There was a certain village wherein no one lived but really rich peasants, and just one poor one, whom they called the little peasant. He had not even so much as a cow, and still less money to buy one, and yet he and his wife did so wish to have one. One day he…
THE OLD MAN AND HIS GRANDSON (Grimm’s Kinder und Hausmärchen) by The Brothers Grimm
There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted…
CLEVER GRETEL (Grimm’s Kinder und Hausmärchen) by The Brothers Grimm
There was once a cook named Gretel, who wore shoes with red heels, and when she walked out with them on, she turned herself this way and that, was quite happy and thought: ‘You certainly are a pretty girl!’ And when she came home she drank, in her gladness of heart, a draught of wine,…
Favorite folk- and fairy tales about greed
Folk- and fairy tales hand down a morality and principles for living together in a society. Since greed is such a wide-spread human trait, it became one of the most famous motives in folk and fairy tales. The uncontrolled longing or desire to gain and accumulate more food, wealth, prestige by few can easily spoil…
THE PUNISHMENT OF GREED (The Chinese Fairy Book, 1921) by Richard Wilhelm
ONCE upon a time there lived a man south of the Yangtze-kiang. He had taken a position as a teacher in Sutschoufu, on the border of Shantung. But when he got there he found that the schoolhouse had not yet been completed. Yet a two-story building in the neighborhood had been rented, in which the…
Folk and fairy tales of a pandemic
… and how to face our fears and grief The year 2020 will go down in history books as a year that was dominated by the pandemic. As of now, there is no end in sight. One thing that becomes obvious is that societies around the world are deeply divided. Divided in those who fear…