Fables and Fairytales

Short Fables and Fairytales Stories for Kids

Why The Bear Has A Stumpy Tail

ONE winter's day the bear met the fox, who came slinking along with a string of fish he had stolen.

"Hi! stop a minute! Where did you get those from?" demanded the bear.

"Oh, my Lord Bruin, I've been out fishing and caught them," said the fox.

So the bear had a mind to learn to fish, too, and bade the fox tell him how he was to set about it.

"Oh, it is quite easy," answered the fox, "and soon learned. You've only got to go upon the ice, and cut a hole and stick your tail down through it, and hold it there as long as you can. You're not to mind if it smarts a little - that's when the fish bite.

The longer you hold it there, the more fish you'll get. And then all at once out with it, with a cross pull side ways and a strong pull, too."

Well, the bear did as the fox said, and though he felt very cold, and his tail smarted very much, he kept it a long, long time down in the hole, till at last it was frozen in, though of course he did not know that. Then he pulled it out with a strong pull, and it snapped short off, and that's why the Bear goes about with a stumpy tail to this day!

The Tortoise and The Hare

"What a dull, heavy creature, is this Tortoise," says the Hare.

"And yet," says the Tortoise, "I'll run with you for a wager."

"Done," says the Hare, and then they asked the Fox to be the judge.

They started together, and the Tortoise jogged on, till he came to the end of the course.

The Hare laid himself down midway and took a nap; "for," says he, "I can catch up with the Tortoise when I please."

But it seems he overslept, for when he woke, though he scudded away as fast as possible, the Tortoise had reached the finish before him and won the wager.

Slow and steady wins the race.

The Boys and The Frogs

A company of idle boys were watching some frogs by the side of a pond, and as fast as any of the frogs lifted their heads the boys would pelt them down again with stones.

"Boys," said one of the frogs, "you forget that, though this may be fun for you, it is death to us."

The Fox and The Grapes

A hungry fox discovered some bunches of grapes hanging from a vine high up a tree, and, as he gazed, he longed to get at them, and could not.

So he left them hanging there and went off muttering, "They're sour grapes, anyway."

The Mouse and The Lion

A mouse happened to run into the mouth of a sleeping lion, who roused himself, caught him, and was just about eating him, when the little fellow begged him to let him go, saying, "If I am saved, I shall be everlastingly grateful."

So, with a smile, the lion let him off. It befell him not long after to be saved by the mouse's gratitude, for when he was caught by some hunters and bound by ropes to a tree, the mouse, hearing his roaring groans, came and gnawed the ropes, and set him free, saying,

"You laughed at me once, as if you could receive no return from me, but now, you see, it is you who have to be grateful to me."

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A Collection of Short Fables and Fairytales
Fables and Fairytales