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 Crumbs on the Table

Story Retold By Stephen Krashen

One day the rooster said to his hens, “Go into the kitchen and pick up the breadcrumbs from the table. Our lady of the house has gone out visiting.

“The hens said, “No, no, we won’t go. If the lady finds out, she will beat us.”

Then the rooster said, “She won’t know anything about it. Come on. She never gives us anything good.”

Then the hens said once again, “No we won’t! We aren’t going in there! “But the rooster kept insisting, until they finally went into the kitchen, got on the table, and started to eat the breadcrumbs.

Just then the lady of the house came home, quickly got a stick, drove the hens away from the table and gave them a good beating.

Once outside the house, the hens said to the rooster, “Did you see what happened? We told you!”

The rooster laughed and said, “Isn’t that what you expected?” So the hens ran away.

The End

(link to the PDF of this story)

Vocabulary List

Vocabulary in Japanese | Vocabulary in Traditional Chinese | Vocabulary in Simplified Chinese