Foxes, bears and friends
Animal stories
54 stories with full text, ready to read aloud.
- Animals
The Three Little Pigs
Three pigs build houses of mud, cabbage, and brick, and only the sensible brick-builder outwits the fox who carries off the other two.
- Animals
Buckwheat
A proud buckwheat plant refuses to bow before a storm and is scorched by lightning while the humble grain survives.
- Animals
Cat and Mouse in Partnership
A cat tricks her mouse friend by secretly eating their shared winter provisions, then eats the mouse too.
- Animals
How Mrs. Fox married again
An old fox fakes his death to test his wife, who turns away every suitor lacking his fine qualities.
- Animals
Odds and Ends
A lazy bride mocks her hardworking maid, only to lose her bridegroom to the diligent girl.
- Animals
Old Sultan
An aging dog and a wolf hatch a plan to secure the dog's place, then patch up a falling-out.
- Animals
The adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet
A rooster and hen have a series of comic adventures that turn increasingly deadly, ending with the death of everyone.
- Animals
The Bittern and the Hoopoe
Two herdsmen, one whose pastures were too rich and one too poor, were turned into birds still calling their lost cattle.
- Animals
The Bremen Town Musicians
Four worn-out animals — a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster — set off to become musicians and outwit a house full of robbers along the way.
- Animals
The butterfly
A fussy butterfly can never choose a flower-bride and ends up an old bachelor pinned in a curiosity box.
- Animals
The conceited apple branch
A proud apple branch looks down on the common dandelion until a sunbeam teaches it that all of creation shares in beauty.
- Animals
The Dog and the Sparrow
When a careless waggoner runs over her dog friend, a sparrow exacts relentless, escalating revenge.
- Animals
The drop of water
A magician colors a drop of ditch water to reveal tiny creatures savagely tearing each other apart, a mirror of city life.
- Animals
The Duration Of Life
God gives man extra years borrowed from the ass, dog, and monkey, which explains why old age brings toil, weakness, and foolishness.
- Animals
The farmyard cock and the weathercock
A boastful barnyard cock and an aloof, lofty weathercock each think themselves superior, until the wind decides the matter.
- Animals
The Fox and His Cousin
A sly fox tricks the she-wolf into danger and then mocks her instead of helping.
- Animals
The Fox and the Cat
The fox brags of a hundred tricks and the cat knows only one — but when the hounds come, whose single trick actually saves the day? A sly Grimm fable.
- Animals
The Fox and the Geese
Geese about to be eaten by a fox ask for one last prayer and cackle on endlessly to delay their doom, so the tale never ends.
- Animals
The Fox and the Horse
A clever fox helps a cast-off old horse trap a lion and win back his master's care.
- Animals
The Greenies
A boastful little aphid pleads its case to the narrator, who decides to make soap bubbles instead of washing the bugs away.
- Animals
The Half-Chick
A vain one-legged chick refuses to help water, fire, and wind on his way to see the King, and each repays him in turn.
- Animals
The happy family
Two old garden snails live smugly in their burdock forest, sure they are the grandest creatures in the world.
- Animals
The Hare and the Hedgehog
A boastful hare mocks the hedgehog's little legs and challenges him to a race — but cleverness beats speed in this funny Brothers Grimm tale.
- Animals
The Hare and the Tortoise
The beloved Aesop fable about a boastful hare and a slow, steady tortoise — and the race that proves slow and steady wins.
- Animals
The Hare's Bride
A girl carried off to marry a hare tricks him with a straw doll and slips back home to her mother.
- Animals
The leap-frog
A flea, a grasshopper and a leap-frog compete for a princess in a jumping contest with an unexpected winner.
- Animals
The leaping match
A flea, a grasshopper, and a frog compete to jump highest for the princess's hand, and the quiet frog wins by cunning.
- Animals
The Lion and the Mouse
A classic Aesop bedtime fable: a tiny mouse begs a great lion for mercy — and later proves that even the smallest friend can save the mightiest.
- Animals
The Mouse, The Bird, and the Sausage
Three housemates who swap their well-suited chores all come to grief when they abandon what worked.
- Animals
The Nail
A merchant in too much of a hurry to fix one missing horseshoe nail ends up losing his horse entirely.
- Animals
The Peasant in Heaven
A poor peasant and a rich lord both die and reach heaven, where Saint Peter gently explains why the rich man got the louder welcome.
- Animals
The pen and the inkstand
A pen and an inkstand each claim credit for a poet's work, until the poet reflects that all are merely instruments.
- Animals
The Poor Man and the Rich Man
The Lord rewards a poor couple's hospitality with three wishes, while the greedy rich man wastes his three wishes on anger and folly.
- Animals
The Portuguese duck
A self-important duck loudly proclaims her big heart toward an injured songbird, then kills him with a careless peck.
- Animals
The Rabbit's bride
A girl taken to be a rabbit's bride tricks him with a straw dummy and escapes home.
- Animals
The roses and the sparrows
Roses and a family of chattering sparrows live by a pond, and beauty outlasts everything even as misfortune strikes their neighbors.
- Animals
The Sole
In a fish race to choose a king, the envious sole's jealous sneer leaves its mouth twisted to one side forever.
- Animals
The Sparrow and his Four Children
A father sparrow reunites with his four grown sons and hears how each learned to survive the world's dangers.
- Animals
The storks
A stork family learns to fly while village boys taunt them with a cruel song, and the storks plan a fitting reward and revenge.
- Animals
The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife
A magic flounder grants a fisherman's ever-greedier wife each wish until she demands to be a god and loses everything.
- Animals
The Straw, The Coal, and the Bean
A straw, a coal, and a bean flee the cooking pot together and meet comic ends crossing a brook.
- Animals
The teapot
A vain teapot loses its spout and handle but finds new purpose nurturing a flower bulb in its later life.
- Animals
The Three Brothers
Three brothers master their trades in a friendly contest for the family house and choose to live together in harmony.
- Animals
The travelling musicians
Four aging farm animals cast off by their masters team up and scare a band of robbers out of their house.
- Animals
The Ugly Duckling
A misfit duckling endures mockery and hardship before discovering he was a swan all along.
- Animals
The War of the Wolf and the Fox
A discarded old cat and dog team up with a sly fox and win back their masters' favor through a comically bungled animal battle.
- Animals
The Wedding of Mrs. Fox
A fox feigns death to test his wife, who is courted by a parade of suitors until only a proper match will do.
- Animals
The Willow-Wren
The birds hold a contest to choose a king, and a tiny nameless bird wins by trickery, explaining why the wren and owl behave as they do.
- Animals
The Willow-Wren And The Bear
Insulted by a boastful bear, the wren king rallies the birds and insects to win a comic war and force an apology.
- Animals
The Wise Servant
A servant sent to find a cow chases blackbirds instead, in an ironic little tale mocking so-called cleverness.
- Animals
The Wolf and the Fox
A clever fox repeatedly leads a greedy wolf into trouble until the wolf's gluttony proves fatal.
- Animals
The Wolf and the Man
A boastful wolf who wants to fight a man learns the hard way why animals fear humankind.
- Animals
The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
A crafty wolf tricks his way into the goats' cottage while their mother is away — but Mother Goat has a clever plan to save her little ones.
- Animals
What happened to the thistle
A roadside thistle imagines grand futures for itself after its flowers play a small part in a couple's romance.
