“A Spider and a Flea dwelt together in one house, and brewed their beer in an egg-shell.” As odd and fun that first sentence is, this tale continues on in a mildly terrifying manner, and ends quite terribly for the characters we meet along the way.

“A cat having made acquaintance with a mouse, pretended such great love for her, that the mouse agreed that they should live and keep house together.”

“A countryman one day said to his little puppies, ‘Come into the parlor and enjoy yourselves, and pick up the bread-crumbs on the table; your mistress has gone out to pay some visits.'”

“Once on a time, a mouse and a bird and a sausage lived and kept house together in perfect peace among themselves, and in great prosperity.”

“A wonderful musician was walking through a forest, thinking of nothing in particular. When he had nothing more left to think about, he said to himself, ‘I shall grow tired of being in this wood, so I will bring out a good companion.'”

“There was once an ass whose master had made him carry sacks to the mill for many a long year, but whose strength began at last to fail, so that each day as it came, found him less capable of work.”