Ariel Goodbody

The Golem of Prague

Prague was a city of mystery. It was a city of narrow streets and broad desires. It was a city of money, magic, and murder.
It was also a city of hate. The Jews of Prague lived in the ghetto, and they were attacked from all sides. People spread lies. They said that the Jews did magic, that they attacked Christian girls, that they went into churches at night and destroyed the holy body of Christ. The Jews of Prague were poor, and still, people came and threw rocks at their houses, shouted names at them in the street, and refused to sell them food.

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The Great Race

Buddha had lived a long life on Earth. Soon, he was going to leave Earth. Before he left, he said goodbye to all his friends. He stopped to stay goodbye to all the trees, as well. After this, Buddha was tired. He wanted to say goodbye to the animals, but he did not want to go to them. So he called the animals to come to him and say goodbye.

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The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats

Once there was an old goat. She had seven little goats. She loved them a lot. One day the mother goat went into the woods to find food for them. Before she left, she spoke to them all.
‘Dear children,’ she said. ‘I am going out into the wood. I will be gone for a while. There is a big bad wolf who lives near here. Be careful. If he comes inside the house, he will eat all of you. He often changes how he looks, so remember this: he has a deep voice and big black feet.’

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The Nose That Ran Away

On Rise Street in St. Petersburg lived a man called Ivan Jakovlevitch. Ivan was a barber, but not a particularly good one. People always said, ‘Be careful of that Ivan. He makes men bleed.’

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Strange Friends (Beginner)

Once there was a cat and a mouse. Usually, cats eat mice, and mice run away from cats, but this cat and this mouse liked each other very much. They liked each other so much that they lived together. They made a nice little house in the city. Everyone called them the “Strange Friends”.

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The Boy Who Hoped

In a town called Białystok, there was a boy called Ludwik Zamenhof. Ludwik was a Jew. There were many Jews in Białystok. There were also Russians, Poles, and Germans. They all lived in different parts of the city, and they did not get on well.

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Arachne, the Spider Woman

Once, in Old Greece, there was a woman. Her name was Arachne. Arachne’s father was a shepherd. He was called Idmon. Idmon was a good shepherd, and they had many, many sheep. The sheep made much wool. They made so much wool that Idmon could not sell all of it, so their house was full of old wool. Arachne liked to play with the wool. Slowly, she learned how to make thread. Over time, she turned all the wool in the house into thread. But she could not weave, because they did not have a loom.

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Sleeping Beauty (Beginner)

Far away from our world, there were the Blue Castle and the Red Castle. In the Blue Castle, everything was soft and blue, and Izod was the softest fairy of all. Izod loved her land, and the land loved her. It was a happy place, but at times it was very sad. When one of the High Fairies died, all the people cried for days. Izod cried more than everyone else. She had a big heart, and beautiful wings. They called them her “wings of water”.

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House of Secrets Chapter 4

Xu’s room was a mess. Steve thought his was bad, with jewels and bones and spellbooks everywhere, but at least in his room you could see the floor. Everywhere in her bedroom, there were pieces of paper, old fast food boxes, apple cores, magazines, and polaroids. There was some genuinely nice art on her walls, but the complete mess everywhere else distracted from it.

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House of Secrets Chapter 3

Steve hadn’t been joking. There was a circle of thick candles on the floor, and a table had been placed in the middle, with expensive cloth on top. Elisabeth was impressed. She’d been in professional productions with far worse sets than this.

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