Rubbish for plumsOnce upon a time lived a villager who had a son. When his son grew for marriage his father started to think of a way to find him a good wife. After a lot of thinking he finally came up with a plan. He loaded a cart with plums and headed to the nearby villages. Come on everyone, I am trading plums for rubbish!Women, damsels, grandmothers and brides all started to clean their houses and compete who would gather more rubbish and take more plums.And there was so much rubbish! One woman brought a full sack, another –a bushel, and the third an apron filled with rubbish.Look how much rubbish I gathered from my house! Good thing is that this crazy merchant came so we don’t have to hide it in the corners anymore.I gathered this rubbish and I have that much more to bring!And I cannot clean it all even if I cleaned all year long! I dusted off only this much in a hurry because I was really starving for plums. The man took the rubbish and gave back plums and everyone was happy and contented and he was so amused that he was smiling all the time.Finally a pretty girl came along holding a small package with rubbish and tried to trade it for plums.Well beauty, you brought very little rubbish how can I give you any plums for it? I would have brought more but I didn’t have any at all! That isn’t even mine. The neighbors gave it to me because I helped them with the cleaning.The man was very glad when he heard those words. Such a beautiful and hardworking girl who didn’t keep a dust speck in her house was just the bride he was looking for his son. His son married her and they lived happily ever after.

folktale from Bulgaria

Drawings from Greek

Drawings from Romania

Drawings from Murcia Spain

Drawing from Sevilla Spain

Chestnut sellerOnce upon a time a lady called Tana was selling chesnuts. When children haven't got money she gives them chestnuts.Also she tells them nice stories. When autumn comes leaves fall...Tana sits in his chair and roast chestnuts. I sell roasted chestnuts!- she saidIn the evening he comes back home. On “the day of all saints” many families eat marzipan and chestnuts.A day before, the party, a lady stole all chestnuts.It was another selling chestnuts that was jealous of Tana because children loves her.Tana was very sad and cried a lot.That day children don't see Tana and they go her house.The children buys a bag of raw chestnuts with their money.She hugs children and she is very happy. The jealous selling chestnut roast chestnuts but they blow up and peoplescare.She apologize to Tana and now they are good friends. The children decide to buy her chestnuts too.Snip, snap snout, this tale's told out.

folktale from Spain

Drawing from Bulgaria

Drawing from Greek

Drawing from Murcia Spain

Drawing from Sevilla Spain

“TASTE THE SAME”

Some children saw Nasreddin coming from the vineyard with two basketfuls of grapes loaded on his donkey. They gathered around him and asked him to give them a taste. Nasreddin picked up a bunch of grapes and gave each child a grape. "You have so much, but you gave us so little," the children whined. "There is no difference whether you have a basketful or a small piece. They all taste the same," Nasreddin answered,and continued on his way.

Drawing from Greek

folktale from Turkey

Drawings from Bulgaria Drawings from Romania

The goldfishOnce upon a time there lived a poor fisherman who was trying all night to catch a fish, but he didn’t. ’’Oh, my God, how terrible this is! My children will starve today” he thought to himself.Then, all of a sudden there was a fish caught in the net. When he pulled it out he realized it was a goldfish. The fish was talking and it said: ‘’Throw the fish back into the sea and it is good thing what you’ll see”He was puzzled for a while, wondering what so important such a small fish could do. He answered that he wanted bread and food for his family.When he god back home he found out that everything he had asked for was there, so he fold his wife about what had happened and she advised him to ask for a palace the next time.The next morning when the fisherman went fishing and caught the same goldfish again, when it asked him about what he wishes for, he said he wanted a palace. When he gotBack home, palaces there were! His wife next advice was that the man should ask to be king next time and that his wife would be queen. H e went to the sea again and he did exactly as he had done all the previous times.Unfortunately, when he got back home that time, there weren’t any palaces. There was only a hut and his children were starving, just like before.

folktale from Greece

Drawings from Murcia Spain

Drawing from Bulgaria

Drawings from Romania

Drawing from Sevilla Spain

Drawing from Turkey

The star-eyed shepherdfolktale from Romania

Once upon a time there was a poor man. He had but one son and a wife. One day the boy leaves to try his luck, and arrived into a town.Weirdly enough, a king lived in this town. He was so feared and respected that whenever he sneezed, messengers announced it in every corner of his kingdom and every single subject was expected to say ‘bless you’ to the king. So when the king sneezes again, the messengers find the star-eyed shepherd on the meadow with his sheep, ordering him to say the words. And you’re right, he refuses to say ‘bless you’ until the king gives him his only daughter. Now, that is quite a courageous move, not only because the shepherd faces confinement, but also because he’s never even seen the girl. So the shepherd is taken to court, where he repeats he won’t say ‘bless you’ until he can marry the king’s fair daughter. Fortunately for him, the princess is present in this scene, and she really is good-looking. But the king is infuriated that this nobody with fluttering eyelashes wants his daughter in exchange for such a trivial matter. (If you sense a contradiction in the king’s behavior, you’re not the only one.) The shepherd’s sentenced to spend a night with the ‘hairpigs’, which are wild boars in fact with large fangs. There are a thousand hairpigs in a hole in the ground, that’s where the shepherd is pushed into. Without loosing his cool, he grabs his flute and starts playing dance music appropriate for pigs. And how the scary creatures dance! In pairs and in circles, the strut their hairy stuff till they drop. So when the morning comes, the shepherd is alive and kicking, much to the surprise of soldiers and king.

Drawing from Greek

Drawings from Bulgaria

Still refusing to say ‘bless you’, the shepherd is now confined to the scythe cell (another hole in the ground, this time with scythes in it and a candle in the bottom). Were hi pushed in the hole he’d die an ugly death, so the shepherd dresses his shepherd’s crook in his mantle and hat, and in the dark the soldiers push the fake shepherd in the hole. When the chancellor goes to deal with corpse in the morning, he finds the shepherd safe and sound, playing his flute. The king is furious, and sends the shepherd up to a tower where bats and owls are supposed to gouge out his eyes. But alas, he has his flute with him, and you wouldn’t believe how cute owls are when dancing.The king caves in, and offer the shepherd a silver forest, a golden lake and a diamond palace behind marble fence is he just says ‘bless you’ to him. And although the offer is more than generous considering the king himself lives in a town, the star-eyed shepherd still wants a royal weeding. And royal wedding is what he gets, with the whole kingdom thrown in as a wedding present. The shepherd says ‘bless you’ about a million times, the poor parents come to live in the court, and everybody’s happy at the end. With the probable exception of the king’s daughter, who had no say in marrying a closeted gay shepherd.

Drawing from Murcia Spain

Drawing from Sevilla Spain

Sevilla Spain

Bulgaria

A COIN OF “AY!”Popular story collected by Juan de Timoneda

A sir had a new servant, a young boy called Pedro who seemed to be a bit silly. To joke of him, it gave to him two coins and said to him: - Pedro, you have to go to the market and to buy me a coin of grapes and other coin of "ay!” The young boy bought the grapes, but every time that he asked for a coin of “ay!”. everyone laughed and derided him. When he has realized the mockery of his boss, he put the grapes on the bottom of a bag and over the grapes, a bunch of nettles. When he returned to his house, his boss said to him: - Do you bring everything? The young boy answered: - Yes, sir, everything is in the bag. The surprised sir rapidly put the hand in the bag and when he touched the nettles, he exclaimed: - Ay! Then the young boy said: - The grapes are below, sir. © El huevo de chocolate

folktale from Spain

Drawing from Murcia Spain

Drawing from Bulgaria

Drawing from Greek

Drawing from Romania

The Man Who Was a LiarRetold by Turhan Ece

There was a lonely man who was living in a small town. Most of the people who were living in that town knew him. Before he became a loner, he had once had a family and a good job, but he sometimes told small lies to his customers. Then, he started to tell big lies to both his customers and his family. Because of this, he and his family faced a lot of problems. He promised to be honest about his job, but he didn't keep his promises, so he lost his job. After that, his wife and children left him. He continued living in the same home along. Almost all the people who were living in the town didn't trust and believe him. One day, a fire started in his home. He ran out of his home and hurriedly went to the center of the town and shouted to the other people to get help. "My neighbor, please help me. My home is burning." Nobody believed him, so they didn't go to his home to help him. His home burned completely, and he was left homeless.

folktale from Turkey

Drawings from Bulgaria

Drawing from Sevilla Spain

This e-book has been prepared in relation to the eTwinning project "Read me, I'll draw". Thank to all partners

for creative work.