There was a man, he was called Friedel, and his young wife, she was called Kotti. Newly wedded they were, these two, and had just set up housekeeping on a farm of their own.

Said Friedel one day, “Now I’m off to the fields, Kotti. When I return I shall expect to find some meat on the table for my hunger, and a cool drink beside it for my thirst.”

“But the meat is raw, Friedel!” said the young wife who had not yet learned to cook and who was none too bright besides.

“Raw it is, to be sure,”...

There is an old saying which goes like this: “I shall blow my feather into the air, and where the same does blow there shall I go to seek my fortune.” And here, my children, is the story of how this proverb came into being.

It happened long ago, and in a far-off land across the sea where lived a King who had three sons. Of these, the two oldest were considered witty and clever, but the youngest talked little and seemed simple, and for this reason he was known only as Simple Sepp.

Now the King was getting old...

This is the story of a boy who was as awkward as a goose and twice as silly. Hans was his name, and he lived in a valley near a village with his widowed mother. The widow was not poor for she had plenty of money; but she had her troubles all the same, and that was because of her son who did everything wrong and had talent for nothing but folly.

One day this foolish boy, wandering about the village, saw a pretty girl whose name was Gretel; and after gazing at her rosy cheeks, blue eyes and honey-golden...