The Frog Prince" One fine evening a young princess went out to take a walk by herself, She came to a
cool spring of water and sat down to rest awhile. The princess looked into the spring and say it
was very deep, so deep she could not see the bottom of it. A frog suddenly poked its head out
of the water, and started to talk to the princess. The frog asked the princess if he could come
and live with her. “What nonsense,” thought the princess, “This silly frog is talking!” But she carried the frog back to her house anyways.
That night she took him to dinner. “Please lift me onto the chair,” he said to the princess, “and let me sit next to you.” As soon as she had done this, the frog then said, “Put your plate near to me so that I may eat.” This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, “No I am tired. Carry me upstairs and put me in your bed.” And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up to her room and put him on a pillow on her own bed where he then slept all night long.
" As soon as it was light the frog humped up, hopped downstairs and went out of the
house. “Now, at last he is gone and I shall be troubled with him no more,” thought the princess.
But she was mistaken; for when night came she heard the frog call out asking to come home.
When the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept on her pillow, same as before,
until the morning broke. And this all happened again on the third night.
But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was surprised to see that instead of the frog, a handsome prince stood starring at her beside the bed. He told her that he had been enchanted by a horrible fairy who had changed him into a frog, and that he had been fated to wait until some princess should take him out of the spring and let him eat from her plate, and sleep in her bed for three nights. “You have broken her spell, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you go with me to my fatherʼs kingdom and there we will get married and live there for the rest of our lives.” And so the princess agreed and there they loved happily a great many years.
Why People are Different Sizes
" Miclan was the Aztec underworld, ruled over by its Lord and Lady. It was a gloomyplace, reached by the dead only after wandering for four years beneath the earth with a
friendly dog. As the Sun burned brightly, there were no people on the Earth so the Joker
journeyed to Miclan to collect the bones of those who had lived long ago. (The Joker thought
that bones were like seeds: everything that dies goes into the earth, and from the earth new
life is born.)
The Joker approached the Lord of Miclan, who sat on his throne surrounded by
spiders and owls. "I've come for the bones," said The Joker. "Can I have them in order to
populate the earth?" The Lord of Miclan agreed ... but on one condition. "You may take the
bones - after you walk four times around my throne blowing on this trumpet."
" The Lord of Miclan gave the Joker a shell that had no finger holes.
The Joker could not play the trumpet but when he put the shell on the ground, worms bored some finger holes, and bees flew inside to make a sound. So he took the bones and left quickly. The Joker began to run. Unfortunately, the Lord of Miclan ordered that a pit be dug in the god's path. A flock of birds flew out of a bush and scared The Joker and sure enough he fell into the pit. The bones shattered and were pecked at by the birds. Long bones, short bones, big bones, little bones.
The Joker scooped up the bones and, once safely beyond the dead land, ground them up in a
bowl. Together with other gods, he sprinkled them with his own blood, restoring them to life.
And this is why humans come in all sizes.
The Legend of the Pearl
" Once upon a time, there was a butterfly who was so sad and lonely that he did not wantto live anymore. As he stood, very depressed, on the sea-shore, thinking about the
uselessness of his life, he heard a soft, clear voice beside him. “Good morning. Who are you?”
the voiced asked. “Iʼm a butterfly, but who are you? A speaking stone? I donʼt believe it!” The
voice replied, “Iʼm not a stone, Iʼm an oyster! Iʼm a living being just like you are.
” The butterfly then asked, “Would you like to be my friend? I have no friends and Iʼm very unhappy because nobody loves me.” The oyster responded, “I am just as lonely and sad as you, and I too have never known what it is like to be love, but now that you are here neither of us is alone. Stay with me and be my winged price and tell me about all the things that you have seen in the world; things that the eyes of a daughter of the sea will never see.”
" The butterfly stayed at the shells side and they grew to love each other more than
anyone could have imagined. The butterfly had collected all the colors in the world in his wings
and he gave them, as a bouquet to his sweetheart. The oyster gave all mysterious stories of
the deep. Their joy was short-lived, as butterflies have shorter lifespans than oysters. When
the butterfly died, the oyster buried him in the sand. Then she cried and cried so much that she
died of her sadness and was dissolved by her tears. The next morning, on a small mound of
sand, appeared the very first pearl, made from the tears of the oyster, the colors from the
butterflyʼs wing and their love.