Showing results by author "Andrew Lang" in All Categories

On 28 May, 1828, a boy of around 16 appeared in the Bavarian city of Nuremburg holding a letter in his hand. The lad was unable to speak, apart from three odd phrases which he repeated parrot-like, one of which was: "Want to be a soldier, as father was." The letter, addressed to the captain of the local infantry regiment, told a bizarre story. It appeared that the boy had been kept shut up in isolation in the dark for his entire life, had never learned to speak and knew nothing of the world.

"Why the Sea Is Salt" is a fairy tale narrative that explains in fictional form how the sea came to be salty. It all started with a poor farmer with information he did not share. A moral tale for all ages.

Grasp All, Lose All tells the story of a poor oil-seller in India named Dena, who is in debt to a banker for three hundred rupees. This banker persists in harassing Dena and his wife so much that Dena decides to run away, not knowing where he will go. He climbs a tree to sleep and wakes up the next morning not in the forest in which he went to sleep but on a deserted beach.

The son of the Gardener to the King and the King's daughter fall in love. The King wants his daughter to marry the Prime Minister's son. So the two young men have to enter a contest: Whoever travels to a distant land and comes back first, wins the hand of the Princess.

From 1889 to 1910, Scottish author and journalist Andrew Lang collected more than four hundred fairy tales from sources throughoutthe world. Organized into twelve volumes, he distinguished each by the color of the book cover. Included in this audiobook is "How to Tell a True Princess" from The Yellow Fairy Book. Originally written by Hans Christian Anderson under the title "The Princess and the Pea," this is the story of a prince and his quest to find a true princess.

There was an old couple who were not able to have children and so they constantly prayed to be blessed with one - even one the size of a hazelnut. And that is exactly what they were given - a child the size of a hazelnut who never grew! When he reached the age of 15, his mother asked him what he planned on doing with his life, as he was so small but clever. He replied that he wanted to be a messenger, a thing which made his mother laugh because of his size. He proved her wrong though and showed that he could use his size as an advantage.

There was a family of three brothers. The older two were very intelligent and much beloved by their parents; the youngest however was considered to be a dunce and a pest and was always getting in his mother's way. One day, the king announced that he was offering his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever could build a flying ship. The older two brothers were immediately sent on their way to try to construct the flying ship, while the youngest was left behind.

The miller had always led a very prosperous life, but one day found himself down on his luck and without any money. While he is fretting, a nixy (a sirenlike being) emerges from the millpond and strikes a deal with him - he can become prosperous once more, but he must give to her the youngest thing in his house.

Shortly after the queen and her new husband are married, he is forced to leave to fight in a war. He advises her that she must always remain inside and never to trust any visiting women. She listens at first, but when an old woman appears at her window and entices her to sit in her garden, she gives in and goes outside.

The King and Queen, getting older in years, found it important that their son, Prince Sigurd, find a lady to marry. His father had a certain princess in mind and Sigurd set off to find her. This king eagerly granted his daughter's hand to Sigurd, but he made the condition that Sigurd must stay to help him govern his kingdom, as he was failing in health. Sigurd agreed, but said that he must return home when he received news of his father's death.

A young princess, Fairer-Than-a-Fairy, is kidnapped by a jealous, mean, old fairy named Lagree, who locks her away because none of the fairies can stand to have a mortal girl said to be more beautiful than them. Lagree locks her away in a palace, with her dog and cat, and tells her to tend to a fire and to never let it burn out. In her solitude, she one day meets a prince whom Lagree has captured and changed into the form of a rainbow that she discovers in a fountain.

A widowed peasant man was left to raise his two twin children, a boy and a girl. He tried his best but nothing seemed to go right without a woman's touch. And so, he remarried and had more children but things were still not right - the stepmother was very mean to the twins, beating and starving them. This wasn't enough for the wicked stepmother and she decided to send them off into the woods where an evil witch lived. She tells the twins they are to go off and serve her sweet granny.

Big Klaus and Little Klaus lived in the same village, but while Little Klaus only had one horse, Big Klaus had four. Big Klaus eventually strikes Little Klaus' one horse over the head with a blow that kills him. Upset and needing money, Little Klaus sets off to sell the horse skin in town. Cleverly, Little Klaus finds a way to make a lot of money from a farmer and a sexton, and then tricks Big Klaus into making a fool of himself. Big Klaus then tries to kill Little Klaus. Shame for Big Klaus - he should have learned by now that while Little Klaus might be little, he's also very clever.

Prince Ring was a prince not as adventurous as most. But one day, while out hunting, he finds a beautiful golden ring on the antlers of a deer that greatly attracts him and he finds himself on a much greater adventure than he ever intended.

A king and queen who have long had everything they desire except a child, are finally graced with one but are immediately faced with tragedy. The queen dies on the day after her son is born, but not before she warns her husband to never let their son's feet touch the ground or else he will be immediately taken by an evil fairy. As he grew, everyone was careful to keep him from touching the ground - using wheelchairs, litters, and even horses, which he especially excelled at.

Ferko, a handsome young man, was born into a very poor family with very wicked brothers. Because the family is so poor, the parents have to send the three brothers away, with only a loaf of bread each. The brothers gang up on Ferko while he is sleeping, stealing his bread and convincing him he consumed it in his sleep. Taking advantage of his starvation, they trick him into allowing them to blind him and break his legs.

A king who was a fantastic hunter one day got himself lost in the forest. Unable to find his way back home, an old woman appeared and said she would help him get home, provided that he married her daughter. Although her daughter was beautiful and the king agreed, he did not trust his new wife. And so he hid away in a palace in the woods his seven children, six sons and a daughter, from his previous wife. The new queen began to suspect something was amiss, so she bribed the servants to reveal the truth to her.

There once was a fisherman who sold all his catches to the king. One day, the fisherman caught a golden crab, which he set aside instead of selling it to the king. Much to the surprise of the fisherman and his wife, the golden crab could talk! He requested that the fisherman go to the king and tell him that he wished to marry his youngest daughter.

There once was a young shepherd who one day discovers a wounded giant. Although at first frightened, he decides to care for the giant who shows his gratitude by giving the young boy a belt of invisibility and taking him underground to a giant's wedding celebration. The boy sneaks a loaf of bread away with him while he is leaving so that he might have something to eat the next day but much to his chagrin, he is unable to tear the bread when he tries. He then tries biting it and is shocked when pieces of gold fall from the loaf.

There once was a princess lost in a forest, terribly distraught, who stumbled upon a talking iron stove in the middle of the forest. The stove told the princess he could direct her back to her father's kingdom if she promised one thing - that she would return and marry him. She was scared, but agreed, and made her way back to her father. Her father did not want his only daughter to marry an iron stove, so they tried to trick the stove by sending first the miller's daughter, and then the swineherd's daughter. He was not tricked, so soon the king relented and sent his daughter.