The Crane and the Clan

(Favourite stories from Chinese)

Chao was going to attack Yen.

When the king of Yen heard about it, he

sent for his senior officers.

“Can you tell me what to do?” he

asked them.

Su Tai said, “I have a plan. Let me go and speak to the king of

Chao,” The king of Yen agreed.

When Su Tai arrived at Chao, he saw the king. Your Majesty,” he

said, “When I was coming here this morning, I passed the River Yi.

There I saw a clam lying in the sun. Suddenly, a crane came along and

tried to open its shell and eat it up. The clam caught the crane’s beak in

it shell. The crane tried to free itself but was unable to do so.”

“ ‘You can try as hard as you like,’ the clam said, ‘but you cannot

escape.”

“ ‘Unless you let me go,’ the crane answered, ‘you will not be able

to return to the river.’”

“Neither of them wanted to give way. Not long afterwards, a

fisherman passed by. He stopped and caught them both without any

trouble.”

The king of Chao asked Su Tai, “What is the meaning of this

story?”

“Your Majesty,” Su Tai replied, “if Chao and Yen fight each other

they: will both become weak. there are many countries around us

waiting to be the fisherman. I hope Your Majesty will think twice before

doing anything.”

“Very well,” the King replied. Nothing more was heard after that of

Chao attacking Yen.

Fables -The king’s Kinka story

(Favourite stories fromThailand)

The kinka is a small lizard with a red ring

around its neck. This story is about a kinka that lived in the king’s

garden.

One day the king took a walk through his garden. He looked

at the birds and the flowers. He looked at the trees. Suddenly he

noticed a kinkas do when they are frightened.

“Look at this,” said the king. “this lizard is very clever. He

knows how to behave before the king. He is certainly the most

polite animal I have ever seen.”

virtualdj.com

The king called his gardener. “I want you to feed this kinka.

Give him some meat each day. Here is a bag of gold coins to pay

for the meat.”

And so, each day the gardener used two gold coins to buy

meat for the kinka. The kinka grew fat and lazy. He no longer ran

through  the garden.

One day the gardener was too busy to buy meat. Instead, he

hung the two gold coins around the kinka’s neck. The kinka

climbed to the top of the garden gate. Soon the king came along

on his daily walk. He saw the kinka. This time the kinka did not

nod its head because the coins around its neck were so heavy. It

simply looked down on the king.

“What a proud kinka you are,” said the king. “You are too

proud to be polite.”

After that the king refused to buy any special meat for the

kinka. Like other animals, the kinka once again had to find its own

food.

The Fly and the Ant

A fly and an ant got into an argument over a silly question

as to who had right of way. The fly, which has always been

one of the rudest insects, said all sorts of horrible things to

the unassuming ant.

“You are such a tiny, insignificant creature,” it said. “How

dare you compare yourself to me, a daughter of the air? I go

to the palaces of thegreatest lords, and eat out of the plates

of bishops. If I choose to, I can even walk about on the

crown on the king's head!”

The ant waited patiently for the fly to finish, and then he

answered carefully: “Yes, I know that you can land on

heads, but you are not even capable of distinguishing

between the head of a king and the head of an ass.

Furthermore, it is not as if you are welcomed In palaces....

But why am I wasting my time with you when l should be off

gathering supplies for the winter? 

Although ants may be tiny, we are wise, and the cold

doesn't kill us. You flies can fly up high.... but when the first

cold comes, you fall to the ground, along with the dry

leaves, and what good to you are your wings then!”

The Camel and the Jackal

There once was a Jackal who hated water but needed to cross a

river. He decided to come to an agreement with a camel.

“If you carry me to the other side of the river,” he proposed to the

camel, “I will show you a field full of sugar cane. Then, while you eat

the sugar cane, I will dine on the fish and crabs I find on the river-bank.”

The camel agreed to this bargain and the Jackal jumped up on his

back. The crossing went perfectly, but afterwards the jackal who had a

much smaller stomach, satisfied his hunger long before the camel.

Whilst the camel was still eating, the jackal began to howl. The noise

brought the farmers running with big stick. Thelittle jackal managed

to escape, but the camel could not avoid a beating.

“Why on earth did you do that?” asked the camel when he was

carrying the jackal back across the river.

“Oh, it's just that I nearly always sing for a while after dinner,”

replied the jackal.

“Well, I nearly always have a roll in the water when I've finished

eating,” said the camel, and he splashed down in the river.

So with a ducking in the river, the camel repaid the jackal for the

beating it had received.

The Fox and the Eels

A fisherman was returning home after a day by the river with his cart full

of eels. Reynard the fox saw him and immediately thought of a way of

getting himself a sumptuous dinner. He down in the middle of the road and

pretended to be dead.

When the fisherman saw him, he fell for the trick. He picked up the fox,

convinced that he had found himself a beautiful fox skin, and put it in the back

of his cart. Once on the move, Reynard emptied all the eels out into the road,

gathered them up and ran off. So the gullible fisherman lost both his fox fur

skin and his fish.

The Rabbit Became White

Eye of the Eagle an Indian brave was a great hunter.

One summer the weather was so hot and dry that all the

prairie animals moved away in search of water, and even

Eye of the Eagle could find no game with which to feed

his tribe. Things got so bad that one day he got into his

canoe and decided that he would have to follow the wild

animals into the Great North where they had fled.

He paddled and paddled and went so far, that one day

he was surprised to find himself in a snowstorm. This,

however, did not disturb him, because he knew he could

follow more easily on the snow the tracks left by animals.

When he found the tracks of a deer, he began to follow

them; but the snow fell so heavily that the hunter was

blinded and became lost. He came across a brown rabbit

and it offered to help him by guiding him back to his

canoe. The rabbit’s dark skin stood out clearly against the

snow.

In this way, Eye of the Eagle was saved. He was so

grateful to the rabbit that he chanted a magic spell which

made its fur turn white. This meant that the rabbit could

no longer be seen against the snow in winter and so no-

one could hunt it again.

The White Cat and the Imps

Englishstory12.blogspot.com -Once upon a time, there was a man

who had captured a polar bear which he intended to present to the tsar.

On the way home, he found himself in thewoods as night began to fall,

and heasked a woodsman for refuge.

“Of course, you may stay the night,” said the woodsman, “but you’ll

have to make do as best you can, because there won't be much space.

This night is the feast of the trolls, the impish spirits of the forest, and

unfortunately they have a tradition of celebrating with a banquet in my

house!”

The man laid out his bed in the closet, and the bear crawled in

underthe covers and soon fel l asleep.

Teat evening the trolls arrived,  hundreds of every shape and

size,noisy and cheeky like little boys. One of them spied the white fur

under thecovers, and thought a large cat was hiding there. The troll

tugged spitefullyat the fur, until the polar bear leapt out in fury. The

terrified trolls fled.

The year after, before turning up at the house, the t ro l ls

asked the woodsman if he still had his “big cat”.

“Oh yes!” confirmed the woodsman, “and the seven kittens she

has had in the last twelve months are all bigger than the mother!”

Needless to say, the trolls never returned to the woodsman's

house for their banquet.

The Mouse Princess

Narrative text - The Mouse Princess

A daughter was born to the king and a great

feast was prepared for the baptism. Unfortunately,

through a terrible oversight, the witch was not

invited. To avenge herself for this insult, the witch put an evil spell on the

baby girl and turned her into a mouse, “She will only become herself again

on the day my sister laughs!”

All the clowns and comedians in the kingdom were called, but they did

not succeed in getting even a smile from the sister of the witch. The king

had no alternative in the end but to banish all cats from his kingdom so that

the royal mouse would not be eaten.

One day, a prince in the next kingdom held a ball at his castle. The

other three daughters of the king all attended, dressed magnificently, of

course. The little mouse, on the other hand, was left at home as usual, but 

she decided to go to the ball.

She jumped on the back of a cockerel, and tied some red ribbon

through its beak as reins, and set off. When she got to the bail, the sight of

the ribboned cockerel, with a white mouse on its beak, was so comical, that

the witch’s sister at last burst out laughing. Then, the little white mouse was

changed back into a young lady, so beautiful that the prince fell in love with

her at once, and asked for her hand in marriage.

Crows and Snake

A pair of crows had made their nest on a big tree. Each time the mother

crow laid eggs and hatched them, a cruel snake that lived at the hollow at

the bottom of the tree trunk would come out. Then, he would eat up the

young ones. The crow couple felt sad at the loss of their young ones.

One day the mother crow saw the snake approaching her nest. She

cawed loudly for help as she saw the snake nearing her young ones. She

tried to chase away the snake, but all was in vain. The snake ate up all the

young crows and the unhatched eggs.

The mother crow mourned for this great loss. She cried her heart out. The

other crows joined her sorrow.

An old and wise crow thought deeply and replied, "Don't worry, I have a

plan. Tomorrow many ladies from the royal family will come to the river for a

dip. They will keep all their precious jewellery and clothes aside before they

get into the river for a swim. Their belongings would be watched from a

distance by some royal guards. When you get a chance, you must pick a piece

of precious jewellery and fly off. The others should make a lot of noise to

attract attention of the guards. Once you are noticed flying away with

the jewellery, you should quickly fly to the tree and drop theprecious jewellery in

the snake's hollow. They will try to reclaim the precious jewellery from the

snake's hollow. Thus the snake would surely die at their hands."

The crows agreed to the plan and the next morning mother crow

flew to river. She saw some ladies swimming in the river and their jewellery

lying aside.

The mother crow did as the old crow had advised, and all the plans

succeeded. She dropped the jewellery in the snake hollow. The guards beat the

cruel snake with their spears until he died and retrieved thenecklace from

the hollow.

The crow couple was overjoyed at the snake's death. They thanked the

old crow profusely. There was no one to disturb their happy life from then on.

The Viper, the Frogs and the Water Snake

A viper often went to drink at a

pond which a water snake claimed as

his own. The two snakes decided

they would have to settle the matter

by fighting. The frogs eternal enemies of the water snake, supported the

viper.

On the day of the contest, the frogs began to croak madly, for they

could think of nothing else to do. The viper won the battle, and afterwards

the frogs asked the victorious viper for their  share of the spoils. The viper

began to whistle and the frogs were baffled.

“I'm repaying you in the same way you helped me,” explained the

viper.

A happy Family

An old couple of snails lived happily in a wood where they reigned

supreme, there being no other snails to dispute their sovereignty; but

this was also their greatest heartache – they hadabsolutely no idea of

where they might find a wife for their only son.

“Let us know if you see a beautiful little snail who might be

suitable for our young one,” they instructed the flies, who buzzed

everywhere in a frantic way, trying to give the impression that they

were busy.

One day, at last a butterfly told  them, “There's a pretty little snail

ten minutes' flying time from here. She's a poor orphan but she has all the

right qualities.”

“Tell her to come and visit us!'

The pretty little snail set out at once. It took her only eight days to

complete the journey, which proved she was of excellent breeding. The

marriage was celebrated at the earliest possiblem o m e n t . T h e b e e s

m a d e t h e  wedding-cake, and fireflies were in charge of the lighting

arrangements; two ants acted as bridesmaids, and the wedding march was

performed by the rain on the leaves. The new couple had many little

snails and lived happily and long, as did the old couple who still ruled

supreme in their wood.

THE WOLF AND THE STORK

A long time ago, the wolf and the stork were friends. One day, the wolf asked the stork to come to his house to eat.

When the stork arrived at the wolf’s house, The wolf put two bowls of soup on the table. The wolf ate his bowl of soup so quickly. When he finished, he asked the stork, “did you like my soup?.”

But the stork was angry because he couldn’t eat the soup. His beak was too long! When the stork went home, he was still hungry. The wolf laughed and laughed.

Then, the stork had an idea. He asked the wolf to come to dinner. He filled two tall pitchers with good soup. They began to eat. When the stork finished eating, he asked the wolf if he wanted more to eat.

But the wolf was angry. His mouth was so big that he couldn’t get it into the pitcher. The wolf went home hungry and the stork laughed and laughed.

The wolf and stork have never been friends ever since.

The moral massages : every bad action that will result in a bad anyway.

THE TWO DUCKS AND THE FOX

One day, two duck walked a long the road to go to the lake for their swim. In the middle of the road, they met Mr. fox. He sat under the tree.

“hello, sister. Where are you going? Asked Mr. fox.

“good morning, Mr. fox, we are going to lake over there. We want to swim. Would you like to join us?” asked the ducks.

“no thanks, do you both come a long here every day?” asked Mr. fox.

“yes, we always walk here every morning.” Said the ducks.

“delicious..s I mean nice to see you both,” said Mr. fox.

The next day, the first duck said “are we going to swim today? I bet that Mr. fox is waiting for us and he has a bad plain.

“I know, I have a plan for him too.” Said the second duck.

One their way they met Mr. fox again.

“hello sisters, going to swim again?” asked Mr. fox.

“yes, we are, why don’t you take us to the lake and protect us from bad animals?” said the second duck.

“of course, it’s my pleasure,” replied Mr. fox.

“this is an easy way to have a free lunch. I have a big bag with me now,” though Mr. fox.

Three of them walked to the lake and sang some songs.

“When I say run, let’s run fast together.” Said the second duck. “run!!!”

They ran so fast and jumped into the lake. Mr. fox jumped upon them, but he forgot that he could not swim. So, Mr. fox drowned in the lake. He failed to get his free lunch.

THE LONELY LANDY

 

One day, there was a porcupine named landy. He was lonely. No one wanted to play with him, because they afraid of his spikes.

“dear landy, we don’t want to play with you because your spikes are too sharp. We don’t want you to hurt us,” said cici the rabbit one day.

“cici is right, landy, it is not because you’re bad or rude to us, no, landy, just because of your spikes. They will stab us if we are close to you.” Said tito the rooster.

Landy felt lonely. Landy spent most of the time day dreaming at the river bank. “I would be happy if there were no spikes on my body.”

Suddenly, kuku the turtle appeared from the river. He came to landy and said, “landy, what are you thinking of?”

“oh, nothing.” Landy replied.

“don’t lie to me, landy! Who knows I can help you.” Said kuku  wisely. Then he sat beside landy. He wasn’t afraid of landy’s spikes.

Shortly, landy told his problem. Kuku nodded his head. He said. “poor you, but it isn’t your fault. I know your spikes are very usefull and helpful for you. They will realize it someday, trust me!”

Thanks, kuku, you are my best friend.”

One day, koko the frog held his birthday party. He invited all his friends, including landy. But he decided not to com. He didn’t want to mess up the party.

“I’ll come with you landy. I’ll tell everyone that you’re harmless.” Said kuku, finally landy attended the party. Everyone enjoyed it.

Suddenly tito screamed, “help…help…! The evil wolf is coming. Save yourself!” then, everyone saved their lives, except kuku and landy. Kuku pulled his head and his leg into his shell. And landy rolled his body into a ball.

Unintentionally, the evil wolf touched landy. Of course, the spikes pricked him. He screamed. “ouch!” since his foot was bleeding, he didn’t chase landy’s friend any longer. Then, he ran away.

“horray… horray…! Long live landy! He saved our lives.” Said cici and her friends. They thanked him from then on. Landy wasn’t lonely anymore.

A RABBIT AND TWENTY CROCODILES

Once upon a time, a Rabbit wanted to cross a river, but he could not swim. He had an idea, he saw a boss of Crocodiles swimming in the river. The Rabbit asked he cross of crocodile.

“how many crocodile are there in the river?” the boss of crocodile answered, “we are twenty here”.

“where are they?”the Rabbit asked for the second time. “what is it for?” the boss crocodile asked.

“all of you are good, gentle and kind, so I want to make a line in order. Later, I will know how kind you are,” said the Rabbit.

Then the boss of the Crocodiles called all his friend an asked then to make a line in order from one side to the order side of the river. Fust then, the Rabbit started to count while jumping from one crocodile to another: one…two… three… four…until twenty. And finally, he thanked all Crocodiles because he had crossed the river.

The smartest parrot

Once upon time, a man had a wonderful parrot. There was no other parrot like it. The parrot could say every word, except one word. The parrot would not say the name of the place where it was born. The name of the place was Catano.

The man felt excited having the smartest parrot but he could not understand why the parrot would not say Catano. The man tried to teach the bird to say Catano, however the bird did not say the word.

At first, the man was very nice to the bird but then he got very angry. “You stupid bird!” pointed the man to the parrot. “Why can’t you say the word? Say Catano! Or I will kill you” the man said angrily. Although he tried hard to teach, the parrot would not say it. Then the man got so angry and shouted to the bird over and over; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”. The bird kept not to say the word of Catano.

One day, after he had been trying so many times to make the bird say Catano, the man really got very angry. He could not bear it. He picked the parrot and threw it into the chicken house. There were four old chickens for next dinner “You are as stupid as the chickens. Just stay with them” Said the man angrily. Then he continued to humble; “You know, I will cut the chicken for my meal. Next it will be your turn, I will eat you too, stupid parrot”. After that he left the chicken house.

The next day, the man came back to the chicken house. He opened the door and was very surprised. He could not believe what he saw at the chicken house. There were three death chickens on the floor. At the moment, the parrot was standing proudly and screaming at the last old chicken; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”.

 Why cats and dogs always fight story(Favourite stories from Taiwan) 

caninest.com

Long, long ago, in northern Taiwan, there lived a farmer and his wife. They had a ring of gold . They did not know it was a lucky ring. Whoever owned it would have enough to eat. The farmer and his wife sold it to a jeweler. Soon afterwards, they grew poorer and poorer. They did not even have enough money to buy food.

The couple had a dog and a cat. They also did not have any food to eat. The animals wanted to help their owners but they did know what to do.

“I must sure that must have been a magic ring,” the dog said.

“Perhaps,” answered the cat. “But how can we get it back from the jeweler?”

After many days, they thought of a plan.

“You must catch a mouse,” said the dog. “Then carry it to the jeweller’s shop. The ring is locked up there in a box. The mouse must gnaw a hole in the box and fetch out the ring. If the mouse does not want to help, you must bite him to death.”

Soon the cat caught a mouse. The dog followed behind while the cat carried it to the jeweller’s shop. The mouse crept into the shop and gnawed a hole in the box and brought out the ring.

The cat put the ring in its mouth and ran home. The dog followed. Now the dog could only run on the ground. He had to go all the way around the houses and through the streets. But the cat was able to run over the house-tops. So the cat arrived home long before the dog. She brought the ring to the farmer and his wife.

“This is a magic ring,” said the cat. “You must not part with it otherwise we shall be poor and have nothing to eat. I have brought it back. Please keep it carefully. You will find that we shall now be able to live comfortably again.

“What a clever cat!” said the farmer. “We shall look after you as if you were our own child.”

Just then the dog ran in. the farmer and his wife beat him for not helping the cat bring home the ring. The cat sat on the lap of the farmer’s wife and purred. So the dog became very angry with the cat. Every time he saw her after that, he chased her and tried to bite her.

This is why cats and dogs always fight.

folklore - The cunning tiger(Favourite stories from Taiwan)

An old lady lived at the edge of the jungle near Lan Po in southern Taiwan. Her two daughter lived with her. Their names were Ah Yu and Ah fung.

One day the old lady had to go on journey. Before she left, she said to her daughter, “If anyone knocks on the door at night, do not open it.”

Late that night, someone knocked on their front door, “Who is it?” Ah Yu , the elder daughter called out.

myspace.com“It’s your auntie. I’ve come to stay with you while your mother is away.”Ah Fung opened the door. There was an old lady standing outside. The two sisters invited

her in.“Don’t be afraid,” the old lady said. “I have come to look after you while your mother is

away. I am very tired and I would like to sleep here.”Ah Fung asked her to sleep with her in her room.In the middle of the night, Ah Yu heard the sound of someone eating in her sister’s room.

“Yum. Yum! Oh, that was very tasty!”“Sister, sister!” she called out. “What are you doing?”“It’s all right,” the old lady said. “We’re eating some food. Go back to sleep.”But Ah Yu went outside and looked through the window into her sister’s room. She saw

the old lady eating her sister. She ran away as fast as she could and climbed a tall tree.The next morning, the old lady came out of the house to look for her. She saw Ah Yu

sitting on top of the tree.“Come down,” she called out, “Or I’ll come and get you,”“Please wait!” Ah Yu answered. “I’ve caught a bird and I want to eat it. Can you please

bring me a pot of boiling oil so that I can cook the bird and eat it? Then I will come down.”The old lady brought a pot of boiling oil. She tied it to a rope which Ah Yu dropped from

the top of the tree. Ah Yu soon purled it up.“I have a surprised for you.” She said, “Please close your eyes and open your mouth.” The

old lady did as she was told.Ah Yu then poured the boiling oil into the old lady’s mouth. In a second, she changed into

a tiger, and ran off.Ah Yu had been too clever for her. But Ah Yu never disobey her mother gain after that.

The king of the fishes

There were two brothers, Amin and Idris, who lived in a fishing village. One day, while they were out in their boat, Amin's knife fell into the sea. It was a good knife and he did not want to lose it. He dived over the side of the boat into the water. When he reached the bottom of the sea, he was surprised to see a great palace. Many fishes of every kind were swimming, in and out of the front door. One fish, bigger than the rest, came to meet him. It had a blue and gold body and red eyes.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of the Fishes," he said to Amin. "Where do you come from?"

Amin explained to him that he was looking for his knife. "Oh yes. It fell in front of the palace."

Amin guessed he must be the King of the Fishes."Please come in," the King said. "Now you have come so far you'd better stay

to dinner." He called his wife and daughters to prepare a meal for him.Amin looked round the palace. He saw there were fishing nets, traps and hooks

hanging on the walls."Do you know what these things are?" the King asked Amin.Amin was about to say "yes" when he stopped himself. He thought it would be

best to say that he knew nothing about fishing. The King seemed to be pleased with the way he answered. "Come, dinner is ready," he said.

Amin ate as much as he could and the time came for him to leave. The King gave him back his knife and a beautiful box made from sea shells. Amin opened it ... "Oh!" he cried. It was full of gold , silver, diamonds and other precious stones. The King explained to him that so much treasure was lost at sea when boats were sunk that the fishes could not use it all.

Amin swam up through the sea towards the light. His boat was still there. His brother Idris was waiting impatiently for him. "Where have you been?" he asked him. "I was just going home. I thought you would never come back."

He was amazed when Amin told him all that had happened. He decided to visit the King of the Fishes himself. He went to the side of the boat and dropped his knife into the water. He dived in after it. Down, down, down he went through the green water. Just as his brother had told him, there was a great palace at the bottom of the sea. The King of the Fishes came out to meet him.

Inside the palace, he saw all the fishing nets, traps and hooks that his brother had described to him.

"Can you make fishing nets?" the King asked."Of course." Idris liked to boast how clever he was. "I also know how to use

traps. I have some bigger hooks at home than you have here. I am a fisherman and I have caught hundreds and hundreds of fish. In fact, I was fishing from my boat just now when my knife fell into the water."

The King said nothing but some fishes who were listening swished their tails angrily.

The King called his servants to cook some food for Idris. "Do you like to eat fish?", he asked.

"Oh, yes," said Idris. "I eat fish every day at home."After finishing the meal, Idris rose to go. The King apologized for not being able

to give him back his knife."I'm so sorry. We were unable to find your knife. But I would like to give

you this present." He handed over a box to Idris.Idris could hardly wait to leave the palace before opening it. But there were

only fish heads and fishing hooks inside.He turned back towards the palace. "Your Majesty," he cried out. "There

must have been some mistake. You've given me the wrong box. I — I — I ... " He could not finish what he wanted to say because he was attacked by hundreds of fishes. He tried to escape but he slipped and fell down, and he was soon eaten up by them.

Meanwhile, in the boat far above, Amin waited for his brother until the sun sunk down. He then realized that his brother was never coming back. He sailed his boat home with his treasure-box. From that day on, he never fished again. Instead, he bought some rice-fields with the treasure that the King of the Fishes had given him. He became well known as a farmer and lived to a great old age with his wife and family.

The Mouse Who Wanted To Be A Beautiful Girl

Once, a small lady mouse lived under a wise man's house. At first, she was just a nuisance to everyone. She chewed wood and ate any food that the wise man and his family left in the house at night. But she was not happy.

One evening, she came out of her hiding place and sat in front of the wise man. "Can you change me into a beautiful girl?" she asked. "I'm tired of being a mouse."

"Are you sure that's what you want?""Yes, I'm quite sure. I've seen how you human beings enjoy yourselves. I'd like to be a

beautiful girl and marry a rich husband.""Very well," said the wise man, "I'll change you into a beautiful girl." Then something

very strange happened. The mouse started changing into a beautiful woman dressed in a lovely sarong kebaya. There was a delicious perfume in the room.

Next day, when the girl was on her way to the market, the sun was shining brightly. Many people wished her good morning and some young wren turned round to look at her. Suddenly, a dark cloud covered the sun. The girl felt cold.

"Oh, I would like to be a cloud," the girl said to herself. "It's stronger than the sun. If I turn into a cloud, there'll be no need for me to many a rich husband."

The wise man heard what the girl said."If it will make you happy," he said, "I can change you into a cloud." The girl felt herself

floating up into the sky. She was as light as a cloud. But soon she was tossed this way and that by the wind. She saw the wind fill the sails of boats on the sea far below her and carry them along until they were out of sight. She then cried out that she wanted to be changed into a strong wind.

The wise man appeared again. "All right. I'll change you into a strong wind. But why are you never satisfied?"

But before he could hear what the girl said — "Whoosh!"—he was almost blown over by a strong wind. The wind rushed past and threw itself against a tall mountain. "Stop! Stop!" the girl called out. She had been changed into a wind. "I'll be hurt if I'm thrown against the mountain."

The wind tried to climb over the top of the mountain but it was not able to do so. The mountain was so hard and slippery.

"Why did you think you were stronger than IT' the mountain shouted at the wind. "I'll teach you a good lesson."

. The wind dropped from the top of the mountain to the bottom. "Oh, I think I'm going to be sick," the girl sobbed.

"Why, you're not even as strong as a mouse! Even a mouse can make a hole and live inside me!" the mountain said.

"0 wise man," the girl called out, "please, won't you help me?""Well now," said the wise man, who was never far away, "that depends. Will you

promise never to be dissatisfied again with what you are?""Yes, yes," the girl said."And if I change you back into a mouse again you'll never want to be anything else?""I promise, I promise," said the girl.So the wise man changed her into a mouse again and she went back to live under his

house.