Four Fables with lessons to be learned

Dear Friends,
I hope all are having a good beginning to this new year 2020.
Mine has been very nice for me so far. I feel like this year is going to be a very eye opening year for me to the good. This year things will be a whole lot smoother then they were last year. Last year was one of those years, that you just want to say, "What was that?"
So since there are lessons to be learned, I will share with you four fables from the Riverside Literature book.Each tells of the lesson learned.

Here is the first one:

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

As a Lion lay asleep, a Mouse, by chance,
ran into his mouth. The lion shut his teeth
together and would have eaten him up, but the
Mouse begged hard to be let out, saying:--
"If you will let me go, I shall be forever grateful."
The lion smiled and let the Mouse out.
Not long after, the Mouse had a chance to
repay him, for the Lion was caught by some
hunters, and bound with ropes to a tree. The
Mouse heard him roar and groan, and ran and
gnawed the ropes, so that the Lion got free.
Then the Mouse said:--
"You laughed at me once, Lion, as if you
could get nothing in return for your kindness
to me, but now it is you who owe your life to
me."
This fable teaches that there may come sudden
changes of fortune, when the strong will
owe everything to the weak.

Here is the second one:

THE LION AND THE BEAR

A Lion and a Bear chance to fall upon a
Fawn at the same time, and they began to
fight for it. They fought so fiercely that at
last they fell down, entirely warn out and
almost dead.
A Fox, passing that way, saw them stretched
out, and the Fawn dead between them. He
stole in slyly, seized the Fawn, and ran away
with it for his dinner. When they saw
this,they could not stir, but they cried out:--
" What wretches we are to take all this trouble
for a Fox!"
This fable teaches that when two people fall
to fighting for something, a third person is apt
to get it.

Here is the third one:

THE HUNTER AND THE WOODCUTTER

A hunter was looking for the tracks of a
Lion, and he asked a Woodcutter whom he met
if he had seen any tracks of a Lion, and if he
knew where the Lion was hid. The Woodcutter
said:--
"Oh, I can show you the Lion himself."
Then the Hunter was pale with fright, his
teeth chattered, and he said:--
"I only want to see his tracks; I don't want
to see the Lion."
There are those who are brave with words
only, not with deeds.

Here is the fourth one:

THE DOG AND THE WOLF

A dog was lying asleep in front of a stable.
A Wolf suddenly came upon him, and was
about to make a meal of him, but the Dog
begged for his life, saying:--
"I am lean and tough now; but wait a little,
for my master is going to give a feast, and then
I shall have plenty to eat; I shall grow fat, and
make a better meal for you."
So the Wolf agreed, and went away. By and
by he came back, and found the Dog asleep on
the house-top. He called to him to come down
now and do as he had agreed. But the Dog
answered;--
"Good Wolf, if you ever catch me again
asleep in front of the stable, you had better not
wait for the feast to come off."
This fable teaches that wise men, when they
escape danger, take care afterwards not to run
the same risk.

Each one has a very good lesson that still applies to this day.  Maybe some people in charge should be sent these lessons. Maybe then they will plan things better and consider the consequence of how they are going about things.

Now here are a few pictures from springs gone by.

 Written on the back of this one: May 8, 1923   Berglund's woodshed

 Written on the back of this one:  Spring April 1939

 Written on the back of this one: Kitten on top of a cow.

Well that's all I have to share with you today.
I hope you will come back soon for more Fading History.
Till then.
Your friend,
Sandy

Hans In Luck: Part 1

Dear Friends,
I hope this post finds you all well. I know I should have posted sooner. But, to tell the truth, I have not been in the mood to sit down at the computer and write. Not to say I don't have anything to say. Just not in the mood. Maybe it's the coming holidays. Maybe it's just other things in life getting in the way. Maybe I'm just procrastinating about getting somethings done. Oh well, I'm here now.
It's finally looking like the Decembers I remember from my childhood.

This was taken Thanksgiving at my parents house. There is more snow on the ground now.
Anyway, here is the first part of the next story from The Riverside Literature Series:

HANS IN LUCK
1.
The Silver, The Horse, The Cow, and The Pig

Hans had served his master seven years, and
at last said to him:--
"Master, my time is up; I should like to go
home and see my mother; so give me my
wages." And the Master said:--
"You have been a good and faithful servant,
so your pay shall be handsome." Then he gave
him a piece of silver as big as his head.
Hans took out his handkerchief, put the piece
of silver into it, hung it over his shoulder, and
jogged off homeward. As he went lazily on,
dragging one foot after the other, a man came
 in sight, trotting along gayly on a capital horse.
"Ah!" said Hans aloud, "what a fine thing
it is to ride on horseback! there he sits as if he
were at home in his chair; he trips against no
stones, spares, his shoes, and gets on he hardly
knows how." The Horseman heard this, and
said:_-

"Well, Hans, why do you go on foot then?"
"Ah," said he, "I have this load to carry;
to be sure it is silver, but it is so heavy that I
cannot hold up my head, and it hurts my
shoulder sadly."
"What do you say to changing?" asked the
Horseman. "I will give you my horse, and you
shall give me your silver."
"With all my heart," said Hans. "But I
will tell you one thing-- you will have a weary
task to drag it along." The Horseman got off,
took the silver, helped Hans up, put the bridle
into his hand, and said:--
"When you want to go very fast, you must
smack your lips, and cry 'Jip.'"
Hans was delighted as he sat on the horse and
rode merrily on. After a time he thought he
should like to go a little faster, so he smacked
his lips and cried"Jip." Away went the horse
full gallop; Hans held on tightly, but soon he
was thrown off, and lay in a ditch by the road-
side. His horse would have run away, if a Cow-
hers had not stopped it. Hans soon came to
himself, and got upon his legs again. He was
greatly vexed, and said to the Cowherd:--
"This riding is no joke when a man gets on
a beast like this, that stumbles ans flings him off
now once for all. I like your cow a great deal

better. I could walk along at my ease behind
her, and have milk, butter, and cheese every day
into the bargain. What would I give to have
such a cow!"
"Well," said the Cowherd," if you are so
fond of her, I will change my cow for your
horse."
"Done!" said Hans merrily. The Cowherd
jumped upon the horse and away he rode.
Hans drove his cow quietly, and thought his
bargain a very lucky one.
"If I have only a piece of bread-- and I cer-
tainly shall be able to get that-- I can eat my
butter and cheese with it. When I am thirsty I
can milk my cow and drink the milk. What can
I wish for more?"
Now he came to an inn; he halted, and gave
away his last penny for a piece of bread, and ate
it. Then he drove his cow toward the village
where his mother lived. The heat grew greater
as noon came on, till at last he found himself on
a wide plain; it would take him more than an
hour to cross the plain. He began to be so hot
and parched that his tongue cleaved to the roof
of his mouth.
"I can find a cure for this," Thought he;
"now I will milk my cow and quench my thirst."
So he tied her to the stump of a tree, and held
his leathern cap to milk into it; but not a drop
was to be had.

While he was trying his luck and doing very
ill, the uneasy beast gave him a kick on the
head; the kick knocked him down, and there he
lay a long time senseless. Luckily a Butcher
soon came by, wheeling a pig in a wheelbarrow.
"What is the matter with you?" asked the
Butcher, as he helped him up. Hans told him
what had happened, and the Butcher gave him
some water.
"There, drink and refresh yourself. Your
cow will give you no milk; she is an old beast,
fit only to be killed and eaten."
"Alas, alas!" If I kill her, what would she
be good for? I hate cow-beef; it is not tender
enough for me. If it were a pig now, I could
do something with it; it would at any rate make
some sausages."
"Well," said the Butcher," to please you, I
will change, and give you the pig for the cow."
"Heaven reward you for your kindness!" said
Hans, as he gave the Butcher the cow. He
took the pig off the wheelbarrow, and drove it
along, holding it by the string that was tied to
its leg.

Well what do you think of this story so far?  So far he started out with silver as large as his head, and now he has a pig. Do you think any of his trades were very smart or did all the others see a not so bright person?
Stay tuned  till next time for the conclusion of this tale.

Since it is winter time and Christmas is almost here I'll share with you once again a few pictures I posted before.

 A winter scene from the past that looks like it does today right now.

 A Christmas greeting from the past.

Me and my siblings at Christmas time.(I'm on the right).

Well that's all I have for you today.
I hope you have a good week.
Come back soon for more Fading History.
Till then.
Your friend,
Sandy

Riverside Literature Series 1890

Dear Friends,
I know it has been a long time since you have heard from me. I am sorry. I have been thinking about where this blog was going after I was done with the main letters. Plus I needed a break for awhile. But the break is over.
I will try to put something from the past up once a week. I'll figure it out along the way which day of the week is best yet.
I do have a number of things that I have not shared with you yet. They range from more old pictures, a few old letters, books, old news stories and whatever I can manage to find and feel it's time to share.
So, for the first thing I will work on is fables and folk stories from this book.













I know I have shared one story from it.  Today I will share two little ones with you.
The first one is:

The Crab and His Mother.

Said his Mother to a crab: "Why do you
walk so crooked child? Walk straight."
"Mother," said he, "show me the way, and
I will try to walk like you." But as long as she
 could not walk straight, her son laughed at her
advice.

Here is the second one:

The Boys and the Frogs.

A company of idle Boys were watching some
Frogs by the side of a pond, and as fast as any
of the Frogs lifted their heads the Boys would
pelt them down again with stones.
"Boys," said one of the Frogs," you forget
that, though this may be fun for you, it is death
to us."


These are just two short ones. Each one tells a little wisdom to think about.
Some of the others in the book are longer and you will know some of them. But reading them I will tell you they have changed over the years. Some of the stories are in chapters. So when I show them I will present them in chapters.
I think the first one I will share with you is called; "Little One Eye, Little Two Eyes, and Little Three Eyes." This one has three chapters. So I will present it over time in three different posts.

Well what do you think?
If you have any ideas on how I can change things or add things I'm willing to hear about them.
So till next time.
Your friend,
Sandy

Riverside Literature Series: copyright August 13, 1890

Dear Friends,
I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything. I'm still thinking about what I should show now that the letter are done.
This post I've decided to show you an old school book copyright 1890.

As you can see it's a book of Fables and Folk stories.
It has some of the known fables but they are a little different then what I remember.
I'm thinking of sharing some of the stories from time to time.
I'll start with some of the smaller ones that I will copy down as they are written. And maybe eventually I will show the longer ones.
But first I will share the preface:

Here is one of the short stories:

The Wind and The Sun

The Wind and the Sun had a dispute as to
which of the two was the stronger; they agreed
that the one should be called stronger who
should first make a man in the road take off
his cloak.
The Wind began to blow great guns, but the
man only drew his cloak closer about him to
keep out the cold. At last the gust was over.
  Then the Sun took his turn. He shone, and
it was warm and bright. The man opened his
cloak, threw it back, and at last took it off, and
lay down in the shade where it was cool.
So the sun carried his point against the Wind.
This fable teaches that it is often easier to
persuade men than it is to force them.

Just one of the short fables. What do you think?
Do you agree with the conclusion?

I am working on the story about Joel Oscar. I plan on posting that one on Feb.12th.
Something to look forward to.
Well, till next time.
Your friend,
Sandy