There was great trouble in the white castle that stood at the top of the hill. The huge fire that had burned in the castle kitchen for years had suddenly gone out, and no one seemed to be able to light it again. It was deep winter outside. The hill was white with snow, and […]

There was, once upon a time, a child who wanted very much to see Santa Claus; just as every other child has always wanted to see him. So the Child listened at the chimney for Santa Claus, and watched for him when sleighs flew by over the snowy streets, and wanted to touch his rosy […]

None of the children in the village would play with Christopher because he was the child of Beggar Mother of the Goeinge Forest. The Forest was deep, full of brown, leafless oaks and green fir trees, with the wind singing shrill tunes in their branches. In the darkest part was a thick mountain wall, and […]

Billy and Betty had the beautiful plan about having a Christmas tree in the barn. They were spending the winter with father and mother on Uncle William’s big farm, and they loved every one of the barn creatures very much indeed. There were the hens who gave them such fine fresh eggs, and Shep, the […]

How would you like to have begun life in a little log cabin set in the midst of a western wilderness? Suppose, too, that the cabin had no window and so many cracks that it let in the winter winds and even the snow! That was how little Abe first saw life a long time […]

The flag had been in the family for years, and years, and years. Great-grandfather Wolcott had carried it, and Grandfather Wolcott had hung it on a pole in front of his farm house. Father Wolcott had taken it to Boston to be mended when he was a young man, and it hung in front of […]

Roger had planned to send a great many valentines to the girls and boys he knew. There were beautiful valentines in the toy shop window, red satin hearts in little heart-shaped boxes, painted post card valentines, and little card-board figures holding baskets of flowers. Roger had been saving his allowance for four weeks and he […]

Once upon a time there was a little Prince, and he wanted to give a valentine to a little Princess who lived in a neighboring kingdom. She was a very beautiful little Princess indeed, for her smile was as bright as her golden hair, and her love for her subjects was as deep as the […]

(Adapted from an Indian Folk Tale) A long time ago when there were no white men in our country, but only Indians who lived in the forest, there was a timid little Indian boy. All the other Indian lads loved the dark, so full of stars, and moonlight; but this boy was afraid of the […]

When Molly came in from the chicken house, she looked very sad. “O dear me!” she sighed. “I’m so disappointed!” “What is it, sunny girl?” asked mother. “Red Top hasn’t laid an egg, and to-morrow is Easter. I shut Red Top in all by herself, so I should know that it was her very own […]

The King was very ill indeed and no one in all the court could find out what was his ailment or how to cure it. He had been the kindest, merriest king for miles about, always ready to help a poor subject or to stop and play with the children as he drove his chariot […]

It was late in the fall when Fuzzy Caterpillar gave up. “I suppose this is the end of me,” he thought in his little round head as he tried to wriggle across the road and couldn’t because his back was so stiff. “Now I am an old man and I shall never see another summer. […]

(Adapted from a Manx Folk Tale) A long while ago when there were not so many people on the earth as there are now, and the birds and animals had things about their own way, a Cuckoo gave a tea party. She invited all the birds there were, from the great Eagle, through the Larks, […]

Every one knew that she was a princess because she wandered all day through the castle without doing any work. It was a very busy kingdom indeed even if it was so tiny. It was only about two inches high above the meadow, not nearly as tall as the grass blades that grew all around […]

(Adapted from a German Folk Tale) There were once three little butterfly brothers, one white, one red, and one yellow. They played in the sunshine, and danced among the flowers in the garden, and they never grew tired because they were so happy. One day there came a heavy rain and it wet their wings. […]

Once upon a time, a long, long while ago, the Sun, the Wind, and the Moon were three sisters, and their mother was a pale, lovely Star that shone, far away, in the dark evening sky. One day their uncle and aunt, who were no more or less than the Thunder and Lightning, asked the […]

A Camel and a Pig chanced to meet in a far country, and as neither had seen the other before, they began at once to boast. “The greatest distinction and the most good in the world comes from being tall,” said the Camel. “Look at me, Pig; behold how tall I am!” The Pig looked […]

There was once a prince who went to his father, the King, to receive his fortune. And when the King ordered it to be brought in, what do you think it was–a great, gray bag of dust! The Prince, now that he was old enough to go out in the world, had expected a very […]

Once upon a time, when it was the story age, and things were very different from what they are now, two tribes of pygmies lived very near each other. These tribes of little people looked just alike, they both were very, very tiny, and they both lived out of doors in the fields. But in […]

Everything in the woods was covered deep with snow, the berries, the juicy young bushes, and the roots. The animals had stowed themselves away for the winter to sleep; the bear in a deep cave, the chipmunk in a hollow log, and the wild mouse in a cozy hole beneath the roots of a tree. […]