English

THE TALE OF TOM KITTEN BY BEATRIX POTTER Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet. They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust. But one day their mother—Mrs.

A certain man had a donkey, which had carried the corn sacks to the mill loyally for many a long year; but his strength was going, and he was growing more and more unfit for work. His master began to wonder if it was worth his while by keeping this old donkey much longer. The donkey, seeing that no good wind was blowing, ran away and set out on the road to Bremen. “There,” he thought, “I can surely be a town musician.” When he had walked some distance, he found a dog lying on the road, gasping like one who had run until he was tired.

We bring you this sad but, we hope, beautiful story in verse. Orpheus the musician married Eurydice the shepherdess. When she was killed by a snake, he travelled down to the underworld and was granted one chance to fetch her back to life. Bertie has freely adapted this ancient tale into his own poem. Yes, we did warn you, it is sad. Adaptation by Bertie. Read by Richard.

It was Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as pancake day. The City Mayor was sitting up in his bed eating his breakfast – a big pile of pancakes with black caviar and sour cream, washed down with champagne. As he took another silver-spoonful of caviar, his mobile phone rang. How he hated it when people called him while he was still at breakfast! He was about to throw his phone out of the window when he noticed that the call was coming from the Chief Of Police. “Oh dear,” thought the Mayor. “He probably wants to miss our card game.

Long ago, in Japan, there was a boy who was training to be a monk. He lived in the small temple at the end of the village. Every morning, at quarter to four, he woke up to the sound of a bell rung by the old priest. His first task of the day was to sit with the priest and chant the poem known as Zazen Wasan: All living beings come from Buddhas. Just as it is with ice and water There is no ice without water There are no Buddhas without living beings The chanting was followed by a lesson called Sansen. After a bowl of rice for breakfast, the boy set to work cleaning or gardening.

Stone Soup: Once upon a time, there was a great famine throughout the land. The people in one small village didn't have enough to eat, and definitely would not have enough to store away for the winter. People were afraid their families would go hungry, so they would hide any small amount of food they could- even from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering traveler came walking tiredly into the village.

The Greedy Lion and Clever Little Rabbit, a tale from the ancient Indian collection of stories called The Panchatantra. A long time ago in India, there was a jungle full of beautiful plants and trees, flowers and fruit, and many animals lived happily there. Deer, monkeys, rabbits and wild boar in this jungle, there was also a fierce Lion who had protected the other animals in the past. But over the years had become greedy and mean. He had begun to attack the other animals, even when he wasn't hungry.