A Chinese Tale: A woman’s sons set out in search of the cherished silk brocade she has woven. When the two eldest sons refuse to follow the instructions to retrieve the stolen brocade, the youngest son fearlessly accepts the challenge. A magical reward is given to him and his mother.
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A solitary lodge stood on the banks of a remote lake. It was near the hour of sunset. Silence reigned within and without. Not a sound was heard but the low breathing of the dying inmate and head of this poor family. His wife and three children surrounded his bed. Two...
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Selekana was a good-natured girl, always ready help others. That is why people loved her so and some people to whom she had been kind had given her little gifts like a necklace or a bracelet made from multi-coloured beadwork as the Bantu peoples can make...
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Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman. They wanted to buy mochi for New Year which would come soon. They decided to make sedge hats to trade for mochi.
A few days later, the old man started in the snow to town with the...
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Once there was nothing.
Nothing
but the Spirit of All Life
For a long time
there was nothing.
Then
in the mind of the Spirit of Life
…a Dreaming began.
In the empty darkness
there was a dreaming of Fire...
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One winter there was an old woman who was left behind. She was so old that she couldn’t even chew kamik leather anymore. Her family left her with only a few insects to eat. The woman said: “I’m not going to eat these poor creatures. I am old and perhaps they are...
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Once upon a time, there lived an old man with his beautiful daughter. She fell in love with a handsome lad, and the two married with the old man’s blessing. The young couple led a happy life, except for one problem: the husband spent his time working on alchemy,...
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Once Mullah was asked to perform a miracle.
“Never mind,” said Mullah as he commanded a tree to come nearer to him.
The tree did not move.
“Never mind,” said Mullah again as he stepped forward toward the tree.
“You said you are holy,”...
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Everyone brings something to a new country. Part of what Sayed brought was a terrible fear of never having enough. He had his reasons. In the small village he had come from, he had had so little.
He did not have little now. He lived in a...
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Once Mullah went to a Turkish bath. The attendants ignored him. Upon leaving the bath, Mullah gave each of the servants two derhams as tip.
Next time the attendants gave Mullah special attention, hoping to get much more in tips than on the previous occasion...