Fairy tale information

Long ago a boy lived in a village on a mountain in the middle of a desert. The land was barren. One day he went exploring, and he began to walk down the mountain. Suddenly he spied something on the ground. He picked up a handful of little brown objects. "I wonder what these are," he said."I'll put these here for safekeeping," he said, and he buried the little objects. Then he built a dirt mound so that he could find the objects again. The next morning, he saw a group of green shoots growing out of the dirt mound. The boy kept watch over the plant. Within a few days, he noticed a ball growing from the plant. It grew until it was so large no one could lift it. It glowed as brightly as the sun, and people could see it from everywhere. The people watched and waited to see what this thing would ...

Once upon a time, a fire swept through the village of Chelm. The villagers put out the flames, and saved the school, the synagogue and the market. But there was one problem. Hannah's house had burned down, and the people had kept all of the village's calendars in Hannah's house. "We'll make new calendars," the rabbi said. So a group of Chelmites gathered to create the calendars. They sat around a table and began to think. After a while, Mordecai said sadly, "Do you realize we've lost the Sabbath?" Rachel laughed. "It's simple. The Sabbath comes on Friday, at sunset.""But Rachel," Samuel argued, "we don't know when Friday comes!"If no one knew when Friday came, they would not know when to pray and give thanks to God for their blessings. "The Sabbath is lost!" Devorah cried."The rabbi will k ...

Long ago, a family lived in a small village. The family hunted on the veldt, and the father, Mabassa, was an expert carver. He carved statues of the animals that roamed their land. Each evening, the children would grow restless. "Mother," they called to Siphiwe, "it is dark, and we cannot go out and play. How shall we occupy ourselves?" Siphiwe decided to go search for stories to feed the children's minds. The next morning she set out. She looked all around, and finally looked up and saw Inkwazi the fish eagle plunging down to the nearby sea. "Inkwazi, wait!" she cried.Caught mid-flight, Inkwazi screeched, "What do you want?" "Stories!" Siphiwe said. "Ask Ufudu!" said Inkwazi. "Only he can help you." Siphiwe hurried to the sea's edge, and there she found Ufudu the sea turtle. "Can you help ...

Long ago, the monkeys lived in peace in the forest. They ate mangos, and were careful to pick every mango so that the humans would never learn of this delicious treasure. One day, however, one mango fell unnoticed into the river, and it floated downstream.The humans' king found the mango on the river's edge, and was intoxicated by its enchanting scent. The king took a bite."That is the best thing I have ever tasted," the king said. "We must find the source of this delicacy."So the king led his army into the forest to search for more mangos. They soon found the fruit-filled trees, filled with monkeys eating mangos."They're stealing my fruit," the king cried. "Destroy them!" The king's men prepared to attack the monkeys. The monkeys shrieked in terror and looked helplessly at their leader. T ...

Once, on a blazing hot day, a tribe slept in the Australian bush. It was so hot, even the animals decided to take a nap.Everyone slept, that is, except one little girl. New to the world, she wanted only to explore. She crawled toward the waratah plant with its beautiful white flowers. A black snake had been sleeping beneath the plant, but when he heard the child he lifted his head, alert and curious.Everyone knows the black snake is poisonous, but the baby was in no danger, for her totem was the black snake. No totem animal would ever harm one of his people. The black snake was this child's protector. And so, when she lifted her hand to touch the gleaming thing she saw beneath the flowers, the snake lifted his head to greet her. The child gasped at the sight of such a strange and wonderful ...