This is a story-listening demonstration by Beniko Mason. It is based on the story by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Below the video is the story text as retold by Stephen Krashen along with some vocabulary list in Japanese and Chinese.

The Ungrateful Son

The Ungrateful Son (Easier)

The Ungrateful Son

Retold By Stephen Krashen

A man and his wife were once at home about to eat a roasted chicken. The man looked out the window and saw his father coming. The man quickly hid the chicken, because he didn’t want to share it with his father.

The old man came, took a drink, and went away. The son wanted to put the roasted chicken on the table again, but when he took the chicken out, a giant toad jumped on his face.

The toad stayed on the man’s face and didn’t leave. If anybody tried to move him, the toad gave him an angry look, as if it would jump on his face too. Nobody dared touch it.

The ungrateful son was forced to feed the toad every day. If he didn’t the, toad would start to eat the son’s face. The son had no peace for the rest of his life.

The End

(link to the PDF of this story)

(link to the PDF of the original Grimm story)

Vocabulary in Japanese

Vocabulary in Japanese for the original Grimm story | Vocabulary in Traditional Chinese | Vocabulary in Simplified Chinese