There was once a little jackal who lived in the jungle. He was a greedy little jackal, and one of his favourite meals was fresh crabs from the river. One day he went down to the big river near his home and put his paw in the water to pull out a crab.
  Snap! A large, lazy crocodile who had been lying in the water snapped his jaws and caught the jackal's paw. The little jackal did not cry out, although he was very frightened. Instead he laughed.
  "Ha! Ha! That crocodile in the river thinks he has caught my paw, but the stupid animal does not realize he has snapped up a piece of wood and is holding it in his jaws".

  The crocodile immediately opened his mouth for he did not want to be seen with a log of wood in his jaws. Quickly the little jackal danced away and called cheekily from a safe distance:
  "I'll catch some crabs another day, Mr. Crocodile".
  The crocodile lashed his tail with rage and resolved to catch the little jackal and eat him the next time he came to the river.
  A week later, when his paw was healed, the jackal came back to the river to catch crabs. He did not want to be eaten by the crocodile, so he called out from a safe distance:
  "I can't see any crabs lying on the bank. I'll have to dip my paw into the water near the edge", and he watched the river for a few minutes.
  The crocodile thought, "Now is my chance to catch the jackal", and he swam close to the river bank.
  When the little jackal saw the water move, he called out:
  Thank you, Mr. Crocodile. Now I know you are there, I'll come back another day.
  The crocodile lashed his tail with rage until he stirred up the mud from the bottom of the river. He swore he would not let the little jackal trick him again.
  The jackal could not stop thinking about the crabs, so a few days later he went down to the river again. He could not see the crocodile so he called out:
  "I know crabs make bubbles in the water, so as soon as I see bubbles I'll dip my paw in and then I'll catch them easily".
  When he heard this, the crocodile, who was lying just beneath the water started to blow bubbles as fast as he could. He was sure that the jackal would put his paw in where the bubbles were rising and Snap! This time he would have the little jackal.
  But when the jackal saw the bubbles, he called out:
  "Thank you, Mr Crocodile, for showing me where you are. I'll come back another day for the crabs".
  The crocodile was so angry at being tricked again that he waited till the jackal's back was turned, then he jumped out of the river and followed the jackal, determined to catch him and eat him this time.
  Now the jackal, who was very hungry, made his way to the fig grove to eat some figs. By the time the crocodile arrived, he was having a lovely feast munching the ripe blue fruit, and licking his lips with pleasure.
  The crocodile was exhausted by walking on land which he found was much more difficult than swimming in the river. "I am too tired to catch the jackal now", he said to himself. "But I'll set a trap and catch him next time he comes for the figs".
  The next day, the greedy jackal returned to the fig grove. He did love eating figs! To his surprise he saw a large and rather untidy pile of figs that had not been there before. "I wonder if my friend the crocodile has anything to do with this?" he said to himself, and he called out:
  "What a lovely pile of figs! All I need to do is to see which figs wave in the breeze, for it is always the ripest and most delicious figs that wave in the breeze. I shall then know which ones to eat".
  Of course the crocodile was buried under the pile of figs and when he heard this he smiled a big toothy crocodile smile. "All I have to do is to wriggle a bit", he thought. "When the jackal sees the figs move he will come and eat them and this time I will certainly catch him".
  The little jackal watched as the crocodile wriggled under the pile of figs, and he day laughed and laughed.
  "Thank you, Mr. Crocodile", he said, "I'll come back another day when you are not here".
  Now the crocodile was really in a rage so he followed the little jackal to his house to catch him there. There was no one at home when the crocodile got there, but the crocodile thought, "I will wait here, and catch him when he comes home tonight".
  He was too big to go through the gate, so he broke it and then he was too big to go through the door, so he smashed that. "Never mind", he said to himself. "I will eat the little jackal tonight whatever happens", and he lay in wait for the jackal in the jackal little house.
  When the jackal came home he saw the broken gate, and smashed door, and he said to himself, "I wonder if my friend the crocodile has anything to do with this?"
  "Little house", he called out, "Why haven't you said HELLO to me as you do each night when I come home?"
  The crocodile heard this, and thought he ought to make everything seem as normal as possible, so he shouted out:
  "Hello little jackal!"
  Then a wicked smile appeared on the jackal's face. He fetched some twigs and branches, piled them up outside his house, and set fire to it. As the house burned he called out:
  "A roast crocodile is safer than a live crocodile! I shall go and build myself a new house by the river where I can catch all the crabs I want".
  With that he skipped off to the river bank and for all I know he is still there today, eating crabs all day long, and laughing at the way he tricked the crocodile.

Read more ...…

  This story is one of the tales that the ancient Greeks told about their gods. It is the story of Persephone, the lovely daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest.
  Demeter travelled around the world with Persephone, visiting all the trees and plants that produce food. As she passed by, they grew and flourished, and their fruit ripened. On hot days as she walked through a field of corn, the husks would swell and the corn would turn golden. Whenever she visited orchards and vineyards, the apples, peaches, pears and grapes would be sweet and ready to eat. Persephone would dance with joy to see how lovely the flowers looked when Demeter touched them.

  One day Persephone asked her mother if she could go and play with her friends on the mountainside. Demeter agreed, but warned her not to stray too far. While Demeter visited some valleys where the harvest was late, Persephone and her friends scrambled happily over the mountainside. They found many flowers growing in the mountain meadows, and began to pick them to make garlands and chains. Further and further they wandered, until they were a long way from the valley where they had started.
  Soon the meadows were shimmering in the hot mid-day sun, Persephone grew tired and dropped behind her friends. She sat down on the grass to rest while she finished the garland she was making.
  Suddenly there was a great crack and a roar. The side of the mountain seemed to split open and out galloped six great black horses, pulling a gleaming black chariot. Persephone was terrified and called out, "Mother, Mother, help me!" But even as she called, the man driving the chariot leant out and swept Persephone up into the chariot. He pulled at the reins to turn the horses and they galloped back into the mountain. With another roar and a crash the gap closed, leaving no trace of what had happened.
  Persephone's friends soon missed her and came back to look for her. They hunted everywhere and called and called, but there was no sign of her anywhere. At last they gave up and went back to tell Demeter.

  Together they searched for hours up and down the mountain, but could find no trace of Persephone until, in the evening, they came upon a fading garland of flowers lying in the grass. Now Demeter knew that something dreadful must have happened to her daughter.
  Something terrible had happened indeed. Persephone had been snatched by Hades, God of the Underworld, in his great black chariot. He drove her back to his palace of dark caverns deep inside the earth. The palace was full of beautiful things but Persephone was very unhappy there. She missed the sunlight and the flowers, and all the colours of the world she had known, and most of all she longed to see her mother. She was so unhappy that she refused to eat. She just sat in a corner, pining for her old home. Hades loved her and hoped to marry her, but Persephone time and again refused, saying that she wished only to return to the world above and her mother.
  Meanwhile, Demeter continued to look for her daughter from one end of the world to the other. While she searched, she gave no thought at all to the harvest. Everywhere the crops failed and the farmers watched in despair as their corn failed to ripen and their fruit withered on the trees.
  Even Zeus, the King of the Gods, was worried. He did not wish to see the people on earth go hungry, so when Demeter asked him to help her find Persephone, he agreed to do what he could. His messengers soon came back with the information that she was with Hades in the Underworld. Zeus had no power over those who lived in the Underworld but there was a chance that Persephone might he saved. She had not yet eaten anything there and so had not yet become part of the Underworld. Each day Hades' servants brought her tempting dishes of exquisite fruit and sweets, but Persephone over and over again refused to touch them because she was so unhappy.
  Zeus's messengers arrived in the Underworld once more and demanded that Persephone be returned to her mother. Hades knew that unless he could make her eat he would lose the lovely girl he wanted to marry. He ordered his servants to prepare a bowl of beautiful fruit and he himself carried it to Persephone. On the top he put a sweet-smelling pomegranate which he knew was her favourite fruit. Persephone, after much coaxing, reluctantly ate six seeds from the pomegranate, for she felt Hades had been kind to her and did not want to hurt his feelings. Then she turned her head away and refused to eat any more, for the taste reminded her of the warm sunshine and the happy life that she missed so much. But Hades was triumphant, knowing that, because she had eaten food, she belonged forever to the Underworld.
  Demeter was heartbroken. She grieved so much at the loss of her daughter that she had no heart to travel the earth as Goddess of the Harvest, and people began to grow hungry. Zeus was sorry for Demeter and for the people of the earth, so he sent his messengers to Hades once more to make a bargain: Persephone should spend six months of each year in the Underworld, one for each pomegranate seed she had eaten, but for the remaining six months she should return to the earth and join her mother.
  And so it has been ever since. You will know when Persephone is in the Underworld with Hades as leaves fall and plants wither and die. During the six months we call Autumn and Winter Demeter is too unhappy to give any thought to the harvest. But when Persephone returns to the earth her mother is overjoyed and in her happiness makes the flowers open and new shoots spring from the ground. Crops flourish and fruit ripens to produce food. These six months when Persephone once more dances through the fields and orchards with her mother we call Spring and Summer.

Read more ...…

One dark and stormy night, a tramp knocked on the door of a cottage and asked for shelter. An old woman answered the door and told the tramp sourly that he could come in if he wanted, but he must not expect any food for she had none in the house.

"And don't think you'll get a bed to sleep on either", she added, "as I only have one and that is where I sleep".

The tramp was hungry, but he could see he wasn't going to get any food, so he sat by the fire and took an old nail out of his pocket and tossed it from hand to hand.

"Do you see this nail here?" he said at last. "You'd never believe it, but last night I made the finest soup I have ever eaten by cooking this nail, and what is more I still have it to make more tonight. Would you like me to make you some nail soup?"

"Nail soup!" snorted the old woman. "I have never heard of such a thing. Don't talk nonsense". But the tramp could see she was curious.

"All I did", he told her, "was to boil it up in an old saucepan, and it was delicious".

"Well, since we have nothing else to do, and I have no food in the house, perhaps you would be good enough to show me how you do it", she said after a few moments.

"You haven't a large pot and some water, have you?" asked the tramp.

"Why yes", said the old woman, handing a big cooking pot to the tramp and showing him where the water was. She watched as the tramp carefully filled the pot half full with water, placed it on the stove, and dropped in the nail. Then he sat down to wait.

From time to time, the old woman peeped into the pot to see how the soup was doing, and once when she lifted the lid the tramp said, "Last night all that was needed was a little salt and pepper. I don't suppose you have any in the house?"

"I might have", said the old woman ungraciously, and from a cupboard she took salt and pepper which she dropped into the water with the nail.

The next time she lifted the lid, the tramp sighed, "What a pity you haven't got half an onion for that would make the soup even better than it was last night".

"I think I might have an onion", said the old woman, quite excited by now at the thought of the nail soup, and she went to the larder to fetch an onion. As she opened the door, the tramp caught a glimpse of shelves stacked with food, but he said nothing until the onion had been in the pot for about ten minutes.

Then, stirring the soup again, he murmured to himself, "How sad that this fine onion has no carrots and potatoes to go with it". Just as he had hoped, the old woman quickly fetched some carrots and potatoes from the larder.

By now, the soup was beginning to smell good, and it was not long before the tramp said that on nights when he could add a little meat to his nail soup, it was fit even for kings and queens. In a flash, the old woman had fetched some meat for the pot.

While the soup was bubbling, the tramp looked round at the table. "It's a funny thing", he remarked, "but my nail soup always tastes better when I eat it at a table that is laid with pretty china and when there is a candle or two on the table".

The old woman, not to be outdone, put out her best table cloth and got the best china off the dresser.

What a shame, said the tramp, "that we have no bread to eat with this nail soup, but I remember you telling me there is no food in the house".

"I'll just look in the bread crock", said the old woman, and she pulled out a loaf that had been baked that morning.

The soup now smelled quite delicious, and the tramp was longing to eat it, but he waited a few more minutes before saying, "I am sorry there is no wine to drink with our nail soup, as I would have liked you to enjoy it with a glass of wine".

"Just a minute", said the old woman, and she fetched a fine looking bottle of wine from the back of a cupboard and put it on the table with two glasses.

"Now the soup is ready. I hope you enjoy it", said the tramp heartily, and he fished the nail out with a spoon and put it in his pocket before carrying the soup over to the table.

They both had a wonderful meal. After the soup, which the old woman agreed was the best she'd ever tasted, she found some cheese and other good things in the larder. They told each other many stories, laughed a lot and had a very pleasant evening.

As the candles burnt low, the old woman told the tramp to go and sleep in her bed, saying that she would be quite comfortable in a chair by the fire. They both slept soundly.

The next morning, the tramp thanked the old woman for her kindness, but she said.

"No, no, I must thank you for showing me how to make soup from an old nail".

"It's what you add that makes the difference!" said the tramp, smiling.

Read more ...…

*   Dave married

  Dave married, and when his new wife saw the clothes in his cupboard, she said, "Dave, you have only got one good shirt. The other are very old, and they've got holes in them. I'm going to buy you a new one this afternoon".
  Dave liked his shirts, but he loved his wife too, so he said, "All right, Beryl, but please don't throw any of the old ones away".
  Dave went to work, and when he came back in the evening, Beryl said to him, "Look, Dave, I've bought you a nice shirt. Here it is. Put it on".
  Dave put the shirt on, and then he said, "Look at the sleeves, Beryl. They're too long".
  "That's all right," Beryl answered. "They'll get shorter when I wash the shirt".
  Then Dave said, "But the neck's too small".
  "That's all right," Beryl answered. "It'll get bigger when you wear the shirt, Dave".

___________________________________________________

 *   Better than a chicken

  Jack was a young sailor. He lived in England, but he was often away with his ship.
  One summer he came back from a long voyage and found new neighbours near his mother's house. They had a pretty daughter, and Jack soon loved her very much.
  He said to her, "My next voyage will begin in a few day's time, Gloria. I love you, and I'll marry you when I come back. I'll think about you all the time, and I'll write to you and send you a present from every port".
  Jack's first port was Freetown in Africa, and he sent Gloria a parrot from there. It spoke five languages.
  When Jack's ship reached Australia, there was a letter from Gloria. It said: "Thank you for the parrot, Jack. It tasted much better than a chicken".
__________________________________________

 *   Fanny and Ethel.

  Fanny and Ethel worked in the same office, and they were neighbours at home. Fanny was rather a careless girl, and she often lost things. Then she usually went to Ethel to borrow more from her.
  Ethel was a kind girl, but she sometimes got tired of lending things to her friend.
  One Saturday afternoon Fanny knocked at Ethel's front door, and when Ethel came to open it, Fanny said to her, "Oh, hello, Ethel. Please lend me a bag. I've lost my mine. I'm going to the shops, and I fell very stupid when I haven't got anything in my hand when I go to the street".
  Ethel laughed and answered: "Well, Fanny, go down to the end of the garden. You'll find a nice wheelbarrow in the shed there. Take when you go down to the shops. Then you'll have something in both of your hands".
 ________________________________________________

Read more ...…