One
day a hare was bragging about how fast he could run. He bragged and
bragged and even laughed at the tortoise, who was so slow. The tortoise
stretched out his long neck and challenged the hare to a race, which,
of course, made the hare laugh.
"My,
my, what a joke!" thought the hare.
"A race, indeed, a race. Oh! what fun!
My, my! a race, of course, Mr. Tortoise, we shall race!" said the
hare.
The
forest animals met and mapped out the course. The race begun, and the
hare, being such a swift runner, soon left the tortoise far behind.
About halfway through the course, it occurred to the hare that he had
plenty of time to beat the slow trodden tortoise.
"Oh,
my!" thought the hare, "I have plenty of time to play in the
meadow here."
And so he did.
After
the hare finished playing, he decided that he had time to take a little
nap.
"I have plenty of time to beat that
tortoise," he thought. And he cuddle up against a tree and dozed.
The tortoise,
in the meantime, continued to plod on, albeit, it ever so slowly. He
never stopped, but took one good step after another.
The hare
finally woke from his nap. "Time to get going," he thought.
And off he went faster than he had ever run before! He dashed as quickly
as anyone ever could up to the finish line, where he met the tortoise,
who was patiently awaiting his arrival.
Once upon a
time a very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny cottage in the forest with
his two children, Hansel and Gretel. His second wife often ill-treated
the children and was forever nagging the woodcutter.
"There is not
enough food in the house for us all. There are too many mouths to feed!
We must get rid of the two brats," she declared. And she kept on trying
to persuade her husband to abandon his children in the forest.
"Take them miles
from home, so far that they can never find their way back! Maybe someone
will find them and give them a home." The downcast woodcutter didn't know
what to do. Hansel who, one evening, had overheard his parents' conversation,
comforted Gretel.
"Don't worry!
If they do leave us in the forest, we'll find the way home," he said. And
slipping out of the house he filled his pockets with little white pebbles,
then went back to bed.
All night long,
the woodcutter's wife harped on and on at her husband till, at dawn, he
led Hansel and Gretel away into the forest. But as they went into the depths
of the trees, Hansel dropped a little white pebble here and there on the
mossy green ground. At a certain point, the two children found they really
were alone: the woodcutter had plucked up enough courage to desert
them, had mumbled an excuse
and was gone.
Night fell but
the woodcutter did not return. Gretel began to sob bitterly. Hansel too
felt scared but he tried to hide his feelings and comfort his sister.
"Don't cry,
trust me! I swear I'll take you home even if Father doesn't come back for
us!" Luckily the moon was full that night and Hansel waited till its cold
light filtered through the trees.
"Now give me
your hand!" he said. "We'll get home safely, you'll see!" The tiny white
pebbles gleamed in the moonlight, and the children found their way home.
They crept through a half open window, without wakening their parents.
Cold, tired but thankful to be home again, they slipped into bed.
Next day, when
their stepmother discovered that Hansel and Gretel had returned, she went
into a rage. Stifling her anger in front of the children, she locked her
bedroom door, reproaching her husband for failing to carry out her orders.
The weak woodcutter protested, torn as he was between shame and fear of
disobeying his cruel wife. The wicked stepmother kept Hansel and Gretel
under lock and key all day with nothing for supper but a sip of water and
some hard bread. All night, husband and wife quarreled, and when dawn came,
the woodcutter led the children out into the forest.
Hansel, however,
had not eaten his bread, and as he walked through the trees, he left a
trail of crumbs behind him to mark the way. But the little boy had forgotten
about the hungry birds that lived in the forest. When they saw him, they
flew along behind and in no time at all, had eaten all the crumbs. Again,
with a lame excuse, the woodcutter left his two children by
themselves.
"I've left a
trail, like last time!" Hansel whispered to Gretel, consolingly. But when
night fell, they saw to their horror, that all the crumbs had gone.
"I'm frightened!"
wept Gretel bitterly. "I'm cold and hungry and I want to go home!"
"Don't be afraid.
I'm here to look after you!" Hansel tried to encourage his sister, but
he too shivered when he glimpsed frightening shadows and evil eyes around
them in the darkness. All night the two children huddled together for warmth
at the foot of a large tree.
When dawn broke,
they started to wander about the forest, seeking a path, but all hope soon
faded. They were well and truly lost. On they walked and walked, till suddenly
they came upon a strange cottage in the middle of a glade.
"This is chocolate!"
gasped Hansel as he broke a lump of plaster from the wall.
"And this is
icing!" exclaimed Gretel, putting another piece of wall in her mouth. Starving
but delighted, the children began to eat pieces of candy broken off the
cottage.
"Isn't this
delicious?" said Gretel, with her mouth full. She had never tasted anything
so nice.
"We'll stay
here," Hansel declared, munching a bit of nougat. They were just about
to try a piece of the biscuit door when it quietly swung open.
"Well, well!"
said an old woman, peering out with a crafty look. "And haven't you children
a sweet tooth?"
"Come in! Come
in, you've nothing to fear!" went on the old woman. Unluckily for Hansel
and Gretel, however, the sugar candy cottage belonged to an old witch,
her trap for catching unwary victims. The two children had come to a really
nasty place.
"You're nothing
but skin and bones!" said the witch, locking Hansel into a cage. I shall
fatten you up and eat you!"
"You can do
the housework," she told Gretel grimly, "then I'll make a meal of you too!"
As luck would have it, the witch had very bad eyesight, an when Gretel
smeared butter on her glasses, she could see even less.
"Let me feel
your finger!" said the witch to Hansel every day to check if he was getting
any fatter. Now, Gretel had brought her brother a chicken bone, and when
the witch went to touch his finger, Hansel held out the bone.
"You're still
much too thin!" she complained. When will you become plump?" One day the
witch grew tired of waiting.
"Light the oven,"
she told Gretel. "We're going to have a tasty roasted boy today!" A little
later, hungry and impatient, she went on: "Run and see if the oven is hot
enough." Gretel returned, whimpering: "I can't tell if it is hot enough
or not." Angrily, the witch screamed at the little girl: "Useless child!
All right, I'll see for myself." But when the witch bent down to peer inside
the oven and check the heat, Gretel gave her a tremendous push and slammed
the oven door shut. The witch had come to a fit and proper end. Gretel
ran to set her brother free and they made quite sure that the oven door
was tightly shut behind the witch. Indeed, just to be on the safe side,
they fastened it firmly with a large padlock. Then they stayed for several
days to
eat some more of the house,
till they discovered amongst the witch's belongings, a huge chocolate egg.
Inside lay a casket of gold coins.
"The witch is
now burnt to a cinder," said Hansel, "so we'll take this treasure with
us." They filled a large basket with food and set off into the forest to
search for the way home. This time, luck was with them, and on the second
day, they saw their father come out of the house towards them, weeping.
"Your stepmother
is dead. Come home with me now, my dear children!" The two children hugged
the woodcutter.
"Promise you'll
never ever desert us again," said Gretel, throwing her arms round her father's
neck. Hansel opened the casket.
"Look, Father!
We're rich now . . . You'll never have to chop wood again."
And they all
lived happily together ever after. *****************************************************************************************
Kids loved watching the talking storybook later :)
After the story, kids got to make their little candy house using toasts and candies...
Here's how :)
1. Toast bread slices
2. Liberally apply cream or cheese spread
3. Handful of jelly candies topped with kid's imagination
4. Yummy Candy House is ready to gobble up :)
Kids later were asked to draw anything from the story...
Long
ago there lived an lonely old carpenter named Geppetto. He made a puppet
out of some wood, a ball, and a string. That night, a fairy visited and
cast a spell that made the puppet walk and talk. The next morning, Geppetto
discovered the animated puppet and named him Pinocchio. Geppetto gave Pinocchio
all of his money and sent him into town to buy books for school. Instead,
Pinocchio used to the money to buy a ticket for the circus. Two clowns
gave Pinocchio a hat and asked him to stay, but he said he must go back
to Geppetto.
The clowns
returned Pinocchioís money, but on the way home he was robbed by and evil
cat and an equally evil fox. The fairy appeared again and asked what happened;
Pinocchio pretended he had been captured by a monster. Suddenly his nose
grew, and the fairy said, Whenever you lie, your nose will get bigger.
Now go find Geppetto; he is out looking for you by the sea.
Pinocchio
was rowing a small boat in the sea when he thought he heard Geppetto's
voice coming from inside a large dark cave. He rowed inside, only to find
himself inside a whale with Geppetto. He tickled the whale with a feather,
and the whale sneezed, sending Pinocchio and Geppetto flying out on to
the beach. Relived, Pinocchio vowed never to lie again and then he heard
the fairy's voice saying, make that promise and you will become a real
boy.
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