handle.

So he went to the top of a hill where there were many trees and said to them,"May I take a tree from this hill?"

But he did not tell them why.

The trees said to one another,"Let us give him a very little tree.Then he will go away and not ask us for anything more."

So they gave him a little a little tree and the man went home.When he got there he made a handle for his axe.Then he went back to the hill and began to cut down the other trees.

"If we had not let him have the little tree he could not have cut us down,"they said.

But it was too late to stop him.

The goose that laid the golden eggs

Once an old man and an old woman had a goose.Their goose was not like other geese because its eggs were different.They were made of gold.

Every day the goose laid a golden egg for the old man and the old woman.

They sold the eggs for a lot of money.But the more money they had the more they wanted.

They said,"If our goose lays golden eggs she must be made of gold.So let us cut her open and we will have more money."

So they killed the goose,but found no gold.

When their goose was cut open they saw that she was just like any other goose.

And after that there were no more golden eggs.So they did not get any more money.They had nothing left in the end.

The lion and the hare

Once a lion found a hare.He was just going to eat her when a stag ran by.

"That stag will make me a bigger dinner,"he said.

So he let the hare go and ran after the stag.But the stag could run very,very fast and soon it got right away.

When the lion saw that he could not catch the stag,he said,"I will go back for the hare."

But when he came to the place where the hare had been,he found that she had gone.

"I should have had her for my dinner when I first saw her,"said the lion."I

wanted too much and now I have nothing."