 The Velveteen Rabbit. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jadapi. The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjorie Williams. There was once a Velveteen Rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bungee, as a rabbit should be. His coat was spotted brown and white. He had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink satin. On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the boy's stocking, with the sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming. There were other things in the stocking, nuts and oranges, and a toy engine, and chocolate almonds, and a clockwork mouse, but the rabbit was quite the best of all. For at least two hours the boy loved him. And then aunts and uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels. And in the excitement of looking at all the new presents, the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten. For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard, or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him. He was naturally shy, and being only made of Velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him. The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon everyone else. They were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real. The model boat, who had lived through two seasons and lost most of his paint, caught the tone from them, and never missed an opportunity of referring to his rigging in technical terms. The rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn't know that real rabbits existed. He thought they were all stuffed with sawdust, like himself. And he understood that sawdust was quite out of date, and should never be mentioned in modern circles. Even Timothy, the jointed wooden lion, who was made by the disabled soldiers, and should have had broader views, put on airs, and pretended he was connected with government. Between them all the poor little rabbit was made to feel himself very insignificant and commonplace, and the only person who was kind to him at all was the skinned horse. The skinned horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches, and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by and by break their mainsprings and pass away. And he knew that they were only toys and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced, like the skinned horse, understood all about it. What is real? asked the rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender before Nana came to tidy the room. Does it mean having things at buzz inside you and a stick out handle? Real isn't how you are made, said the skinned horse. It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become real. Does it hurt? asked the rabbit. Sometimes, said the skinned horse, for he was always truthful. When you are real, you don't mind being hurt. Does it happen all at once, like being wound up? he asked, or bit by bit. It doesn't happen all at once, said the skinned horse, you become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. I suppose you are real, said the rabbit, and then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the skinned horse might be sensitive. But the skinned horse only smiled. The boy's uncle made me real, he said. That was a great many years ago. But once you are real, you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always. The rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called real happened to him. He longed to become real, to know what it felt like. And yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him. There was a person called Nana, who ruled the nursery. Sometimes she took no notice of the playthings lying about, and sometimes, for no reason whatever, she went swooping about like a great wind and hustled them all away in cupboards. She called this tidying up, and the playthings all hated it, especially the tin ones. The rabbit didn't mind it so much, for wherever he was thrown, he came down soft. One evening, when the boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the China dog that always slept with him. Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for China dogs at bedtime. So she simply looked about her, and seeing that the toy cupboard doors stood open, she made a swoop. Here, she said, take your old bunny, he'll do to sleep with you. And she dragged the rabbit out by one ear, and put him into the boy's arms. That night, and for many nights after, the velveteen rabbit slept in the boy's bed. At first he found it rather uncomfortable, for the boy hugged him very tight, and sometimes he rolled over on him. And sometimes he pushed him so far under the pillow that the rabbit could scarcely breathe. And he missed two of those long moonlight hours in the nursery, when all the house was silent, and his talks with the skin horse. But very soon he grew to like it, for the boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes, that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in. And they had splendid games together, in whispers, when Nana had gone away to her supper, and left the nightlight burning on the mantelpiece. And when the boy dropped off to sleep, the rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the boy's hands clasped close round him all night long. And so time went on, and the little rabbit was very happy, so happy that he never noticed how his beautiful velveteen fur was getting shabbier and shabbier, and his tail becoming unsewn, and all the pink rubbed off his nose where the boy had kissed him. Spring came, and they had long days in the garden, for wherever the boy went, the rabbit went too. He had rides in the wheelbarrow, and picnics on the grass, and lovely fairy huts built for him under the raspberry canes behind the flower border. And once, when the boy was called away suddenly to go out to tea, the rabbit was left out on the lawn until long after dusk, and Nana had to come and look for him with the candle, because the boy couldn't go to sleep unless he was there. He was wet through with the dew, and quite earthy from diving into the burrows the boys had made for him in the flower bed, and Nana grumbled as she rubbed him off with a corner of her apron. You must have your own bunny, she said fancy, all that fuss for a toy. The boy sat up in bed and stretched out his hands. Give me my bunny, he said, you mustn't say that, he isn't a toy, he's real. When the little rabbit heard that he was happy, for he knew that what the skin horse had said was true at last, the nursery magic had happened to him, and he was a toy no longer, he was real, the boy himself had said it. That night he was almost too happy to sleep, and so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst. And into his boot-button eyes that had long ago lost their polish there came a look of wisdom and beauty, so that even Nana noticed it next morning when she picked him up and said, I declare if that old bunny hasn't got quite a knowing expression. That was a wonderful summer. Near the house where they lived there was a wood, and in the long June evenings the boy liked to go there after tea to play. He took the velveteen rabbit with him, and before he wandered off to pick flowers or play at brigands among the trees, he always made the rabbit a little nest somewhere among the bracken, where he would be quite cozy, for he was a kind-hearted little boy, and he liked Bunny to be comfortable. One evening, while the rabbit was lying there alone, watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws and the grass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him. They were rabbits like himself, but quite furry and brand new. They must have been very well made, for their seams didn't show at all, and they changed shape in a queer way when they moved. One minute they were long and thin, and the next minute fat and bunchy, instead of always staying the same like he did. Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses, while the rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuck out, for he knew that people who jump generally have something to wind them up, but he couldn't see it. They were evidently a new kind of rabbit altogether. They stared at him, and the little rabbit stared back, and all the time their noses twitched. Why don't you get up and play with us? one of them asked. I don't feel like it, said the rabbit, for he didn't want to explain that he had no clockwork. Oh, said the furry rabbit, it's as easy as anything! And he gave a big hop sideways and stood on his hind legs. I don't believe you can, he said. I can, said the little rabbit, I can jump higher than anything. He meant when the boy threw him, but of course he didn't want to say so. Can you hop on your hind legs? asked the furry rabbit. That was a dreadful question, for the velveteen rabbit had no hind legs at all. The back of him was made all in one piece, like a pincushion. He sat still in the bracken, and hoped that the other rabbits wouldn't notice. I don't want to, he said again. But the wild rabbits have very sharp eyes, and this one stretched out his neck and looked. He hasn't got any hind legs, he called out, fancy a rabbit without any hind legs. And he began to laugh. I have, cried the little rabbit, I have got hind legs, I'm sitting on them. Then stretched them out, and show me, like this, said the wild rabbit. And he began to whirl around and dance, till the little rabbit got quite dizzy. I don't like dancing, he said. I'd rather sit still. But all the while he was longing to dance, for a funny new tickly feeling ran through him, and he felt he would give anything in the world to be able to jump about like these rabbits did. The strange rabbit stopped dancing, and came quite close. He came so close this time, that his long whiskers brushed the velveteen rabbit's ear. And then he wrinkled his nose suddenly, and flattened his ears, and jumped backwards. He doesn't smell right, he exclaimed. He isn't a rabbit at all, he isn't real. I am real, said the little rabbit. I am real, the boy said so, and he nearly began to cry. Just then there was a sound of footsteps, and the boy ran past them. And with a stamp of feet, and a flash of white tails, the two strange rabbits disappeared. Come back and play with me, called the little rabbit. Oh, do come back. I know I am real. But there was no answer. Only the little ants ran to and fro, and the bracken swayed gently, where the two strangers had passed. The velveteen rabbit was all alone. Oh, dear, he thought, why did they run away like that? Why couldn't they stop and talk to me? For a long time he lay very still, watching the bracken, and hoping that they would come back. But they never returned, and presently the sun sank lower, and the little white moths fluttered out, and the boy came and carried him home. Weeks passed, and the little rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned gray, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit anymore, except to the boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little rabbit cared about. He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him real, and when you are real, shabbiness doesn't matter. And then one day the boy was ill, his face grew very flushed, and he talked in his sleep, and his little body was so hot that it burned the rabbit when he held him close. Strange people came and went in the nursery, and a light burned all night, and through it all the little velveteen rabbit lay there, hidden from sight under the bedclothes, and he never stirred, for he was afraid that if they found him someone might take him away, and he knew that the boy needed him. It was a long, weary time, for the boy was too ill to play, and the little rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do all day long. But he snuggled down patiently, and looked forward to the time when the boy should be well again, and they would go out in the garden amongst the flowers and the butterflies, and play splendid games in the raspberry thicket like they used to. All sorts of delightful things he planned, and while the boy lay half asleep, he crept up close to the pillow and whispered them in his ear, and presently the fever turned, and the boy got better. He was able to sit up in bed and look at picture books, while the little rabbit cuddled close at his side, and one day they let him get up and dress. It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open. They had carried the boy out onto the balcony wrapped in a shawl, and the little rabbit lay tangled up among the bedclothes, thinking. The boy was going to the seaside tomorrow. Everything was arranged, and now it only remained to carry out the doctor's orders. They talked about it all, while the little rabbit lay under the bedclothes with just his head peeping out, and listened. The room was to be disinfected, and all the books and toys that the boy had played with in bed must be burnt. Hooray, thought the little rabbit, tomorrow we shall go to the seaside. For the boy had often talked at the seaside, and he wanted very much to see the big waves coming in, and the tiny crabs, and the sand castles. Just then, Nana caught sight of him. How about his old bunny, she asked. That, said the doctor, why, it's a mass of scarlet fever germs. Burn it at once! What nonsense! Get him a new one! He mustn't have that any more. And so the little rabbit was put into a sack with the old picture books and a lot of rubbish, and carried out to the end of the garden behind the fowl house. That was a fine place to make a bonfire. Only the gardener was too busy just then to attend to it. He had the potatoes to dig, and the green peas to gather. But next morning he promised to come quite early and burn the whole lot. That night the boy slept in a different bedroom, and he had a new bunny to sleep with him. It was a splendid bunny, all white plush with real glass eyes. But the boy wasn't too excited to care very much about it. For tomorrow he was going to the seaside, and that in itself was such a wonderful thing that he could think of nothing else. And while the boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the little rabbit lay among the old picture books in the corner behind the fowl house, and he felt very lonely. The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through the opening and look out. He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed. And by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him. Nearby he could see the thicket of raspberry canes growing tall and close like a tropical jungle in whose shadow he had played with the boy on bygone mornings. He thought of those long, sunlit hours in the garden, how happy they were, and a great sadness came over him. He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken, and the little ants ran over his paws, the wonderful day when he first knew that he was real. He thought of the skinned horse, so wise and gentle, and all that he had told him. Of what use was it to be loved and lose one's beauty and become real if it all ended like this? And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground. And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen, a flower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the garden, it had slender green leaves, the color of emeralds, and in the center of the leaves a blossom like a golden cup. It was so beautiful that the little rabbit forgot to cry and just lay there, watching it. And presently the blossom opened, and out of it there stepped a fairy. She was the loveliest fairy in the whole world. Her dress was of pearl and dew drops, and there were flowers round her neck and in her hair, and her face was like the most perfect flower of all. And she came close to the little rabbit and gathered him up in her arms and kissed him on his velveteen nose that was all damp from crying. Little rabbit, she said, don't you know who I am? The rabbit looked up at her, and it seemed to him that he had seen her face before, but he couldn't think where. I am the nursery magic fairy, she said. I take care of all the play things that the children have loved. When they are old and worn out and the children don't need them anymore, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into real. Wasn't I real before? asked the little rabbit. You were real to the boy, the fairy said, because he loved you. Now you shall be real to everyone. And she held the little rabbit close in her arms and flew with him into the wood. It was light now, for the moon had risen. All the forest was beautiful and the fronds of the bracken shone like frosted silver. In the open glade between the tree trunks, the wild rabbits danced with their shadows on the velveteen grass. But when they saw the fairy, they all stopped dancing and stood round in a ring to stare at her. I've brought you a new play fellow, the fairy said. You must be very kind to him and teach him all he needs to know in rabbit land, for he is going to live with you forever and ever. And she kissed the little rabbit again and put him down on the grass. Run and play, little rabbit, she said. But the little rabbit sat quite still for a moment and never moved. For when he saw all the wild rabbits dancing around him, he suddenly remembered about his hind legs and he didn't want them to see that he was made all in one piece. He did not know that when the fairy kissed him that last time she had changed him altogether. And he might have sat there a long time too shy to move if just then something hadn't tickled his nose. And before he thought what he was doing he lifted his hind toe to scratch it and he found that he actually had hind legs. Instead of dingy velveteen he had brown fur, soft and shiny. His ears twitched by themselves and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass. He gave one leap and the joy of using those hind legs was so great that he went springing about the turf on them, going sideways and whirling round as the others did. And he grew so excited that when at last he did stop to look for the fairy she had gone. He was a real rabbit at last at home with the other rabbits. Autumn passed and winter and in the spring when the days grew warm and sunny the boy went out to play in the wood behind the house. And while he was playing two rabbits crept out from the bracken and peeped at him. One of them was brown all over but the other had strange markings under his fur as though long ago he had been spotted and the spots still showed through. And about his little soft nose and his round black eyes there was something familiar so that the boy thought to himself why he looks just like my old bunny that was lost when I had scarlet fever but he never knew that it really was his own bunny who had come back to look at the child who at first helped him to be real. The end of The Velveteen Rabbit Recording by Jadapi www.publicdomainaudiobooks.blogspot.com Rumpelstiltskin This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jadapi Rumpelstiltskin by The Brothers Grimm There was once a poor miller who had a beautiful daughter and one day having to go to speak with the king he said in order to make himself a peer of consequence that he had a daughter who could spin straw into gold. The king was very fond of gold and thought to himself that is an art which would please me very well and so he said to the miller if your daughter is so very clever bring her to the castle in the morning and I will put her to the proof. As soon as she arrived the king led her into a chamber full of straw and giving her a wheel and a reel he said now set yourself to work and if you have not spun this straw into gold by an early hour tomorrow you must die. With these words he shut the room door and left the maiden alone. There she sat for a long time thinking how to save her life for she understood nothing of the art whereby straw might be spun into gold and her perplexity increased more and more till at last she began to weep. All at once the door opened and in stepped a little man who said good evening fair maiden why do you weep so sore? Oh she replied I must spin this straw into gold and I'm sure I don't know how. The little man asked what will you give me if I spin it for you? My necklace said the maiden the dwarf took it placed himself in front of the wheel and three times round and the bobbin was full then he set up another and thrice round again and a second bobbin was full and so he went all night long until all the straw was spun and the bobbins were full of gold. At sunrise the king came very much astonished to see the gold the sight of which gladdened him but did not make his heart less covetous he caused the maiden to be led into another room still larger full of straw and then he bade her spin it into gold during the night if she valued her life. The maiden was again quite at a loss what to do but while she cried the door opened suddenly as before and the dwarf appeared and asked her what she would give him in return for his assistance. The ring off my finger she replied the little man took the ring and began to spin it once and by morning all the straw was changed to glistening gold the king was rejoiced above measure at the sight of this but still he was not satisfied but leading the maiden into another still larger room full of straw as the others he said this you must spin during the night but if you accomplish it you shall be my bride for thought he to himself a richer wife thou canst not have in all the world. When the maiden was left alone the dwarf again appeared and asked for the third time what will you give me to do this for you I have nothing left that I can give you replied the maiden then promise me your first born child if you become queen said he the miller's daughter thought who can tell if that will ever happen and ignorant how else to help herself out of her trouble she promised the dwarf what he desired and he immediately set about and finished the spinning when morning came and the king found all he had wished for done he celebrated his wedding and the miller's fair daughter became queen the gay time she had at the king's court caused her to forget that she had made a very foolish promise about a year after the marriage when she had ceased to think about the little dwarf she brought a fine child into the world and suddenly soon after its birth the very man appeared and demanded what she had promised the frightened queen offered him all the riches of the kingdom if he would leave her her child but the dwarf answered no, something human is dearer to me than all the wealth of the world the queen began to weep and groaned so much that the dwarf pitied her and said I will leave you three days to consider if you in that time discover my name you shall keep your child all night long the queen wracked her brains for all the names she could think of and sent a messenger through the country to collect far and wide any new names the following morning came the dwarf and she began with Casper, Melchior, Balthasar and all the odd names she knew but at each the little man exclaimed that is not my name the second day the queen inquired of all her people for uncommon and curious names and called the dwarf ribs of beef sheepshank whale bone but at each he said this is not my name the third day the messenger came back and said I have not found a single name on the mountain near the edge of a forest where foxes and hares say good night to each other I saw there a little house and before the door a fire was burning and round this fire a very curious little man was dancing on one leg and shouting today I stew and then I'll bake tomorrow I shall the queen's child take ah how famous it is that nobody knows that my name is Rumpelstiltskin when the queen heard this she was very glad for now she knew the name and soon after came the dwarf and asked now my lady queen what is my name first she said are you called Conrad no are you called Hal no are you called Rumpelstiltskin Rumpelstiltskin a witch has told you a witch has told you shrieked the little man and stamped his right foot so hard in the ground with rage that he could not draw it out again then he took hold of his left leg with both his hands and pulled away so hard that his right came off in the struggle and he hopped away howling terribly and from that day to this she heard no more of her troublesome visitor and of Rumpelstiltskin recording by Jadabi www.publicdomainaudiobooks.blogspot.com the story of the three little pigs by L. Leslie Brooke this is a livery box recording all livery box recordings are in the public domain for more information also volunteer visit liverybox.org recording by Welsh Ragey story of the three little pigs by L. Leslie Brooke 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 dig their fortune the first that went off met a man with a bundle of straw and said to him please man give me that straw to throw in my house which the man did suddenly came along a wolf and knocked at the door and said little pig little pig let me come in took us to pig and said no no buy the hair of my chinny chin chin then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your housings at the wolf so he huffed and he puffed and he blew his housings and they took the little pig the second pig met a man with a bundle of furs and said please man give me that furs to build a house to which the man did and the pig built his house then along came the wolf and said little pig little pig let me come in no no buy the hair of my chinny chin chin then I'll puff and I'll huff and I'll blow your housings so he huffed and he puffed and he puffed and he huffed and at last he blew the house down and they took the second little pig the third little pig met a man with a load of bricks and said please man give me those bricks to build a house with so the man gave him the bricks and he built his house with them so the wolf came and he did to the other little pig and said little pig little pig let me come in no no buy the hair of my chinny chin chin then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your housings well he huffed and he puffed and he puffed and he huffed but he could not get the house down when he found that he could not with all his huffing and puffing blow the house down and said little pig I know where there is a nice field of turnips where? said the little pig oh in Mr Smith's home field and if you will be ready tomorrow morning I will call for you and we will go together and get some for dinner very well said the little pig I'll be ready time do you mean to go? oh six o'clock well the little pig got up at five and got the turnips and was home again before six when the wolf came he said little pig are you ready? ready to the little pig I have been and come again I got a nice pot full of dinner the wolf felt very angry at this but thought that he would be up to the little pigs somehow or other so he said little pig nice apple tree where? said the pig down at Mary garden and if you will not deceive me I will come for you at five o'clock tomorrow and we will go together and get some apples well the little pig woke up forward the next morning and bustled up and went off for the apples hoping to get a battle for the wolf cane but he had farther to go and had to climb the tree so that just as he was coming down from it he saw the wolf coming and didn't very much when the wolf came off he said little pig what? are you here before me? are they nice apples? yes very said the little pig I will throw you down one and you throw it so far that when the wolf goes gone to pick it up the little pig jumped down and ran home the next day the wolf came again and said to the little pig little pig there is a fair in the town this afternoon will you go? oh yes said the pig will go? what time shall he be ready? at three said the wolf so the little pig went off before the time of usual and got to the fair and bought a bus a churn and was on his way home with it when he saw the wolf coming then he could not tell what to do so he got into the churn to hide and in doing so turned it around and it began to roll and rolled down the hill with the pig inside it which frightened the wolf so much that he ran home without going to the fair and went to the little pig's house and told him how frightened he had been by a great round thing that came down the hill past him then the little pig said I frightened you didn't I I have been to the fair bought a bus a churn when I saw you I got into it and it rolled down the hill then the wolf was very angry indeed and declared he would eat up the little pig and that he would get down the chimney after him when the little pig saw what he was about and then on the pot full of water made up a blazing fire and just as the wolf was coming down took off the cover of the pot and then fell the wolf and the little pig put on the cover again and in an instant boiled him up and ate him for supper and lived happily ever after end of the story of the three little pigs the travelling musicians this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain recording by Jadopi the travelling musicians by the brothers Grimm an honest farmer had once an ass that had been a faithful servant to him a great many years but was now growing old and every day more and more unfit for work his master therefore was tired of keeping him and began to think of putting an end to him but the ass who saw that some mischief was in the wind took himself slyly off and began his journey towards the great city for there thought he I may turn musician after he had travelled a little way he spied a dog lying by the roadside and panting as if he were tired what makes you pant so my friend said the ass alas said the dog my master was going to knock me on the head because I'm old and weak and can no longer make myself useful to him in hunting so I ran away but what can I do to earn my livelihood our key said the ass I am going to the great city to turn musician suppose you go with me and try what you can do in the same way the dog said he was willing and they jogged on together they had not gone far before they saw a cat sitting in the middle of the road and making a most rueful face pray my good lady said the ass what's the matter with you you look quite out of spirits oh me said the cat how can one be in good spirits life is in danger because I'm beginning to grow old and had rather lie at my ease by the fire than run about the house after the mice my mistress laid hold of me and was going to drown me and though I have been lucky enough to get away from her I do not know what I am to live upon oh said the ass by all means go with us to the great city you are a good night singer and may make your fortune as a musician the cat was pleased with the thought and joined the party soon afterwards as they were passing by a farmyard they saw a cock perched upon a gate and screaming out with all his might and mane bravo upon my word you make a famous noise what is all this about why said the cock I was just now saying that we should have fine weather for our washing day and yet my mistress and the cook don't thank me for my pains but threatened to cut off my head tomorrow and make broth of me for the guests they are coming on Sunday heaven forbid said the ass come with us master shawn declare it will be better at any rate than staying here to have your head cut off besides who knows if we care to sing in tune we may get up some kind of a concert so come along with us with all my heart said the cock so they all four went on jolly together they could not however reach the great city the first day so when night came on the wood to sleep the ass and the dog laid themselves down under a great tree and the cat climbed up into the branches while the cock thinking that the higher he sat the safer he should be flew up to the very top of the tree and then according to his custom before he went to sleep looked out on all sides of him to see that everything was well in doing this he saw something bright and shining and calling to his companion said there must be a house no great way off for I see a light if that be the case we had better change our quarters where our lodging is not the best in the world besides added the dog I should not be the worst for a bone or two or a bit of meat so they walked off together towards the spot where shawn declare and as they drew near it became larger and brighter till they at last came close to a house in which a gang of robbers lived the ass being the tallest of the company marched up to the window and peeped in well donkey said shawn declare what do you see what do I see I see a table spread with all kinds of good things and robbers around it making merry that would be a noble lodging for us said the cock yes said the ass if we could only get in so they consulted together how they should contrive to get the robbers out and at last they hit upon a plan the ass placed himself upright on his hind legs with his four feet resting against the window the dog got upon his back the cat scrambled up to the dog's shoulders and the cock flew up and sat upon the cat's head when all was ready a signal was given and they began their music the ass braided the dog barked the cat mewed and the cock screamed and then they all broke through the window at once and came tumbling into the room amongst the broken glass with the most hideous clatter the robbers who had been not a little frightened by the opening concert had now no doubt that some frightful hobgoblin had broken in upon them and scampered away as fast as they could the coast once clear our traveller soon sat down and despatched what the robbers had left with as much eagerness as if they had not expected to eat again for a month as soon as they had satisfied themselves they put out the lights and each one more sought out a resting place to his own liking the donkey laid himself down upon a heap of straw in the yard the dog stretched himself upon a mat behind the door the cat rolled herself up on the hearth before the warm ashes and the cock perched upon a beam and as they were all rather tired with their journey they soon fell asleep but about midnight when the robbers saw from afar that the lights were out and that all seemed quiet they began to think that they had been in too great a hurry to run away and one of them who was bolder than the rest went to see what was going on finding everything still he marched into the kitchen and he found a match in order to light a candle and then, espying the glittery fiery eyes of the cat he mistook them for live coals and held the match to them to light it but the cat, not understanding this joke sprang at his face and spat and scratched at him this frightened him dreadfully and away he ran to the back door the dog jumped up and bit him in the leg and as he was crossing over the yard the ass kicked him and the cock who had been awakened by the noise crowed with all his might had this, the robber ran back as fast as he could to his comrades and told the captain how a horrid witch had gotten into the house and had spat at him and scratched his face with her long bony fingers the knife in his hand had hidden himself behind the door and stabbed him in the leg how a black monster stood in the yard and struck him with a club and how the devil had sat upon the top of the house and cried out roll the rest go up here after this the robbers never dared to go back to the house but the musicians were so pleased with their quarters that they took up their abode there and there they are, I dare say at this very day end of The Traveling Musicians Recording by Chedapi www.publicdomainaudiobooks.blogspot.com www.publicdomainaudiobooks.blogspot.com www.publicdomainaudiobooks.blogspot.com www.publicdomainaudiobooks.blogspot.com Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman Once upon a time there was a little black boy and his name was Little Black Sambo and his mother was called Black Mumbo and his father was called Black Jumbo and Black Mumbo made him a beautiful little red coat and a pair of beautiful little blue trousers and Black Jumbo went to the bazaar and bought him a beautiful green umbrella with crimson soles and crimson linings and then was a Little Black Sambo grand so he put on all his fine clothes and went out for a walk in the jungle and by and by he met a tiger and the tiger said to him Little Black Sambo I'm going to eat you up and Little Black Sambo said oh please Mr. Tiger don't eat me up I'll give you my beautiful little red coat so the tiger said very well I won't eat you this time but you must give me your beautiful little red coat so the tiger got poor Little Black Sambo's beautiful little red coat and went away saying now I'm the grandest tiger in the jungle and Little Black Sambo went on and by and by he met another tiger and it said to him Little Black Sambo I'm going to eat you up and Little Black Sambo said oh please Mr. Tiger don't eat me up and I'll give you my beautiful little blue trousers so the tiger said very well I won't eat you this time but you must give me your beautiful little blue trousers so the tiger got poor Little Black Sambo's beautiful little blue trousers and went away saying now I'm the grandest tiger in the jungle and Little Black Sambo went on and by and by he met another tiger and it said to him Little Black Sambo I'm going to eat you up and Little Black Sambo said oh please Mr. Tiger don't eat me up and I'll give you my beautiful little purple shoes with crimson soles and crimson linings but the tiger said what use would your shoes be to me I've got four feet and you've only got two so you haven't got enough shoes for me but Little Black Sambo said you could wear them on your ears so I could said the tiger that's a very good idea give them to me and I won't eat you this time so the tiger got poor Little Black Sambo's beautiful little purple shoes with crimson soles and crimson linings and went away saying now I'm the grandest tiger in the jungle and by and by Little Black Sambo met another tiger and it said to him Little Black Sambo I'm going to eat you up and Little Black Sambo said oh please Mr. Tiger don't eat me up and I'll give you my beautiful green umbrella but the tiger said how can I carry an umbrella when I need all my paws for walking with you could tie a knot on your tail and carry it that way said Little Black Sambo so I could said the tiger give it to me and I won't eat you this time so he got poor Little Black Sambo's beautiful green umbrella and went away saying now I'm the grandest tiger in the jungle and poor Little Black Sambo went away crying because the cruel tigers had taken all his fine clothes presently he heard a horrible noise that sounded like roar and it got louder and louder oh dear said Little Black Sambo there are all the tigers coming back to eat me up what shall I do so he ran quickly to a palm tree and peeped around it to see what the matter was and there he saw all the tigers fighting and disputing which of them was the grandest and at last they all got so angry that they jumped up and took off all the fine clothes and began to tear each other with their claws and bite each other with their great big white teeth and they came rolling and tumbling right to the foot of the very tree where Little Black Sambo was hiding but he jumped quickly in behind the umbrella and the tigers all caught hold of each other's tails as they wrangled and scrambled and so they found themselves in a ring around the tree then when the tigers were very wee and very far away Little Black Sambo jumped up and called out oh tigers why have you taken off all your nice clothes don't you want them anymore but the tigers only answered grrrr then Little Black Sambo said if you want them say so or I'll take them away but the tigers would not let go of each other's tails and so they could only say grrrr and the tigers were very very angry but still they would not let go of each other's tails and they were so angry that they ran around the tree trying to eat each other up and they ran faster and faster until they were whirling around so fast that you couldn't see their legs at all and they still ran faster and faster and faster until they all just melted away and then there was nothing left but a great big pool of melted butter or ghee as it is called in India around the foot of the tree now Black Jamba was just coming home from his work with a great big brass pot in his arms and when he saw what was left of all the tigers he said oh what lovely melted butter I'll take that home to Black Mamba for her to cook with so he put it all into the great big brass pot and took it home to Black Mamba to cook with Black Mamba saw the melted butter wasn't she pleased now she said we'll all have pancakes for supper so she got flour and eggs and milk and sugar and butter and she made a huge big plate of most lovely pancakes and she fried them in the melted butter which the tigers had made and they were just as yellow and brown as little tigers and then they all sat down to supper and Black Mamba ate 27 pancakes and Black Jamba ate 55 but Little Black Samba ate 169 because he was so hungry end of Little Black Samba The Real Princess by Hans Christian Andersen this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Abigail Bartels The Real Princess by Hans Christian Andersen there once was a prince who wished to marry a princess but then she must be a real princess he traveled all over the world in hopes of finding such a lady but there was always something wrong princesses he found in plenty but whether they were real princesses it was impossible for him to decide for now one thing now another seemed to him not quite right about the ladies but he returned to his palace quite cast down because he wished so much to have a real princess for his wife one evening a fearful tempest arose it thundered and lightning and the rain poured down from the sky in torrents besides it was as dark as pitch all at once there was heard a violent knocking at the door and the old king, the princess father went out himself to open it it was a princess who was standing outside the door what with the rain and the wind she was in a sad condition the water trickled down from her hair and her clothes clung to her body she said she was a real princess ah we shall soon see that thought the old queen mother however she said not a word of what she was going to do but went quietly into the bedroom took all the bed clothes off the bed and put three little peas on the bedstead she then laid twenty mattresses one upon another over the three peas and put twenty feather beds over the mattresses upon this bed the princess was to pass the night the next morning she was asked how she had slept oh very badly indeed she replied I have scarcely closed my eyes the whole night through I do not know what was in my bed but I had something hard under me and am all over black and blue it has hurt me so much now it was plain that the lady must be a real princess since she had been able to feel the three little peas through the twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds none but a real princess could have had such a delicate sense of feeling the prince accordingly made her his wife being now convinced that he had found a real princess the three peas were however put into the cabinet of curiosities where they are still to be seen provided they are not lost wasn't this a lady of real delicacy and of the real princess the lost dryad by Frank Richard Stockton this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the lost dryad by Frank Richard Stockton there was once a dryad who was truly lost the summer was drawing to close the nights were becoming cool she had no home and she did not know where she was not long before while she was still in her oak tree there had been a terrible storm the tree had been dashed to the ground and splintered to pieces while the poor dryad had been blown away and away and away she did not know where now she was looking for another oak tree to live in but she was lost absolutely lost one tree she found which she thought might shelled to her but while she examined it she found that it was getting old and its trunk was badly cracked by the experience she was afraid to go into a cracked tree and so she kept on her way at a little distance she saw a village shaded by trees and the thought came to her that she might possibly find a home in a big oak there that would be fine truly she had never lived in a village it would be a new experience so she kept on but when she reached the place she found that few of the trees were oaks and these were not very well grown and too small for her it was nearly supper time in the village there were so many people in the street but presently she met a big man with a cross face oh ho oh ho he cried who are you you cannot go about the street like that the poor dryad was terribly frightened like what she asked you must go home and dress he said I am dressed said she these are all the clothes I ever wear do you call these clothes he said come along with me I am a constable I will take you to the lock up you must be crazy I will take care of you there and at any rate will dress you properly the poor dryad trembled from head to foot she did not know what a lock up was but she knew it must be a terrible place and she had never seen anyone look so cruel as this man he had already seized her by the arm and if his grasp should have been tighter she believed her arm would break in two poor weak beautiful dryad what could she do she thought of something it was her only hope it must be remembered that there is a peculiar property of a dryad whenever a dryad kisses a human being that person becomes ten years younger so all good mothers are very careful to keep their children away from large oak trees if a girl of a dozen years were to sit in the shade of one of those trees she might attract the attention of an affectionate tree dweller and then if this dryad should kiss her the little toddler of two years might go home if her chance she remembered where she lived and astound her parents but if a child who was not yet ten should be kissed it would disappear utterly the dryad remembered her rare gift as she looked up tearfully into the stern face of the constable please sir, said she don't take me away, I shall be frightened to death if you do, I have something to tell you but only you must hear it please let me whisper it to you the constable looked at her he was fond of hearing secrets and it was quite proper that people should confide in him so he bent down his head to hear what the dryad had to say then twice and before he had time to notice the change he was a man of thirty years of age vigorous and handsome he released his grasp upon her arm and stood up straight and tall oh ho, he cried, and who are you put down your heads at the dryad and let me tell you and she gave him two more kisses now they stood before her a boy of ten very much troubled I don't know what is the matter with my clothes, said he my breeches are all down about my feet they are like an old man's trousers shoes and stockings where did I get such big shoes and stockings and this great jerkin is too big for me I'm going to throw it off that is right little boy, said the dryad throw it off and pull off those shoes and stockings you can walk a great deal better on your bare feet you must have been asleep and in a dream you put on your father's clothes I expect that was it, said he it must have been that now run along home little boy, said the dryad and carry carefully your father's jerkin in his shoes and stockings or perhaps if you put them where you found them he may never know now run along and the little boy ran along the dryad was now alone but she was still frightened she was sure there were no trees here which would suit her and she was afraid of meeting some other cruel person so she slipped into a side street and there she saw a light coming through a glass door this was the only light in the street and she went up to it and looked in inside was a small room not very well furnished but by a table right on it there sat a girl trimming a hat the dryad smiled with pleasure she was not afraid of a girl especially one who was so pretty and looked so gentle perhaps she might tell her where there was a good oak tree so she opened the door without making any noise and stepped in at first the girl was startled and dropped the hat she was trimming but when the dryad quickly told her who she was and what a sad plight she was in she was reassured she had heard of dryads and was glad to see one but you must remember this she exclaimed on no account must you kiss me I am engaged to be married and I would not have you kiss me for the world oh no no no said the dryad no matter how good you are to me I shall be very careful can you tell me where there is a large oak tree I do not remember any said the girl but I expect you sorely need one for you must feel cold in the evening oh no said the dryad I am not cold but what a beautiful hat you're making such a lovely silk and lace you were putting on it yes said the girl holding up the hat for the lamp I'm trying to make it pretty but this silk is tarnished it has lost a good deal of its color my stepmother thinks it is good enough for me and so I must do the best I can with it poor girl said the dryad she ought to give you the nicest stuffs there are in the village you're so pretty and moved by pity and affection she was about to give the girl a kiss of sympathy but remembering just in time that hat would never do she kissed the hat instantly the silk and the lace were as bright and new as if they had just come out of the shop the dryad exclaimed with delight look look she cried did you ever see more charming colors the girl had never seen more charming colors but her countenance fell they are very pretty she said but what an old fashioned hat it looks like one of those hats people used to wear ten years ago now the poor dryad was greatly troubled have I spoiled it she said oh I shall be too sorry if I have done that the girl turned the hat around on every side of course I could not wear it as it is she said but I am sure I can alter it but I can change the shape and then with these new trimmings it will be perfectly lovely I thank you ever so much but please do not come any nearer you might forget yourself and you are going to be married as the dryad yes truly if I cancelled the girl but my stepmother does not wish it she wants me to stay here and work for her but I shall be patient and in the meantime I am so glad that he will see me in my new hat and is your stepmother so very cross as the dryad oh very if she were at home I could not let you stay here and as I expect her to come back shortly I am afraid the poor dryad clasped her hands you do not mean said she that I must go away I hope that I might stay here until the people of the village were all in bed I am very sorry said the girl but really if my stepmother should come back and see you here I don't know what would happen but I will tell you what I will do I will lend you one of my frocks and a cape and you can put on my sunbonnet then you can go out and look for a tree and people will not be apt to notice you and if you will come back after a while when my stepmother has gone to bed I will go out with you and help you find a tree if you have not found one oh now please don't people can be very grateful without kissing you know and I will bring you the clothes in a minute when the dryad put on the frock and the little cape and the sunbonnet she looked very much like an ordinary person and when she went out on the street nobody noticed her and the people in the village were so poor that they were obliged to go barefooted this lost dryad had no very good idea of time and after she had walked about the streets and even a little way into the country looking for a tree and finding none she thought that the cruel stepmother must surely have gone to bed and so she went back to the house of her friend the girl and opening the door she slipped in there she saw the cruel stepmother scolding the girl hi ho cried the woman then who was this how dare you come in without knocking what where did you get that sunbonnet you wretched creature she cried addressing her stepdaughter what does this mean and your cape and your frock and without waiting for an answer she stepped up to the dryad take that off this minute whoever you are she cried and as she said this she grasped the sunbonnet and pulled it from the dryad's head she was scared out of her wits had barely sense enough left to throw her arms around the stepmother's neck and give her four kisses as quick as lightning the next day was the stepmother's birthday and she intended to celebrate the occasion by inviting some of her old cronies to suck with her but now there was a little girl standing on the floor beginning to cry the dryad clapped her hands with delight so many clothes she exclaimed in such a dear little body in the middle of the mall the girl with the hat cried out what have you done but in spite of her consternation she could not help laughing she does look funny said she there was such a difference between the little child and the cross stepmother and it was impossible for anyone to be really sorry how queer it is said the dryad she knows nothing at all of the life she has lived of course not said the girl she could not look back on her future you know I want to go to bed said the little one rubbing her eyes and please take these things off the dryad we must undress her and put her to bed no let me do it alone you might forget so the girl so the little child was put to bed in the back room and in a moment was asleep now I need not go away cried the dryad no indeed said the girl I should be afraid to be left alone with that little thing who was my stepmother the dryad threw aside the uncomfortable gown and cape and her face sparkled with delight she was so glad that she need not go away I was so happy at what she had done the little girl you can be married and you too can take care of the little girl yes I can be married said the other but not immediately and in the meantime I must support this little child and myself I have no money and how am I going to do that oh I wish I could help you cried the dryad could not I live here until you were married I really ought to do something for you and I will never kiss you or the child but how could you help me said the girl smiling I don't know said the dryad reflecting longer yes said the girl that might do we could live here together and set up a kissery it would be very pleasant for me to have everything my own way and not to be scolded and I shall take the best possible care of the child I know there are people who would like to be kissed but you will have to be very very careful not to make mistakes oh I will do that cried the dryad I promise you that from this moment I will never kiss anybody older young unless you tell me to at this moment there was a sound of hurrying feet outside the door was thrown open and an excited group of men and women rushed into the room a dreadful thing has happened cried one of the women the constable Johann Milder has disappeared he left his clothes behind him stranger yet there's little boy at his house who says he lives there and who he is and where he came from nobody knows we've come to see your stepmother she is a wise woman and perhaps she may help us where is she call her quickly she is the heirs of the girl then all the people pushed into the back room and when they saw the sleeping child two women fainted just where they stood the others were so much astounded that not one of them could speak a word and the dryad who so far had not been noticed laughed out merrily it was also funny that she could not help it at this the people turned and stared at her there were some among them who had seen dryads and they set up a great shout a dryad they cried a wicked spirit a tree witch she has done this she has been about with her sinful kisses with one accord the villagers dashed at the dryad as if they would pound her into pieces and trample them upon the floor but the dryad was in the doorway between the two rooms and she moved so quickly that they could not touch her and she felt free to do as she pleased she might have rushed in among them and in a very few minutes had made a kindergarten of the whole company but she had promised her dear friend the girl that without her permission she would never kiss anybody and she could not break her word so she fled through the open door in a way and away and away until she was far from the village it was not long before the dryad came to the great oak which was old and whose trunk was cracked ah she cried here is this tree which I would not enter but I should not despise it again it will shelter me for a time and I must no longer remain out in this cruel world so she slipped into the oak and was so glad to feel herself safe that she kissed the inside of the tree over and over again telling it how thankful she was to have its protection and to feel again as if she was at home it was not long before the aged oak was a hundred years younger strong, vigorous, clad in the brightest green and able to withstand the fiercest storm now when the villagers knew what had happened they thought it quite right that the girl should marry and take care of the child who had been her stepmother and when the boy who had been the costable grew up he married this child and there was a great deal more happiness in the village than there would have been if the lost dryad had not come to it looking for a tree End of The Lost Dryad by Frank Richard Stockton Introduction I'm being asked by a reader whether the verses contained in this book were true and is it true? it is not true and if it were it wouldn't do for people such as me and you who pretty nearly all day long are doing something rather wrong because if things were really so you would have perished long ago and I would not have lived to write the noble lines that meet your sight or BTB survived to draw the nicest things you ever saw Hiller Bellock Jim who ran away from his nurse and was eaten by a lion there was a boy whose name was Jim his friends were very good to him they gave him tea and cakes and jam and slices of delicious ham and chocolate with pink inside and vegetables to ride and read him stories through and through and even took him to the zoo but there it was the dreadful faith befell him which I now relate you know or at least you ought to know for I have often told you so that children never are allowed to leave their nurses in a crowd now this was Jim's special foible he ran away when he was able and on this inauspicious day he slipped his hand and ran away he hadn't gone a yard when bang with open jaws a lion sprang and hungrily began to eat the boy beginning at his feet now just imagine how it feels when first your toes and then your heels and then by gradual degrees your shins and ankles, carbs and knees are slowly eaten bit by bit no wonder Jim detested it no wonder he shouted Hi! the honest keeper heard his cry though very fat he almost ran to help the little gentleman Porto, he hoarded as he came for Pontur was the lion's name Porto, he cried with angry frown let go sir, down sir put him down the lion made a sudden stop he let the dead immortal drop and slunk reluctant to his cage snarling the lion was a pointed rage but when he bent him over Jim the honest keeper's eyes were dim the lion having reached his head the miserable boy was dead when nurse informed his parents they were more concerned than I can see his mother, as she dried her eyes said well, it gives me no surprise he would not do as he was told his father, who was self-controlled that all the children round attend to Jim's miserable end and always keep a hold of nurse for fear of finding something worse Henry King who chewed bits of string and was early cut off in dreadful agonies the chief defect of Henry King was chewing little bits of string at last he swallowed some which tied itself in ugly knots inside physicians of the utmost fame at once, but when they came they answered as they took their fees there is no cure for this disease Henry will very soon be dead his parents stood about his bed lamenting his untimely death when Henry with his latest breath cried, oh my friends be warned by me that breakfast dinner lunch and tea are all the human frame requires with that the wretched child expires Matilda, who told lies and was burnt to death Matilda told such dreadful lies it made one gasp and stretch one's eyes her aunt, who from her earliest youth had kept a strict regard for truth attempted to believe Matilda the effort very nearly killed her and would have done so had not she discovered this infirmity for once towards the close of day growing tired of play and finding she was left to learn when tipped her to the telephone and summoned the immediate aid of London's Noble Fire Brigade within an hour the gallant band were pouring in on every hand from putty hackney downs and bone with courage high and hearts aglow they galloped roaring through the town Matilda's house is burning down inspired by British cheers and loud proceeding from the frenzied crowd they ran their ladders through a score of windows on the ballroom floor and took peculiar pains to souse the pictures up and down the house until Matilda's aunt succeeded in showing them they were not needed and even then she had to pay to get the men to go away it happened that a few weeks later her aunt was off to the theatre to see that interesting play The Second Mrs. Tankeray refused to take her niece to hear this entertaining piece a deprivation just and wise to punish her for telling lies that night a fire did break out you should have heard Matilda's shout you should have heard her scream and bawl and throw the windows up and call to people passing in the street the rapidly increasing heat encouraging her to obtain their confidence but all in vain for every time she shouted fire the only answer little liar and therefore when her aunt returned Matilda and the house were burned Franklin Hyde who corralsed in the dirt and was corrected by his uncle his uncle came on Franklin Hyde corralsing in the dirt he shook him hard from side to side and hit him till it hurt exclaiming with a final thud take that, abandoned boy in the disgusting mud as though it were a toy moral from Franklin Hyde's adventure learned to pass your leisure time in cleanly merriment and turned from mud and ooze and slime and every form of nastiness but on the other hand children in ordinary dress may always play with sand Godolphon Horn who was cursed with a sin of pride and became a boot black Godolphon Horn was nirbly born he held him in racing scorn and lived with all his sisters where his father lived in Barkley Square and oh, the lad was deathly prowl he never shook your hand or bowed the mirror smirked and nodded thus oh, perfectly ridiculous alas that such effected tricks should flourish in a child of six for such was young Godolphon's age just then the court required a page where at the Lord High Chamberlain the kindest and the best of men he went good-naturedly and took a perfectly enormous spook called people qualified to be attended on his majesty and merman as he scanned the list to see that no one should be missed there's William Coots has got the flu and Billy Higgs would never do and Guidevere is far too young and wasn't Dalton's father hung and as for Alexander Bing I think I know the kind of thing a churchman, cleanly nirbly born come, let us say, Godolphon horn but hardly had he said the word when mermanants of descent were heard the king of Iceland's eldest son said thank you, I am taking none the aged Duchess of Athlone remarked in her sub-acid turn I doubt if he is what we need with which the bishops all agreed and even Lady Mary flood so kind and oh, so really good said no, he wouldn't do it all he'd make us feel a lot too small the chamberlain said well, well, well no doubt you're right one cannot tell the gold and diamond pen and scratch Godolphon out again so now Godolphon is the boy who blacked the boots at the Savoy Algernon who played with a loaded gun and on missing his sister was reprimanded by his father young Algernon the doctor's son was playing with a loaded gun he pointed it toward his sister aimed very carefully but missed her her father who was standing near the loud explosion chance to hear and reprimanded Algernon for playing with a loaded gun Hildebrand who was frightened by a passing motor and was brought to reason oh, murder what was that, papa? my child it was a motor car a most ingenious toy designed to captivate and charm much rather than rouse alarm what would your great-grandfather who was aid to corp to general brew and lost the leg at Waterloo and Catrebra and died at Trafalgar what would he have remarked to hear his young descendant shriek with fear because he happened to be near a harmless motor car but do not fret about it come, rule off the town and purchase some Lord London and thereby ruined his political career Lord London from his earliest years was far too freely moved to tears for instance if his mother said London, it's time to go to bed he bellowed like a little turk or if his father Lord Dunk Kirk said hi in a commanding tone hi London, leave the cat alone Lord London letting go its tail would raise so terrible a whale as moved his grand-father Duke to utter the severe rebuke when I, sir, was a little boy an animal was not a toy his father's elder sister who was married to a parvenu confided to her husband threat, the miserable peabish brat why that day drowned the little beast suggestions which to say the least are not what we expect to hear from daughters of an English pair grand-mama, his mother's mother who had some dignity or other the garter, or no matter what I can't remember all the lot said hey, let I with brisk and spry to give him that for which to cry an empty wish alas for she was blind and nearly 93 the dear old butler thought I really neither know nor care for what the dear old butler thought in my opinion butlers ought to know their place and not to play the old retainer night and day I'm getting tired and so are you let's cut the poem into two Lord Lundy, second counter it happened to Lord Lundy then as happens to so many men towards the age of 26 they shoved him into politics in which profession he commanded the income that his rank demanded in turn the secretary for India, the colonies and war but very soon his friends began to doubt if he were quite the man thus if a member rose to say as members do from day to day arising out of that reply Lord Lundy would begin to cry a hint that harmless little jobs would shake him with convulsive sobs while as revelations these would simply bring him to his knees and leave him whimpering like a child his colleagues raving wild they let him sink from post to post from 1500 at the most to eight and barely six and then to be curator of Big Ben and finally there came a threat to oust him from the cabinet the Duke, his age at Grand Sire bore the shame till he could bear no more he rallied his declining powers some of the youth at the Brackley Towers and bitterly addressed him thus Sir, you have disappointed us we had intended you to be the next Prime Minister but three the stocks were sold the press was squared the middle class was quite prepared but as it is my language fails go out and govern New South Wales the aged patriot groaned and died and gracious how Lord Lundy cried Rebecca who slammed doors for fun and perished miserably a trick that everyone abhors in little girls is slamming doors a wealthy banker's little daughter who lived in Palace Green Bayswater by name Rebecca Offendort was given to this furious sport she would deliberately go and slam the door like billy ove to make her uncle Jacob start she was not really bad at heart but only rather rude and wild she was an aggravating child it happened that a marble bust of Abraham was standing just above the door this little lamb had carefully prepared to slam and down it came it knocked her flat it laid her out she looked like that her funeral sermon which was long and followed by a sacred soul mentioned her virtues it is true but dwelt upon her vices too and showed the dreadful end of one who goes and slams the door for fun the children who were brought to hear the awful tale from far and near were much impressed and inly swore they never more would slam the door as often they had done before George he played with a dangerous toy and suffered a catastrophe of considerable dimensions when George's grandmother was told that George had been as good as gold she promised in the afternoon to buy him an immense balloon and so she did but when it came it got into the candle flame and being of a dangerous sort exploded with a loud report the lights went out the windows broke the broom was filled with reeking smoke and in the darkness shrieks and yells were mingled with electric bells and falling masonry in groans and crunching as a broken bones and dreadful shrieks when worst of all the house itself began to fall it tottered shuddering to and fro then crashed into the street below which happened to be Savile Row when hope arrived among the dead or cousin Mary little Fred the footmen, both of them the groom, the man that cleaned the brilliant room the chaplain and the still room maid I am dreadfully afraid that Monsieur Champignon, the chef will now be permanently deaf and both his aides are much the same while George who was in part to blame received, you will regret to hear a nasty lump behind the ear moral the moral is that little boys should not be given dangerous toys Charles Augustus Fortescue who always did what was right and so accumulated an immense fortune the nicest child I ever knew was Charles Augustus Fortescue he never lost his cap or tore his stockings or his pinafore in eating bread he made no crumbs he was extremely fond of sums to which however he preferred the pausing of a Latin word he sought when it was within his power for information twice an hour and as to finding mutton fat advertising far from that he often at his father's board would beg them of his own accord to give him if they did not mind the greasiest morsels they could find his later years did not belive the promise of his infancy in public life he always tried to take a judgment broad and wide in private none was more than he renowned for quiet courtesy he rose at once in his career along before his 40th year he married Fifi only child of Bunyan first lord Abba filed he thus became immensely rich and built the splendid mansion which is called the Cedars Muswell Hill where he resides in affluent still to show what everyone might become by simply doing right End of Cautionary Tales for Children by Helea Belloch recorded by Algi Pug or the Manifert Griecher by Indro Leng this is a Libra Vox recording all Libra Vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibraVox.org Alalei Rao or the Manifert Griecher by Indro Leng there was once upon a time a king who had a wife with golden hair and she was so beautiful that you couldn't find anyone like her in the world it happened that she fell ill and she felt that she must soon die she sent for the king and said if you want to marry after my death make no one queen unless she is just as beautiful as I am and has just such golden hair as I have promise me this after the king had promised her this she closed her eyes and died for a long time the king was not to be comforted and he did not even think of taking a second wife and last this counselor said the king must marry again so that we may have a queen so messengers sent fine white to seek for a bride equal to the late queen in beauty but there was no one in the white world and if there had been she could not have had such golden hair then the messengers came home again not having been able to find the queen now the king had a daughter who was just as beautiful as a dead mother and had just such golden hair one day when she had grown up her father looked at her and saw that she was exactly like her mother so he said to his counselors I will marry my daughter to one of you and she shall be queen before she is exactly like a dead mother and when I die her husband shall be king but when the princess heard of her father's decision she was not at all pleased and said to him before I do her bidding I must have three dresses one is golden as the sun one is silver as the moon and one is shining as the stars besides these I want a cloak made of a thousand different kinds of skin every animal in your kingdom must give a bit of his kindred but she said to herself this will be quite impossible and I shall not have to marry someone I do not care for the king however was not the pattern from his purpose and commanded the most skilled maidens in his kingdom to weave the three dresses one is golden as the sun one is silver as the moon and one is shining as the stars and he gave orders to all his huntsmen to catch one of every kind of beast in the kingdom and get a bit of his skin to make the cloak of a thousand pieces of fur at last when all was ready the king commanded the cloak to be brought to him and he spread it out before the princess and said tomorrow shall be your wedding day when the princess saw that there was no more hope of changing her father's resolution she determined to flee away in the night when everyone else was sleeping she got up and took three things from her treasures the gold ring, little golden spinning wheel and the gold reel so the sun, moon and star dresses in a nutshell thrown the cloak of many skins and made her face and hands black with soot then she commanded herself to guard and went out and traveled the whole night till she came to a large forest and as she was very much tired she sat down inside a hollow tree and fell asleep the sun rose and still she slept on and on although it was nearly noon now it happened that the king to whom this wood belonged was hunting in it when his dogs came to the tree they sniffed and ran round and round barking the king said to the hansmen see what sort of wild beast is in there the hansmen went in and came back and said in the hollow tree there lives a wonderful animal that we don't know and we have never seen one like it its skin is made of a thousand pieces of fur but it is lying down asleep the king said see if you can catch it alive then fasten it to the cart it will take it with us when the hansmen seized the maiden she awoke and was frightened and cried out to them I am a poor child forsaken by father and mother take pity on me and let me go with you then they said to her when if you are a creature you can work in the kitchen come with us and sweep the ashes together so they put her in the cart and they went back to the palace there they showed her a tiny room under the stairs when all daylight came and said to her when if you are a creature you can live and sleep here then she was sent to the kitchen where she carried wood and water poked the fire, washed vegetables plucked fowls, swept up ashes and did all the dirty work so the many fur creature lived for a long time in great poverty a beautiful king's daughter what is going to befall you now it happened once when a great feast was being held in the palace that she said to the cook can I go upstairs for a little bit and look on I will stand outside the doors the cook replied you can go up, but in half an hour you must be back here to sweep up the ashes then she took a little oil lamp and went into her little room threw off her fur cloak and washed off the soot from her face and hands so they took beauty shown for us and it was as if one sunbeam after another were coming out of a black cloud then she opened the night and took out the dress as golden as the sun and when she had done this she went up to the feast and everyone stepped out of her way for nobody knew her she thought she must be a king's daughter but the king came towards her and gave her his hand and danced with her sinking to himself my eyes have never beheld anyone so fair when the dance was ended she clurred to him and when the king looked round she had disappeared, no one knew with her the guards were standing before the palace were called and questioned but no one had seen her she had run to her little room and had quickly taken off her dress made her face and hands black for the many fur creature when she came into the kitchen and was sitting about her work for sweeping the ashes together the cook said to her let that wait till tomorrow and just cook the king's soup for me I want to have a little peep at the company upstairs but be sure that you don't let the hair fall into it otherwise you will get nothing to eat in future so the cook went away and the many fur creature cooked the soup for the king she made a bright soup as well as she possibly could and when it was done she fetched a gold ring from her little room and laid it in the terrine in which the soup was served up when the dance was ended the king had his soup brought to him and ate it and it was so good that he thought he had never tasted such soup in his life but when he came to the bottom of the dish he saw a golden ring lying there and he could not imagine how it got in then he commanded the cook to be brought before him the cook was terrified when he heard the command and said to the many fur creature you must have let the hair fall into the soup and if you have you deserve a good beating when he came before the king the king asked to cook the soup the cook answered I cooked it but the king said that's not true for it was quite different, much better soup than you have ever cooked then the cook said I must confess I did not cook the soup, the many fur creature did let her be brought before me said the king when the many fur creature came I knew who she was I'm a poor child without father or mother then he asked her what do you do in my palace I'm of no use except if boots run up my head how did you get the ring which was in the soup he asked I know nothing at all about the ring she answered so the king could find out nothing and was obliged to send her away after a time there was another feast and the many fur creature baked the cook they said last one to let her go and log on he answered yes, we'll come back again in half an hour and cook the king the bright soup that he likes so much so she ran away to a little room washed herself quickly took out of her night the dress as silver as the moon and put it on then she went upstairs looking just like a king's daughter and the king came towards her delighted to see her again and as the dancer just began the dance together but when the dancers ended she disappeared again so quickly that the king could not see which way she went she ran to her little room and changed herself once more into the many fur creature and went into the kitchen to cook the bright soup when the cook was upstairs she fetched a golden spinning wheel and put it in the dish so that the soup was put over it it was brought to the king who ate it and liked it as much as the last time he had to cook sand to him and again he had to confess that the many fur creature had cooked the soup then the many fur creature came before the king but she said again she had no use except to have boots thrown at her head and that she knew nothing at all of the golden spinning wheel when the king had a feast for the third time things did not turn out quite the same as the other two the cook said you must be a witch many fur creature for you always put something in the soup so that it is much better and tastes nicer to the king than any that they cook but because she baked hard he let her grab for the usual time now she put on the dress as shiny as the stars and stepped into the hall with it the king danced again with the beautiful maiden and saw she had never looked so beautiful and while he was dancing he put a golden ring on her finger without her seeing it and he commanded that the dance should last longer than usual when it was finished he wanted to keep her in his hands but she broke from him and sprang so quickly away among the people that she vanished from his sight she ran as fast as she could to a little room under the stairs but because she stayed too long beyond the half hour she could not stop to take off the beautiful dress but only through the fur cloak over it and in her haste she did not make herself quite black with soot one finger remaining white the many fur creature now ran into the kitchen cooked the king's bright soup and when the cook had gone she laid the golden ring in the dish when the king found the ring at the bottom he had the many fur creature brought to him and then he saw the white finger and the ring which he put on her hand in the dance then he took her hand and held her tightly and as she was trying to get away she ended the fur cloak a little bit and the star dress shone out the king seized the cloak and toyed off her her golden hair came down and she stood there in her full splendor and could not hide herself anymore and when the soot and ashes had been washed from her face she looked more beautiful than anyone in the world but the king said you are my dear bride and we will never be separated from one another so the wedding was celebrated and they lived happily ever after grim end of Allerlei Rao or the many fur creature recording by Ellie in April 2010