Fables for children. The old man who stirred the mountains

The Chinese fables for children are thousand-year-old stories full of wisdom. For centuries, fables in China have been handed down from father to son, from generation to generation. All these magical stories keep a message inside, a teaching. The moral of Chinese fables is what makes these stories a

The Chinese fables for children are thousand-year-old stories full of wisdom. For centuries, fables in China have been handed down from father to son, from generation to generation. All these magical stories keep a message inside, a teaching. The moral of Chinese fables is what makes these stories an essential element in the education of children.

These stories or short stories also bring us closer to the culture of other peoples, of other distant civilizations. In all of them, children will be able to find references to the way of life in China, a society very different from the Western one, that can bring us many values and teachings of Eastern culture. The encounter with Chinese fables can be a meeting point between both cultures that motivates children to grow their interest in this civilization and invites them to learn Chinese.

The Old Man Who Removed the Mountains: Children's Fable

The Taihang and Wangwu Mountains are about 700 kilometers in contour and 10,000 kilometersin height.

North of these mountains lived an old man about 90 years old called El Viejo. His house looked towards these mountains and due to his advanced age he found it quite uncomfortable to have to make a long detour every time he left or returned home. So one day he had a great idea, and decided to reunite his family to discuss the matter.

- What do you think if we all dismantled the mountains together to create a path? - He suggested -. Then we could open a direct path to the South, to the bank of the Hanshui River.

The whole family agreed, except his wife, who doubted.

- We do not have the necessary strength to dismantle the mountains - he said -. How can we change the silhouette of those two mountains? Besides, where are we going to empty all the earth and the rocks?

- We will empty them in the sea - was the answer.

Then El Viejo left with his children and grandchildren to remove the mountains. Three of them carried seesaws and removed stones and earth and, in baskets, they hauled them to the sea. On each trip it took several months.

A man who lived near the riverbank, whom they called El Sabio, laughed at his efforts and tried to dissuade them.

- Enough of this nonsense! - exclaimed -. How stupid is all this! As old and weak as you are, you will not be able to pluck even a handful of herbs in those mountains. How are you going to remove land and stones in such quantity?

The Old Man exhaled a long sigh.

- How clumsy you are! - Told him -. Even if I die, my children and my children's children will remain; and so on, from generation to generation. And since these mountains do not grow, why are not we going to be able to finish by removing them?

Then The Wise had nothing to answer.

END