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Choose a story from Shortest Stories and read it carefully. Then reduce it to three sentences without leaving out any of the important details. Repeat for Slightly Longer Stories and Longest Stories. Shortest Stories The Boatman – A Sufi Story from...

A Sufi Story from The Middle East A scholar asked a boatman to row him across the river. The journey was long and slow. The scholar was bored. ‘Boatman,’ he called out, ‘let’s have a conversation.’ Suggesting a topic of...

A Tale from Japan Ten old men decided to celebrate the New Year with a big crock of hot sake wine. Since none of them could provide for all, they each agreed to bring one jug of wine for the large heating bowl. On the way to his wine cellar, each...

A Tale from Ancient Greece There was once a man who had a beautiful cat. She was so loving that one day he wished out loud, ‘Dear Cat, if you were only a woman, I’d marry you.’ Aphrodite, the goddess of love, heard his wish and changed...

A Tale from Ancient Greece Zeus, the King of Mount Olympus was giving out gifts to beasts and birds and insects one day. To his surprise, the little honeybee came before his throne and said, ‘Of all the gifts you could give to me, only one...

A Sufi Story from The Middle East Mula came upon a frowning man walking along the road to town. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. The man held up a tattered bag and moaned, ‘All that I own in this wide world barely fills this miserable...

A Taoist Tale A man needed a new pair of shoes, but before he went to the marketplace, he drew a detailed picture of his feet on a piece of paper. Then he carefully measured them and wrote down all their dimensions. Then, he set off on foot for the...

A Sufi Story from The Middle East Mula bet some friends he could survive a night on an icy mountain with nothing to warm him. Taking only a book and a candle for some light, he sat through the frigid night. When he came down to claim his winnings...