Author: Ariel Goodbody
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The White Snake
Once there lived a king. He was famous because he was very clever. He knew everything that happened in his country. Nobody knew how he knew everything. It was like the secrets came to him through the air.
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The Very Hungry Dragon (Intermediate)
Once there was a very hungry dragon called Grella. Every day she ate five meals. For breakfast she had ten bananas, five fried eggs, and three slices of toast. For her mid-morning snack she had twenty chocolate biscuits and three cups of tea. For lunch she had twenty bowls of soup and thirty loaves of bread. After lunch, she was very tired, so she slept for an hour, and when she woke up she had…
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The Three Snake Leaves
Once there was a poor man with a son. The man could not look after his son anymore, so the son said to him, ‘Dear father. Things are bad here, and you have to work hard to look after me. Let me leave, and I will look after myself.’
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The Boy Who Knew No Fear (Pre-Intermediate)
Once there was a father with two sons. The older son, Hugh, was smart and sensible, and could do everything, but the younger son, Anders, was stupid and understood nothing. Whenever the father needed help, it was always the older son who helped him.
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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…
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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…
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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.