The Foolish Fir-Tree

A lovely Christmas poem by Henry Van Dyke.
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A Little fir grew in the midst of the wood
Contented and happy, as young trees should.
Continue reading ‘The Foolish Fir-Tree’ »
Free Audio Stories
Posts tagged ‘Appearances’

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A Little fir grew in the midst of the wood
Contented and happy, as young trees should.
Continue reading ‘The Foolish Fir-Tree’ »
A short story by the Grimm Brothers.
Mother Goat leaves to collect food and warns her seven kids to be wary. But who should come a-visiting but the Big Bad Wolf, hungry for some lunch. Will the kids recognise him for what he is?
Continue reading ‘The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids’ »
A short story by the Brothers Grimm.Having left his beloved wife to visit his bed-ridden father,he learns that his dying wish is for him to marry another! In his grief he consents and makes preparations. The poor wife, hearing of this, makes some preparations of her own. Continue reading ‘The Twelve Huntsmen’ »
A great story for kids by the Brothers Grimm.
Donkey, dog, cat and cock leave home as they are too old to work. They plan to become musicians in the town, but on the way they find a house that takes their fancy.
Continue reading ‘The Travelling Musicians’ »
The cautionary poem by Mary Howitt.
Will you walk into my parlour? said the Spider to the Fly, ‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
Continue reading ‘The Spider and the Fly’ »
A short story by the Brothers Grimm.
When the youngest brother joins them on their journey, the two elder brothers mock him as he is a dwarf and cannot do as much as them. But they discover an enchanted castle made of marble. Who can break the spell?
Continue reading ‘The Queen Bee’ »
An enchanting tale by Hans Christian Andersen.
How can you tell a real princess? This Queen knows and she tests her method on a guest!
Continue reading ‘The Princess and The Pea’ »
A short story by the Brothers Grimm.
This poor Peasant uses his cunning to make a little money. His trickery proves very lucrative!
Continue reading ‘The Little Peasant’ »
Another short story for children by the Brothers Grimm.
Her maid has stolen her horse and clothes and arrives at the prince’s castle looking like the bride. But the poor princess, wearing the maid’s clothes, is offered a job looking after the geese. It is lucky that she has some magic as this alerts the king to his son’s false bride. Find out how.
Continue reading ‘The Goose-Girl’ »
The famous tale by the Brothers Grimm.
A frog fetches a princess’ ball out of the pond, but she doesn’t keep her side of the promise. So he finds her castle and insists on eating and sleeping there for three nights, as agreed.
Continue reading ‘The Frog Prince’ »
One of Aesop’s Fables.
Moral: Carelessness has consequences.
Continue reading ‘The Boy Hunting Locusts’ »

Moral: Ask the right questions.
Continue reading ‘The Ass and the Grasshopper’ »
Another version of ‘Snow White’ from the Brothers Grimm.
Snowdrop is so beautiful that her jealous, evil step-mother tries to kill her. So she runs away and meets an interesting group who look after her. But the step-mother finds out where she is…The Story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Continue reading ‘Snowdrop’ »
A lovely story about sisters by the Grimm Brothers.
These two sisters are the best of friends and love to spend the day playing with animals in the woods. But one day they find a little dwarf whose beard is stuck.
Continue reading ‘Snow-White and Rose-Red’ »
The famous story by the Brothers Grimm.
Snow White is so beautiful that her jealous, evil step-mother tries to kill her. So she runs away and meets an interesting group who look after her. But the step-mother finds out where she is…
Continue reading ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ »
The story of Little Red Riding Hood by the Brothers Grimm.
Little Red Cap is taking some treats to her grandmother when she meets the hungry wolf. Running late, she arrives at the house to find a nasty surprise.
Continue reading ‘Little Red Cap’ »
A magical story from the Brothers Grimm.
The daughter fulfills her fathers promise by going to where the lion lives, only to find him an enchanted prince! But the spell on him becomes deeper and her journey begins in earnest.
Continue reading ‘Lily and the Lion’ »
A funny story by the Brothers Grimm.
When the princess is to choose a husband, she stands her suitors in a line and mocks each of them, calling one ‘Grisly-Beard’. Embarassed by her arrogance, her father determines to marry her to the next man to enter the castle. As it happens, it is a poor fiddler, who walks her through King Grisly-Beard’s beautiful kindom before arriving at his dirty hole.
Continue reading ‘King Grisly-Beard’ »
The Just-so Story from Rudyard Kipling.
The leopard and the Ethiopian go off in search of their run-away food. They come across the jungle and learn to adapt to their new surroundings.
Continue reading ‘How the Leopard Got its Spots’ »
A funny story by Joseph Jacobs.
Jack accumulates animal friends on his journey to seek his fortune. Needing a place to rest, he makes a plan to see off some robbers living in a house.
Continue reading ‘How Jack Went to Seek his Fortune’ »
The classic Fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.
After thier wicked step-mother leaves the children in the woods, they find a gingerbread house and meet a witch who wants to eat them.
Continue reading ‘Hansel and Gretel’ »
A Funny Fairytale from the Brothers Grimm.
This greedy cook finds she has eaten all her masters dinner and comes up with a clever way to hide it!
Continue reading ‘Clever Gretel’ »
The original Fairy Tale by George Routledge and Sons.
This poor girl is treated like a servant by her sisters. They leave for the Prince’s ball, and a fairy Godmother visits Cinderella, changing her fortune forever.
Continue reading ‘Cinderella’ »
A story by the Brothers Grimm.
This Cat and Mouse partnership seems to be going well, until Mouse finds out that thier food reserve is all gone. An accusation returns this relationship to a more conventional one.
Continue reading ‘Cat and Mouse in Partnership’ »
The Classic Fairy Tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.
Beauty goes to live with a beast so that her father’s life will be spared, but life is not what she feared.
Continue reading ‘Beauty and the Beast’ »
A Fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.
A Cinderella Story: the poor sister who slaves after her siblings and is not allowed to go to the ball. But Ashputtel has a magic bird in the garden who helps her.
Continue reading ‘Ashputtel’ »