The Raven And The Fox

About This Short Story

Title: The Raven And The Fox From “Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks”

Author: Jean de La Fontaine

Illustrator: John Rae

Translator: W.T. (William Trowbridge) Larned

Categories: Fables

Summary: A story about a fox and a raven which urges us not to trust anyone who is trying to deceive us."

The Short Story

Mr. Raven was perched upon a limb,
And Reynard the Fox looked up at him;
For the Raven held in his great big beak
A morsel the Fox would go far to seek.

Said the Fox, in admiring tones: "My word!

Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.

Such feathers! If you would only sing,

The birds of these woods would call you King."
... Read more »

The Sheep and the Pig

About This Short Story

Title: The Sheep and the Pig From “The Aesop for Children”

Author: Æsop

Illustrator: Milo Winter

Categories: Folklore, Fables

Summary: Aesop for Children. The Sheep and the Pig. "It is easy to be brave when there is no danger."

The Short Story

One day a shepherd discovered a fat Pig in the meadow where his Sheep were pastured. He very quickly captured the porker, which squealed at the top of its voice the moment the Shepherd laid his hands on it. 

You would have thought, to hear the loud squealing, that the Pig was being cruelly hurt. But in spite of its squeals and struggles to escape, the Shepherd tucked his prize under his arm and started off to the butcher's in the market place. ... Read more »

The Tale of Tom Kitten

About This Short Story

Title: The Tale of Tom Kitten

Author: Beatrix Potter

Illustrator: Beatrix Potter

Categories: Animals, Cats, Juvenile fiction

Summary: The Tale of Tom Kitten is set in the cottage garden Beatrix created herself at Hill Top, the farm she owned near the village of Sawrey. Tom and his sisters look so smart in their new clothes. When their mother sends them outside while she waits for her visitors, she couldn't possibly guess what kind of mess they are going to get themselves into! The Tale of Tom Kitten is number 8 in Beatrix Potter's series of 23 little books.

The Short Story

Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet.

They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust.

But one day their mother—Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit—expected friends to tea; so she fetched the kittens indoors, to wash and dress them, before the fine company arrived. ... Read more »

The Nightingale and the Rose

About This Short Story

Title: The Nightingale and the Rose From “The Happy Prince and Other Tales”

Author: Oscar Wilde 1854-1900

Illustrator: Charles Robinson 1870-1937

Categories: Fairy tales

Summary: A Young Student is saddened because he has no red rose to offer The Girl he loves. A little Nightingale overhears his plight and makes the ultimate sacrifice in this retelling of Oscar Wilde's classic fairy tale.

The Short Story

SHE said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses,” cried the young Student; “but in all my garden there is no red rose.”

SHE WILL PASS ME BY

From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.

“No red rose in all my garden!” he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. “Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.” ... Read more »

The Emperor's New Clothes

About This Short Story

Title: The Emperor's New Clothes From “Stories from Hans Andersen”

Author: Hans Christian Andersen

Illustrator: Edmund Dulac

Categories: Fairy tales

Summary: The story of a self-centered emperor who thinks only about himself and shows no concern about his people.

The Short Story

Many years ago there was an Emperor, who was so excessively fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on them. 

He cared nothing about his soldiers, nor for the theatre, nor for driving in the woods except for the sake of showing off his new clothes. He had a costume for every hour in the day, and instead of saying, as one does about any other king or emperor, 'He is in his council chamber,' here one always said, 'The Emperor is in his dressing-room.'

Life was very gay in the great town where he lived; hosts of strangers came to visit it every day, and among them one day two swindlers. They gave themselves out as weavers, and said that they knew how to weave the most beautiful stuffs imaginable. Not only were the colours and patterns unusually fine, but the clothes that were made of the stuffs had the peculiar quality of becoming invisible to every person who was not fit for the office he held, or if he was impossibly dull. ... Read more »

Tattercoats

About This Short Story

Title: Tattercoats From “English Fairy Tales”

Author: Flora Annie Steel

Illustrator: Arthur Rackham

Categories: Fairy tales

Summary: Retells the traditional English tale of how poor, neglected Tattercoats comes to marry the Prince.

The Short Story

In a great Palace by the sea there once dwelt a very rich old lord, who had neither wife nor children living, only one little granddaughter, whose face he had never seen in all her life. 

He hated her bitterly, because at her birth his favourite daughter died; and when the old nurse brought him the baby he swore that it might live or die as it liked, but he would never look on its face as long as it lived.

So he turned his back, and sat by his window looking out over the sea, and weeping great tears for his lost daughter, till his white hair and beard grew down over his shoulders and twined round his chair and crept into the chinks of the floor, and his tears, dropping on to the window-ledge, wore a channel through the stone, and ran away in a little river to the great sea. ... Read more »

The Story of the Three Little Pigs

About This Short Story

Title: The Story of the Three Little Pigs

Author: Brooke, L. Leslie (Leonard Leslie), 1862-1940 - a British artist and writer.

Illustrator: L. Leslie Brooke

Categories: Fairy tales

Summary: An illustrated version of the traditional three little pigs tale. The three little pigs are hounded by a nasty wolf, but, of course, the third pig outsmarts the wolf. The story ends with a surprise twist.

The Short Story

Once upon a time there was an old Sow with three little Pigs, and as she had not enough to keep them, she sent them out to seek their fortune.

The first that went off met a Man with a bundle of straw, and said to him, "Please, Man, give me that straw to build me a house"; which the Man did, and the little Pig built a house with it. Presently came along a Wolf, and knocked at the door, and said, "Little Pig, little Pig, let me come in."

To which the Pig answered, "No, no, by the hair of my chinny chin chin." ... Read more »

Tom Thumb

About This Short Story

Title: Tom Thumb From “The Golden Goose Book”

Author: Brooke, L. Leslie (Leonard Leslie), 1862-1940 - a British artist and writer.

Illustrator: L. Leslie Brooke

Categories: Fairy tales

Summary: Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling with giants , and becoming a favourite of King Arthur.

The Short Story

Long ago, in the merry days of good King Arthur, there lived a ploughman and his wife. They were very poor, but would have been contented and happy if only they could have had a little child. 

One day, having heard of the great fame of the magician Merlin, who was living at the Court of King Arthur, the wife persuaded her husband to go and tell him of their trouble. Having arrived at the Court, the man besought Merlin with tears in his eyes to give them a child, saying that they would be quite content even though it should be no bigger than his thumb. Merlin determined to grant the request, and what was the countryman's astonishment to find when he reached home that his wife had a son, who, wonderful to relate, was no bigger than his father's thumb! ... Read more »

The Golden Goose

About This Short Story

Title: The Golden Goose From “The Golden Goose Book”

Author: Brooke, L. Leslie (Leonard Leslie), 1862-1940 - a British artist and writer.

Illustrator: L. Leslie Brooke

Categories: Fairy tales

Summary: The hero is the youngest of three brothers, given the nickname Simpleton. Simpleton, sent out with a biscuit cooked in the ashes of the hearth and soured beer, is generous with the little old man and is rewarded with a golden goose.

The Short Story

There was once a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was called the Simpleton. He was laughed at and despised and neglected on all occasions. Now it happened one day that the eldest son wanted to go into the forest, to hew wood, and his Mother gave him a beautiful cake and a bottle of wine to take with him, so that he might not suffer from hunger or thirst.

When he came to the wood he met a little old grey man, who, bidding him good-day, said: "Give me a small piece of the cake in your wallet, and let me drink a mouthful of your wine; I am so hungry and thirsty." But the clever son answered: "If I were to give you my cake and wine, I should have none for myself, so be off with you," and he left the little man standing there, and walked away. Hardly had he begun to hew down a tree, when his axe slipped and cut his arm, so that he had to go home at once and have the wound bound up. This was the work of the little grey man.

Thereupon the second son went into the wood, and the Mother gave him, as she had given to the eldest, a sweet cake and a bottle of wine. The little old man met him also, and begged for a small slice of cake and a drink of wine. ... Read more »

The Tale of Mr. Tod

About This Short Story

Title: The Tale of Mr. Tod

Author: Beatrix Potter

Illustrator: Beatrix Potter

Categories: Animals, Juvenile fiction

Summary: The Tale of Mr. Tod brings back Beatrix Potter's most popular heroes, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, in an adventure that also features two very disagreeable villains. Fortunately Tommy Brock the badger and Mr. Tod the fox dislike each other so much that they Tommy Brock kidnaps Benjamin's young family, Mr Tod unwittingly becomes the rabbits' ally. The Tale of Mr Tod is number 14 in Beatrix Potter's series of 23 little books.

The Short Story

I have made many books about well-behaved people. Now, for a change, I am going to make a story about two disagreeable people, called Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod.

Nobody could call Mr. Tod "nice." The rabbits could not bear him; they could smell him half a mile off. He was of a wandering habit and he had foxey whiskers; they never knew where he would be next.

One day he was living in a stick-house in the coppice, causing terror to the family of old Mr. Benjamin Bouncer. Next day he moved into a pollard willow near the lake, frightening the wild ducks and the water rats.

In winter and early spring he might generally be found in an earth amongst the rocks at the top of Bull Banks, under Oatmeal Crag.

He had half a dozen houses, but he was seldom at home. ... Read more »

The Three Little Gnomes

About This Short Story

Title: The Three Little Gnomes From “Friendly Fairies”

Author: Johnny Gruelle

Illustrator: Johnny Gruelle

Categories: Juvenile fiction, Fairy tales

Summary: The Story of The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest.

The Short Story

A silvery thread of smoke curled up over the trunk of the old tree and floated away through the forest, and tiny voices came from beneath the trunk of the old tree.

Long, long ago, the tree had stood strong and upright and its top branches reached far above any of the other trees in the forest, but the tree had grown so old it began to shiver when the storms howled through the branches. And as each storm came the old tree shook more and more, until finally in one of the fiercest storms it tumbled to the earth with a great crash.

There it lay for centuries, and vines and bushes grew about in a tangled mass until it was almost hidden from view.

Now down beneath the trunk of the fallen tree lived three little gnomes, and it was the smoke from their fire which curled up over the trunk of the old tree and floated away through the forest. ... Read more »