The master artist
Monsieur Signy l'Abbaye was a master artist in his day, who in 1392 was ready to retire. It was the month of May. But Guiliano Bartoli, a rich Italian patron, sent for him saying, "I'd like a portrait of myself on my banquet room wall. Could you paint it? It's 20 feet tall."

Sliver Pete
I've never told this story before, but just the same I'm telling you now.
I was a boy of 8 in 1885 and I lived in a small town out west with my baby sister and my folks who ran the local delivery stable. It might not have been such a bad place except for one man.
His name was Sliver Pete and we thought

Tiger Son
Once there was an elderly widow, Chen Ma, who lived with her only son inside a forest in the Shanxi Province. Her son was one of the tiger hunters licensed by the local magistrate, following the same profession of his father and grandfather before him. His share of the profits from the sale of tiger skins, meat a

The Carabao and the Shell One very hot day, when a carabao went into the river to bathe, he met a shell and they began talking together.
"You are very slow," said the carabao to the shell.
"Oh, no," replied the shell. "I can beat you in a race."
"Then let us try and see," said

Dogedog Dogedog had always been very lazy, and now that his father and mother were dead and he had no one to care for him, he lived very poorly. He had little to eat. His house was old and small and so poor that it had not even a floor. Still he would rather sit all day and idle away his time than to work and have more things.
On

The Boy Who Became a Stone One day a little boy named Elonen sat out in the yard making a bird snare, and as he worked, a little bird called to him: "Tik-tik-lo-den" (come and catch me).
"I am making a snare for you," said the boy; but the bird continued to call until the snare was finished.
Then Elonen

The Man with the Coconuts One day a man who had been to gather his coconuts loaded his horse heavily with the fruit. On the way home he met a boy whom he asked how long it would take to reach the house.
"If you go slowly," said the boy, looking at the load on the horse, "you will arrive very soon; but if you go fas

How the First Head Was Taken One day the Moon, who was a woman named Kabigat, sat out in the yard making a large copper pot. The copper was still soft and pliable like clay, and the woman squatted on the ground with the heavy pot against her knees while she patted and shaped it.
Now while she was working a son of Cal-chal, the Su

The Giants Secret Long ago there was a king who had a very brave son. One day the son told his father, "Father, I am going to roam the world in search of adventures."
The king did not want to grant his son permission to do so, but the prince insisted so much that the king finally consented.
The prince mounted a be

The Forbidden Chamber Once there was an evil wizard who, dressed as a beggar, would go from house to house asking for alms and would steal the prettiest girls he could find. None of them could ever return home.
One day he knocked on the door of a house where lived a man with three beautiful daughters. The eldest opened the door a

The Louse-Skin Coat Once there was a king who had a daughter. One day when the queen was combing her daughter's hair, the mother found a louse.
"Look, Father," said the princess, "at the louse Mother found in my hair."
"Don't kill it!" exclaimed the king. "Let us put it in a jar. I am curi

The Gypsy Queen There was a king who had one son. When the prince reached a marriageable age, he told his parents, "I want to marry the most beautiful woman in the whole world. Therefore, I am going to journey all over the world until I find her."
The prince left the palace and traveled until he came to a fountain where

Clemencia and Jose Very long ago there lived a couple who had a daughter named Clemencia.
The mother, who was a witch, did not like Clemencia because she said the girl was a fool who was always going to church.
One day, the crops were more abundant than usual and Clemencia's father was forced to hire a youth named Jos&eacut

The Little Green Rabbit Long ago there was a very rich king who had three sons - three very handsome sons whom he loved very much. The king, however, desired to have this orders obeyed implicitly. One day the three princes went visiting without their father's permission and the king became so angry that he punished them by enchanti

White Flower Long ago there lived a queen who was a beautiful as she was vain. This queen had a little daughter named Blaca Flor who was also very beautiful, and grew more so every day.
The queen, to satisfy her vanity, had a magic mirror which she consulted daily, asking it always, "Who is the most beautiful woman in the wo