floradeck
Original stories, poems and fables by five authors.
34 of 34 works
Verse fable
A summer song and a winter request for food.
Verse fable
Flies discover the danger of a tempting meal.
Verse fable
A milkmaid imagines what her earnings will buy.
Verse fable
A fox changes its mind about unreachable grapes.
Verse fable
A farmer wants more than one golden egg a day.
Verse fable
A donkey discovers a flute in a field.
Verse fable
Two rabbits argue while danger approaches.
Verse fable
A squirrel and a horse compare their abilities.
Verse fable
A duck lists its talents to a snake.
Verse fable
Three animals disagree about a performance.
Poem
Four lines asking what poetry is.
Poem
Four lines about a glance, a smile and a kiss.
Poem
Swallows and honeysuckle return; a lost love does not.
Short story
A hunter is drawn toward a mysterious forest spring.
Literary prose
Fallen leaves speak about their lives on a tree.
Short story
A bride explains why she called off her wedding.
Short story
A narrator tries to return a heart found in the street.
Short story
A young narrator becomes fascinated by an old portrait.
Short story
A narrator becomes obsessed with the contents of a golden box.
Short story
Marta shelters a traveller who stays far longer than one night.
Short story
A fairy listens to four artists and their troubles.
Short story
A wealthy king finds little use for a poet.
Short story
A young woman visits a palace in the sun.
Short story
A dock worker tells the story of his son.
Short story
A poet in Paris speaks of a blue bird inside him.
Verse fable
Fortune wakes a boy sleeping beside a well.
Verse fable
A trapped quail regrets risking everything for a grain of wheat.
Verse fable
A dog refuses a crocodile's unsafe advice.
Literary prose
The history and wordplay behind an old Lima saying about olives.
Literary prose
An archbishop finds a pointed way to improve a miserly priest’s clothes.
Literary prose
A friar’s promised savings return to trouble a dishonest merchant.
Poem
Two brief images of release and new life.
Poem
A child at the seaside notices another family’s hardship and shares what she has.
Short story
A daughter confronts the violence surrounding her father in Rosas-era Buenos Aires.
These are historical originals, not graded readings. Short works may still contain unfamiliar literary language.