Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

The Brahman, the Tiger and the Six Judges is the tale of an ungrateful tiger who gets his just desserts. The tiger has been captured but persuades the passing Brahman to release him. When the Brahman does so, the tiger announces that he intends to eat him. But the Brahman persuades him to wait until they have consulted six others before deciding his fate.

Punchkin is a traditional fairy tale about a Rajah with seven daughters. When he remarries, the princesses' stepmother is determined to do away with the girls and make her own daughter the heir to the throne. A series of adventures and trials follows which leads to the overthrow of an evil magician.

The Alligator and the Jackal is the story of a jackal who narrowly escapes being eaten by an alligator on the banks of a river. Following this incident, the alligator is determined to catch the cunning jackal. The Jackal is equally determined not to be eaten. A series of close escapes escalates the feud until the dramatic finale.

The Silver Mountain is a fairy story about a king who sends his three sons on a quest. They are to search for the silver mountain. Whichever one of them finds it will inherit the kingdom. But they soon discover that everyone out in the world seems to be looking for the silver mountain, and nobody knows where it is.

The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground is the tale of a king who goes to extreme lengths to safeguard his daughter from potential suitors unworthy of her hand. But one cunning young lad manages to outwit the king by disguising himself as a sheep.

The Stonecutter is a fairy tale Lang collected in Japan. A stonecutter sees how rich people live when he is delivering a gravestone one day. From that day on he is dissatisfied with his own lot and wishes to be rich. His wish is granted by the spirit that lives in the mountain...but the stonecutter is still not satisfied with his life and makes further wishes, each taking him a little further on his quest for happiness.

The Gifts of a Magician is the story of a young lad who gets lost in the forest and accidentally saves a magician who is being attacked by wolves. The magician tells the boy he can ask for anything as a reward. The boy asks for the magician's horse...which turns out to be a really remarkable animal. He is also given a set of marvellous musical instruments. With these gifts, the lad sets off to make his fortune.

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) was a Norwegian writer, scholar and collector of traditional folktales. The Pancake is the tragic tale of one piece of fried batter's desperate escape attempt from the woman who cooked it, her seven ravenous children, her husband, a passer-by, assorted poultry and a greedy pig.

The Cunning Apprentice is a fairy tale set in Russia. It tells the story of a young lad who is apprenticed to a wicked sorcerer who intends to use his magic to trick the boy's parents into giving up their son to him forever. Only the cunning of the lad enables him to turn the magician's magic against him.

Maurice Baring (1874-1945) was an English short story writer, children's writer, novelist, travel writer and war correspondent during the First World War. The Glass Mender is a fairy story about a princess named Rainbow, who as a baby is cursed by a wicked fairy. If Rainbow hears or sees the spring, her happiness will end. Her parents decide to keep her in a tower for three months every year...but will they be able to keep her away from the spring forever?

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. Swept and Garnished is a horrifying ghost story written shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. It is set against the background of German atrocities and massacres in France in which there was significant loss of civilian life. It tells the tale of a stereotypical old German lady in Berlin who is haunted by an eerie group of murdered French children.

Maurice Baring (1874-1945) was an English short story writer, novelist, and travel writer and war correspondent during the First World War. This audiobook presents four varied examples of Baring's inventive storytelling, ranging from classic horror, to a ghost story with a twist, to classic literary fiction, to classic sci-fi. Includes 'The Island', 'The Shadow of a Midnight', 'Dr. Faust's Last Day' and 'Venus'.

Maurice Baring (1874-1945) was an English travel writer, novelist and war correspondent during World War I. The Island is a supernatural horror story about two explorers who discover an uncharted volcanic island off the coast of southern Spain. As they begin to explore, they have a strong feeling that they are not alone....

Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a Welsh author and mystic, best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy and horror fiction. The Red Hand is a mysterious horror story which tells the peculiar tale of the strange murder of Sir Thomas Vivian, the famous heart surgeon. Why was he murdered with an ancient flint weapon when there was an unused, brand-new knife at the scene? What was the meaning of the bizarre letter in the dead man's pocket, written in a very strange hand? And what could be the meaning of the peculiar symbol of a red hand chalked on the wall above the corpse?

Maurice Baring (1874-1945) was an English short story writer, novelist, and travel writer and war correspondent during the First World War. The Shadow of a Midnight is a ghost story with a twist. Two students on a walking tour in Germany stay in an interesting old inn which had formerly been a convent. One of them has a strange dream, which turns out perhaps not to have been a dream after all....

Venus is a peculiar story about a reclusive and eccentric civil servant who becomes increasingly susceptible to strange fits where he seems to be transported to another planet where giant mushrooms grow and myriads of strange caterpillars and exotic butterflies abound. Over time the visions become stranger and more and more terrifying.

'Gambler's Luck' tells the story of a young German baron who is enjoying a streak of beginner's luck at the gambling tables. As his winnings mount up, the young man is gradually becoming sucked into the addictive habit of gambling. One night a stranger appears at the gambling table and watches the baron intently. The stranger appears night after night, until the baron is infuriated and challenges the man. A later chance meeting between the two results in the stranger relating a most unusual and gripping tale....

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror as well as a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories were highly influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement. This audiobook includes three short stories: 'The Mines of Falun', 'Gambler's Luck' and 'The Cremona Violin'.

'This Flower' is the story, written in 1919, of a woman in an illicit affair having an illegal abortion....

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction and a close associate of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. 'See-Saw' is an evocative and poignant description of young and old enjoying the weather on a fine spring day. The youngest are playing 'house' and pretending to be grown-ups. The elderly are regressing into a second childhood.