Little Dandelion Seeds

They once lived in a town in Persia with two brothers, one named Cassim and the other Ali Baba. Their father divided a small inheritance equally between them. Cassim married a very rich wife and became a wealthy merchant. Ali Baba married a woman as poor as himself and lived by cutting wood and bringing it upon three asses into the town to sell.One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest and had just cut wood enough to load his asses, he saw at a distance a great cloud of dust, which seemed to approach him. He observed it...

In times past there lived a king and queen, who said to each other every day of their lives, "Would that we had a child!" and yet they had none. But it happened once that when the queen was bathing, there came a frog out of the water, and he squatted on the ground, and said to her: "Thy wish shall be fulfilled; before a year has gone by, thou shalt bring a daughter into the world."And as the frog foretold, so it happened; and the queen bore a daughter so beautiful that the king could not contain himself for...

Once upon a time, a young man’s father died.  Aladdin, as that was the young man’s name, took his father’s place in running the family store with his mother.  One day, a stranger walked into the store. “I am your uncle,” said the stranger to Aladdin.  “I have come to see you.” “But my father never spoke of a brother,” said Aladdin. Aladdin’s mother turned around. “My husband had no brother,” said she to the stranger, narrowing her eyes. “I assure you it is true,” said the stranger. “Years ago your husband and I agreed that if something should happen...

Once upon a time there was a Princess. Many a suitor came to the palace to win her hand in marriage, but it seemed to the Princess that each one of them looked at her without really seeing her at all. “They act like there’s nothing more to a princess than her fine crown and royal dresses,” she said to herself with a frown. One afternoon after one of these visits, the Princess thought, “Sometimes I wish I were little again.” She found her favorite ball from childhood, the one that sparkled when she threw it up high to the...