THE ANIMALS AND THE PLAGUE Once upon a time . a terrible scourge swept through a huge forest , full of animals . It was the plague . one after the other all the animals , big and small , strong and weak , died of the dreadful disease . None could hope to escape such a horrible fate , not even the lion himself , king of the forest . Indeed , it was the lion who gathered together the survivors , and said in a trembling voice : " This disaster is a punishment for our wicked ways . And I forone will admit I ' ve been wicked . If you find me guilty , I ' ll gladly give up mylife if you think that would help you in making amends for your own sins . So Iconfess that , during my lifetime , I ' ve eaten many an innocent sheep . " " But , Sire , " broke in one of the animals , " surely you don ' t think that eating sheep is a serious sin . We too . . . we too . . . '' And they all began to tell their own stories . One by one , the animals told of their crimes against their neighbours . The leopard had killed on more than one occasion , the eagle had snatched rabbits and lambs , the fox and the wolf had stolen and murdered . Even the placid - looking owl had little blrds and mlce on hls conscience . Everyone had some wicked deed , serious or otherwise , to confess . But each animal , after hisconfession , was forgiven by the others , all just as guilty , of course . Last came the donkey , who said with a mortified air : " I did a very wicked thing too . one day , instead of just grazing here and there , I ate two clumps of grass in a clover meadow , without permission . I was sorry afterwards , and I ' vehad a guilty conscience about it ever since ! " All the animals glared at the donkey and , shouting and calling insults , they chorussed : " So that ' s who brought the plague on us ! Stealing grass from apoor peasant ! Shame on you ! " And the fate of the donkey was decided unanimously . How often are innocent folk made to pay for the wicked deeds of the guilty . THE ANT AND THE CRICKET Once upon a time . .. one hot summer , a cricket sang cheerfully on the branchof a tree , while down below , a long line of ants struggled damely under theweight of their load of grains ; and between one song and the next , the cricketspoke to the ants . " Why are you working so hard ? Come into the shade , away fromthe sun , and sing a song with me . " But the tireless ants went on with the work . .. " We can ' t do that , " they said , " We must store away food for the winter . When the weather ` s cold and the ground white with snow , there ' s nothing to eat , and we ' ll survive the winter only if the pantry is full . " " There ' s plenty of summer to come , " replied the cricket , " and lots of time to fill the pantry before winter . I ' d rather sing ! How can anione work in thisheat and sun ? " And so all summer , the cricket sang while the ants laboured . But the daysturned into weeks and the weeks into months . Autumn came , the leaves began tofall and the cricket left the bare tree . The grass too was turning thun andyellow . one morning , the cricket woke shivering with cold . An early frosttinged the fields with white and turned the last of the green leaves brown : winter had come at last . The cricket wandered , feeding on the few dry stalks left on the hard frozen ground . Then the snow fell and she could find nothingat all to eat . Trembling and famished , she thought sadly of the warmth and hersummer songs . one evening , she saw a speck of light in the distance , andtrampling through the thick snow , made her way towards it . " Open the door ! Please open the door ! I ' m starving . Give me some food ! " Anant leant out of the window . " Who ' s there ? Who is it ? " " It ' s me - the cricket . I ' m cold and hungry , with no roof over my head . " " The cricket ? Ah , yes ! I remember you . And what were you doing all summerwhile we were getting ready for winter ? " " Me ? I was singing and filling the whole earth and sky with my song ! " " Singing , eh ? " said the ant . " Well , try dancing now ! " BLUEBEARD Once upon a time . .. in the fair land of France , there lived a very powerful lord , the owner of estates , farms and a great splendid castle , and his name wasBluebeard . This wasn ' t his real name , it was a nickname , due to the fact he hada long shaggy black beard with glints of blue in it . He was very handsome andcharming , but , if the truth be told , there was something about him that made you feel respect , and a little uneasy . .. Bluebeard often went away to war , and when he did , he left his wife in charge of the castle . .. He had had lots of wives , all young , pretty and noble . As bad luck would have it , one after the other , they had all died , and so thenoble lord was forever getting married again . " Sire , " someone would ask now and again , " what did your wives die of ? " " Hah , my friend , " Bluebeard would reply , one died of smallpox , one of a hidden sickness , another of a high fever , another of a terrible infection . .. Ah , I ' m very unlucky , and they ' re unlucky too ! They ' re all buried in the castlechapel , " he added . Nobody found anything strange about that . Nor did the sweetand beautiful young girl that Bluebeard took as a wife think it strange either . She went to the castle accompanied by her sister Anna , who said : " Oh , aren ' t you lucky marrying a lord like Bluebeard ? " " He really is very nice . .. and when you ' re close , his beard doesn ' t look asblue as folk say ! " said the bride , and the two sisters giggled delightedly . Poor souls ! They had no idea what lay in store for them ! ... A month or so later , Bluebeard had the carriage brought round and said tohis wife , " Darling , I must leave you for a few weeks . But keep cheerful duringthat time , invite whoever you like and look after the castle . Here , " he added , handing his bride a bunch of keys , " you ' ll need these , the keys of the safe , the armoury and the library keys , and this one , which opens all the room doors . Now , this little key here , " and he pointed to a key that was much smalle thanthe others , " opens the little room at the end of the great ground floor corridor . Take your friends were you want , open any door you like , but not thisone ! Is that quite clear ? " repeated Bluebeard . " Not this one ! Nobody at all isallowed to enter that little room . And if you ever did go into it , I would go into such a terrible rage that it ' s better that you don ' t ! " " Don ' t worry , husband , " said Bluebeard ' s wife as she took the keys , " I ' ll doas you say . " After giving her a hug , Bluebeard got into his carriage , whippedup the horses and off he went . The days went by . The young girl invited her friends to the castle andshowed them round all the rooms except the one at the end of the corridor . " Why shouldn ' t I see inside the little room ? Why ? Why is it forbidden ? " Well , she thought about it so much that she ended up bursting with curiosity , until one day she opened the door and walked into the little room . .. Of allghastly horrors ! Inside , hanging on the walls were the bodies of Bluebeard ' swivws : he had strangled them all with his own hands ! Terror stricken , the girl ran out of the room , but the bunch of keys slippedfrom her grasp . She picked them up without a glance and hurried to her ownroom , her heart thumping wildly in her chest . Horrors ! She was living ina castle of the dead ! So that is what had ahppened to Bluebeard ' s other wives ! The girl summoned up her courage and she noticed that one of the keys - thevery key to the little room - was stained with blood . " I must wipe it clean , before my husband comes back ! " she said to herself . But try as she would , the blood stain wouldn ' t wash away . She washed , shescrubbed and she rinsed it ; all in vain , for the key was still red . That veryevening , Bluebeard came home . Just imagine the state his poor wife was in ! Bluebeard did not ask his wife for the keys that same evening , but heremarked : " You look a little upset , darling . Has anything nasty happened ? " " Oh , no ! No ! " " Are you sorry I came back so soon ? " " Oh , no ! I ' m delighted ! " But that night , the bride didn ' t sleep a wink . Nextday , Bluebeard said : " Darling , give me back the keys , " and his wife hurriedly did so . Bluebeardremarked : " There ' s one missing , the key to the little room ! " " Is there ? " said the young girl shaking , " I must have left it in my room ! " " All right , go and get it . " But when Bluebeard ' s wife put the key into hishand , Bluebeard turned white and in a deep hoarse voice demanded : " Why is this key stained with blood ? " " I don ' t know . .." stammered his wife . " You know very well ! " he retorted . " You went into the little room , didn ' t you ? Well , you ' ll go back again , this time for good , along with the other ladies in there . You must die ! " " Oh no ! I pray you ! " " You must die ! " he repeated . Just then , there was a knock at the door andAnna , Bluebeard ' s wife ' s sister , entered the castle . " Good morning , " she said , " you seem rather pale . " " Not at all , we ' re quite well , " replied Bluebeard . His wife whispered in hisear : " Please , please give me ten minutes to live ! " Bluebeard replied : " Not more than ten ! " The girl ran to her sister Anna whohad gone up to oneof the towers and asked her , " Anna , do you see ou brothers coming ? They promised they would come and seeme today ! " But Anna replied " " No , I don ' t see anyone . What ' s wrong ? You look agitated . " " Anna , please , " said the shaken girl , " look again ! Are you sure you can ' tsee someone ? " " No , " said her sister , only one or two peasants . " Just then the voice ofBluebeard boomed up to them : " Wife , your time is up ! Come here ! " " I ' m coming ! " she called , but then said to her sister : " Oh Anna , aren ' t ourbrothers coming ? ..." " No , " replied Anna . Again Bluebeard shouted up . " Come down at once ! Or I ' ll come up ! " Trembling like a leaf , his wife wentdownstairs . Bluebeard was clutching a big knife and he grabbed his bride by thehair . .. " Sister , I can see two horsemen coming ! " called out Anna from the tower thatvery moment . Bluebeard made a horrible face : " They too will die ! " His wife knelt to implore : " Please , please don ' t kill me . I ' ll never tell anyone what I saw ! I ' ll neversay a word ! " " Yes , you ' ll never say a word for eternity ! " snarled Bluebeard , raising his knife . The poor girl screamed : " Have pity on me ! " But he fiercely replied : " No ! You must die ! " He was about to bring the knife down on the girl ' sdelicate neck , when two young men burst into the room : a dragoon and a musketeer . They were his wife ' s brothers . Drawing their swords , they leapt towards Bluebeard , who tried to flee upsome stairs , but was caught and killed . And that was the end of the sad story . Bluebeard ' s poor wives were given a Christian burial , the castle was completelyrenovated and the young widow , some time later , married a good and honest youngman , who helped her to forget the terrible adventure . And that young ladycompletely lost all her sense of curiosity . ..