English English Stories

A Fairy Tale by Paulo Coelho

I ancient China, around the year 250 BC, a certain prince of the region of Thing-Zda was to be crowned emperor, however, according to the law, he first had to get married.
Since this meant choosing the future empress, the prince needed to find a young woman whom he could trust absolutely. On the advice of a wise man, he decided to summon all the young women of the region in order to find tho most worthly candidate.
An old lady, who had served in the palace for many years, heard about the preparations for this gathering and felt very sad, for her daughter nurtured a secret love for the prince.
When the old lady got home, she told her daughter and was horrified to learn that she intended going to the palace.
The old lady was desperate.
"But, daughter, what on earth will you do there? All the richest and most beautiful girls from the court will be present. It`s a ridiculous idea! I know you must be suffering, but don´t turn that suffering into madness".
And the daughter replied:
"My dear mother, I am not suffering and I certainly haven´t gone mad. I know that I won´t be chosen, but it´s my one chance to spend at least a few moments close to the prince, and that makes me happy, even thought I know that a quite different fate awaits me".
That night, when the young woman reached the palace, all the most beautiful girls were indeet there, wearing the most beautiful clothes and the most beautiful jewellery, and prepared to do anything to seize the opportunity on offer.
Surrounded by the members of this court, the prince announced a challenge.
"I will give each of you a seed. In six months´time, the young woman who brings me the loveliest flower will be the future empress of China".
The girl took her seed and planted it in a pot, and since she was not very skilled in the art of gardening, she prepared the soil with patience and tenderness, for she believed that if the flowers grew as large as her love, then she need not worry about the result.
Three months passed and no shoots had appeared. The young woman tried everything; she conculted farmers and peasants, who showed her the most varied methods of cultivation, but all to no avail. Each day she felt that her dream had moved farther off, althougt her love was as alive as ever.
At last, the six months were up, and still nothing had grown in her pot. Even though she had nothing to show, she knew how much effort and dedication she had put in during that time, and so she told her mother that she would go back to the palace on the agreed date and at the agreed hour. Insisde, she knew that this would be her last meeting with her true love,and she would not have missed it for the world.
The day of the audience arrived. The girl appeared with her plantless pot,and saw that all the other candidates hat achieved wonderful results. Each girl bore a flower lovelier than the last, in the most varied forms and colours.
Finally, the longes-for moment came. The prince entered and studied each of the candidates with great care and attention. Having inspected them all, he announced the result and chose the servant´s daughter as his new wife.
All the other girls present began to protest, saying that he had chosen the only of them who had failed to grow anything at all.
Then the prince calmly explained the reasoning behind the challenge.
"This young woman was the only one who cultivated the flower that made her worthy of becoming the empress: the flower of honesty. All the seeds I handed out were sterile, and nothing could ever have grown from them".

Dear maxi, what a lovely Story. I did not expect that end at all. It is god to know that honesty counts for something. You have done a great job to write down that Story. Thank you so much
Love yoli

something with a little funny twist to it

An atheist was walking through the woods.
"What majestic trees"!
"What powerful rivers"!
"What beautiful animals"!
He said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.

He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant the Atheist cried out, "Oh my God!"

Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident." "Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer"?
The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian"?

"Very Well," said the voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:

"Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."

here are some Facts > you could not live without

LITTLE HISTORY LESSON



In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either
sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing
behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and
both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were
to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are
"limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the
_expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May
and October)! Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads
(because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs
made from wool. They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would
carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30
minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big
wig." Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig" because someone
appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one
chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used
for dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair while
everyone else ate sitting on the floor . Occasionally a guest, who was
usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit
in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one
sitting in the chair the "chair man." Today in business, we use the
expression or title "Chairman" or "Chairman of the Board."

Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and
men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax
over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were
speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face
she was told, "mind your own bee's wax." Should the woman smile, the wax
would crack, hence the term "crack a smile" In addition, when they sat too
close to the fire, the wax would melt. Therefore, the expression "losing
face."

Dear Yoli,
what an interesting story. We often don´t know where the expressions and phrases come from.
Omg - twice a year a bath! No wonder that they had lice and bugs. I think they smelled very bad.
Love, Bärbel

thank you for reading it Bärbel. I let you digest it first, because I have more of that sort of stories
I let Rosemarie read it first, if she likes

Dear pen-friends,
you are ever so busy writing interesting stories! Following your brave examples I fought my way through my English literature, looking for short stories. Finally I found a few in a book which I found on a flee market with accounts of the adventurers in Western Canada.

A George Grant had written in his diary the following:
It is greatly to the credit of the Indians in Britisch Columbia that they have never injured or stolen from any missionary. They have plundered posts, stripped traders naked, and murdered some who perhaps had given them cause; but even when at war, the missionary is allowed to enter and speak in their great councils and is everywhere treated with respect. Reverence is a strong trait in the Indian character. His own language supplies no words for profane swearing; if he wishes to blaspheme, he must borrow from the French or English.
Taken from "Journeys to the Far West"

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-East-Baird-T-Spalding/dp/1439252777#reader_1439252777

Rosemarie and Bärbel, I looked up Journey to the far east and found there some great stories about India.
Maybe you like to have a look there as well. The first chapter is interesting.
You will have to read online yourself, as it is not allowed to copy anything out of it. But still, reading is OK
I will post though something more of the similar Thing above next time.

The Catholic and the Muslim

by Paulo Coelho

I was talking to a Catholic priest and a young Muslim man over lunch. When the waiter came by with a tray, we all helped ourselves, except the Muslim, who was keeping the annual fast prescribed by the Koran.
When lunch was over and people were leaving, one of the other guests couldn´t resist saying: "You see how fanatical these Muslims are! I´m glad to see you Catholics aren´t like them."
"But we are," said the priest. "He is trying to serve God just as I am. We merely follow different laws." And he concluded: "It´s a shame that people see only the differences that separate them. If you were to look with more love, you would mainly see what we have in common, then half the world´s problems would be solved."

How very true. I do like Paulo Coelho very much.
I have some more explanations of words and their meaning

Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and
dignified woman, as in "straight laced" . . . wore a tightly tied lace.

Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied
when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "Ace of Spades." To
avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead.
Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be
stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck."

Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the
people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios,
the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars. They
were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and
political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. "You
go sip here" and "You go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually
combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term
"gossip."

At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized
containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep
the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was
drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts," hence the term
"minding your "P's and Q's."