The Bundle of Sticks and Other Stories

The Bundle of Sticks and Other Stories is a compendium of enjoyable fables and folktales that have stood the test of time in creating a delightful appeal among young readers.

‘Unity is strength’ is best taught through the story, The Bundle of Sticks, where an old farmer asks his sons to break a bundle of sticks, failing which the brothers understand the power of unity.

A Greedy and Foolish Farmer is one of the popular tales in Aesop’s Fables where a greedy farmer kills his own goose that laid golden eggs. The story teaches us not to be greedy and to be satisfied with what one has.

The Mighty Mouse brings home the moral of not judging someone by his or her size. The story narrates the incident of a lion trapped inside a hunter’s nest wherein he is ultimately set free by a tiny mouse, who nibbles way the threads of the net and rescues the lion.

The Chinese Nightingale and Other Stories

By Hans Christian Andersen

This reader is a collection of an array of beautiful stories around the globe written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

The Chinese Nightingale is the story about an emperor who prefers the twinkling of a mechanical bird to the sweet song of a real nightingale. The story teaches us the value of the real as against artificial splendor wherein the little grey nightingale saves the emperor’s life by singing the sweetest songs to him.

Yearning for the unknown can mislead one to unfavourable circumstances. The Little Fir Tree is one such tale where a fir tree keeps dreaming of being decorated and displayed as a Christmas tree but eventually burns out as fire wood to keep a family warm.

The Ugly Duckling teaches us not to belittle others and have faith in oneself through the beautiful tale of an ugly duckling who later metamorphoses into a beautiful swan.

The Little Match Girl is a story of pathos of a dying child’s hope as she sells matchsticks on a cold winter evening.