Chinese Short Stories

A farmer in ancient China sees a rabbit run into a tree stump and catches it without effort. Hoping for more free rabbits, he abandons his fields and waits by the stump every day. No rabbit ever comes again and his crops are overrun with weeds. The origin of the idiom “waiting by the stump for a rabbit.”

Lele wants to give his grandfather a birthday present but has no pocket money. He makes a handmade memory book of old photos and family memories and learns Grandpa’s favorite song on the harmonica. His grandfather calls it the best gift of his life.

After thousands of years of lighting the night, the tired Moon wishes for a night off. The stars offer to cover the sky and shine so brightly that children see the constellations like never before. Now the Moon rests once a month — the new moon.

Manman the snail is always late because her steps are small, and her friends laugh. When she misses the cake at a picnic, a ladybug helps the others understand. The next picnic is held right by her house, and the friends learn to wait for one another.

A hungry dog finds a bone and, crossing a bridge, sees his reflection holding another bone. Greedy for both, he barks and drops his own bone into the river. He goes home hungry, having learned that greed leads to loss.

Xiaojun’s red kite soars high and complains that its string holds it back. When the string snaps, the kite tumbles into a tree. Xiaojun ties a new string, and the kite realizes the string helps it fly higher.

Xiaoyu loves stars and planets. One night a glowing little spaceship takes her on a tour: bouncing on the Moon, passing red Mars, seeing Saturn’s rings and Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, and finally the beautiful blue Earth. She wakes up wanting to be an astronaut.

A little raindrop falls from a cloud onto a mountain leaf, flows down a stream and a river past fields and cities, reaches the sea, and rises again as water vapor into a cloud. A gentle introduction to the water cycle.

An ant falls into a river and a dove saves it by dropping a leaf. Days later, the ant sees a hunter about to net the dove and bites his foot, so the dove escapes. An Aesop fable about kindness repaid.

Xiaoming kicks a ball indoors against his mother’s wishes and breaks her favorite vase. He hides the pieces and is tempted to blame the cat, but confesses and apologizes. His mother hugs him, saying his honesty matters more than any vase.