2. THE LITTLE RED HEN
Once there was a Little Red Hen that lived, so neat and tidy, all alone in her house in the wood. Over the hill and far away in a den in the rocks lived a bad young Fox. He wanted to eat the Little Red Hen, but every time he went to her home he could not get her. One morning he took a big bag and told his mother to have the pot boiling when he got home so they could cook the Hen for supper that night. Over the hill he crept, trot, trot, trot, and saw Little Red Hen picking up sticks in front of her house. The Fox quietly slipped in without being seen, and hid behind the door. The Little Red Hen came in with her apron full of sticks, but when she saw the Fox with his bushy tail spread out on the floor, she became so scared she flew with a great scream to a high beam under the roof. The tricky Fox began to whirl around and around after his tail so fast that the Hen got so dizzy she fell to the floor. Quickly the Fox picked her up, popped her into his bag, and trotted off for home. Coming to a hill he thought he would stop, to take a rest, and he put his bag on the ground. Quick as a wink the Hen pecked a hole in the bag, jumped out, rolled a stone into the bag in her place, flew away to her home, and locked the door. “The Little Red Hen is heavy,” said the Fox as he started off again. As soon as he saw his mother, he cried, “Here is the Hen for our supper. Lift the cover off the pot, while I pop her in.” When the mother lifted the cover, the young Fox untied the bag and gave it a shake. Pop! Splash! Splash! Into the boiling water dropped the heavy stone. Out flew the boiling water, splashing and scalding the young Fox and his mother to death. So the Little Red Hen lived happily and tidily in her house after that.
3. THE GOLDEN GOOSE
Once a mother lived with her three sons in a house in the woods. One day the mother said to the oldest son, “Go, and cut wood in the forest, and here is a good dinner for you.” At dinnertime a queer, little old man came up and said, “I’m so hungry. Give me some of your dinner.” “Be off,” said the selfish boy, and he ate all his dinner by himself. Then he began to chop down a tree, but his axe slipped and cut his leg, and he went hobbling home without any wood. Next day the mother said to the next boy, “Go, and cut wood in the forest, and here is a good dinner for you.” At dinnertime the same queer little old man came and said, “I’m so hungry. Give me some of your dinner.” “No,” said the selfish boy, who ate all his dinner by himself. Then he began to chop a tree, but his axe slipped and cut his foot, and he went hobbling home without any wood. The next morning the youngest boy, Dummling, said, “Mother, I’ll get you some wood.” His mother gave him only some dry crusts, and he went into the woods. The same little old man came, saying, “I’m so hungry. Give me some of your dinner.” “Yes, gladly, I will,” said Dummling. In a moment the little old man changed the dry bread into a rich feast, and they both ate as much as they wanted. Then the little old man said: “You have been kind to me. Now I will do something for you. Cut down this tree, and at the roots you will find a Golden Goose.” Dummling quickly chopped down the tree, and in a hollow at the roots found a Golden Goose. He picked it up and went to the nearest stopping-place for the night, where he found three sisters who wanted some of the golden feathers. So, when Dummling had gone to bed, the oldest girl went in where the goose was to pluck a feather, but she stuck fast. The second girl came in later to pluck a feather, and she stuck fast too. Then the third sister, greedy for a feather too, put in her hand to get one, and she stuck fast. So the three girls had to stay with the goose all night. The next morning Dummling came in, and, not noticing the girls were stuck fast to it, picked up the goose and started off with it under his arm. The three girls were obliged to follow as fast as their legs could carry them down the street. A minister seeing the strange sight called out, “Shame! following a man like that! Let go!” But as soon as he touched them he stuck fast and had to follow. Then a policeman ran up, saying to the minister, “For shame! following girls like that! Let go!” And as soon as he touched them he stuck fast and had to follow. It was a funny sight to see these five trudging behind one another. “Help! Help!” cried the policeman. Then two men going to work with picks and spades ran up, but as soon as they touched them they stuck fast and had to follow. So these seven, all in line, treading on one another’s heels, followed Dummling and his Golden Goose until they reached the gates of the city in which a King lived who had a daughter so very serious that no one could ever make her laugh. The King had promised that whoever could make her smile should have her for a wife, and should be the King’s son. When Dummling heard that he went at once near the palace window, and when the Princess looked out and saw such a comical sight she burst into a hearty laugh. So Dummling became the King’s son, and lived with the Princess and his Golden Goose, happy ever afterward.
4. DIAMONDS AND TOADS
Once there was a mother who lived with her two daughters in a house in the woods. The elder daughter was very proud and disagreeable; the younger one was kind, sweet-tempered, and beautiful. The mother was very fond of the elder daughter because she was more like herself, and she disliked the younger one and made her work hard all the time in the kitchen and go twice a day to carry water in a pitcher from the spring in the woods two miles from home.
One day, when this younger daughter was at the spring, a poor old woman came to her and asked her for a drink. “Yes,” said the kind, obliging girl, and she gave her a cool, refreshing drink from her pitcher. The woman said: “As you have been kind to me, I will give you this gift. At every word you speak a jewel or a flower shall come from your mouth.” When she reached home her mother scolded her for being gone so long. “I beg your pardon, mother dear,” she said, “for not being quicker.” And as she spoke, out of her mouth dropped two diamonds, two pearls, and six roses. “What do I see?” exclaimed her mother. When the girl told her all, the mother said: “I must send my dearest daughter to receive this gift too. Come, Fanny, see what comes out of your sister’s mouth when she speaks. All you have to do to get the same gift is to go and give the poor old woman a drink from the pitcher.” “I won’t go,” said the ugly-tempered girl; “let sister give me some of her jewels. She does not need them all.” At last her mother persuaded her to go, and she went grumbling all the way. When she reached the spring she saw, not the poor old woman her sister had met, but a beautiful lady, who asked her for a drink. It was the fairy changed from the old woman into a princess. “I did not come out to give you a drink,” said the selfish girl; “you can get water from the spring as well as I.” “You are not very polite,” said the fairy; “since you are so rude and unkind I give you this gift: At every word you speak, toads and snakes shall come out of your mouth.” The girl ran home, and as soon as she spoke to her mother two snakes and two frogs fell from her mouth. “What is this I see?” cried her mother. The girl tried to tell, but at every word toads and snakes dropped from her lips. And so it was forever after—jewels and flowers fell from the kind girl’s mouth, but only toads and snakes fell from the mouth of the girl who was rude and unkind.—Charles Perrault.
5. THE FROG KING
Once there was a king who had a little daughter so beautiful that the sun had never seen any one so beautiful. Close by the palace there was a dark wood, and underneath a large tree was a well. One day the little Princess sat by this well, tossing her golden ball into the air until at last it fell into the water. She began to cry bitterly. A Frog peeped out of the water and said, “What will you give me, King’s Little Daughter, if I get your ball for you?” “I will give you anything,” she said, “my pearls, my jewels, my golden crown.” “If you will let me be your playmate and sit by your side at table, and eat out of your golden plate, and sleep in your little snow-white bed, I will bring your ball to you again.” “I promise all,” she said, thinking that a Frog could not live with people. In a moment the Frog plunged into the water head foremost, caught the ball, and swam back with it in his mouth and threw it on the grass to her. She picked up her pretty plaything and ran away with it, heedless of the Frog’s cry, “Wait! Wait!” She did not listen, but ran home as fast as she could and forgot all about her promise to the Frog.
The next day as the royal family was seated at dinner, something came creeping, splish, splash, splish, splash, up the marble staircase. Then a knock was heard at the door, and a voice said, “King’s Little Daughter, open the door for me.” When she opened the door she saw the Frog. She screamed with fright, and slammed the door in his face. When she told her father of her promise to let the Frog be her playmate, the King said, “What you have promised you must keep. Go, and let him in!” She opened the door and the Frog hopped in and followed her step by step to the chair. “Lift me up!” he cried. She did not like to do this, but the King said, “What you have promised you must keep.” When the Frog was on the chair, he wanted to be on the table and eat out of the golden plate, and when she started to go upstairs he asked her to let him rest on her snow-white bed. She was afraid of the cold, clammy Frog, and she began to cry again. But the King said, “What you have promised you must keep. Ugly though he is, did he not help you when you were in distress, and will you despise him now?” So the Princess took hold of him with her fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a corner. When he pleaded again to rest on her snow-white bed, she became angry and took hold of him and threw him with all her might against the wall. “Now will you be quiet, hateful Frog?” she said. But when he fell to the floor suddenly he changed from a frog into a beautiful Prince with kind and shining eyes looking at her. He told her how he had been changed into a Frog by a very wicked fairy, and how no one but she could get him out of the well and change him into a King’s son again, and that when they grew older they would be married and live together in his kingdom. The next morning when the sun was up, a carriage appeared drawn by eight white horses, and when the King and Queen gave their consent for the Princess to go, she was glad to be the Queen and live in the Prince’s beautiful kingdom. But she never forgot what her father had told her, “What you have promised you must keep.”