English

The Tortoise and the Hare One day a hare (a kind of rabbit) was bragging about how fast he could run and laughing at a tortoise (a kind of turtle) for being slow. Much to the hare’s surprise, the tortoise challenged the hare to a race. Thinking that this was very funny, the hare accepted the challenge. The tortoise and the hare asked their friend the fox to judge the race. The race began, and of course, the hare was soon far ahead of the tortoise. Soon the hare had reached the halfway point in the race.

The Three Bears Once upon a time there were Three Bears who lived together in a house of their own in the woods. One of them was a Little Wee Bear, one was a Middle-Sized Bear, and the other was a Great Big Bear. They each had a bowl for their porridge. The Little Wee Bear had a little wee bowl, the Middle-Sized Bear had a middle-sized bowl, and the Great Big Bear had a great big bowl. They each had a chair to sit in. The Little Wee Bear had a little wee chair, the Middle-Sized Bear had a middle-sized chair, and The Great Big Bear had a great big chair.

A Wolf had been feasting too greedily, and a bone had stuck crosswise in his throat. He could get it neither up nor down, and of course he could not eat a thing. Naturally that was an awful state of affairs for a greedy Wolf. So away he hurried to the Crane. He was sure that she, with her long neck and bill, would easily be able to reach the bone and pull it out. "I will reward you very handsomely," said the Wolf, "if you pull that bone out for me." The Crane, as you can imagine, was very uneasy about putting her head in a Wolf's throat.

The Story you will be listening to today is Chicken-Little and is being read to you by Christina. One day Chicken-Little had gone to sleep under a rose-bush, and a cow reached over the fence and bit off the top of the rose-bush. The noise woke up Chicken-little, and just as she woke a rose-leaf fell on her tail. “Squawk! Squawk!” cried Chicken-little, “the sky is falling!”; and away she ran as fast as her legs would carry her.

This story is called the Ant and the Grasshopper, adapted from Aesop’s fable and read by Ryan Aoto. This is a LibraryCall recording. Far from the cities, across the fields, over the mountains, and deep in the woods, there lived an ant. As is the nature of ants, this ant did not live alone. She lived with hundreds of thousands of her family members in a great colony. Every member of the colony had a role and worked hard to help the family. The little ant was excited to go out and help. She loved to explore. Every day, she would head out to a new area, in search of food.

A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine trained along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to burst with juice, and the Fox's mouth watered as he gazed longingly at them. The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it. The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain. Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust. "What a fool I am," he said.

There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world.