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Fairy Tales

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By: Various

Book cover Cocoa Break Collection, Vol. 02

This is a collection of international fairy tales clocking in at 5-15 minutes apiece, suitable for childrens' winter cocoa breaks, or other times when quality entertainment is needed.

By: Ivan Krylov (1769-1844)

Book cover Kriloff's Fables

Herein is a collection of 86 fables translated into English from the 201 written by Kriloff. Some of Kriloff's fables are translations from La Fontaine, but most are original. In some, the foibles of the Russian nobility can be seen.

By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Book cover Devil's Bridge

Taken from Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes, Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI, edited by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

By: Peter Nikolaevich Polevoi (1839-1902)

Book cover Russian Fairy Tales

The existence of the Russian Skazki or Märchen was first made generally known to the British public by Mr W. R. S. Ralston in his “Russian Folk-Tales.” That excellent and most engrossing volume was, primarily, a treatise on Slavonic folk-lore, illustrated with admirable skill and judgment by stories, mainly selected from the vast collection of Afanasiev, who did for the Russian what Asbjörnsen has done for the Norwegian folk-tale. A year after the appearance of Mr Ralston's book, the eminent...

By: Alicia Stuart Aspinwall (1887-?)

Book cover Short Stories for Short People

This is a collection of short stories by Alicia Aspinwall.

By: Geoffrey of Monmouth (1100-1155)

Book cover History of the Kings of Britain

More medieval romance than history, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae represents the oldest versions we have of many legends of Britain, populated by such characters as the Leir, Cymbeline, Uther and Arthur Pendragon and Cadwallader. This is Giles' 1848 revision of Thompson's 1718 edition. - Summary by SkyRider

By: Songling Pu (1640-1715)

Book cover Strange Stories From a Chinese Studio, volume 1

"Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. It was written in Classical Chinese rather than Vernacular Chinese. Pu is believed to have completed the majority of the tales sometime in 1679, though he could have added entries as late as 1707. He borrows from a folk tradition of oral storytelling to put to paper a series of captivating, colorful stories, where the boundary between reality and the odd or fantastic is blurred...

By: Richard Wilson (1887-1976)

Book cover Indian Story Book

Richard Wilson has taken tales from the two great Indian epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, as well as other early sources, and has retold them in English, in an effort to showcase to young English-speaking readers that 'oriental' stories share the same elements as tales they are used to. Love, hate, virtue, oppression, tenderness, bravery and resourcefulness and an ultimate desire to conquer evil. - Summary by Paraphrased from the Introduction

By: Yei Theodora Ozaki (1871-1932)

Book cover Romances of Old Japan

A collection of romances from old Japan rendered into English by Yei Theodora Ozaki. Filled with tales of honor, adventure, tragedy, and romance, this collection will surely give anyone interested in Japanese culture and literature an insightful and enjoyable experience.

By: Snorri Sturleson (1178-1241)

Book cover Prose Edda (Brodeur Translation)

Also known as the Younger Edda or Snorri's Edda, the Prose Edda is a three-part work composed or at least compiled by thirteenth-century Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson. Along with the Elder or Poetic Edda written by an unknown poet a half-century earlier, the Prose Edda is a major source of much older Norse mythology as it had evolved through the generations. The two Eddas have had a profound effect on European literature in both style and content, not least on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth fantasies...

By: Laurence Housman (1865-1959)

Book cover Stories from the Arabian Nights

Scheherazadè, the heroine of the Thousand and one Nights, ranks among the great story-tellers of the world but the great quantity of her stories were meant to stave off her death and so we can expect a few to be not of the best quality. The six stories chosen here to be retold by Laurence Housman however, are some of the very best to be had among all of them. They are beautifully written and deserve to be 'told' by readers who enjoy telling stories. - Summary by Phil Chenevert

By: Abby Langdon Alger (1850-1917)

Book cover In Indian Tents

A collection of the legends and stories of North Eastern Indians "In the summer of 1882 and 1883, I was associated with Charles G. Leland in the collection of the material for his book The Algonquin Legends of New England, published in 1884. I found the work so delightful, that I have gone on with it since, whenever I found myself in the neighborhood of Indians. The supply of legends and tales seems to be endless, one supplementing and complementing another, so that there may be a dozen versions of one tale, each containing something new...

By: Marie of Romania Alexandra Victoria (1875-1938)

Book cover Dreamer of Dreams

Eric, artist for the king, has created a marvelous painting of a royal wedding. It is finished except for the face of the queen, which appeared to him in a dream. When he awoke, he had forgotten the form of the features. Obsessed with recapturing this vision, he goes on a quest to find the woman because he cannot paint another stroke until he sees those eyes again. During his journey, he discovers much more, perhaps even the true meaning of his dream and of his life. - Summary by Amy Gramour

By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

Book cover Crocodile

Ivan Matveich, the most ordinary person you might hope to meet, is swallowed alive by a crocodile at a sideshow. Finding life inside the belly of the beast quite comfortable, he makes a home for himself there. His disquisitions on the state of the world from inside the crocodile make him quite a name for himself; while all the while the discussion rages outside as to whether the beast is going to be cut open to release him or not, its value as a sideshow attraction having massively increased owing to the presence of the human voice buried inside it. One of Jorge Luis Borges' seven most favourite stories. - Summary by Tony Addison

By: Songling Pu (1640-1715)

Book cover Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Volume 2

"Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" or "Strange Tales of Liaozhai" is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. It was written in Classical Chinese rather than Vernacular Chinese. Pu is believed to have completed the majority of the tales sometime in 1679, though he could have added entries as late as 1707. He borrows from a folk tradition of oral storytelling to put to paper a series of captivating, colorful stories, where the boundary between reality and the odd or fantastic is blurred...

By: Snorri Sturleson (1178-1241)

Book cover Heimskringla: The Stories of the Kings of Norway, Called The Round World

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230. The name Heimskringla was first used in the 17th century, derived from the first two words of one of the manuscripts . Heimskringla is a collection of sagas about the Norwegian kings, beginning with the saga of the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, followed by accounts of historical Norwegian rulers from Harald Fairhair of the 9th century up to the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla in 1177...

By: Howard Pyle (1853-1911)

Book cover Story of King Arthur and His Knights

Masterful artist, illustrator, and storyteller Howard Pyle brings new life to the legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. The first in Pyle's series of four books about King Arthur, this volume takes readers to the very beginning and the miracle of Arthur pulling the sword from the anvil and claiming his birthright as King of Britain. We are reintroduced to Pyle's Lady Guinevere, the Enchanter Merlin, the evil Morgana Le Fay, the chivalrous knights Sir Pellias and Sir Gawaine and follow their noble adventures. A book to be enjoyed by children and adults, alike. - Summary by Jill Engle

By: Margaret P. Sherwood (1864-1955)

Book cover Princess Pourquoi

Once upon a time, a princess was born, and a fairy cursed her with a mind: "She is a woman-child, and yet she shall think. She shall be alien to her own sex, and undesired by the other. She shall ask and it will not be given her. She shall achieve and it shall count her for naught. Men shall point the finger at her like this...and shall whisper, 'There goes the woman with brains, poor thing!" This and four other joyful feminist fairy tales make up The Princess Pourquoi. - Summary by wildemoose

By: Catherine Crowe (1803-1876)

Book cover Night-Side of Nature; Or, Ghosts and Ghost-Seers

The stories in Volume 1 centre on dreams, psychic presentiments, traces, wraiths, doppelgängers, apparitions, and imaginings of the after-life. Crowe's vivid tales, written with great energy and imagination, are classic examples of nineteenth-century spiritualist writing and strongly influenced other authors as well as providing inspiration for later adherents of ghost-seeing and psychic culture. - Summary by Cambridge University Press

By: William Thomas Linskill (1855-1929)

Book cover St Andrews Ghost Stories

Seventeen ghost stories centered around the ruined medieval cathedral of Saint Andrew in the Scots city of that name. The author was famous in his time for his interest in ghostly apparitions.

By: Edwin Carlile Litsey (1874-1970)

Book cover Race Of The Swift

This 1905 collection is of the author’s short animal stories, some previously published in magazines. - Summary by David Wales

By: David Kalakaua (1836-1891)

Book cover Legends and Myths of Hawaii

A collection of legends and myths of the Hawaiian islands and their 'strange people' as told by His Majesty King Kalakaua, the last king of Hawaii. Introduction, including a history, geography and social and religious commentary on the islands by R.M. Daggett, United States Minister to the Hawaiian Islands 1882-1885.

By: Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Book cover Wisdom of the Ancients, A Series of Mythological Fables

"Now I suppose most people will think I am but entertaining myself with a toy, and using much the same kind of licence in expounding the poets’ fables which the poets themselves did in inventing them; and it is true that if I had a mind to vary and relieve my severer studies with some such exercise of pleasure for my own or my reader’s recreation, I might very fairly indulge in it. But that is not my meaning. Not but that I know very well what pliant stuff fable is made of, how freely it will follow any way you please to draw it, and how easily with a little dexterity and discourse of wit meanings which it was never meant to bear may be plausibly put upon it...

By: Wilhelm Hauff (1802-1827)

Book cover Swanhilde, and other Fairy Tales

Wilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist, perhaps best known for his fairy tales . Some of his stories, such as the Caliph Stork found in this volume, are popular in German-speaking countries to this day. In this book of fairy tales, we find the tale of the beautiful Swanhilde and various other stand-alone fairy tales, as well as a frame story "The Caravan" which includes multiple fairy tales within it. Hauff's freshness and originality shine through in these tales.

By: James Stephens (1882-1950)

Book cover Irish Fairy Tales

Collection of Irish Fairy Tales set in a wooded, Medieval Ireland filled with larger-than-life hunters, warriors, kings, and fairies - Summary by Anthony K. Futterer

By: Sanni Metelerkamp (1867-1945)

Book cover Outa Karel’s Stories: South African Folk-Lore Tales

Sanni Metelerkamp was a South African playwright and author born in 1867. She is well known for her biography of her great-grandfather, George Rex, the British born entrepreneur who founded the town of Knysna and was rumoured to have been an illegitimate son of King George III. Possibly her greatest legacy however is the publication of a collection of folk tales which in her own words "… are the common property of every country child in South Africa." By the time she published "Outa Karel’s Stories: South African Folk-Lore Tales" in 1914, South Africa had come through a time of great turmoil...

By: William Patten (1868-1936)

Book cover Junior Classics Volume 4: Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry

The purpose of The Junior Classics is to provide, in ten volumes containing about five thousand pages, a classified collection of tales, stories, and poems, both ancient and modern, suitable for boys and girls of from six to sixteen years of age, but adults will enjoy these just the same! This volume contains stories about heroes such as Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Don Quixote. Summary by Foon

By: Cenydd Morus (1879-1937)

Book cover Fates of the Princes of Dyfed

Cenydd Morus's imaginative retelling of tales from the Mabinogion, the great work of Welsh literature first recorded in the 12th-13th century. Written while he was working for the Theosophical Society in California, Morris's version restores the Gods that he believed had disappeared from the written record but must have been present in the oral tradition of the Druid bards. First published in 1914 and republished in the 1970s as the 15th volume in the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library. - Summary by Phil Benson

By: Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Book cover Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain wrote this fairytale style story about 3 boys who meet Satan's cousin and they experience many things during this time. The story is narrated by one of the boys many years later. Mark Twain ends the story expressing the idea that will blow you away. Ideas that can be traced back thousands of years in many religions. What is existence really ... to quote that well known song by Eliphalet Oram Lyte ... Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream .... so dream on. - Summary by Patrick79

By: Richard Gordon Smith (1858-1918)

Book cover Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan

Tales of Folklore are often of special interest. Anything may happen to ordinary mortals in the world painted by folklore. But it becomes even more interesting when you dive into folklore of places away from your own culture. This volume is a collection of ancient Japanese tales. We hear of ordinary mortals interacting with the spirit world, sometimes to their benefit, sometimes to their doom, we hear of love and hate, and of war and peace. Some of the stories will be entirely new to most readers, some of them will be uncannily familiar. - Summary by Carolin

By: A. G. Seklemian

Book cover Golden Maiden and Other Folk Tales and Fairy Stories Told in Armenia

Armenians trace their history back to before the time of the Babylonians and earliest recorded history - in fact, to Togarmah, a grandson of Japhet, Noah's son, who settled in Armenia after the Ark came to rest on mount Ararat. Armenia was also the first State in the world to adopt Christianity as their official religion, around the 3rd Century AD. This book contains many wonderful folk and fairy tales culled from this long history of the Armenian country people, to whom all nature is full of stories, by the scholar and storyteller Mr. A. G. Seklemian. - Summary by Noel Badrian

By: William Elliot Griffis (1843-1928)

Book cover Korean Fairy Tales

Everywhere on earth the fairy world of each country is older and perhaps more enduring than the one we see and feel and tread upon. So I tell in this book the folk lore of the Korean people, and of the behavior of the particular kind of fairies that inhabit the Land of Morning Splendor.

By: Anonymous

Book cover Heroic Life and Exploits of Siegfried the Dragon Slayer

This is the prequel of the Nibelungenlied. It tells the tale of Siegfried as a young man when he sets forth to earn a name for himself so he will be able to stand proudly with his ancestors. - Summary by Fritz

By: John Luther Long (1861-1927)

Book cover Little Miss Joy-Sing

A pleasant kind of fantasy set in Japan concerning a woman and a prince. - Summary by KevinS

By: Lucian of Samosata

Book cover Lucian's Dialogues Volume 2: The Dialogues of the Sea-Gods

The Dialogues of the Sea-Gods are 15 miniature dialogues mocking the Homeric conception of the Greek gods, originally written in Attic Greek by Syrian author Lucian of Samosata. Almost 1900 years old, these dialogues still retain a lot of their original humor and wit. - Summary by Foon Cast: Alpheius/Menelaus: ZoinkMeister Patrick Amphitrite/Panope: alanmapstone Cyclops: Nemo Delphines/Amymone: Leanne Yau Doris: Foon Enipeus: Rob Marland Galateia: Anita Sloma-Martinez Galene/Xanthus: Jeanne Viray Iphianassa: Pseudonymous Nerd Iris: Availle Notus: Stefan Von Blon Poseidon: Larry Wilson Protheus/Triton: Adam Bielka Thalassa: B L Newman Thetis: K...

By: Edith Ogden Harrison (1862-1955)

Book cover Prince Silverwings and Other Fairy Tales

Edith Ogden Harrison's first published work, Prince Silverwings, is a collection of seven fairy tales for young readers. It is perhaps best known as the source of an unsuccessful stage collaboration with L. Frank Baum, ultimately providing inspiration for several of Baum's Oz books.

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 01

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. Appropriate stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore. - Summary by Lynette Caulkins

By: Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533)

Book cover Tales from Ariosto

The object of the present venture is to do something to revive the interest of the ordinary English reader in Ariosto. The present volume is intended to give some of the chief stories of the "Orlando Furioso" in such a way as to bring out also the main plot. The "Orlando Furioso" is a conglomeration of stories of all kinds, from the most delicate and ideal romance to the broadest humor.

By: Douglas Hyde (1860-1949)

Book cover Legends of Saints and Sinners

"I have called the present volume "Legends of Saints and Sinners," which to a certain extent it is; but I mean it for a book of Irish Christian folk-lore. My idea in compiling it has been to give for the first time a collection of genuine Irish folk-lore which might be called "Christian." By this I mean folk-stories and folk-poems which are either entirely founded upon Christian conceptions, or else are so far coloured by them, that they could never have been told—at least in their present shape—had not Christianity established itself in Ireland...

By: Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916)

Book cover More Celtic Fairy Tales

More fairy tales from the early days of the British Isles, collected and edited by Joseph Jacobs. - Summary by bookworm360

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 03

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures. - Summary by Lynette Caulkins

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 04

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

By: André Gide (1869-1951)

Book cover Prometheus Illbound

There is a witty and absurdist character to this contemporary setting of the plight of Prometheus, in which Zeus appears as a tremendously wealthy banker, meting out gratuitous fortune. Prometheus' troubled relationship with his liver-devouring eagle provides a means of insight for those he encounters. Rather than a myth the story has the nature of a fable.

By: Klara Stroebe (1887-1932)

Book cover Norwegian Fairy Book

These Norwegian tales of elemental mountain, forest and sea spirits, have been handed down by hinds and huntsmen, wood choppers and fisher folk. They are men who led a hard and lonely life amid primitive surroundings. The Norwegian Fairy Book has an appeal for one and all, since it is a book in which the mirror of fairy-tale reflects human yearnings and aspirations, human loves, ambitions and disillusionments, in an imaginatively glamored, yet not distorted form. [from the book's preface]

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 06

You get to choose what you want to read! So long as the source is Public Domain for you, any short story or chapter that tells of legends, heroes, myths, or ancient lore, is welcome. We are looking for representations of many different cultures within each collection. If you have questions of whether a source is Public Domain for you , I recommend asking about that in this project's discussion before you begin recording. Simply post the question with a link to the source you've found. :) Limit of 2 sections per reader in a given Myths & Legends collection. - Summary by Lynette Caulkins

By: M. E. S. Wright

Book cover Medley of Weather Lore

A Medley of Weatherlore is a compilation of poems, sayings, and bits of folklore for each month of the year. - Summary by A. Gramour

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 08

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

By: Andre de Ridder (1888-1961)

Book cover Christmas Tales Of Flanders

“The Christmas Tales Of Flanders presented in this volume are popular fables and legends current in Flanders and Brabant, which have for centuries been told to children throughout Belgium. Their origin is doubtful, as all literature handed down by oral tradition must be. A good many of these stories are found in a different guise in the legends of other nations…. These tales occupy for the Flemish the place nursery rhymes take in England…” The book title may be a bit misleading as the stories, with two exceptions, do not concern themselves with Christmas...

By: Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960)

Book cover Lavender Dragon

A well meaning dragon steals lonely humans to populate his version of paradise. A knight-errant comes to the rescue, but finds this terrible dragon to be something quite different than expected.

By: Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)

Book cover Phantasmion

In 1837 came Phantasmion, a Fairy Tale, Sara Coleridge's longest original work, described by critic Mike Ashley as "the first fairytale novel written in English". Historian of literature Dennis Butts describes Phantasmion as a "remarkable pioneering fantasy" and "an extraordinary monument to her talent". The songs in Phantasmion were much admired at the time by Leigh Hunt and other critics. Some of them, such as "Sylvan Stag" and "One Face Alone", are extremely graceful and musical, and the whole fairy tale is noticeable for the beauty of the story and the richness of its language...

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 09

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 10

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

By: H. T. Francis (1837-1924)

Book cover Jātaka Tales

Jātaka tales are ancient Indian folktales that form a part of Buddhist teaching, telling stories of the Buddha’s past lives. Akin to Aesop’s fables, some strikingly similar, they urge the listener to moral behavior and often, more than that, point a way to real insight. - Summary by Scotty Smith

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 11

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

By: William T. Cox (1878-1961)

Book cover Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods

A limbless reptilian monster that propels itself through the swamps with a propellor-tipped tail? A creature so ashamed of its monstrous appearance that it dissolves into tears when captured? Learn about the snoligoster, the squonk and many other 'fearsome critters' in this field guide written and illustrated by two North American foresters who know them well. Listeners who suspect that these creatures are the stuff of tall tales, will nevertheless do well to look out for slide-rock bolters when vacationing in the Colorado mountains. - Summary by Phil Benson

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 13

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

By: The Gawain Poet

Book cover Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Weston Translation Version 2)

This poem celebrates Christmas by exploring the mystery of Christ's mission on earth: his death, resurrection, and second coming as judge of all human souls. Sir Gawain is cast in the role of Everyman. At the feast of the New Year, an unarmed green giant rides his green horse into the banqueting hall of King Arthur and challenges any member of the assembled company to behead him with a huge axe and then to submit to the same treatment from his victim the next year. Gawain volunteers to prevent Arthur from accepting this challenge, fairly confident that the challenger will be unfit to return the blow...

By: Mara L. Pratt

Book cover Legends of Norseland

Collection of tales from the Norse legends, from the beginning of the golden kingdom of the Aesir, to it's end within the flames of Ragnarok.

By: Various

Book cover Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 14

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

By: Charles M. Skinner (1852-1907)

Book cover American Myths and Legends, Volume 1

American Myths and Legends is another collection of folklore from author Charles M. Skinner, whose exhaustive and expansive work in the field popularized many of these stories in the public imagination. It is intended as a follow-up work to his multivolume magnum opus, Myths and Legends of Our Own Land. This is the first of two volumes. - Summary by ChuckW


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