The White Cat and the Imps

Englishstory12.blogspot.com - Once upon a time, there was a man who had captured a polar bear which he intended to present to the tsar. On the way home, he found himself in the woods as night began to fall, and he asked a woodsman for refuge.

“Of course, you may stay the night,” said the woodsman, “but you’ll have to make do as best you can, because there won't be much space. This night is the feast of the trolls, the impish spirits of the forest, and unfortunately they have a tradition of celebrating with a banquet in my house!”

The man laid out his bed in the closet, and the bear crawled in under the covers and soon fell asleep.

Teat evening the trolls arrived, hundreds of every shape and size, noisy and cheeky like little boys. One of them spied the white fur under the covers, and thought a large cat was hiding there. The troll tugged spitefully at the fur, until the polar bear leapt out in fury. The terrified trolls fled.

The year after, before turning up at the house, the trolls asked the woodsman if he still had his “big cat”.

“Oh yes!” confirmed the woodsman, “and the seven kittens she has had in the last twelve months are all bigger than the mother!”

Needless to say, the trolls never returned to the woodsman's house for their banquet.

The Spiteful Gnomes

englishstory12.blogspot.com - Once upon a time a woman had lovely baby, but gnomes stole the child and put in its place a baby gnome in the cradle. The mother begged them to return the child to her but they just laughed unkindly. Sad and distracted without her baby, the woman put a raw egg on the fire instead of into the pot of water. The gnomes, who were always running around the kitchen, burst out laugh at this, because, as we all know, gnomes like to laugh more than anything else. So they returned baby to the mother and took away the baby gnome.

The Nightingale and the Farmer

Englishstory12.blogspot.com - A nightingale, who had laid her eggs late in the season, was still hidden in the corn when it was almost ripe. She began to worry that the crop might be harvested before her young ones were able to fly away.

Whenever she left the nest, she always urged her chicks to keep their ears open and, upon her return, tell her every word that they had heard.

One evening, when she came back to the nest, she found her chicks in terror. The youngest spoke up: “The owner of the field told his sons to go and get their friends to come tomorrow to help with the harvesting of our field”

"Is that all,” smiled the nightingale “Don't be alarmed, my dears, because nothing will happen, you will see.”

And she was right. The next morning none of the friends turn up. The farmer sent them a second message, asking them to come and help the next day, and once again the nightingale was not worried in the slightest... until the day she finally heard the farmer said to his sons: “I’ve had enough. Tomorrow we shall bring in the harvest ourselves. When there is work to be done, we cannot count on our friends to do it for us.”

It was only then, that the nightingale took her chicks, and flew swiftly away without further delay.