"There was once a merchant who was so rich that he could have paved
the whole street with gold, and even then he would have had enough for
a small alley." From the "The Flying Trunk," Hans Christian Andersen.

"There was once a shilling which came forth from the mint springing
and shouting, 'Hurrah! Now I am going out into the wide world.'"
From "The Silver Shilling," Hans Christian Andersen.

"In the High and Far Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had
no trunk." From "The Elephant's Child": "Just So Stories,"
Rudyard Kipling.

"Not always was the Kangaroo as now we behold him, but a Different
Animal with four short legs." From "Old Man Kangaroo": "Just So
Stories," Rudyard Kipling.

"Whichever way I turn," said the weather-cock on a high steeple, "no
one is satisfied." From "Fire-side Fables," Edwin Barrow.

"A set of chessmen, left standing on their board, resolved to alter
the rules of the game." From the same source.

"The Pink Parasol had tender whalebone ribs and a slender stick of
cherry-wood." From "Very Short Stories," Mrs. W. K. Clifford.

"There was once a poor little Donkey on Wheels: it had never wagged
its tail, or tossed its head, or said 'Hee-haw,' or tasted a tender
thistle." From the same source.