One evening, in times long ago, old Philemon and his old wife Baucis sat at their cottage door, enjoying the calm and beautiful sunset. They had already eaten their frugal supper, and intended now to spend a quiet hour or two before bedtime. So they talked together about their garden, and their cow, and their […]

Mother Ceres was exceedingly fond of her daughter Proserpina, and seldom let her go alone into the fields. But, just at the time when my story begins, the good lady was very busy, because she had the care of the wheat, and the Indian corn, and the rye and barley, and, in short, of the […]

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew or have entirely forgotten. So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to call […]

It happened once upon a time, in the olden days, that a young man, Periander of Corinth, started from a port in the south of Greece to sail to Miletus. Being caught in a storm, the boat was carried out of her course as far as the island of Lesbos, where she stayed for several […]

Many hundreds of years ago, not long after the Greeks returned from the famous siege of Troy, there lived a king of Egypt, whose name was Rhampsinitus. So great a king was he, that he kept a small army constantly employed in supplying the royal household with food, and another small army was required to […]

In a club, in England, there was a heated discussion. Phileaus Fogg had taken a bet with certain members of the club that he could travel around the world in eighty days. “Impossible,” said Joseph Cain, one of the members, “You cannot travel to every continent in eighty days.” ” It’s a bet, gentlemen. Twenty […]

Jim Hawkins loved adventure. When a blind man by the name of Black Dog came to live with him and his mother in their Inn, Jim had no idea he was to get into one great big dangerous adventure. Black Dog was an unfriendly old man. One morning, Black Dog was found dead in his […]

In the thick of a jungle in India, a little boy is playing with wolf cubs. Mother wolf is there. She says to the little boy, “Mowgli, be careful, you could hurt yourself.” Mowgli, as an infant had been found by the wolf in the jungle; she had brought him up just as she had […]

Robinson Crusoe as a young man loved to sail to distant lands. His father did not approve of Robinson as a sailor but let Robinson make his own decisions. Robinson Crusoe wanted to become a sailor. He went on his first voyage at the age of nineteen. It was a disastrous journey; there was a […]

Long ago, in England in Sherwood forest live Robin Hood. As a boy Robin had been cheated by a few noblemen and since then he had decided hat he would not spare the rich. He would rob the rich and give to the poor. The Sheriff of Nottingham had placed many rewards for the capture […]