Folk Tales

002 Folk Tales

Folk Tale

Little fox always made fun of others. Once they stuck a watermelon in the back of a hedgehog and flipped the hedgehog so that he could never turn over back to normal again.  He also asked goose to eat the star and moon in the water and made the goose drink much water.

Because little fox always made fun of others, no one in the forest wanted to make friends with him anymore. He was really upset and decided to make a change. He made a gun and carried it into the forest. Animals ran away from him.  Big yellow dog was the bravest animal in the forest and he decided to put little fox down. Little Fox shot him into his mouth. Big yellow dog was not hurt and he felt sweet in his mouth. He therefore realized that the bullet was made of sugar and chocolate. Knowing that little fox was using candy bullets, all animals changed to ask for a shot from little fox. Little fox ran out of bullets in a short while. He ran back home quickly, filled all of his candies into an artillery, and made a final fire, a big one. All animals felt sweet and smiled as well as little fox himself. Little fox felt much happier than to make fun of others.

The happiness derived from sharing is a real happiness. It is much better than a happiness derived from schadenfreude. (Ruizhi Chen)

Folk Story

                  Once upon a time in the East, there was a young poor farmer working hard to provide for his wife and their little child. They were living in a small village behind the tall mountains covered by snow all the time. Their life was always with hardship and adversity. But the young man would work as hard as it took to not let his family down. He would walk every night from the farm to his small house through the dark forest surrounded by white peaks all alone, carrying a small lantern in hand. There was a railway passing through the heart of the mountains from a walking distance of the forest. One time, in a cold winter night, while he was coming back to his home from work, suddenly he heard a horrifying sound coming from the tunnels and saw the rocks collapsing and falling down on the railway and blocking the tunnel. It was terrifying, but it got worse. He saw from far away that a train was approaching the tunnel without knowing that if they passed the tunnel, thousands of lives would be in jeopardy and could end dramatically. He didn’t know what to do or how possibly could he have stopped the train. He remembered those days that he used to walk by the railway and see the happy travelers waving at him. He couldn’t let them die. Suddenly he felt strength in his heart. He had made his decision. He wanted to save all those lives even if it cost his own life. The lantern couldn’t glint enough for engine driver to see that, so he took off his shirt even though the weather was terribly cold. He tied up the shirt to his wooden stick and lit the shirt using lantern`s oil and made a big flame out of it.  Then he started to run toward the locomotive holding the stick and waving constantly so the train engineer could see that. The train was still approaching and getting awfully close to the blocking rocks. The man`s heart was beating like a drum and he could not feel the chilling weather anymore. He got to the railroad and now he was running directly toward the locomotive in the opposite direction with no regard for his life. The engineer who had seen him now for a few minutes was hitting the brake as hard as he could. The passengers were anxious and screaming and did not have any clue what was happening to them. But finally at the very last possible minutes, the train had stopped just the shy of 100 feet away from the blocking rocks. Now everyone could breathe.  But they were in shock. They got off the train and could not believe what they were witnessing. Yes, they saw that small and skinny young man had saved all these people`s life and now was lying down on the railroad with a fading smile. He fainted and they took him to the hospital. Since he ran naked under very cold weather his chest got infected and they had to treat him there for fifteen days. He was indeed a great man that showed the world what it meant to be selfless and put your own life in jeopardy to save other human beings. (Sina)

Years have been passed and the story of RIZALI KHAJAVI has been narrated for over sixty years, generation to generation. He is now eighty-five years old and lives in KARAJ which is one of the biggest cities in Iran and close to Tehran. He is originally from MIANEH, AZARBAYJAN SHARGHI and lived there until recently. His incredible story has been taught to elementary schools` students in Iran for more than 3 decades.

Folk Tale

                  Once upon a time, there was a family of parents and three sons who lived on a farm. The three brothers were responsible to pick up the fruits and vegetables and sell them at the market. Unfortunately, the brothers were fighting and arguing all the time and they did not work together as a team. They always blamed each other for any mistake that happened. They did not organize their work and every one depended on others to do the tasks. One day, they picked up watermelons and went to the market to sell them. However, the oldest went to swim in the river and left his brothers in the market. The youngest brother went to eat in a restaurant and the middle brother fell asleep while he was reading. As a result, a thief stole all the watermelons. They went home and started to blame one another about who was the responsible for this accident. The brothers were arguing and got in a fight. The parents were very sad and tried to stop them from fighting, but they could not. Next morning, the brothers were very tired. Therefore, they could not work on the farm or pick up the corn. The parents tried to pick up the corn, but because they were old, they could not pick up all the corn. The father was sad because the other farmers sold their corn, but he could not.  As a result, the father called his sons and gave each of one a wood stick. He asked them to break the stick and they did it easily. However, when the father asked each one of them to break three sticks together, they could not break the sticks. The father explained to the brothers that if they work together, the competitors in the market would not able to outperform them, but if each one worked alone, they would not be able to compete with the other farmers. The brothers learned the lesson that strength is in unity and collaboration. (Ebtehal)

Folk Tale

                  In ancient China, in a small village, there was a family, in which three generations lived together.  A grandfather lived with his son and a grandson. The grandfather was very weak, and he no longer could work in the field. His son complained that he had to feed and take care of the old man who was not able to bring anything to the family. One day, the son put his father in a big basket and carried him to the back of village. There was a mountain behind the village. The son carried his father to the bottom of the mountain, and left him there.  The grandson was following them. He saw everything. When the son and the grandson walked back to their house without the grandfather, the son noticed that his son, the grandson, carried the empty basket with him. He asked, “Why do you carry this broken old basket back?” The grandson replied, “Because when you get old, I will use it to carry you back to the bottom of mountain.” The father was suddenly ashamed and regretted what he had done to his father. He went back to the mountain, and brought his father back home. (Xiaomiao Wang)

The Story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

                  Once upon a long time ago, there was a young man named Aladdin. He was a young man from a poor family. His uncle was self-centered and loved only himself. One day, Aladdin went with his uncle to look for treasure in a cave and asked his uncle to come down to the cave, and bring the treasures inside. Aladdin was very scared, and suddenly the door of the cave was closed. Aladdin's uncle tried to open the door but he could not. Aladdin was trapped inside the cave, and while he was walking between the treasures, drew his attention to a very old lamp. He took it and cleared it of dust. Then, the lamp vibrated and came out of it great and huge genie, and the genie thanked Aladdin because it was released from this lamp.  After that, the genie said to Aladdin: What do you want me to do to thank you because you  got me out of the lamp?? Aladdin said to him, I want you to get me out of this cave, and the genie took Aladdin out of the cave. There was a king named Qamar Aldeen in Aladdin's country, and he had a beautiful girl whose name was "Jasmine". Aladdin had always seen her sitting in the balcony of the palace, and he loved her very much. He believed that it was impossible to marry her because he was a poor man. Aladdin returned to his home with his magic lamp. He told his mother about the story, then Aladdin asked the genie for a lot of money, gold and gifts to marry Jasmine, but the king rejected this request because his daughter was engaged to the son of the minister. At Jasmine’s wedding, Aladdin asked the genie to make the Princess see that the son of the minister was an idiot and refuse to marry him. Aladdin went back to the king to ask for the hand of Princess "Jasmine", and he agreed, but the king asked Aladdin to provide a great palace to live in it with the princess. Then, Aladdin asked the genie to build a palace, and the genie did. He built a giant palace, and they got married. Aladdin’s Uncle returned to the town and knew that Aladdin did not die in the cave. Also, he knew that Aladdin became rich and had the magic lamp, so he decided to go to Aladdin’s palace as a lamp vendor. He persuaded the Princess to replace the old lamp which is the magic lamp with a new lamp, and princess agreed to it because she did not know that was a magic lamp. When Aladdin returned to the palace, he was aware of what happened and knew that his uncle was the one who replaced it. Then, he told his wife the full story of the magic lamp. Aladdin went to his uncle on the pretext that he wanted to forgive him and wanted to make him satisfied. During the argument between Aladdin and his uncle, Aladdin took the magic lamp without making his uncle to feel so. After that, he went back to the palace, took out the genie of the lamp, and told him that he was free. But the genie said to Aladdin that he did not want freedom, and he wanted to serve him because he was a good man. In the end, Aladdin, Jasmine, and the genie lived a happy life. (Samah)

Tale of Three Baby Unicorns and the Big Bad Wolf

                  I was told this story when I was a kid. I don’t know the origin of the story (whether it’s from Iran or not). I also made some changes to the story (Originally it was about goats and a wolf but I thought unicorns are cooler).

                  Once upon a time three little unicorns lived in a house with their mom. One day, their mom left the house to go to the jungle and bring her children food. Before leaving, She asked her kids to not to open the door for anyone except her. Not so long after she left the house, the big bad wolf, which was waiting for the Mommy unicorn to leave, knocked on the door.

                  “Who is it?” said the baby unicorns.

                  “It’s me, your mother. I brought you food,” said the big bad wolf.

                  “If you’re telling the truth then show us your hand from underneath the door”. The baby unicorns said.

                  The big bad wolf showed her hand without hesitation, but upon seeing his hands, the baby unicorns screamed: “No! You’re not our mother. You’re the big bad wolf. We’re not opening the door for you”. The big bad wolf started thinking about how to trick the baby unicorns, and he came up with an idea. He went to a toy store, and bought a fake unicorn hand. He went back to the unicorns’ house and knocked on the door.

                  “Who is it?” said the baby unicorns.

                  “It’s me, your mother. I brought you food” said the big bad wolf.

                  “If you’re telling the truth then show us your hand from underneath the door”. The baby unicorns said.

                  This time, the big bad wolf showed them the fake hand. The two older baby unicorns shouted in joy: “Yay! Mom’s back”, but the youngest one said: “Wait guys! This is a fake hand. The big bad wolf is trying to trick us”. The older baby unicorns did not listen to her, and opened the door. The big bad wolf jumped in the house and ate the older baby unicorns, but couldn’t find the youngest one, because she was hiding. The big bad wolf left the house. A couple of hours passed, and the Mommy unicorn returned home. She saw the door being wide open, rushed into house horrified and yelled: “My babies! Where are you?” The youngest one jumped out from a corner, where she was hiding all this time, and said: “Mom! The big bad wolf tricked my brothers into opening the door for him and then he ate them”. Mommy unicorn decided to free her children by fighting the big bad wolf. She went to the blacksmith’s shop, brought him a magical flute, and asked him to sharpen her horn. Word got to the big bad wolf that Mommy unicorn was preparing to fight her, so he decided to have his claws sharpened. He went to the blacksmith’s shop, brought himself a bag full of air, and asked him to sharpen his claws. The blacksmith found out that the big bad wolf was trying to trick him, so he cut all of the wolf’s claws and gave him fake ones. The big bad wolf and the Mommy unicorn met outside the jungle, and got into a fight. Since the wolf’s claws were fake ones, he lost the fight. Mommy unicorn ripped his stomach in half using her sharp horn, and freed her children. They all lived happily ever after.

The End. (Pouria)

The Story of the Cowherd and the Weaver girl - Qixi Festival’s Origin

                  This is a romantic legend story which has been handed down for nearly 2 millennia. It is one of the four romantic love folk tales in China.

                  Once upon a time, there was a poor boy, Niu Lang, whose parent died when he was young, and who lived with his brother and brother-in-law in the west of Nanyang. But his brother-in-law was mean to him and asked him to do all the work. One day in autumn, Niu Lang’s brother-in-law asked him to walk nine cows, but only he brought ten cow that he could have went home. He was worried and did not know how to do. He came across an old man when he was wandering. The old men asked the reason he was upset. After knowing what happened, the old man told him that there was an old sick cow lying in the mountain of Fu Niu and he could bring him back home when the cow was recovered to health. Then, Niu Lang went to the mountain of Fu Niu and found the cow. Niu Lang fed the cow for three days. On the fourth day, the cow told Niu Lang that he was the fairy in Heaven but had been punished and made a cow in the world of humans, and only the way of washing him in dew for a month could heal him. Niu Lang took care of the cow by washing him every day, and slept with him at night. Finally, the cow was recovered to health and Niu Lang brought ten cows back home. However, when he got home, Niu Lang’s brother-in-law kicked him out and he took the old cow left home.

                   One day, he saw several beautiful ladies playing in the river. He met a lady named Zhi Nu who was one daughter of the emperor in Heaven, with the help of the magic cow. They fell in love very quickly and they lived together. Zhi Nu weaved (Her duty when she was in the Heaven) and Niu Lang farmed every day.

                  They lived happily and had two children. But the Goddess of Heaven, Zhi Nu's mother, found out that Zhi Nu, a fairy girl, had married a mere mortal. The Goddess was furious and ordered Zhi Nu to return to heaven. On Earth, Niu Lang was very upset that his wife had disappeared. Suddenly, his cow told him that if he killed it and put on its hide, he would be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife. Crying bitterly, he killed the cow, put on the skin, and carried his two beloved children off to Heaven to find Zhi Nu. The Goddess discovered this and was very angry. Then the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way between them. Zhi Nu must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niu Lang watches her from afar while taking care of their two children.

                  But once a year all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation, so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the seventh night of the seventh moon. On that day they met, they cried together. And people thought they were the Deneb in the Cygnus constellation. For the world of humans, that day is rainy because of their crying.

                  Since then, every seventh lunar month, according to legend the Cowherd and Magpie Bridge day, the girls will come out, look up at the stars, look for the Galaxy on both sides of Deneb in the Cygnus constellation, hoping to see their Mr. Right, begging God to make their own ingenuity as capable as Weaver, praying she could have a happy marriage, thus forming the Qixi Festival. Nowadays, we celebrate this festival as lovers’ days. It is the Valentine's Day in China. (Lu Guo)

                                                        Arash the Archer story

A long time ago, in a land far away, there were two countries called Iran and Turan. Manouchehr was the king of Iran and he had a majestic Kingdom, but unfortunately, he was a cruel monarch whose unjust behavior and imprudence made Iran an unorganized country. When the king of Turan, Pashdad, was informed about Iran’s desultory condition and the weakness of Manuchehr’s kingdom, he did not hesitate for a moment. He told his consultants and ministers, "This is the precious time to defeat Manouchehr and seize Iran”. After a long meeting they came up with a big plan. They decided to send Afrasiab, the prince, with a major army to fight with Manouchehr's corps and conquer them. That was how a gory war began between two countries.

Iranian soldiers bravely fought for their country and they sacrificed their life to defend Iran’s borders. The war took a long time, but unfortunately, despite all those sacrifices, Afrasiab was clever and powerful man, but Manouchehr was an old and slobby leader. Therefore, Afrasiab surrounded Manuchehr and his corps, and finally two sides reached a settlement. The agreement was in this way, “an Iranian soldier should shoot an arrow with a bow on Alborz Mountain and at the end, the land between the bow-shot place and wherever the arrow falls would stay as Iran’s territory and the rest would be a part of Turan”.

Manouchehr announced this news in his corps and asked for the strongest and bravest soldier who could make the longest shot. Arash Pioneered to do the shot. He had a very special bow which could make the longest shot, but that shot would come with a price. “A person who shoots with this bow, will lose all his strength and will die at the end;" he remembered this sentence vividly from a man who gave him this bow. But he was resolute to give up all he had for his country. He went on top of Alborz mountain to make the shot; he took his bow, put an arrow in it. Then he held his breath and started to drag it. He knew he had only one shot and he wanted to make the best one. He started to think about his homeland, his country, his people, his loved ones, and the smell of spring in his home, and by each thought the power was moving to his hands from all parts of his body, and in the same time, he breathed more and more from his country’s air for a very last time. When he had all his energy in his hands and his livers were full, he closed his eyes and released the arrow in the name of Iran. The arrow left Arash’s bow and traveled for a day from dawn to sunset and finally hit a walnut tree near the Jeyhoon River, which was identified as Iran and Turan’s border. But our hero, Arash, was exploded and dispersed on the mountain after the shot to enrich Iran’s soil forever with integrity and honor. (Soraya)

· This is an ancient Persian myth and folkloric story that was originally written in Aboureihan Birooni’s book.