Main > Norway folktales > Fairy tale "One's own childern are always prettiest"
One's own childern are always prettiest
A sportsman went out once into a wood to shoot, and he met a Snipe.
"Dear friend," said the Snipe, "don't shoot my children!"
"How shall I know your children?" asked the Sportsman. "What are they like?"
"Oh!" said the Snipe, "mine are the prettiest children in all the wood."
"Very well," said the Sportsman, "I'll not shoot them; don't be afraid."
But for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of young snipes in his hand which he had shot.
"Oh, oh!" said the Snipe, "why did you shoot my children after all?"
"What! these your children!" said the Sportsman; "why, I shot the ugliest I could find, that I did!"
"Woe is me!" said the Snipe; "don't you know that each one thinks his own children the prettiest in the world?"
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Category: German folktales
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There was once an honest journeyman tailor, by name Labakan, who learned his trade with an excellent master in Alexandria. It could not be said that Labakan was unhandy with the needle; on the contrary, he could make excellent work: moreover, one would have done him injustice to have called him lazy. Nevertheless, his companions knew not what to make of him, for he would often sew for hours together so rapidly that the needle would glow in his hand, and the thread smoke, and that none could equal him.