Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

After her beloved mother dies, young Ella's father remarries, believing he is doing the best he can. However, the new baroness of the house and her two horrible, jealous, and spiteful daughters decide to make Ella their house slave and have her catering to their every demand. When a young prince holds a grand ball for all in the town, Ella is instructed that she must stay home. Hearing her sobs, Ella's fairy godmother arrives and transforms her and a few of the local wildlife into a vision fit for a king!

This odd little nursery rhyme is familiar to us all but have you ever wondered, like I have, about what Miss Muffet was thinking as she sat dreamily eating her curds and whey? And what are curds and whey, anyway? Her tuffet? Would that be a piece of furniture or a piece of her anatomy? And of course the large spider, what was she thinking?

He won't let the children play in his garden. What can give him a change of heart?

This short story is taken from Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit by Joel Chandler Harris. Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore collected from southern black Americans. Many of the stories are didactic, much like Aesop's fables and Jean de La Fontaine's stories. Uncle Remus is a freedman who serves as a storytelling device, passing on the folktales like the traditional African griot to children gathered around him. Award-winning audiobook narrator and producer Mike Vendetti portrays the kindly old gentleman telling the story.

This classic story by Margery Williams, published in 1922, imparts the timeless message that toys need not be expensive or modern to be appreciated and loved. Through giving and receiving love, even a commonplace stuffed animal can become real in the eyes of a child, and millions of them do every day. Love is the magic ingredient of course, and it works on all of us.

Talking animals, cunning ruses, comeuppances (or escapes from them), good and bad fortune, and a degree of ruthless cruelty are the stuff of folktales everywhere. No less so in these ten tales collected by George W. Bateman in East Africa towards the end of the nineteenth century and published in 1901. Some people think that these tales were the inspiration for some of the Disney stories. The present narrator sees the very little resemblance, but no doubt you'll make up your own mind about it!

Abandoned as infants, twins Peter and Rory have never known a real family. While Peter wants nothing more than to escape his abusive adoptive father, Rory struggles to not get kicked out of her twelfth foster home since she was separated from Peter seven years ago. All that changes when magical birds appear offering to help them reunite...and return them to the home they never knew. But fate is cruel. They arrive on the planet Inara, on opposing sides of a brutal war. It is up to them to uncover the real enemy if they ever want to see each other again.

The second of Andrew Lang's famous collections of fairy tales, The Red Fairy Book will whisk you away to long-ago, faraway lands full of magic, danger, and adventure. Remember to always listen to the elder by the road who gives you a list of directions, and never look inside forbidden doors! Inside you'll find delightful original versions of the 12 Dancing Princesses, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and many more in this collection of 37 stories from French, German, Danish, Russian, Romanian, and Norse roots.

Eight fanciful tales from Rudyard Kipling's book of animal origin tales, which began as bedtime stories told to his daughter Essie. They are called Just So Stories because Essie would not let Kipling deviate from the tale by even one word: They had to be told "just so".

This delightful fable from the Just So Stories of Rudyard Kipling tells of how the Cake-Parsee takes his revenge on a rude, ill-mannered rhinoceros who has stolen and eaten the Parsee's cake. The trick the Parsee plays changes the rhinoceros' skin forever.

A delightful and funny retelling of one of the most famous tales of all time. Follow the antics of these little pigs as they (well some of them) make foolish decisions and flirt with the hungry wolf.

Originally published in 1922, this classic children’s story tells the tale of a plush toy rabbit who was loved by a boy. Toys who are deeply and truly loved can become real. Listen and you will discover why one rabbit’s journey has filled hearts and captivated imaginations for 100 years. This story, told by narrator April Doty, will be played again and again at bedtime.

This delightful fairy tale for all ages is filled with fantasy, wit, and wisdom. A classic penned in 1872 by author George MacDonald, it has inspired the work of his friend Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland), and many others, including C.S. Lewis (The Narnia Chronicles), J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), G.K. Chesterton (The Father Brown Mysteries), and Madeleine L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time).

One of the most famous fairy tales of all time, The Little Mermaid was written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen and published in 1837. The littlest mermaid of the Sea King ventures to the surface of the ocean on her 15th birthday and falls in love with a handsome human prince whom she sees sailing on his vast ship. As her heart has been captured by this young royal, she endures great sacrifice and pain in order to be with the man she loves.

Scavenging along the muddy banks of the River Thames, our young hero, Edwin, learns about their lives and discovers an important link to Bad Bess. Could this strange woman lead him to Smudge - his new chimney sweep friend - or will Edwin’s perils continue? “Mudlarks” is an excerpt from chapter seven of the children’s historical adventure story Edwin and the Climbing Boys by Benita Cullingford.

This is a fairy tale about two kings who bluster and stumble into a hilarious non-war, a princess who finds true love in an unexpected place, and a conniving, beautiful Countess whose poetry was stolen by Shelley. The plot is driven by a bent ginger whisker, seven-league boots, two cloaks of darkness, and stiff notes. The characters are three-dimensional; the satire is gentle and wise. There is whimsy in every minute.

The Little Mermaid (Danish: Den lille havfrue, literally: "the little sea lady") is a very well-known fairy tale by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. The tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media including musical theatre and animated film. But this tale is not the Disney version, all cleaned up and made pretty. This is the way Andersen wrote it.

"The Beginning of the Armadillos" is a tale that focuses on two days in the lives of three creatures "who lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon": Stickly-Prickly the hedgehog, Slow-and-Solid the tortoise, and Painted Jaguar.

An anthology of time’s most beloved stories, written and adapted by the world’s most well-known fairy tale authors, and narrated by a variety of great storytellers.

A little fir tree stands in the woods. All he can think about is growing up into a big tree. When a hare hops over him, emphasizing how small he is, he is embarrassed. Children call him the baby of the forest. Find out what happens to the little fir tree in this far from happily-ever-after tale for older children.