The Old Man and the Little Bird (A1 Reading Story)

A1 · BEGINNER Reading practice · ~1,400 words · 9-min read

This is a short, easy folk-tale for beginners. The sentences are simple. First, read the eight key words. Then read the story. At the end, there is a small quiz to check what you understand.

The story

1 · The old man on the hill

An old man lives in a small house. The house is on a hill. A hill is high land, like a small mountain. The wind on the hill is often cold.

The old man’s name is Baba. He is seventy years old. Baba lives alone. Alone means with no other person. He has no wife. He has no children. His brothers live far away.

But Baba is not sad. He is a kind man. Kind means good to other people. He works in his garden every day. A garden is the land next to a house where you grow food and flowers.

In his garden, Baba grows apples. He grows carrots. He grows small red flowers. He grows more food than one person needs.

Every week, Baba walks down the hill. He takes a small basket. He gives an apple to the baker. He gives a carrot to the old woman with the black cat. He gives a red flower to the small boy who cannot walk.

The people smile. “Thank you, Baba,” they say. “You are so kind. You always share with us.” To share means to give some of your thing to other people.

Baba smiles too. “I have more than I need,” he says. “It is nice to share.”

But at night, the little house on the hill is quiet. Very quiet. Baba sits by the fire. He drinks his tea. He looks at the empty chair on the other side. Sometimes, he wishes for a small friend.

2 · A little bird in the snow

Winter comes. The wind is strong. The snow falls on the hill. The trees are white. The garden sleeps under a soft white blanket.

One cold morning, Baba opens his door. He wants more wood for the fire. He looks at the garden.

Then he sees something. A small brown thing on the white snow. Baba walks to it slowly.

It is a little bird. The bird is very small. Its feathers are brown and grey. A feather is the soft light thing on a bird’s body. The little bird does not move. Its eyes are closed.

“Oh no,” Baba says. “Poor little thing. You are so cold.”

He picks up the bird carefully. Its small heart still beats. Baba puts the bird in his big pocket, near his warm coat. Warm means not cold.

He walks back to the house. Inside, he sits by the fire. He puts the little bird in a soft box near the fire. He puts a small piece of cloth over it, like a small blanket.

“You rest now, little friend,” he says.

He puts water in a small dish. He puts bread and seeds next to it. Then he waits.

3 · A little sun in winter

For one hour, the little bird does not move. Baba worries. But then, slowly, the bird opens its eyes. It looks at Baba. It looks at the fire.

The bird drinks a little water. It eats one seed. Then two seeds. Then a small piece of bread.

Baba smiles a big smile. “You are alive,” he says. “That is good news, little friend.”

Every day that winter, Baba takes care of the little bird. He gives it food. He gives it water. He talks to it. He tells it about his day.

“Today I walk to the town,” he says. “The baker asks about you.” Or, “Today the sky is blue. Spring comes soon.”

Day by day, the bird gets stronger. It sits on Baba’s finger. It sings small songs. The songs are quiet, but they fill the whole little house.

Baba is not alone now. He has a friend. Every night, he sits by the fire. He drinks his tea. And the little bird sits on the chair on the other side.

Baba gives the bird a name. He calls it Sunny, because it is like a little sun in his dark winter.

4 · The open window

Winter ends. Spring comes. The snow goes. The sun is warm again. Green leaves grow on the trees. To grow means to get bigger, day by day.

Sunny is strong now. Every morning, Sunny sits on the window. Sunny looks at the blue sky. Sunny hears other birds outside. Baba watches Sunny. He knows what is coming.

One warm morning, Baba opens the window.

“Fly, my friend,” he says. “You are a bird. A bird must fly.”

Sunny looks at Baba. Sunny sings one last small song. Then Sunny flies out of the window. Up, up, up into the blue sky.

Baba watches Sunny go. His eyes are wet. But he smiles.

“Goodbye, Sunny,” he says. “Be happy in the sky.”

That night, the little house is quiet again. Very quiet. Baba sits by the fire. He drinks his tea. The chair on the other side is empty.

He is a little sad. But he is not sorry. “It is good to help a small thing,” he says. “That is enough for me.”

5 · A gift in the garden

The next morning, Baba goes to his garden. He wants to plant new carrots.

He sees something new near his door. A small green plant grows in the earth. Baba does not remember this plant. He does not plant it.

“That is strange,” he says.

He looks at the little plant. It has three small green leaves.

The next day, the plant is bigger. It has ten leaves.

The next day, it is bigger still. It is as tall as Baba’s knee.

Every day, the plant grows. Baba gives it water. He talks to it. “Where do you come from, little plant?” he asks. “Are you a gift?”

One week later, the plant is a small tree. Its leaves are big and green. And on the tree, small round fruits grow. They are yellow, like the sun. They are apples, but small — like little golden balls.

Baba picks one. It is warm in his hand. He eats it. It is the sweetest apple he ever eats in his whole life.

He picks more. He fills his basket.

6 · The full house on the hill

Baba walks down the hill with his basket.

“Look what grows in my garden!” he says. “Try one of these apples. They are the best apples in the world.”

The baker tries one. The old woman tries one. The small boy tries one, and he smiles a big smile.

“These are magic apples,” they all say. “Where do you get this tree, Baba?”

Baba looks at the sky. High in the blue, a small brown bird is flying.

“A little friend brings it to me, I think,” he says quietly.

Now, every day is different. The people from the town walk up the hill. They bring bread, and cheese, and small cakes. They want to see Baba. They want a small golden apple.

The baker comes with his wife. The old woman comes with her black cat. The small boy comes with his mother.

They sit in Baba’s garden. They talk. They laugh. They share their food.

The little house on the hill is not quiet anymore. It is full of friends. It is full of warm voices.

At night, Baba sits by the fire. He drinks his tea. The chair on the other side is not empty. Some nights, the baker sits there. Some nights, the old woman sits there. Some nights, the small boy sits there with his mother.

And every morning, Baba looks at the sky. Sometimes, he sees a small brown bird. Sometimes, the bird sings a little song.

“Thank you, little friend,” Baba says softly.

But wait — one day, a new man walks up the hill. Baba does not know this man. The man wears a fine black coat. He carries a small black bag. He looks at the little tree with hungry eyes.

“Good morning, sir,” the man says. “I hear about your tree. I have one big question for you.”

What does the man in the black coat want to ask?

Check your understanding

Read each question. Think about your answer. Then click “Show answer” to check.

Words to remember

Here are the eight key words again, in new sentences. Say each one out loud.

• hill — My school is on a small hill. I walk up every morning.
• alone — I like to read a book alone in my room.
• kind — My teacher is very kind. She helps every student.
• garden — My grandmother grows tomatoes in her garden.
• share — I have two apples. I share one with my friend.
• feather — Look! There is a soft white feather on the ground.
• warm — My coat is big and warm. I am not cold now.
• grow — Small children grow very fast.

Talk about it · Write about it

Talk about it: Baba is kind to a small bird, and good things happen. Do you know a person who is very kind? What do they do for other people?

Write about it: Write 5 simple sentences about a small kind thing you do this week. Use the present simple. For example: “I help my mother. I give food to a cat. I say hello to my neighbour.”

🎉 Well done — you read a whole folk-tale in English! That is a big step. And did you notice? You now know eight new words too.

But wait — a strange man in a black coat comes up the hill. He wants something from Baba’s magic tree. What does he ask? And what does kind Baba say? You will find out in the next story…

Next story: Read another easy A1 story →

About this story: This is an original A1 graded folk-tale (~1,400 words). It uses simple, controlled vocabulary and the present simple tense, so beginners can understand about 98% of the words. Any harder word is explained before the story and used again inside it.

Khamis Maiouf

I’m Khamis Maiouf. English is not my first language – I learned it as an adult in the UK, passed Functional Skills Level 2 in English, qualified in Hairdressing at Level 3, and I’m now studying Business at university. For over five years I’ve taught ESOL classes in my community and tutored students through GCSE English. I write every lesson on this site myself, for the learner I used to be.