Showing results by narrator "Josh Verbae" in All Categories

Once upon a time, two poor woodcutters were making their way home through a great pine forest. It was winter and a night of bitter cold. The snow lay thick upon the ground and upon the branches of the trees; the frost kept snapping the little twigs on either side of them as they passed; and when they came to the Mountain Torrent, she was hanging motionless in air, for the Ice King had kissed her. Read in English, unabridged.

Little Hans spends most of his time gardening and makes a living from sales of his beautiful flowers. Little Hans always treats his neighbours well and even allows the neighbouring rich miller to pick flowers from his garden. But the miller rarely invites Hans into his house or responds in kind. The miller instead has his own philosophy of friendship: 'Lots of people act well, but very few people talk well, which shows that talking is much the more difficult thing of the two, and much the finer thing also'.

In this collection of beautifully written modern fairy tales, Oscar Wilde does not fail to both entertain with humorous characters and witty dialogue and at the same time deliver a subtle yet very potent message about some of the most human qualities, such as true friendship, true happiness, selfishness, ignorance, playfulness and love. Some of the most famous epigrams of Oscar Wilde come from the characters in these tales.

Perpetual winter comes to the beautiful garden of a selfish giant who erected a wall around it to stop children playing in the garden. Unexpected consequences follow. The birds stop singing in this garden, and both trees and flowers stop blossoming. One day the giant discovers that spring has returned to the garden, and the children have found a way in through a gap in the wall. He sees the error of his ways and resolves to destroy the wall. Read in English by Josh Verbae, unabridged.

A nightingale finds a young, romantic student in tears because he cannot find a red rose for his beautiful ball partner. There are no red roses in the garden. The nightingale visits all the rose trees in the area, and one of the roses tells her there is a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night with her heart pressing into a thorn, sacrificing her life.

Once upon a time, there was a woodcutter and his wife, who had seven children, all boys. The eldest was but 10 years old and the youngest only seven. They were very poor, and their seven children were a great source of trouble to them because not one of them was able to earn his bread. What gave them yet more uneasiness was that the youngest was very delicate and scarce ever spoke a word, which made people take for stupidity that which was a sign of good sense.

Once upon a time there was a miller who left no more riches to the three sons he had than his mill, his ass, and his cat. The division was soon made. Neither the lawyer nor the attorney was sent for. They would soon have eaten up all the poor property. The eldest had the mill, the second the ass, and the youngest nothing but the cat. Read in English, unabridged.

Once upon a time, there was a man who had fine houses in both town and country, a deal of silver and gold plate, carved furniture, and coaches gilded all over. But, unhappily, this man had a blue beard, which made him so ugly and so terrible that all the women and girls ran away from him. Read in English, unabridged.

There was once a merchant who was very, very rich. He had six children, three boys and three girls, and as he was a man of good sense, he spared no expense in order that they might be well educated and gave them masters of every kind. His daughters were all beautiful, but his youngest one was especially admired, and from the time she was a small child had been known and spoken of only as Beauty. Read in English, unabridged.

Once upon a time, there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature that ever was seen. Her mother was very fond of her, and her grandmother loved her still more. This good woman made for her a little red riding hood, which became the girl so well that everybody called her Little Red Riding Hood. Read in English, unabridged.

Once upon a time, there was a gentleman who married, as his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman who ever was seen. She had two daughters of her own, who were indeed exactly like her in all things. The gentleman had also a young daughter of rare goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. Read in English, unabridged.

There was once a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was called the Simpleton. He was laughed at and despised and neglected on all occasions. Now it happened one day that the eldest son wanted to go into the forest to hew wood, and his mother gave him a beautiful cake to take with him, so he might not suffer from hunger.... Read in English, unabridged.

Long ago, in the merry days of good King Arthur, there lived a ploughman and his wife. They were very poor but would have been content and happy if only they could have had a little child. One day, having heard of the great fame of the magician Merlin, who was living at the court of King Arthur, the wife persuaded her husband to go and tell him of their trouble.

Once upon a time there was an old sow with three little pigs, and as she had not enough to keep them, she sent them out to seek their fortune.

Read in English, unabridged.

Once upon a time, there were three bears who lived together in a house of their own in a wood. One of them was a little, small, wee bear; and one was a middle-sized bear, and the other was a great, huge bear. They had each a pot for their porridge - a little pot for the little, small, wee bear; a middle-sized pot for the middle bear; and a great pot for the great, huge bear.

In the same neighbourhood as Peter Rabbit live an old cat called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit and her kittens, Moppet, Mittens and Tom, who was always up for some mischief. Learn how Tom nearly ended up being cooked inside a dumpling and why he does not like rats. Meet another friendly neighbour pussycat, Ribby, who likes inviting friends to tea and offering them delicious pie dishes.

Once upon a time there was a pussycat called Ribby, who invited a little dog called Duchess to tea.

Once upon a time there was a little fat comfortable grey squirrel, called Timmy Tiptoes. He had a nest thatched with leaves in the top of a tall tree; and he had a little squirrel wife called Goody. Every day they made several journeys and picked quantities of nuts. They carried them away in bags, and stored them in several hollow stumps near the tree where they had built their nest.

Johnny Town-mouse was born in a cupboard. Timmy Willie was born in a garden. Timmy Willie was a little country mouse who went to town by mistake in a hamper. The gardener sent vegetables to town once a week by carrier; he packed them in a big hamper.

This is a tale about a tail—a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin. He had a brother called Twinkleberry and a great many cousins: They lived in a wood at the edge of a lake.