Fairy tale information

Once upon a time there lived a farmer named Jack. He had a great wit and a quick tongue, but he was lazy. Over the years his fields went to seed, all but a field of turnips, which survived in spite of Jack's neglect. Jack was known as a trickster, and no one could pull a trick on Jack. But one day there came a knock upon the door, and there stood the devil himself. "I'll make you a wealthy man," the devil told Jack. "All you need to do is sell your soul to me. If I know you, that won't be a worry at all." Now Jack was no fool. He had no interest in selling his soul to the devil. "Let me think a while," said Jack."Very well," the devil said. "Let's take a walk. I'll give you time to think." So Jack and the devil began to walk among Jack's fields.They stopped beneath a tall tree. That's when ...

One day when Cuoi was supposed to be tending the buffalo of a rich farmer, he decided he would rather play. So, he went into the forest, and lay down beneath a banyan tree. Soon, he heard a whimpering noise. He stood and walked toward the sound. He pushed aside some leaves and spotted four tiger cubs lying there.Cuoi tickled the cubs and picked one up to pet it. Then Cuoi heard the tigress returning. Frantic, he dropped the cub to the ground, which it hit with a thud. When the tigress found her injured cub, she walked to a small banyan sapling growing close to the tree in which he hid. She bit off several leaves, chewed on them, and placed them inside the cub's mouth.Cuoi watched as the lifeless cub opened his eyes, and within a few minutes, got up and began to run about. Cuoi felt relieve ...

A long time ago there was a king and queen who said every day, "Ah, if only we had a child," but they never had one. And finally the queen had a little girl who was so pretty that the king could not contain his joy, and ordered a great feast. When it came to an end, thirteen wise women came to bestow magical gifts upon the baby. When eleven of them had made their promises, suddenly the thirteenth came in. She wished to avenge herself for not having been invited, and she cried with a loud voice, "The king's daughter shall, in her fifteenth year, prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead."  They were all shocked, but the twelfth, whose good wish still remained unspoken, came forward, and as she could not undo the evil sentence, but only soften it, she said, "It shall not be death ...

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree and relax before continuing the race. He soon fell asleep. The tortoise overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the champion. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race. The moral - "Slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with." The story doesn't end here, it continues as follows:  The hare was disappointed at losing the race. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident and lazy. S ...

There is a bird that lays no eggs and has no young. It was here when the world began and is still living today, in a faraway desert. It is the Phoenix, the bird of fire. One day in the beginning of time, the sun looked down and saw a large bird with shimmering feathers. They were red and gold 一 bright and dazzling like the sun itself. The sun called out, "Glorious Phoenix, you shall be my bird and live forever!"  The Phoenix was overjoyed to hear these words. It lifted its head and sang, "Sun, glorious sun, I shall sing my songs for you alone!" But the Phoenix was not happy for long. Poor bird. Its feathers were far too beautiful. Men, women and children were always chasing it and trying to trap it. They wanted to have some of those beautiful, shiny feathers for themselves. "I cannot ...