Stories in English

Guns On The Hillside: A shot rang out in the clear winter morning. Another and another. The sound echoed among the surrounding hills and sent a clamour of rooks flying into the air, cawing like crazy as they circled the deodar trees. Ten-year-old Bishnu stopped dead in his tracks. The hunters were back again! What were they after this time? …

Pecky The Woodpecker: A tall, wide, spreading, wild mango tree stood in a forest clearing. On one of its upper branches a pair of golden-backed woodpeckers dug a hole and raised a brood of their young. Pecky was the youngest of the brood. As he was the smallest and weakest of the young woodpeckers, his parents fussed over him a …

Life is only froth and bubble Two things stand like stone Kindness in another’s trouble Courage in your own. Courage Conquers All: “Have you heard the latest news? A new boy is to join our class!” Tikkoo Kapoor called out as his friends entered the assembly hall morning prayers. “Rot!” Suresh declared immediately. Courage Conquers All: Neela Subramaniam “Are you …

Danilo and Katya – her that got her man out of the Mistress’ mountain – had a big family of children. Eight of the, and all lads. Their mother used to complain, times – why couldn’t there be just one girl among them all to please your eye? But their father would just laugh. “Looks like we don’t know how …

Revathi’s Musical Plants: Revathi was a student of music. She was happy playing on her violin whenever she was free. There was a small open courtyard in front of her house, with a small cement bench. She would sit on the bench and practice on her violin. There were a few potted plants in the courtyard. While playing on the …

The mob came down the road; it came – a group of infuriated men – roaring; dancing; kicking; at everything in their way. The men cried, “Get them all! The cowards have to pay with their blood.” Many of them were drunk. They did not know what they were doing. The girl heard them come towards the house. She was …

It was the most beautiful bike and it belonged to Ranjan’s Uncle. A magic, kingfisher-blue with a matching pannier and two smart rear-view mirrors. A real beauty of bike and the first of its kind in the neighborhood. Overnight, Ranjan had become a prince among us boys. We clustered around him in class the next day, eager for details. Story …

Pavel Bazhov is best known for his collection of fairy tales The Malachite Box, based on Ural folklore and published in the Soviet Union in 1939. In 1944, the translation of the collection into English was published in New York City and London. Later Sergei Prokofiev created the ballet The Tale of the Stone Flower based on one of the …

One day two of the men from our village went to take a look at the hay. Their meadows were quite a bit of a way off. Somewhere the other side of Severushka. It was a Sunday and real hot. That sort of fine weather you get after rain. Both of them worked in the mines, on Gumeshky. They got …

The Tell Tale Tile: About The Author – Harriet Mann Miller (pen names Olive Thorne and Olive Thorne Miller; 25 June 1831 – 25 December 1918) was an American author, naturalist, and ornithologist. She was one of the first three women raised to elective membership in the American Ornithologists’ Union. Miller wrote stories for leading magazines. At the start of …