Showing titles in Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

Go down the rabbit hole with one of the best loved heroines in children's literature. Alice's remarkable adventures begin when she follows the White Rabbit down his hole into a peculiar world populated with strange and absurd creatures. Meet the Mock Turtle, the Mad-Hatter, the March Hare, the hookah-smoking Caterpillar, and the Queen of Hearts. This story was originally read aloud, and Ralph Cosham's engaging narration brings the magic to life. Adults may be surprised at what they find as they rediscover this beloved classic that the whole family can enjoy.

Young Arthur doesn't understand why pulling a sword from a stone qualifies him for kingship. Old Merlin tells him a story of his childhood, when he first learned to trust in himself: a story about fighting dragons, clashing armies, and a young boy's prophetic dreams. Merlin's story inspires young Arthur with the confidence he will need to become a great king.

Masterfully narrated by film star Kevin Kline.

After Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are whisked away from Kansas by a cyclone, they embark on a remarkable odyssey accompanied by the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion. As they travel through enchanted lands toward the Emerald City, they find perils and colorful opponents including the wonderfully evil Wicked Witch.

Sigourney Weaver, star of the Ghostbusters and Alien movies, narrates a powerful tale of a young girl's quest to rescue her playmate from the icy palace of the Snow Queen. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, this is an exciting and moving adventure story the whole family will enjoy, with music by Jason Miles (producer of Baby's Nursery Rhymes and ace synth programmer on Luther Vandross' Power of Love and Miles Davis' Amandla, Siesta, and Tutu).

A jealous and evil queen casts a dreadful spell over her 12 stepchildren - she exiles her beautiful stepdaughter, Elise, and turns her 11 stepsons into wild swans. Princess Elise sets out to find her brothers and release them from the spell, but finds that she must perform a nearly impossible task to carry out the rescue - create coats of mail out of sharp nettles for each of her brothers, and not speak a word the entire time. Even the love of a king - and the treachery of his adviser - must not deter her from her task. Sigourney Weaver narrates this beautiful version of one of Hans Christian Andersen's most compelling tales.

Five tales which range from the jungles of India to the frozen emptiness of the North... In all of them, Kipling's extraordinary powers of description and ability to identify with human aspiration and animal survival are vividly shown. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi must battle with Nag, the cobra, in his territory; Toomai has a unique glimpse of the elephant world, Kotick, the White Seal, searches for sanctuary, while Kotuko has to find food for his starving Eskimo village. Above all, Kipling's love of life in all its variety shines through.

The world of Hans Christian Andersen is seen through the eyes of children. There is the every-day wonder of an ugly duckling being transformed into a swan; the puffed-up Emperor being fooled by his own importance; the tender tragedy of a little match girl; the upright honesty of John rewarded by his traveling companion.

There was once a time, nearly four thousand years ago, when the tall towers of a city called Troy reached gleaming into the sky; when its proud king fought against an invading army in a desperate siege.

Pinocchio is a wooden puppet who comes to life and has the most astonishing adventure. A naughty, mischievous creature, he is full of good intentions but is greedy, and lets nothing stand in his way. His maker, poor Gepetto, loves him like a son, but Pinocchio just can't stay out of trouble.

Expanding upon the four-line nursery rhyme, storyteller David Novak spins an epic tale as young Itsy prepares to attempt what no spider has done before: scale the water spout. A nervous Mother Bitsy prepares her little Itsy as nourishing lunch; a fly salad sandwich, a bag of grasshopper chips, and a bottle of fresh-squeezed moth juice (100% natural). The result is an epic on a child's scale, in which determination, concentration, and grit are championed.

Grandma's house was a magical place, and in this vivid memoir, Donald Davis makes it possible for each of us to go back to our own grandma's kitchen, clutter room, living room, and to that immeasurable bed that seemed to swallow us whole. This selection also contains a traditional story Davis learned from his grandmother, one handed down through his family from generations who once lived in Scotland before coming to the Appalachian mountains, about the time that fortune-seeker named Jack made the king mad.

"What is your favorite story?" is the question children across the country often ask professional storyteller Pleasant DeSpain. As he attempts to answer, his list grows longer and longer, until he confesses he likes them all. An untiring researcher of oral traditions, DeSpain is known for his concise versions of world folktales specifically crafted for retelling. This new, digital recording of 10 stories is excerpted from DeSpain's 22 Splendid Tales to Tell from Around the World, Volume One.

Two new Appalachian stories from the author of the award winning Listening for the Crack of Dawn; an ideal introduction to contemporary storytelling for adults. Both stories are based upon real people. In the first, a disastrous birthday enables a child to learn more than an adult possibly could. In the second, two unusual people live their conviction that people are more important than things.

One of America's favorite African-American storytellers remembers her childhood in tender, unforgettable new stories. Jackie Torrence, a frequent headliner at the National Storytelling Festival, is known to audiences nationwide as The Story Lady.

In rural North Carolina, in 1951, despite parental reassurances, a typhoid shot hurt. It hurt even more when the children saw who would be administering the shot: Miss Winnie, a large, dictatorial nurse who had been "especially built by the nursing school so she would never blow away in a hard wind".

Andrew Lang drew upon his classical learning to recreate the Greek myths for children. He follows Ulysses from his boyhood, thorugh the Trojan Wars, to his voyage to seek the son of Achilles. The story of Helen of Troy, and the Trojan Horse, is told with the pace of a modern adventure. Lang's collection of retold myths includes Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece, and recounts the lives and heroic deeds of two other major figures: Theseus, who slew the Minotaur; and Perseus, who freed the princess Andromeda as one of his many tests, with the helo of the gorgon's head. Perseus, Andromeda, and her parents, Cephus and Cassiopeia, are remembered in the constellations of the summer sky. Not only will theres tales bring to life for children of all ages the quest for good and the struggle against eveil embodied in the myths, they also reveal the roots of characters referenced throughout Western litereature from Shakespeare's time to the present day. In the true spirit of adventure, Lang dedicated his book to H. Rider Haggard.

Bobby Norfolk plays a prominent role in African-American storytelling. But when he recently visited Africa, he went as a humble student, hoping to glean new insights, to immerse himself in a living oral tradition. He went as a pilgrim to the cities, villages, and jungles of Africa. Yet he was caught completely by surprise when, during a visit to an obscure African village, he was invited to a community-wide afternoon break at which elders told traditional Anansi stories and everyone else listened intently.

Slow but steady Turtle exhibits wisdom, perseverance, and cunning in these world folktales. Full of adventure that's sure to captivate young listeners, these tales hold meaning for all ages. Turtle is alive with possibilities. Living on land and in the water and breathing air, Turtle joins these three elements of creation, becoming symbolic of the earth itself. Always clever, always wise, and ever patient, Turtle never fails to find humor in any situation.

Donald Davis was born into a southern Appalachian mountain world rich in stories. He grew up listening to his father and his Uncle Frank tell stories of their boyhood, all the while taking in the details of his own childhood experience.

When the Southern Bells brought the telephone to rural North Carolina, it looked like a "big black daffodil". What the telephone company had not counted on in conceiving its eight-party line service was a pair of "past-middle-age, unmarried sisters", the chatty Misses Lucy and Lena Leatherwood. Once the Leatherwood sisters were connected by the Southern Bells, nobody else on that line had a chance!