Short Stories Fairy Tales

Remember the Monster Stick? The greatest and most dangerous fishing-rod ever? What about Buck, who simply "ain't no ordinary dog"? Anyone who has seen the Lepp boys perform or read their book The Monster Stick will never forget them. In this recording, we revisit West Virginia with Bil Lepp as he tells some of the stories that made his brother, Paul, and himself repeat winners of the West Virginia State Liars Contest.

World Tales of Wisdom and Wonder is a collection of folktales told in a weave of poetry, prose, original melody, and guitar. Drawn from cultures around the globe, these colorful tales offer a leap into fantasy and some homespun wisdom passed down through the oral tradition.

From 20-year veteran storyteller Pleasant DeSpain, known for reducing folktales to their essence, 20 "retellable" folktales from around the world. Folktales captivate generation after generation because they remind us that our forebears overcame seemingly insurmountable odds and we can, too! Folktale characters show us the best in ourselves; our sense of humor, our perseverance, our resilience that overcomes giant hurdles, and our innate sense of fair play.

In Mules and Men, some of the rich cultural heritage of black America is revealed and preserved. In the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her home town of Eatonville, Florida, to collect and record the oral histories, songs, and sermons, many dating back to slavery times, that she remembered hearing as a child. These highly metaphorical folktales, "big old lies", and powerful songs helped her to recover her history, and preserve an important part of American culture.

Dragonrider Academy is a secret society I’m not even supposed to know exists. It has knights with talking swords, professors who breathe fire, and a hot guy named Killian who seriously gets on my nerves. It’s his fault I’m stuck here in the first place. He wants me to be his partner and face all the challenges Dragonrider Academy has to offer. He says we’re fated to be together, that I was the one who called him! Crazy talk. Or is it?

“Deluge” is a stand-alone backstory of two characters from the Paternus trilogy. In this short story, myths, fables, and legends from around the world are combined to recount the adventures of Fintán mac Bóchra and Myrddin Wyllt in ancient Ireland and tell the “true” tale of the global disaster known as the Great Flood.

Meet Syrenka, a little mermaid who must convince her father the Sea King, not to start a war against the humans. Except she had become the very thing he despised...she is secretly living on land as a human. A fairy tale fantasy adventure prequel! This short story takes place after the events in Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid and before Roy Mauritsen’s epic Shards of the Glass Slipper series.

Eloise Blake has been fascinated by Prospect House, the shadowy Gothic house opposite, ever since she moved to the village of Hookfield. When its new owner turns out to be crime author Ross Farrell, Eloise is determined not to be distracted by him. Love, she thinks, is only true in fairy tales. But is Ross the Prince Charming she thought didn’t exist, or is he a beast in disguise?

These delightful stories capture the very essence of India. These stories are set in both the rustic setting of laid back villages, where time has almost stopped, and the modern settings of cities, where everyone is in a hurry to reach somewhere, yesterday. Simple stories, simple ideas, simple thoughts remind one of the simple life that once existed and is now more and more getting lost as we are drawn inexorably into the speedy web of things.

Asgard Stories: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience! This collection of classic stories delves into the fascinating lore of Norse mythology to reveal the tales of Odin, Thor, Freya, and more. Compiled over a century ago, Foster & Cummings' writings give life to the stories that inspired the Vikings and some of our most beloved pop culture today.

“The People Could Fly,” the title story in Virginia Hamilton’s prize-winning American Black folktale collection, is a fantasy tale of the slaves who possessed the ancient magic words that enabled them to literally fly away to freedom. And it is a moving tale of those who did not have the opportunity to “fly” away, who remained slaves with only their imaginations to set them free as they told and retold this tale.

Whatever you do, do not listen. Ignore that pull, the need to escape from drudgeries of life and find peace and solitude within nature. It is not the cool breeze and the scent of pine that whispers your name. No, these things within the forest will rip out your heart and devour your soul. You will tremble as they revel in your madness, taking everything from you and leaving you with nothing. Delve inside this anthology of what truly lurks within the shadows of the trees. We dare you to take this journey with us and find out what horrors await you.

When Vernia, empress of Reabon, mightiest land of all Venus, was kidnapped by the strange marauders of the sea, it presented the Earthman, Robert Grandon, with his greatest challenge. On a world replete with terrifying beasts and unearthly antagonists, Grandon had already achieved fame for his swordplay and courage - but the search for Vernia would take him against foes beyond all he had previously encountered. The Port of Peril, Otis Adelbert Kline's concluding novel of Venusian adventure, amply demonstrates his high skill with fast-action science-fiction.

The man notes that his mind reading abilities must have been off. This was not easy to communicate with this two limbed, female human without sound emitting from his own mouth. Using his voice to communicate would give him all of the proof that he needed regarding the alliance. Apparently, making breakfast for this female was not a good idea.

The North Wind's fearsome reputation precedes him: "I haunt the human walrus hunters that live in my land. They are cautious of me - for I frostbite them, kick them about like shuttlecocks. I blow them into deep crevasses - then I crush them with my mighty icebergs! For pleasure, I freeze their smashed bodies and like jewels of red sapphire, they sink to decorate the bottom of my cold sea!" The New Tempest is Hans Christian Andersen's fable reimagined as a fearsome storm that aims to wreak havoc on the world below, today. The New Tempest takes the classic fantasy adventure and paints it with a story instantly epic, and yet, all its own. In the midst of a land torn by a treacherous war, a father must protect his daughter from the storm, and only one being can aid his desperate cause: the mysterious South Wind, dwelling in secrecy, who truly wields power over life, death, and destiny.

Featuring sword-happy heroes, badly-behaved Gods, a monstrous minotaur, a narcoleptic dragon and more nymphs than you can poke a stick at!

Why did the Three Little-Pigs call 911? Will the Three Bears sue Goldilocks for trespassing? Who cracked the Humpty Dumpty case? Find out the answers to these fascinating legal inquiries and many others in these hilarious reenactments of bedtime classics transferred into the courtroom and translated into legalese. Eleven different voices, including the author's, bring life to such characters as Little-Pigg, Diana Freewoman, the Jolly Green Giant, and of course various attorneys. The perfect tales for our litigious age.

Poisonous girls whose kisses will kill. A fateful eating contest with the devil. Faeries who return to Ironside, searching for love. A junior prom turned bacchanalia. In twelve short stories, eerie and brimming with suspense and unexpected humor, Holly Black twists the fantastical creatures you thought you knew in ways you’ll never expect.

Discover the secret world between the trees where fairies, unicorns and even monsters dwell. Take a stroll through enchanted woods and dance with pixies and dryads by the light of the stars. Escape Baba Yaga and fall in love with a prince in disguise. Taste the fruit at the goblin market and be whisked away on a magical adventure.

Three stories! These lesbian erotica short stories retell classic fairy tales, each with a new twist from what you've seen before. Includes: "A Fairly Odd Mermaid Tale", "The Genie and Her Princess", and "The Glass Slipper and the Step Sister".