Once upon a time the king of a far country was sitting on his throne,
listening to the complaints of his people, and judging between them.
That morning there had been fewer cases than usual to deal with, and
the king was about to rise and go into his gardens, when a sudden stir
was heard outside, and the lord high chamberlain entered, and inquired
if his majesty would be graciously pleased to receive the ambassador
of a powerful emperor who lived in the east, and was greatly feared by
the neighbouring sovereigns.
There were, once upon a time, a king and queen of Denmark who had an
only son, a handsome and clever lad. When he was eighteen, his father,
the old king, fell very ill, and there was no hope that he would ever
get well again. The queen and the prince were very unhappy, for they
loved him dearly;
Once upon a time there lived by herself, in a city, an old woman who
was desperately poor. One day she found that she had only a handful of
flour left in the house, and no money to buy more nor hope of earning
it. Carrying her little brass pot, very sadly she made her way down to
the river to bathe and to obtain some water,
In a very hot country, far away to the east, was a beautiful little
lake where two wild ducks made their home, and passed their days
swimming and playing in its clear waters. They had it all to
themselves, except for a turtle, who was many years older than they
were, and had come there before them, and, luckily, instead of taking
a dislike to the turtle,
Once, in former times, there lived in a certain city in India a poor
oil-seller, called Déna, who never could keep any money in his
pockets; and when this story begins he had borrowed from a banker, of
the name of Léna, the sum of one hundred rupees;