# Socrates and his House - Source: Fifty Famous Stories Retold (fifty-famous.gutenberg.org), Public domain, James Baldwin, 1896, via Project Gutenberg - Reading level: Grades 3 and 4 - Subjects: Stories, History - Topics: said, house, little, reason, small, build - Length: 132 words, about 1 min - Original: - Page: - Open in Sprouts: There once lived in Greece a very wise man whose name was Socrates. Young men from all parts of the land went to him to learn wisdom from him; and he said so many pleasant things, and said them in so delightful a way, that no one ever grew tired of listening to him. One summer he built himself a house, but it was so small that his neighbors wondered how he could be content with it. "What is the reason," said they, "that you, who are so great a man, should build such a little box as this for your dwelling house?" "Indeed, there may be little reason," said he; "but, small as the place is, I shall think myself happy if I can fill even it with true friends."