Showing results by author "Andrew Lang" in All Categories

Settle down for quiet time to a collection of magical princess tales that will transport your little one on amazing adventures within magical kingdoms. These tales will captivate your child and allow them to believe they are royal princesses and princes in their own magical kingdoms, as they drift off to sleep.

Grab your teddy and join us as we settle down for one of Andrew Lang's magical stories from the The Blue Fairy Book, "Why the Sea is Salt". Then fall asleep to the soothing classical lullaby "Fragile" by Bella Element.

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.

When three poor soldiers found themselves unable to live on their meager pay, they decided to try to desert the army. The three men are forced to hide, trapped because the army is not moving on from the camp. While stuck in a ditch, the men encounter a dragon who offers to take them into his service for seven years. They layer find out the dark side of the deal, when the dragon tells them they will only be released if they can solve a riddle. One of the soldiers stumbles across the grandmother of the dragon....

The Prince of Air was raised to fear love and distrust women. This all changes the moment he sees Princess Rosalie, and he kidnaps her and hides her away, much to the dismay of her father. When the Invisible Prince comes to visit Rosalie’s father, it seems he might be able to rescue Rosalie after all, thanks to a magical gift from a fairy that granted him invisibility.

In a world gone mad, only rationality and common sense can save it! Join seasoned policy professionals and long-time radio hosts Andrew Langer and Jerry Rogers as they bring in-depth discussion and real solutions to the world's most-pressing problems. Andrew and Jerry have decades of experience in both politics and public policy--Jerry is the editor of several sites in the Real Clear family of websites, and Andrew is president of the Institute for Liberty. Every week, they'll take the issues that are ripped from the headlines, break them down, get advice from experts in the field, and give you...

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a Scottish poet and novelist who was also a collector of folk and fairy tales. 'The House of Strange Stories' is the tale of an evening after dinner when the various members of a house party take turns to relate a ghost story which they have experienced themselves. The stories become stranger and stranger as the evening goes on.

A young novelist is in the process of serialising a racy novel in the Fleet Street Magazine. It tells the story of a Duchess who murders her husband by giving him cheap sherry, in the knowledge that his constitution will not stand such rough liquor. The author is surprised to find a mysterious advertisement in the personal column of The Times which addresses the author of the sherry story and exhorts him to contact a certain firm of solicitors. On making enquiries, the author is invited to a remote stately home to stay with a genuine mysterious duchess who also harbours a guilty secret.

Three princes are sent on a quest by their father, to find who it is who steals the golden apples from the King's tree. The youngest son befriends a wolf who is in reality a magician. From the wolf he learns that a magical golden bird is the thief. In attempting to steal the golden bird, the prince is captured by its owner, the Emperor. The latter agrees to spare the prince's life if he can steal the golden horse from the ruler of the neighbouring kingdom. In attempting to do this the prince is again captured.

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.

"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.

A village was being plagued by a witch in the form of a hawk and three brothers tried to stop her. The older two failed, but the youngest was able to shoot down the hawk and he found a strange abyss where the hawk was shot down. With the help of his brothers, he descends into the abyss and finds a palace full of beautiful princesses and boundless treasure. He discovers that the witch is their mother and she must be killed in order for the princesses to be freed from the underground prison they are being held in.

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.

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.

Martin entered town and saw a man dragging a cat by a string heading off to drown the creature. Martin offered to purchase the cat instead and spent the rest of the family's money on the cat. Outraged, his mother kicked him out of the house and off he went with the dog and cat. Martin worked honest labor for the next year, and then finds himself on quite an adventure after he rescues a burning damsel and takes her back to her father. From him, he receives a magical ring that seems to get him into more trouble.

After losing his beloved wife, a king, who was also a wizard, sets off on a voyage to foreign lands, as he can’t stand to be reminded of his lost wife. Using his wizardry, he sets his sights on a princess who he locks up in a tower, hoping she will one day give in and marry him. He then finds out that the princess may have set her sights on his own son and sends his son away. His son travels to the kingdom that the captured princess had come from and comes up with a plan to try to save the princess.