English

THE MICE AND THE ELEPHANTS A long time ago there was an old, deserted village in India. All the houses, streets and shops were empty. Windows, doors, and stairs were broken or completely gone. This made the village the perfect place for mice to run around and make their homes. In fact, the mice had been happily living in the old, deserted village for hundreds of years. Mice had been there before people came and they stayed after the people left the village. Now was the best time yet for the mice.

Mother Holle Once upon a time there was a widow with two daughters. One was beautiful and industrious, the other ugly and lazy. The mother loved the ugly, lazy daughter best as she was hers by birth and the other daughter was only her stepdaughter by her late husband. The stepdaughter was forced to do all the work in the house, and the stepmother also sent her out every day to sit by the road to spin yarn on a spindle until her fingers bled. One day, the blood landed on the spindle and the stepdaughter went to the nearby well to wash it off.

King Grisly-Beard Once upon a time there was a king who lived in a faraway land in the East. He had a daughter who was very beautiful, but she was also too proud, haughty, and conceited. She felt that none of the princes that came to ask to marry her were good enough for her and she would make fun of them. The king decided to hold a feast and asked all his daughter’s suitors to attend. They all sat in a row according to their rank. Kings, Princes, Dukes, Earls, Counts, Barons and Knights. The princess came in and walked past them and had something mean to say to them all.