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Usborne Illustrated Traditional Stories
A hardback treasury of stories including traditional fairytales such as Baba Yaga, Chicken Licken, The Ugly Duckling, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Little Nut Tree, The Breman Town Musicans, The Little Nut Tree, The Three Aunts, The Gingerbread Man, The Fisherman and the Genie, The Enormous Turnip, The Billy Goats Gruff, The Magic Porridge Pot and 6 more. This book will last for years as children enjoy having the tales read to them, and then reading them themselves. Beautifully produced, with coloured endpapers, head and tail bands and a ribbon marker - a lovely gift to be treasured for years to come.
280 pages, Hardcover
Published February 5, 2018
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February 26, 2020
A whole collection of classic fairy tales! I am currently reading some of the stories in this book to my Grades 7-9 Special Education class. We are comparing and contrasting them with other Fractured Fairy Tales, many coming from The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales as well as The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.
In this Illustrated Traditional Stories, I read my students "The Gingerbread Man," "Chicken Licken," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Boy who Cried Wolf." I read the rest of the stories myself, for fun! Many of my students were surprised that not all fairy tales have happy endings, like "The Gingerbread Man" and "Chicken Licken." I'm glad I was able to share these stories with my Special Ed. class!
In this Illustrated Traditional Stories, I read my students "The Gingerbread Man," "Chicken Licken," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Boy who Cried Wolf." I read the rest of the stories myself, for fun! Many of my students were surprised that not all fairy tales have happy endings, like "The Gingerbread Man" and "Chicken Licken." I'm glad I was able to share these stories with my Special Ed. class!
April 16, 2019
Nicely illustrated book of 17 common fairy and folk tales
1.The Gingerbread Man - brought to life by one tear from the old woman, the gingerbread man fleas numerous foes, but the fox who offers him a ride across a river is his downfall.
2. The Three Billy Goats Gruff - each of the smaller goats give up their bigger siblings, but he is able to defend himself as the troll begins to regret not going after one of the smaller ones, the biggest goat headbutts the troll into the river. Giving the troll a bath which he hates.
3. The Three Aunts - nice that it starts with a girl deciding to tell her father that it is time for her to see the world. The father lets her go but regrets that the only skill he taught her was cooking. But it serves her well when she arrives at the castle until the other servents get jealous of her skills and talk her up around the castle until the queen hears how well this young lady can preform all tasks. The queen gives the girl three sewing tasks and while she tries to object it is no use. She is put to work, but three women in turn come to help her just for the promise that she will call them aunt on the happiest day of her life. She does so, the prince diplomatically asks why the aunts are so different from his bride. They say each one got her unique affliction from too much time sewing and the prince promises his wife will never do that again, much to her relief.
4. The Little Red Hen- standard story of over worked hen and dog, cat duck who won’t help until it is time to eat at which point she doesn’t share. Momma’s favorite
5. The Mouse’s Wedding - All of these stories add description to pad out what in other anthologies might be a fairly brief story. So here when the mouse parents are searching for an appropriate husband for their daughter, they dress warmly and begin climbing a mountain, passing the tress, then the clouds around the mountain and then finally at the summit they can ask the sun if it would be willing to marry their daughter. When the sun graciously declines suggesting that clouds are more powerful than the sun they walk back down to the mountain to talk to the clouds. After that they talk to the wind and the wall before deciding on their nice neighbor mouse.
6. Baba Yaga - A little girl is sent by her stepmother to get a needle and thread from Baba Yaga, she has a loyal mouse companion who comes with her and suggests that she pick up everything she sees along the way but otherwise is not very helpful. She picks up a ribbon, an oil can and ham (because one always finds random ham while wondering through the forest?). She uses the ribbon to decorate a prickly tree, the oil can to oil a rusty gate and gives the ham to Baba Yaga's cat. The girl sees Baba Yaga flying in a caldron with a long spoon in one hand and a broom in another. She goes to her house which is moving around on chicken's legs. Baba Yaga says she will give the girl the needle and thread if she does some tasks for her. First she must get water from the stream to fill Baba Yaga's bath but gives her a pitcher with a hole in it. The cat (grateful for the ham) suggests that the girl fill in the hole with clay. This works. Then Baba Yaga says the girl must pick up every grain of sugar from the front yard, since this is impossible the cat suggests the girl flea and gives her a mirror and a comb to throw behind her. The mirror becomes a raging river and the comb becomes a great forest which entangles Baba Yaga. The girl gets home and her stepmother runs away.
7. The Boy Who Cried Wolf - standard tale (once again with a little padding in describing this simple tale) of a bored boy, who cries wolf twice and finds it so funny to see the townspeople running, but then can't get help when he needs it and although he gets away all of his flock is eaten. After that he is good and it describes his good behavior but says most of the time and then in the illustration shows him stealing bread from the baker.
8. Stone Soup - A bit different than the stone soup tale I am used to. Rather than a man or a couple men coming into town and getting the whole town to donate a little of this and that to make a great soup. This is one man conning out one old woman with the message being she should have shared. It is fine but I find it much less charming than when the whole town assists.
9. Tam Lin - A knight is captured by the fairy queen and must demand tribute from those who come to the woods. He demands money from a lovely girl named Janet but is quickly enchanted by her and asks for her help. She at first refuses and runs home, but eventually returns and agrees to help. He tells her she must stay there one night, watching the fairies and horses pass. She must grab the rider on the white stead and hold him while he is transformed into various fierce animals and a burning hot ember at which point she must throw it in the well at which point if she puts her cloak around him he will be free. Janet does all as instructed and saves the man much to the fairy queens disgust.
10. The Bremen Town Musicians - our standard lovely tale of an old donkey, dog, cat and rooster who are too old to work anymore. They start off to Bremen to become a band but on the way they come across a robbers cottage. They scare away the robbers temporarily, eat the food and go to sleep. One of the robbers decides to bravely go back in but in the dark is attacked by the animals that he takes as a witch and her minions so they flea. The animals decide to stay, able to afford food with the robbers treasure and occasionally singing just in case they ever decide to head to Bremen.
11. The Enormous Turnip - All the rest of a farmers crops are not doing well, but one turnip is enormous. So the farmer tries to pull it up; then he and his wife; then he, his wife and a farm hand; then the three humans and a dog; then the three humans, a dog and a cat; and finally the three humans, a dog, a cat and a mouse which works and the farmer invites all the others over for turnip soup.
12. The Fisherman and the Genie - a poor fisherman can't seem to catch anything to feed is family. He catches a cart wheel, a boot, broken pots, rocks, and finally a copper vessel that he thinks he could at least sell. However he sees the stopper in the vessel and wonders if there is anything valuable inside. He opens it and a grumpy genie comes out asking for Solomon. When the fisherman asks for his three wishes, the genie responds he will give him one wish - he can wish for how he wants to die. Horrified the fisherman asks why the genie would want to kill him after he set him free. The genie responds that he use to think that he would give anyone who freed him great treasure, but after a while he got angry and so decided he would kill anyone who would free him. The fisherman tricks the genie by expressing surprise that the genie could fit in such a small bottle. When the genie shrinks to show he can fit, the fisherman stoppers the bottle and promises to throw him into the sea. The genie grovels and finally the fisherman agrees to release the genie who shows him a special place to fish where gets a four fish of different colors (white, red, blue and yellow) to bring to the king. The king gratefully gives the fisherman much gold.
13. Chicken Licken - the standard story of Chicken Little starts with some padding about Chicken Licken always ignoring his mom no matter what she asks him to do (which never fully gets paid off). He slips away when she is not looking, enjoys playing around until he gets tired and falls asleep when an acorn hits him on the head. He decides he must find the king and tell him the sky is falling and after this the standard adventures with Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey, and Foxy Loxy. However after Foxy has tricked the gang and gave his family a great dinner, Foxy is hit on the head by an acorn and wonders which way to the king.
14. The Little Nut Tree - A man has a little nut tree but it never produces nuts or even leaves. One cold winter he thinks about chopping it up to have firewood, but he thinks about how he grew it from a nut and decides he just can't so instead he sells his bed. One day, waking up off the floor he notices that his tree has produced something. He runs out to see that in the tree is a silver nutmeg and a gold pear. Soon offers come in for him to sell his tree but he refuses all offers. Finally a Spanish princess comes to see the tree and due to his love for her he spontaneously offers her the tree for free, but she won't take it instead they get married and she lives in the little house although the story ends by assuring us that she insists on buying some furniture for the place
15. The Ugly Duckling - This is definitely based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale where everything horrible that can happen to the Ugly Duckling does. So he is tormented around the barnyard until he runs away. Then he meets some wild ducks who think he looks weird but doesn't immediately get rid of him, but then hunters come and shoot at the wild ducks and one of the hunter's dogs approach the ugly duckling but when it leaves the ugly duckling thinks I am even too ugly to eat. He comes across a blind old woman who thinks he will lay eggs, but he never does. The woman's cat and hen tease the ugly duckling until he flees. He sees some swans flying off from a lake and thinks they look so beautiful but doesn't dare approach them. He floats around a pond through the winter continuing to move so that the pond doesn't freeze. In the spring the swans return and approach him when he bends his head down he notices he is a swan too and a little boy on the shore says there is a new swan and it is the most beautiful.
16. The Magic Porridge Pot - A little girl is always hungry meets a witch in the woods who gives her a magic porridge pot and tells her how to start it and end the magic. The girl brings it home to her mother. At first all is going well, but then the girl goes on a walk and her mother can't remember how to stop the pot and only after the town is flooded does the girl come home and stop the pot. There is another version of this story that I have read where the forgetful character is a little brother and I think I like that better than a mother forgetting.
17. The Brave Little Tailor - A little tailor kills seven flies that flew on his jam lunch. He makes himself a sash that says that he killed seven in one blow. He decides he is too great to be a simple tailor so he goes off on an adventure. He meets a giant and engages in some challenges. When the giant squeezes a couple drops of water out of a stone, the tailor squeezes more water out of cheese. When the giant throws a stone a great way away, the tailor throws a bird (that he tells the giant is a stone) into the air and it never falls to the earth again. He then offers to carry a great tree with the giant. The giant takes the roots while the tailor hides in the tree branches and rides rather than carries the tree. The giant invites the little tailor to his home, but when the little tailor sleeps in a corner of the bed, the giant hits the bed hard. The next morning the tailor says a mosquito must have bitten him. The giant gets frightened and gives the tailor all his treasure and then the giant flees not even bothering to put on his boots. The tailor carries home the treasure, but along the way decides it is all very heavy and decides that he needs love. So he goes to the nearby castle, where in a modern twist the princess is busy doing the kingdom's books. She hears the tailors story and says you defeated one giant, huh, well we have three. Take care of them and I will think of marrying you. So the tailor goes off with some of the royal knights. As the group approaches the forest where the giants are the knights get afraid seeing the trees moving, but the tailor knows that the giants are sleeping so he offers to go into the forest alone. He climbs the trees and throws some of his treasure at the various giants who wake up and fight each other. Once the forest goes quiet the knights enter to see the tailor apparently victorious over the defeated giants. The knights carry the tailor back to the castle on their shoulders. The story ends with the princess saying "I'm not saying I'll marry you just yet," she told him with a smile, "but I'm seriously considering it."
About the Stories - tells us the origin of these stories
Girls
1.The Gingerbread Man - brought to life by one tear from the old woman, the gingerbread man fleas numerous foes, but the fox who offers him a ride across a river is his downfall.
2. The Three Billy Goats Gruff - each of the smaller goats give up their bigger siblings, but he is able to defend himself as the troll begins to regret not going after one of the smaller ones, the biggest goat headbutts the troll into the river. Giving the troll a bath which he hates.
3. The Three Aunts - nice that it starts with a girl deciding to tell her father that it is time for her to see the world. The father lets her go but regrets that the only skill he taught her was cooking. But it serves her well when she arrives at the castle until the other servents get jealous of her skills and talk her up around the castle until the queen hears how well this young lady can preform all tasks. The queen gives the girl three sewing tasks and while she tries to object it is no use. She is put to work, but three women in turn come to help her just for the promise that she will call them aunt on the happiest day of her life. She does so, the prince diplomatically asks why the aunts are so different from his bride. They say each one got her unique affliction from too much time sewing and the prince promises his wife will never do that again, much to her relief.
4. The Little Red Hen- standard story of over worked hen and dog, cat duck who won’t help until it is time to eat at which point she doesn’t share. Momma’s favorite
5. The Mouse’s Wedding - All of these stories add description to pad out what in other anthologies might be a fairly brief story. So here when the mouse parents are searching for an appropriate husband for their daughter, they dress warmly and begin climbing a mountain, passing the tress, then the clouds around the mountain and then finally at the summit they can ask the sun if it would be willing to marry their daughter. When the sun graciously declines suggesting that clouds are more powerful than the sun they walk back down to the mountain to talk to the clouds. After that they talk to the wind and the wall before deciding on their nice neighbor mouse.
6. Baba Yaga - A little girl is sent by her stepmother to get a needle and thread from Baba Yaga, she has a loyal mouse companion who comes with her and suggests that she pick up everything she sees along the way but otherwise is not very helpful. She picks up a ribbon, an oil can and ham (because one always finds random ham while wondering through the forest?). She uses the ribbon to decorate a prickly tree, the oil can to oil a rusty gate and gives the ham to Baba Yaga's cat. The girl sees Baba Yaga flying in a caldron with a long spoon in one hand and a broom in another. She goes to her house which is moving around on chicken's legs. Baba Yaga says she will give the girl the needle and thread if she does some tasks for her. First she must get water from the stream to fill Baba Yaga's bath but gives her a pitcher with a hole in it. The cat (grateful for the ham) suggests that the girl fill in the hole with clay. This works. Then Baba Yaga says the girl must pick up every grain of sugar from the front yard, since this is impossible the cat suggests the girl flea and gives her a mirror and a comb to throw behind her. The mirror becomes a raging river and the comb becomes a great forest which entangles Baba Yaga. The girl gets home and her stepmother runs away.
7. The Boy Who Cried Wolf - standard tale (once again with a little padding in describing this simple tale) of a bored boy, who cries wolf twice and finds it so funny to see the townspeople running, but then can't get help when he needs it and although he gets away all of his flock is eaten. After that he is good and it describes his good behavior but says most of the time and then in the illustration shows him stealing bread from the baker.
8. Stone Soup - A bit different than the stone soup tale I am used to. Rather than a man or a couple men coming into town and getting the whole town to donate a little of this and that to make a great soup. This is one man conning out one old woman with the message being she should have shared. It is fine but I find it much less charming than when the whole town assists.
9. Tam Lin - A knight is captured by the fairy queen and must demand tribute from those who come to the woods. He demands money from a lovely girl named Janet but is quickly enchanted by her and asks for her help. She at first refuses and runs home, but eventually returns and agrees to help. He tells her she must stay there one night, watching the fairies and horses pass. She must grab the rider on the white stead and hold him while he is transformed into various fierce animals and a burning hot ember at which point she must throw it in the well at which point if she puts her cloak around him he will be free. Janet does all as instructed and saves the man much to the fairy queens disgust.
10. The Bremen Town Musicians - our standard lovely tale of an old donkey, dog, cat and rooster who are too old to work anymore. They start off to Bremen to become a band but on the way they come across a robbers cottage. They scare away the robbers temporarily, eat the food and go to sleep. One of the robbers decides to bravely go back in but in the dark is attacked by the animals that he takes as a witch and her minions so they flea. The animals decide to stay, able to afford food with the robbers treasure and occasionally singing just in case they ever decide to head to Bremen.
11. The Enormous Turnip - All the rest of a farmers crops are not doing well, but one turnip is enormous. So the farmer tries to pull it up; then he and his wife; then he, his wife and a farm hand; then the three humans and a dog; then the three humans, a dog and a cat; and finally the three humans, a dog, a cat and a mouse which works and the farmer invites all the others over for turnip soup.
12. The Fisherman and the Genie - a poor fisherman can't seem to catch anything to feed is family. He catches a cart wheel, a boot, broken pots, rocks, and finally a copper vessel that he thinks he could at least sell. However he sees the stopper in the vessel and wonders if there is anything valuable inside. He opens it and a grumpy genie comes out asking for Solomon. When the fisherman asks for his three wishes, the genie responds he will give him one wish - he can wish for how he wants to die. Horrified the fisherman asks why the genie would want to kill him after he set him free. The genie responds that he use to think that he would give anyone who freed him great treasure, but after a while he got angry and so decided he would kill anyone who would free him. The fisherman tricks the genie by expressing surprise that the genie could fit in such a small bottle. When the genie shrinks to show he can fit, the fisherman stoppers the bottle and promises to throw him into the sea. The genie grovels and finally the fisherman agrees to release the genie who shows him a special place to fish where gets a four fish of different colors (white, red, blue and yellow) to bring to the king. The king gratefully gives the fisherman much gold.
13. Chicken Licken - the standard story of Chicken Little starts with some padding about Chicken Licken always ignoring his mom no matter what she asks him to do (which never fully gets paid off). He slips away when she is not looking, enjoys playing around until he gets tired and falls asleep when an acorn hits him on the head. He decides he must find the king and tell him the sky is falling and after this the standard adventures with Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey, and Foxy Loxy. However after Foxy has tricked the gang and gave his family a great dinner, Foxy is hit on the head by an acorn and wonders which way to the king.
14. The Little Nut Tree - A man has a little nut tree but it never produces nuts or even leaves. One cold winter he thinks about chopping it up to have firewood, but he thinks about how he grew it from a nut and decides he just can't so instead he sells his bed. One day, waking up off the floor he notices that his tree has produced something. He runs out to see that in the tree is a silver nutmeg and a gold pear. Soon offers come in for him to sell his tree but he refuses all offers. Finally a Spanish princess comes to see the tree and due to his love for her he spontaneously offers her the tree for free, but she won't take it instead they get married and she lives in the little house although the story ends by assuring us that she insists on buying some furniture for the place
15. The Ugly Duckling - This is definitely based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale where everything horrible that can happen to the Ugly Duckling does. So he is tormented around the barnyard until he runs away. Then he meets some wild ducks who think he looks weird but doesn't immediately get rid of him, but then hunters come and shoot at the wild ducks and one of the hunter's dogs approach the ugly duckling but when it leaves the ugly duckling thinks I am even too ugly to eat. He comes across a blind old woman who thinks he will lay eggs, but he never does. The woman's cat and hen tease the ugly duckling until he flees. He sees some swans flying off from a lake and thinks they look so beautiful but doesn't dare approach them. He floats around a pond through the winter continuing to move so that the pond doesn't freeze. In the spring the swans return and approach him when he bends his head down he notices he is a swan too and a little boy on the shore says there is a new swan and it is the most beautiful.
16. The Magic Porridge Pot - A little girl is always hungry meets a witch in the woods who gives her a magic porridge pot and tells her how to start it and end the magic. The girl brings it home to her mother. At first all is going well, but then the girl goes on a walk and her mother can't remember how to stop the pot and only after the town is flooded does the girl come home and stop the pot. There is another version of this story that I have read where the forgetful character is a little brother and I think I like that better than a mother forgetting.
17. The Brave Little Tailor - A little tailor kills seven flies that flew on his jam lunch. He makes himself a sash that says that he killed seven in one blow. He decides he is too great to be a simple tailor so he goes off on an adventure. He meets a giant and engages in some challenges. When the giant squeezes a couple drops of water out of a stone, the tailor squeezes more water out of cheese. When the giant throws a stone a great way away, the tailor throws a bird (that he tells the giant is a stone) into the air and it never falls to the earth again. He then offers to carry a great tree with the giant. The giant takes the roots while the tailor hides in the tree branches and rides rather than carries the tree. The giant invites the little tailor to his home, but when the little tailor sleeps in a corner of the bed, the giant hits the bed hard. The next morning the tailor says a mosquito must have bitten him. The giant gets frightened and gives the tailor all his treasure and then the giant flees not even bothering to put on his boots. The tailor carries home the treasure, but along the way decides it is all very heavy and decides that he needs love. So he goes to the nearby castle, where in a modern twist the princess is busy doing the kingdom's books. She hears the tailors story and says you defeated one giant, huh, well we have three. Take care of them and I will think of marrying you. So the tailor goes off with some of the royal knights. As the group approaches the forest where the giants are the knights get afraid seeing the trees moving, but the tailor knows that the giants are sleeping so he offers to go into the forest alone. He climbs the trees and throws some of his treasure at the various giants who wake up and fight each other. Once the forest goes quiet the knights enter to see the tailor apparently victorious over the defeated giants. The knights carry the tailor back to the castle on their shoulders. The story ends with the princess saying "I'm not saying I'll marry you just yet," she told him with a smile, "but I'm seriously considering it."
About the Stories - tells us the origin of these stories
Girls
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