Once upon a time there lived a young farmer. He worked very hard but was very poor. One day when he was far from home in the forest, an old woman looking like a peasant came up to him and said, «I know you work very hard, and all for nothing. I will give you […]
Tess was eight years old. One day she heard that her Mom and Dad were talking about her little brother, Andrew. All she knew was that he was very ill and they were completely out of money. They were moving to an apartment complex the following month because Daddy didn’t have the money for the […]
I was a writer. I wrote books. I write now, but nobody knows. Nobody can see me now. Something strange has happened to me. I will tell you about it. In January I wanted to write a very long book. So I left my home and I found a little room. ‘This is a good […]
Once a rich Englishwoman called Mrs Johnson decided to have a birthday party. She invited a lot of guests and a singer. The singer was poor, but he had a very good voice. The singer got to Mrs Johnson’s house at exactly six o’clock as he had been asked to do, but when he went […]
The Netherlands is a country in Europe. It is famous for its many beautiful rivers and canals. About a quarter of the Netherlands lies very low, lower than the water in the sea. High and thick dykes around the Netherlands don’t allow the water from the sea to flood the land. The Netherlands is also […]
I have a friend who is afraid of spiders. This isn’t very unusual; a lot of people are afraid of spiders. I don’t really like spiders much myself. I don’t mind them if you see them outside, in the garden, as long as they’re not too big. But if one comes in the house, especially […]
Once upon a time there was a stone cutter. The stone cutter lived in a land where a life of privilege meant being powerful. Looking at his life he decided that he was unsatisfied with the way things were and so he set out to become the most powerful thing in the land. Looking around […]
The South Pole sits on a vast area of land. The land’s name is Antarctica. There are a lot of mountains in Antarctica. Some of them are three kilometres high and more! There are many volcanoes under the ice of the South Pole. The ice in Antarctica is very thick! In some places it is […]
‘Of course,’ the man in the brown hat said, ‘there are good policemen and there are bad policemen, you know.’ ‘You’re right,’ the young man said. ‘Yes. That’s very true. Isn’t it, Julie?’ He looked at the young woman next to him. Julie didn’t answer and looked bored. She closed her eyes. ‘Julie’s my wife,’ […]
One evening a man called James was on the road from Oxford to London. There weren’t many cars on the road because it was late. Suddenly in the lights of his car he saw a woman by the road – she was quite young and very pretty. ‘It’s dangerous to walk along the road when […]
