Journeva
🇬🇧 English · Life Lessons · A1–B2

The Wooden Duck

In 1932 a Danish village carpenter with no houses to build began to make wooden toys, and one evening he sent his son back to the station to varnish every duck again.

Level A1 · Beginner

It is 1932 in Billund, Denmark. Ole Kirk Christiansen is a carpenter. Nobody has money. Nobody buys a house.

So Ole makes wooden toys: a car, a yo-yo, later a duck. Children must play.

One day his son varnishes the ducks two times, not three. Ole says no. For a child, only the best is good enough. The son varnishes every duck again.

Ole's workshop burns two times. He builds it again. He names his company LEGO: "play well".

The same story, one level up

Every Journeva story exists at four levels — same plot, same characters, richer language each step. Here is how this one begins at each level.

A2 · Elementary

In 1932 Ole Kirk Christiansen was a carpenter in Billund, a small village in Denmark. Times were hard, and nobody ordered a house. …

B1 · Intermediate

In 1932, in the Danish village of Billund, nobody was ordering a house. Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter, had a workshop and almost no work. …

B2 · Upper intermediate

In 1932, in the Danish village of Billund, nobody was ordering a house, and the carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen had a workshop and little work. …

Read the whole story at A2, B1 and B2

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This story in other languages

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