Saturday, June 20, 2009

Cinderella

Once upon a time there was a girl called Cinderella. She lived with her stepsisters. They were very bossy. They made Cinderella do all the housework.One day an invitation to the ball came to the family. Her stepsisters would not let her go. Cinderella was sad because she wanted to go to the ball too. Her stepsisters went to the ball without her.Fortunately, the fairy Godmother came and helped her to get to the ball. At the ball, Cinderella dance with the prince. The prince fell in love with her then married her. They lived happily ever after.

A Legend of Candy Cane

A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.
He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the church, and firmness of the promises of God.
The candy maker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It also represents the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.
Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with red stripes. He used the tree small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Jesus on the Cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life, if only we put our faith and trust in Him. Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane - a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still there for those who "have eyes to see and ears to hear".

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

The Purse of Gold

A beggar found a leather purse that someone had dropped in a market place. Opening it, he discovered that it contained 100 pieces of gold. Then he heard a merchant shouted, "A reward! A reaward to the one who find my leather purse!"

Being an honest man, the beggar came forward and handed the purse to the merchant saying, "Here is your purse. Will you keep your word to give a reward now?"\

"Reward?" scoffed the merchant greedily counting the amount of gold. "The purse I dropped had 200 pieces of gold in it. You've already stolen more than the reward I'll give to you.! Go away or I'll tell you to the police."

"I'm an honest man," said the beggar defiantly. "Let's take this matter to the court!" In the court, the judge patiently listened to both sides of the story and said, "I believe you both. Justice is possible! Merchant, you stated that the purse you lost contained 200 pieces of gold. Well, that's a considerable cost. But the purse the beggar found had only 100 pieces of gold. Therefore, it couldn't be the one you lost."

And, with that, the judge gave the purse and all the golds to the beggar.

The Old Woman and The Sparrow

Once upon a time, there lived a kind hearted man and his wife. One morning, his wife found a poor little sparrow. She took it gently and fed it. To show its gratitude, the sparrow stayed with them and sang every morning. But there was an ill-tempered old woman who didn't like the sparrow. She cut the sparrow's tongue. That's why the bird flew away to its previous nest.

Knowing that their sparrow flew away, the kind man and his wife looked for the sparrow. They walked a long way, crossed the bridges, climbed the mountains and passed the woods.

At last, they could find the sparrow's nest. The sparrow welcomed them and provided a feast for them. Before they went home, the sparrow brought two baskets; one was large and looked heavy, and the other one was small and light. The sparrow asked them to choose only one. They chose the small and that was the best choice. There were many rolls of silk and piles of gold in it.

Being jealous, the ill-tempered old woman did the same thing as the kind man and his wife did. She chose the big basket which actually contained wasps and venomous crawlers, such as scorpions, centipedes, and other horrible creatures. Finally, aaathey stung and bit her to death.