Fairy tale information

One Christmas Eve in a little Ohio town, a boy named Peter awoke at midnight. Peter was only 5 years old, and a peculiar sound had woken him. Quietly he tiptoed downstairs, and there he saw, beside the fireplace, a round-bellied man in a red coat trimmed in fur. The man's beard was long and white, and he wore eyeglasses."Santa?" Peter whispered, but he spoke so quietly the man didn't hear. So Peter tiptoed back to bed. The next morning when he awoke, he did not know if the vision of Santa Claus had been a dream or something real. Then when Peter was 10, his family moved to Holland. One day in December, while all the Dutch children were busy filling their shoes with carrots and hay, preparing for the coming of Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas, like Santa, delivered gifts to children on Christma ...

Long ago a king had seven sons who he loved, but the king loved his garden even more, for it offered him peace. Of all the flowers and plants in the garden, the king loved the date palm that stood in the very center the most. There he sat every morning and ate the delicious dates. One morning, the king walked into the garden and noticed that every date was gone. "Who has stolen my dates?" he cried. The king called his seven sons. "You must guard my tree," he said. The first night the eldest son stayed in the garden, but he soon fell asleep. In the morning all the dates were gone. The next night the second son tried, but he too fell asleep, and the same thing happened with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sons. On the seventh night, the youngest brother, Machiara, was determined to ...

In the beginning of time, the Great Spirit, Kitchi Manitou, dreamed of mountains and valleys, rivers and forests, animals and birds. When he awoke, he created that world.In this world, human beings had much to learn, so the Great Spirit sent them a teacher, Nanabush. Nanabush was a good teacher. Nanabush had many lazy brothers. There was just one enemy in this world, the Serpent People.One winter day, one of Nanabush's brothers went out to hunt, but when he had not returned by the next morning, Nanabush realized something was wrong.All that winter Nanabush searched for his brother, but as time passed he became more and more convinced the Serpent People had drowned him. When spring had come, Nanabush looked down from atop a hill to see two Serpent People sunning themselves by a lake. Na ...

Once upon a time, a farmer and his wife prayed to heaven every night that their hard work would bring good fortune. At long last, they saved enough pennies to buy a small pig.But after one whole year, the pig had not grown. His wife said, "Why work to feed a creature no one will ever buy?"And so they set the pig free to roam the mountains, but every night it returned and begged for food."Perhaps heaven will smile down on us if we are good to the poor pig," the farmer thought. At night the farmer sneaked out food to feed the little pig. One evening as he was carrying a pail of slop outside, a stranger passed by."How much would you like for your pig?" he asked.The farmer was surprised. "He's a small pig," said the farmer, "but I could sell him for 10 taels of silver. That is how much I ...

 Once upon a time a young man named Chin awoke from his sleep with a start. It was the first time he had ever remembered a dream. In this dream he walked into a house where an old man and woman sat together, weeping. Chin reached out toward them, but then he stopped himself. He stepped backward, out of their sight. Instead, Chin walked into another room, and there he saw a feast spread out upon a long table. He began to eat without asking permission.A moment later he awoke, shivering with shame."How could I take from those people but offer them nothing?" he asked himself. But the next night Chin dreamed the same dream, and then again the night after that. Night after night he would fall asleep, only to awake recalling all the old couple's sadness, ashamed at himself for offering t ...