Stories for pre-intermediate level students, equivalent to CEFR B1.
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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One day, Gentle the mouse received a letter from his brother, Nosy. Gentle’s family was very big, but he was the only one who lived in the Great Forest. The rest of his family had moved to live underneath a big house. They told him he was stupid to stay in the forest, because in the house there was always lots of delicious food. But Gentle loved living in the forest, and didn’t want to live under a house, where it was dark and cold.
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‘Crush, don’t do it! You’ll regret it!’ Gentle cried.
‘What are you talking about?’ said Crush. ‘You’re always telling me I need to stop eating other animals. Don’t you want this?’
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The news of Crush’s proposal spread quickly. The mice argued, the foxes made jokes, and the birds flew from one tree to another, telling each other of the news. By sunset the same day, there was not a creature in the Great Forest who had not heard about Crush and Charcoal.
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One day, Gentle the mouse went over to visit Crush the lion. Neither he, nor Bright Eyes the hawk, nor Grunt the pig had seen him for several days, and Gentle was starting to worry.
‘Hello?’
Gentle stood at the edge of the cave where Crush lived. It was very dark inside, and he was too scared to enter.
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One day, Gentle the mouse was eating a mushroom. He loved nothing more than to eat mushrooms. The mushroom was very big, so as he ate, he climbed inside.
‘Hello, Gentle.’
‘Oh!’
Gentle climbed out of the mushroom to see who it was. It was Hoppy the frog. Hoppy was quite unpopular in the Great Forest. The other animals always said he was strange, and kept away from him. He had never spoken to Gentle before, but he had a big smile on his face.
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