Stories for pre-intermediate level students, equivalent to CEFR B1.
Once there was a tailor, who was very brave but quite stupid. He lived alone in a small town, and made and sold clothes all by himself. His business never did quite well, but he was happy, although sometimes he thought about leaving the town.
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A long time ago, in North Sumatra, there lived a poor young man in a valley. He had no parents, but the valley was beautiful, and anything he planted there grew wonderfully. He lived by farming and fishing in the river near his home. The food he made was not special, but he never went hungry.
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Once there was a widow with two daughters. One was pretty and hard working, and the other was ugly and lazy. The ugly one was her own daughter, whereas the pretty one was her stepdaughter. She loved her own daughter the most, so she treated her very well, but the pretty one had to do all the work in the house.
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There was once a toy rabbit. In the beginning, he looked amazing. He was fat, like a rabbit should be. His hair was brown with white spots. He had real whiskers made of thread. His ears were soft on the inside. On Christmas morning, he sat in the Boy’s stocking and looked very cute.
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Once there was a brother and a sister. Their mother had died, and they lived with their father and their stepmother. Their stepmother was always mean to them, and their father was always busy with work.
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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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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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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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The last question was asked many times. The first time was on the twenty-first of May, 2061. It was asked as a joke. This is how it happened.
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‘Crackle?’
Gentle was following his sister through one of the corridors of the house. She was walking very quickly, and he had to run to catch up. This was difficult, as he was carrying the bell, and it bumped on the floor as he ran, making a loud noise.
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