seligorscastle the home of diddily dee dots sleepy childrens bedtime stories Story Teller
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THE TIGER WOMAN OF THE JUNGLE
In Burma there are two races of people. One race lives in villages and tills the ground; the other race lives among wild beasts in the jungle on the hills. One day a villager set out for the hills, where he found a beautiful hill woman, whom he led to his village and married. For a time they lived happily and had a little baby girl. But the baby died, and the villager began to neglect his wife. Coming home late one night he found his hut empty, and about it were the the marks of a tigress's feet. He knew what had happened. His wife had changed back into a tigress and gone back to the jungle. All the deep love for her returned, and he set out again for the hills, taking with him the clothes of the dead baby. He followed the tracks of the tigress until he came to a cave, and there he saw the eyes of the wild beast blazing in the darkness. He was not afraid. He put down the baby's clothes at the mouth of the cave, and the tigress leaped out upon him. But when she saw the clothes of her little dead girl her heart was melted. Then instead of killing the villager she suddenly changed into a woman, and flung her arms about his neck. Together they went back joyfully to their empty hut.
THE STORY -TELLER
I have just changed the Video clips.
I thought being as we're in storyland we better have some Brothers Grimm
The House in the Wood from Grimms' Fairy Tales
There was a poor wood-cutter who lived with his wife and three young daughters in a little hut on the edge of a large forest. Sometimes, when he was cutting down the trees near his cottage the girls would take him his dinner, and gather up small branches, make them into faggots before dragging them home. The children thought it was great fun; but ver often he had to work further inside the forest, sometimes even at the other side, then his wife would wrap up his dinner in a cloth and he carried it with him to eat at noon-day. The Wood-cutter did not earn high wages, so his family were very poor. But the simple food and the fresh air made the girls strong and healthy, and they grew up to beyoung women and able to help there parents more and more. One morning when he was going to his usual work, he said to his wife, 'Let our eldest
daughter bring me my lunch into the wood; and so that she shall not lose her
way, I will take a bag of millet with me, and sprinkle the seed on the path.' So when the sun had risen high over the forest, the girl set out with a jug
of soup. But the field and wood sparrows, the larks and finches, blackbirds
and green finches had picked up the millet many hours earlier and the girl could not
find her way anywhere.
She went on and on, till the sun set and night clouds crossed the skycame on. The trees rustled in
the darkness, the owls hooted, and she began to be very, very frightened. Then
she saw in the distance a light that twinkled between the trees. There must
be people living yonder,' she thought, 'who will take me in for the night,'
and she began walking towards it.
She knocked at the door, and a gruff voice called, 'Come in!'
She opened the door and there, sitting at the table was an old man. His face was buried in his hands and his white beard was flowing down over the table and onto the ground.
On the hearth lay three animals, a hen, a cock, and a brindled cow. The girl
told the old man her story, and asked would it be possible for her to stay the night
The man turned to the creatures and said:-
Pretty Hen. Pretty Cock. And you, pretty brindled Cow. What do you say now?
'Cluck! answered the animals; and that must have meant, "We are happy with that" for the old man said, "alright there is food in abundance, go into the back kitchen and cook
us a supper."
The girl found plenty of food in the kitchen, and cooked them a good meal,
but thought nothing about the animals.
She placed the full dishes on the table, sat down opposite the gray-haired
man, and ate till her hunger was appeased. The when she had ate her full she said. Tell me where I can sleep for I am tired?"
This time the animals answered:
"You have eaten with him. You have drunk with him. And of us you have not thought of us; Still you may sleep the night here."
Then the old man said, 'Go upstairs, and there you will find a bedroom containing two beds; shake
the feather beds and put clean sheets on, and I will come shortly to see if you are sleeping.'
The maiden went upstairs, and when she had made the bed, she lay down and went fast asleep.
After some time the gray-haired man came, looked at her by the light of his
candle, and shook his head. He saw that she was sound asleep, then he opened
a trap-door and let her fall into the cellar.
The woodcutter meanwhile came home late in the evening, and shouted at his wife for leaving
him all day without food.
'No, I did not,' she answered; 'the girl went off with your dinner. She must
have lost her way, but no doubt she will come back to-morrow.'
At daybreak the following day, the woodcutter started off into the wood, and this time asked
his second daughter to bring his food. 'I will take a bag of peas with me , they are larger than the seed so she will see them better then she will surely find her way.'
So at midday the wood-cutters second daughter set out through the forest with her father's dinner. But the peas were all gone; for as on the
previous day, the wood birds had eaten them all.
The maiden wandered about the wood till nightfall, searching everywhere for her father, and by chance she happened on the same house as her sister. Once again the Old Man asked for the sister to come in.
"Could you give me food and lodgings" said the maiden. Again the man with the white hair again asked the animals:-
"Pretty Cock. Pretty Hen, and you, pretty brindled Cow, What do you say now?"
The animals answered, 'Cluck,' and everything went on to happen as it did the day before.
The girl cooked a good meal, ate and drank with the old man, and did not trouble
herself about the animals at all.
And when she asked for a bed, they replied:
You have eaten with him You have drunk with him, and of us you have not thought,
so now sleep as you ought!
And when she was asleep, the old man shook his head over her, and let her fall
into the cellar as well.
On the third morning the woodcutter said to his wife, 'Send our youngest child
to-day with my dinner. She is always good and obedient, and will keep to the
right path, and not wander away like her sisters, the idle hussies!'
But the mother said, 'Oh husband must I lose my dearest child too?'
'Do not fear,' he answered; 'she is too clever and intelligent to lose her
way. I will take plenty of beans with me and strew them along; they are even
larger than peas, and will easily show her the way.'
But when the maiden started off with the basket on her arm, the wood pigeons
had eaten up the beans, and she did not know which way to go. She was much distressed,
and thought constantly of her poor hungry father and her anxious mother.
Soon it began to grow dark and then as her sisters before her she came upon the Old Man in the House in the Wood. She asked very politely if she might stay there for the night, and the
man with the white beard asked his animals again:
"Pretty Cock. Pretty Hen, and you, pretty brindled cow, What do you say now?"
'Clucks,' they said.
Then the young maiden stepped up to the hearth where the animals
were lying, and stroked the cock and the hen, and scratched the brindled cow
between its horns.
And when at the bidding of the old man she had prepared a good supper, and
the dishes were standing on the table, she said, 'Shall I have plenty while
the good beasts have nothing? There is food to spare outside; I will attend
to them first.'
Then she went out and fetched barley and strewed it before the cock and hen,
and brought the cow an armful of sweet-smelling hay.
'Eat that, dear animals,' she said,' and after when you are thirsty you shall have
a good drink of sparkling water from the well.'
Then she fetched a bowl of water, and the cock and hen flew on to the edge,
put their beaks in, and then held up their heads as birds do when they drink,
and the brindled cow also drank her fill. When the animals were satisfied, the
maiden sat down beside the old man at the table and ate what was left for her.
Soon the cock and hen began to tuck their heads under their wings, and the brindled
cow blinked its eyes, so the maiden said, 'Shall we not also take our rest now?'
And the old man asked as before:-
"Pretty cock, Pretty hen, And you, pretty brindled cow, What do you say now?"
The animals said, 'Cluck, cluck." :- You have eaten with us, You have drunk with us, You have tended us right, So
we wish you a good nights rest.'
The maiden therefore went upstairs, shook up the feather beds and put on clean sheets. The old man came up and
lay down on his bed. The girl lay down on the other bed after saying her prayers and fell fast asleep till midnight when there was such a noise
in the house that she awoke.
The house was cracking and rumbling, every room seemed to be shaking. The doors banged and slammed against the walls and the beams groaned as if they were being torn away from their fastenings, even the stairs fell down, it even felt as though the roof had collapsed upon them. Then as it began so the noise stopped and the maiden settled down to sleep again.
It was the sunlight shining through the window that woke her up, and what a sight met her eyes! She was lying in a chamber, that looked like the inside of a palace. Gold flowers on green silk decorated the walls. Her bed was of Ivory and the curtains of red velvet, and placed on a stool next to her bed were a pair of slippers covered with pearls.
At first she thought it must all be a dream, but then through the door came three servants dressed in rich clothes who wanted to know what she would like them them to do. "Oh dear me, no " she said. "I shall get up and cook some breakfast for the old man and also some food for the Pretty Hen, Pretty Cock and the brindled Cow. Then she turned towards the bed where the old man was sleeping and in the bed was a stranger. She walked over to the bed and stared down at the handsome young man, who opened his eyes, and without more ado he began to relate to her his story.
He story was that he was really the son of a king who had been bewitched as a young man by an evil witch, who for some reason changed him into the form of an old man, and condemming him to live in the house in the wood, with only three of his servants who were changed into a hen, a cock and a brindled cow. And there they were to remain until the day a young maiden who would be as kind to his animals as they were to him, Then the spell would be broken and he would be turned back into the prince and the house back into a royal palace.
Full of happiness and love for the maiden he asked the servants to go and fetch her mother and father to witness their marriage.
"But what has become of my two sisters? she asked. "Where are they?"
I'm afraid they are locked in the cellar and there they shall remain until they can be placed as servants to a collier who will teach them that looking after animals is just as important as looking after themselves and never to let poor animals suffer hunger again.
GRANDMA'S STORIES ---- THE RABBIT
In jungle lore a rabbit is said to be a fainthearted animal amongst many
animals that live in the jungle. The rabbit is the most timid by nature.
He is startled and frightened at the slightest sound and runs away as
if his house is on fire. All the animals of the forest started calling
the rabbit ' Mister Faintheart'. The rabbit disliked this kind of
name-calling and did not know what to do to stop it. He went up to the wise old owl who lived in the hollow of a big Banyan
tree
and was known throughout the animal kingdom for his wisdom. He could
solve the most difficult of problems. The rabbit wanted the owl's
advice. The rabbit said to the owl, "All the animals in the forest
call me ' Mr. Faintheart'. I feel hurt and I want to remove this
impression that the animals of the jungle have. What should I do?" The owl replied, " Never fear anyone." The rabbit wondered, " How was that possible?" The
owl explained to the rabbit, " First you should mix with animals who
are smaller than you. After that move around with your peers and make
friends all around. And finally show respect to the elder animals as
and when you meet them. If you follow these steps then no one will call
you Mr. Faintheart!"
The rabbit giving up his idea of going home merrily hopped his way to the riverbank. There he saw some frogs jumping about. The rabbit addressing the frogs said, "Hello friends! I come here often to drink water but we have never spoken to each other." " Yes," replied one of the frogs, " It would be fun talking to you." The rabbit made friends with the frog and was no longer afraid of them. The rabbit looked up at the sky and said bravely to himself, " Now I am not afraid of anyone in the jungle." At
this very moment a fox came to the river to drink water. The rabbit
looked at the fox and said, " Hello cunning fox, how are you? Can I help you in any way? You know, I am not afraid of anyone anymore" Aren't you afraid of me?" asked the fox. "No," replied the rabbit, " Now I am not afraid of anyone."
The fox seeing his authority usurped reacted with anger and pushed the rabbit into the river.
The frogs saved the rabbit with great difficulty and advised him to be circumspect in what he says and to whom! The
rabbit thanked the owl and turned away to return to his house. On the
way he met a bat, hanging head down from the branch of a tree. The
rabbit stopped and said, " Hello, Mr. Bat! How are you doing today?" The surprised bat said to himself, " I can't believe this! This rabbit
was always frightened of me and ran away if I only flapped my wings. He
now dares to stop and talk to me?" He said to the rabbit, " I am doing
fine Mr. Rabbit. How are you doing." Saying these words the bat flew
away.
The Moral of this Story, Is to Know your Limitations!
In some case I have altered the American version to the British versions as our American grandma has done to ours
"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly; "Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy; The way into the parlour is up a winding stair, And I have many curious things to show when you are there." "Oh no, no," said the little Fly; "to ask me is in vain; For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."
"I'm sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high; Will you rest upon my little bed?" said the Spider to the Fly. "There are pretty curtains drawn around; the sheets are fine and thin; And if you like to rest awhile, I'll snugly tuck you in!" "Oh no,no," said the little Fly; "for I've often heard it said, They never, never wake again who sleep upon your bed!"
Said the cunning Spider to the Fly: "Dear friend, what can I do To prove the warm affection I have always felt for you? I have within my pantry good store of all that's nice; I'm sure you're very welcome - will you please to take a slice?" "Oh no, no," said the little Fly; "kind sir, that cannot be; I've heard what's in your pantry and I do not wish to see!"
"Sweet creature!" said the Spider, "you are witty and you're wise; How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes! I have a little looking - glass upon my parlour shelf, If you'll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself." "I thank you, gentle sir," she said, "for what you're pleased to say, And bidding you good morning now, I'll call another day.....
There is quite a lot more of this poem but it does go on for rather a long time... However the little Fly did call again another day and alas, she never came out again. This poem was written a long time ago by awonderful lady poet called Mary Howitt . She was born Mary Botham, on 12th March 1799 at Coleford, Gloucestershire, The daughter of Samuel
Botham, a Quaker, and in 1821 she married William Howitt. They turned to
joint-authoring for a living and made a success of their many
interests. She wrote novels such as Wood Leighton,
a history of the United States, and many poems and stories for
children; Belonging to the Victorian era of Poets, she also lived in
the time when bronchitis was a very dangerous disease. She died from this illness on 30th
January 1888.
"Did you Know that Diddily and Seli have a spider each living in Dodies bedroom, here they both are up above her computer."
For your Entertainment I give you 10 Clips from the Barbie Film Collection Followed by, 10 Clips from The Brother Grimm
It is very difficult not to know what is right and what could offend but all I can do is hope that I have chosen wisely . Diddily dee Dot
If you have any ideas do leave a message for me at
dottido@hotmail.co.uk
THE STORY -TELLER, The Brothers Grimm
wrote the most famous version of this mystery tale about how 12
beautiful princesses manage to wear out their dancing shoes every
night, even though they never seem to leave their room.
The Twelve Princesses
Twelve princesses slept in twelve beds in the same room; every night
their doors were securely locked, but in the morning their shoes were
found to be worn through as if they had been dancing all night!
The king, perplexed, promised his kingdom and a daughter to any man
who could discover the princesses' secret within three days and three
nights, but those who failed within the set time limit would be put to
death.
An old soldier returned from war came to the king's call after
several princes had failed in the endeavour to discover the princesses'
secret. Whilst traveling through a wood he came upon an old woman, who
gave him an invisibility cloak
and told him not to eat or drink anything given to him by one of the
princesses who would come to him in the evening, and to pretend to be
fast asleep after the princess left.
The soldier was well received at the palace just as the others had
been and indeed, in the evening, the eldest princess came to his
chamber and offered him a cup of wine. The soldier, remembering the old
woman's advice, threw it away secretly and began to snore very loudly
as if asleep.
The princesses, sure that the soldier was asleep, dressed themselves
in fine clothes and escaped from their room by a trap door in the
floor. The soldier, seeing this, donned his invisibility cloak and
followed them down. He trod on the gown of the youngest princess, whose
cry to her sisters that all was not right was rebuffed by the eldest.
The passageway led them to three groves of trees; the first having
leaves of silver, the second of gold, and the third of diamonds. The
soldier, wishing for a token, broke off a branch from each grove; only
the youngest princess heard the noises made, and voiced concerns that
the eldest princess again ignored.
They walked on until they came upon a great lake. Twelve boats with
twelve princes in them were waiting. Each princess went into one, and
the soldier stepped into the same boat as the youngest. The young
prince in the boat rowed slowly, unaware that the soldier was causing
the boat to be heavy. The youngest princess complained that the prince
was not rowing fast enough, not knowing the soldier was in the boat. On
the other side of the lake was a castle, into which all the princesses
went into and danced the night away.
The princesses danced until their shoes were worn through and they
were obliged to leave. This strange adventure went on the second and
third nights, and everything happened just as before, except that on
the third
night the soldier carried away a golden cup as a token of where he had
been. When it came time for him to declare the princesses' secret, he
went before the king with the three branches and the golden cup, and
told the king all he had seen. The princesses saw there was no use to
deny the truth, and confessed. The soldier chose the eldest princess as
his bride for he was not a very young man, and was made the king's heir.
If you like magic, invisible cloaks, secret gardens, enchanted castles, and glittering dances, then this is the story for you.
Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses
in which Barbie plays the role of the 7th sister, Genevieve. The plot
was changed extensively. The twelve princesses visit a magic garden to
dance by themselves, and they are only able to go there three times.
Meanwhile, a cousin, brought in by the king to supervise their
upbringing, is plotting to kill the king, and attempts to trap the
princesses in their dancing garden. The hero is not an old soldier, but
a cobbler who has been making their dancing shoes, and who follows them
to their garden to warn them of their cousin's plot. He marries the 7th
sister, Genevieve.
The tale of the danced-out shoes is predominately found in central
Europe, and virtually all of the variants are found in Europe. In another Hessian
variant noted by the Grimms, there is only a single princess who dances
out twelve shoes every night. The hero was not a soldier but the
youngest apprentice of the shoemaker who had to replace the shoes; he
learns she is enchanted by twelve princes.
In the variant Deulin collected the hero is not an old soldier, but
a young cowherd turned gardener's boy, named Michael, and he marries
not the oldest but the youngest princess. Andrew Lang included that variant in The Red Fairy Book.
Alexander Afanasyev's variant features an impoverished nobleman as the hero, and again marries him to the youngest princess.
Kate Crackernuts, {you can go further down the page to read this story.} collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales, reverses the role, in that the heroine goes after the dancing prince, and also the tone: the princesses in The Twelve Dancing Princesses are depicted as enjoying the dances, while in the much darker Kate Crackernuts, the prince is forced by the fairies to dance to exhaustion, and is an invalid by day.
varies and adds to this tale in Sexing the Cherry, in which
the old soldier is a prince with 11 brothers, each of which marries a
sister except the youngest, who escapes before her wedding to the
prince .
In 1978, a made for TV telling of the story was made directed by Ben Rea. Significant changes were made to the story.
The soldier was given the Invisibility Cloak by a woman who is revealed to be the consort of Death.
The Princes in the story were removed. Instead, the Princesses went to the castle to dance at an all night disco party.
Instead of securing tokens from the underground as evidence to
prove what he has seen, the soldier reveals the Invisibility Cloak to
the King and on the third night the King himself secretly follows his
daughters to the underground castle to witness what they were doing
with his own eyes.
When the princesses are confronted with the truth in the morning
and the soldier is offered his choice of one of them to be his wife --
the soldier chooses "none of them", telling the King that they
had all lived lives of deceit and treachery and he feared what such a
woman would be like as a wife.
The soldier leaves the kingdom to continue his military life -- he
again encounters Death's consort, implying that this next battle would
lead to his death.
This version has not been shown in years and has not been released on video.
Jack and the Beanstalk
One of the many Pantomime's that we get to see every Christmas Time.
There was once a boy
called Jack who was brave and quick-witted. He lived with his mother in
a small cottage and their most valuable possession was their cow, Buttercup But the day came when Buttercup gave them no milk and
Jack's mother said she must be sold. "Take her to market," she told Jack, "and mind you get a good price for her." So
Jack set out to market leading Buttercup by her halter. After a while
he sat down to rest by the side of the road. An old man came by and
Jack told him where he was going.
"Don't bother to go to the market," the
old man said. "Sell your cow to me. I will pay you well. Look at these
beans. Only plant them, and overnight you will find you have the finest
bean plants in all the world. You'll be better offwith these beans than
with an old cow or money. Now, how many is five, Jack?"
"Two in each hand and one in your mouth," replied Jack, as sharp as a needle. "Right you are, here are five beans," said the old man and he handed the beans to Jack and took Buttercups halter. When he reached home, his mother said, "Back so soon, Jack? Did you get a good price for the cow?"
Jack
told her how he had exchanged the cow for five beans and before he
could finish his account, his mother started to shout and box his ears.
"You lazy good-for-nothing boy!" she screamed, "How could you hand over
our cow for five old beans? What will we live on now? We shall starve
to death, you stupid boy." She flung the beans through the open window and sent Jack to bed without his supper. When
Jack woke the next morning there was a strange green light in his room.
All he could see from, the window was green leaves. A huge beanstalk
had shot up overnight. It grew higher than he could see. Quickly Jack
got dressed and stepped out of the window right onto the beanstalk and
started to climb.
"The old man said the beans would grow overnight," he thought. "They must indeed be very special beans." Higher
and higher Jack climbed until at last he reached the top and found
himself on a strange road. Jack followed it until he came to a great
castle where he could smell the most delicious breakfast. Jack was
hungry. It had been a long climb and he had had nothing to eat since
midday the day before. Just as he reached the door of the castle he
nearly tripped over the feet of an enormous woman.
"Here,
boy," she called. "What are you doing? Don't you know my husband likes
to eat boys for breakfast? It's lucky I have already fried up some
bacon and mushrooms for him today, or I'd pop you in the frying pan. He
can eat you tomorrow, though."
"Oh, please don't let him eat me," pleaded Jack. "I only came to ask you for a bite to eat. It smells so delicious."
Now
the giant's wife had a kind heart and did not really enjoy cooking boys
for breakfast, so she gave Jack a bacon sandwich. He was still eating
it when the ground began to shake with heavy footsteps, and a loud
voice boomed: "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum."
"Quick,
hide!" cried the giant's wife and she pushed Jack into the oven. "After breakfast, he'll fall asleep," she whispered. "That is when you must
creep away." She left the oven door open a crack so that Jack could see
into the room. Again the terrible rumbling voice came:
"Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."
A huge giant came into the room. "Boys, boys, I smell boys," he shouted. "Wife, have I got a boy for breakfast today?"
"No,
dear," she said soothingly. "You have got bacon and mushrooms. You must
still be smelling the boy you ate last week." The giant sniffed the air
suspiciously but at last sat down. He wolfed his breakfast of bacon and
mushrooms, drank a great bucketful of steaming tea and crunched up a
massive slice of toast.
Then he fetched a couple of bags of gold from a
cupboard and started counting gold coins. Before long he dropped off to
sleep. Quietly Jack crept out of the oven.
Carefully
he picked up two gold coins and ran as fast as he could to the top of
the beanstalk. He threw the gold clown to his mother's garden and
climbed after it. At the bottom he found his mother looking in
amazement at the gold coins and the beanstalk. Jack told her of his
adventures in the giant's castle and when she examined the gold she
realized he must be speaking the truth.
Jack
and his mother used the gold to buy food. But the day came when the
money ran out, and Jack decided to climb the beanstalk again.
It
was all the same as before, the long climb, the road to the castle, the
smell of breakfast and the giant's wife. But she was not so friendly
this time. "Aren't you the boy who was here before," she asked, "on the day that some gold was stolen from under my husband's nose?" But
Jack convinced her she was wrong and in time her heart softened again
and she gave him some breakfast. Once more as:ack was eating the ground
shuddered and the great voice boomed: "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum." Quickly,
Jack jumped into the oven again. As he entered, the giant bellowed:
"Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of cm Englishman, Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."
The
giant's wife put a plate of sizzling sausages before him, telling him
he must be mistaken. After breakfast the giant fetched a hen from a
back room. Every time he said "Lay!" the hen laid an egg of solid gold.
"I must steal that hen, if I can," thought Jack, and he waited until the giant fellasleep. Then he slipped out of the oven, snotched up
the and rim for the top of the beanstalk. Keeping the hen under one
arm, he scrambled Jack and the Beanstalk clown as fast as he could
until he reached the bottom. Jack's mother was waiting but she was not
pleased when she saw the hen.
"Another
of your silly ideas, is it, bringing an old hen when you might have
brought us some gold? I don't know, what is to be done with you?"
Then
Jack set the hen down carefully, and cornmanded "Lay!" just as the
giant had done. To his mother's surprise the hen laid an egg of solid
gold.
Jack and his mother now lived in great luxury. But in time Jack became a little bored and decided to climb the beanstalk again.
This
time he did not risk talking to the giant's wife in case she recognized
him. He slipped into the kitchen when she was not looking, and hid
himself in the log basket. He watched the giant's wife prepare
breakfast and then he heard the giant's roar:
"Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."
"If
it's that cheeky boy who stole your gold and our magic hen, then help
you catch him," said the giant's wife. "Why don't we look in the oven?
It's my guess he'll be hiding there."
You
may be sure that Jack was glad he was not in the oven. The giant and
his wife hunted high and low but never thought to look in the log
basket. At last they gave up and the giant sat down to breakfast.
After
he had eaten, the giant fetched a harp. When he commanded "Play!" the
harp played the most beautiful music. Soon the giant fell asleep, and Jack crept out of the log basket. Quickly he snatched up the harp and
ran. But the harp called out loudly, "Master, save me! Save me!" and
the giant woke. With a roar of rage he chased after Jack. Jack raced down the road towards the beanstalk with the giant's
footsteps thundering behind him. When he reached the top of the
beanstalk he threw down the harp and started to slither down after it. The giant followed, and now the whole beanstalk shook
and shuddered with his weight, and Jack feared for his life. At last he
reached the ground, and seizing an axe he chopped at the beanstalk with
all his might. Snap!
"Look out,
mother!" he called as the giant came tumbling clown, head first. He lay
dead at their feet with the beanstalk on the ground beside them. The
harp survived the fall and never again shouted for the giant, for the spell was broken when the Giant died. The hen continued to lay golden eggs for Jack and
his mother and after a while he met a beautiful princess and they all lived happily ever after and in great comfort for a long, long
time.
Jack and the Beanstalk is an English fairy tale, closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant Killer. It is known under a number of versions. Benjamin Tabart recorded the oldest known one in 1807, but Joseph Jacobs popularized it in English Fairy Tales (1890).[1]
Jacobs's version is most commonly reprinted today and is believed to
more closely adhere to the oral versions than Tabart's, because it
lacks the moralizing of that version.[2] The story was made into a play by Charles Ludlam
The origin of Jack and the Beanstalk is unknown, although the author was almost certainly British or German.[citation needed] The earliest printed edition which has survived is the 1807 book The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk, printed by Benjamin Tabart, although the story was already in existence sometime before this, as a burlesque of the story entitled The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean was included in the 1734 second edition of Round About Our Coal-Fire.
In the usual version of the tale, the giant is unnamed, but many plays based on the story name him as Blunderbore; a giant of that name also appears in Jack the Giant-Killer.
The beanstalk is reminiscent of the ancient Saxon belief in a World tree connecting earth to heaven.
The giant's "Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!" was included in William Shakespeare's King Lear this was a made up story in medival folklore.
The wonderful picture at the top came from the website below, that has the most wonderful stories. http://www.childrenstory/info/com
If the world was full of Artists,
Sportspeople, musicians etc wow what a wonderful world we would have.There is so much talent is this world, it makes one proud to be human.
Henny Penny
One day Henny Penny was scratching in the
farmyard looking for something good to eat when, suddenly, something
hit her on the head. "My goodness me!" she said. "The sky must be
falling down. I must go and tell the king."
She had not gone far when she met her friend Cocky Locky.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" he called out.
"I am going to
tell the king that the sky is falling down," said Henny Penny.
"I will come with you," said Cocky Locky.
So Henny Penny and Cocky Locky hurried along
together towards the king's palace. On the way they saw Ducky Lucky
swimming on the pond.
"Where are you going?" he called out.
"We are going to tell the king the sky is falling down," replied Henny Penny. "We must go quickly, as there is no time to lose."
"I will come with you," said Ducky Lucky, shaking the water off his feathers.
So
Henny Penny, Cocky Locky and Ducky Lucky hurried on together towards
the king's palace. On the way they met Goosey Loosey, who called out,
"Where are you all going in such a hurry?"
"We are on our way to tell the king the sky is falling down," said Henny Penny. "I will come with you," said Goosey Loosey.
So Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky and
Goosey Loosey hurried on together towards the king's palace. Round the next corner they met Turkey Lurkey. "Where are you all going on this fine day?" she called out to them.
"It won't be a fine day for long," replied Henny Penny. "The sky is falling down, and we are hurrying to tell the king." "I
will come with you," said Turkey Lurkey. So Henny Penny, Cocky Locky,
Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey all went on towards the
king's palace.
Now on their way they met Foxy Loxy who asked, "Where
are you going in such a hurry?"
"We are going to the king's palace to tell him the sky is falling down," replied Henny Penny.
"That is a very important message," said Foxy Loxy.
"I will come with you. In fact if you follow me I can show you a short cut to the king's palace, so you will get there sooner."
So
Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey
all followed Foxy Loxy. He led them to the wood, and up to a dark hole,
which was the door to his home. Inside his wife and five hungry
children were waiting for him to bring home some dinner.
That,
I am sorry to say, was the end of Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey
Loosey and Turkey Lurkey, for one by one they all followed Foxy Loxy
into his home, and they were all eaten up by the hungry fox family.
Henny
Penny was the last to enter the Fox's hole and she heard Cocky Locky
crowing in alarm in front of her. Squawking with fright and scattering
feathers, she turned and ran as fast as she could for the safety of her
own farmyard. There she stayed there and she never did tell the king that the
sky was falling down.
All of these stories will have an explanation from Wikipeadia, maybe even other places if I find them on my travels. I knew this story as Chicken Licken when I was small.
Diddily. xx
The Sky Is Falling, better known as Chicken Licken, Henny Penny or Chicken Little is an old fable about a chicken (or a hare
in early versions) who believes the sky is falling. The phrase, "The
sky is falling," has passed into the English language as a common idiom
indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.
Although sometimes mistakenly listed as one of Aesop's Fables, the story actually originates from the Jataka Tales of Buddhist Indian folklore. The basic motif and many of the elements of the tale can be found in the Daddabha Jataka . The Jatakas comprise a large body of folklore dating from around Gautama Buddha's time (6th century BCE) to the third century CE. However, this ancient version features a hare as the central character rather than a chicken, and the wise protagonist is a lion (the Bodhisattva or future Buddha)
There are many versions of the story, but the basic premise is that
a chicken eats lunch one day, and believes the sky is falling down
because an acorn
falls on her head. She decides to tell the King, and on her journey
meets other animals who join her in the quest. In most retellings, the
animals all have rhyming names such as Henny Penny. Finally, they come
across Foxy Loxy, a fox who offers the chicken and her friends his help.
After this point, there are many endings. In the most famous one,
Foxy Loxy eats the chicken's friends, but the last one, usually Cocky
Lockey, survives enough to warn the chicken and she escapes. Other
endings include Foxy eating them all; the characters being saved by a squirrel or anowl and getting to speak to the King; the characters being saved by the King's hunting dogs; even one version in which the sky actually falls and kills Foxy Loxy.
Depending on the version, the moral
changes. In the "happy ending" version, the moral is not to be a
"Chicken", but to have courage. In other versions the moral is usually
interpreted to mean "do not believe everything you are told". In the
latter case, it could well be a cautionary political tale: The Chicken
jumps to a conclusion and whips the populace into mass hysteria, which
the unscrupulous fox uses to manipulate them for his own benefit.
If you have any ideas do leave a message for me at dottido@hotmail.co.uk
KATE CRACKERNUTS
Once upon a time there was a king and a queen, as in many lands have
been. The king had a daughter, Anne, and the queen had one named Kate,
but Anne was far bonnier than the queen’s daughter, though they loved
one another like real sisters. The queen was jealous of the king’s
daughter being bonnier than her own, and cast about to spoil her
beauty. So she took counsel of the henwife, who told her to send the
lassie to her next morning fasting.
So next morning early, the queen said to Anne, “Go, my dear, to the
henwife in the glen, and ask her for some eggs.” So Anne set out, but
as she passed through the kitchen she saw a crust, and she took and
munched it as she went along.
When she came to the henwife’s she asked for eggs, as she had been
told to do; the henwife said to her, “Lift the lid off that pot there
and see.” The lassie did so, but nothing happened. “Go home to your
minnie and tell her to keep her larder door better locked,” said the
henwife. So she went home to the queen and told her what the henwife
had said. The queen knew from this that the lassie had had something
to eat, so watched the next morning and sent her away fasting; but the
princess saw some country-folk picking peas by the roadside, and being
very kind she spoke to them and took a handful of the peas, which she
ate by the way.
When she came to the henwife’s, she said, “Lift the lid off the pot
and you’ll see.” So Anne lifted the lid but nothing happened. Then the
henwife was rare angry and said to Anne, “Tell your minnie the pot
won’t boil if the fire’s away.” So Anne went home and told the queen.
The third day the queen goes along with the girl herself to the
henwife. Now, this time, when Anne lifted the lid off the pot, off
falls her own pretty head, and on jumps a sheep’s head.
So the queen was now quite satisfied, and went back home.
Her own daughter, Kate, however, took a fine linen cloth and wrapped
it round her sister’s head and took her by the hand and they both went
out to seek their fortune. They went on, and they went on, and they
went on, till they came to a castle. Kate knocked at the door and
asked for a night’s lodging for herself and a sick sister. They went
in and found it was a king’s castle, who had two sons, and one of them
was sickening away to death and no one could find out what ailed him.
And the curious thing was that whoever watched him at night was never
seen any more. So the king had offered a peck of silver to anyone who
would stop up with him. Now Katie was a very brave girl, so she
offered to sit up with him.
Till midnight all goes well. As twelve o clock rings, however, the
sick prince rises, dresses himself, and slips downstairs. Kate
followed, but he didn’t seem to notice her. The prince went to the
stable, saddled his horse, called his hound, jumped into the saddle,
and Kate leapt lightly up behind him. Away rode the prince and Kate
through the greenwood, Kate, as they pass, plucking nuts from the
trees and filling her apron with them. They rode on and on till they
came to a green hill. The prince here drew bridle and spoke, “Open,
open, green hill, and let the young prince in with his horse and his
hound,” and Kate added, “and his lady him behind.”
Immediately the green hill opened and they passed in. The prince
entered a magnificent hall, brightly lighted up, and many beautiful
fairies surrounded the prince and led him off to the dance. Meanwhile,
Kate, without being noticed, hid herself behind the door. There she
sees the prince dancing, and dancing, and dancing, till he could dance
no longer and fell upon a couch. Then the fairies would fan him till
he could rise again and go on dancing.
At last the cock crew, and the prince made all haste to get on
horseback; Kate jumped up behind, and home they rode. When the morning
sun rose they came in and found Kate sitting down by the fire and
cracking her nuts. Kate said the prince had a good night; but she
would not sit up another night unless she was to get a peck of gold.
The second night passed as the first had done. The prince got up at
midnight and rode away to the green hill and the fairy ball, and Kate
went with him, gathering nuts as they rode through the forest. This
time she did not watch the prince, for she knew he would dance and
dance, and dance. But she sees a fairy baby playing with a wand, and
overhears one of the fairies say: “Three strokes of that wand would
make Kate’s sick sister as bonnie as ever she was.” So Kate rolled
nuts to the fairy baby, and rolled nuts till the baby toddled after
the nuts and let fall the wand, and Kate took it up and put it in her
apron. And at cockcrow they rode home as before, and the moment Kate
got home to her room she rushed and touched Anne three times with the
wand, and the nasty sheep’s head fell off and she was her own pretty
self again. The third night Kate consented to watch, only if she
should marry the sick prince. All went on as on the first two nights.
This time the fairy baby was playing with a birdie; Kate heard one of
the fairies say: “Three bites of that birdie would make the sick
prince as well as ever he was.” Kate rolled all the nuts she had to
the fairy baby till the birdie was dropped, and Kate put it in her
apron.
At cockcrow they set off again, but instead of cracking her nuts as
she used to do, this time Kate plucked the feathers off and cooked the
birdie. Soon there arose a very savoury smell. “Oh!” said the sick
prince, “I wish I had a bite of that birdie,” so Kate gave him a bite
of the birdie, and he rose up on his elbow. By-and-by he cried out
again: “Oh, if I had another bite of that birdie!” so Kate gave him
another bite, and he sat up on his bed. Then he said again: “Oh! if I
only had a third bite of that birdie!” So Kate gave him a third bite,
and he rose quite well, dressed himself, and sat down by the fire, and
when the folk came in next morning they found Kate and the young
prince cracking nuts together. Meanwhile his brother had seen Annie
and had fallen in love with her, as everybody did who saw her sweet
pretty face. So the sick son married the well sister, and the well son
married the sick sister, and they all lived happily ever after. And
they never drank out of a dry cappy again.
from Wikipeadea Commentary
The fairies' forcing young men and women to come to a revel every
day and dance to exhaustion, and so waste away, was a common European
belief. The actual disease involved appears to have been consumption
This tale is the closest analogue to The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but reverses the role, in that the heroine goes after the dancing prince, and also the tone: the princesses in The Twelve Dancing Princesses are always
depicted as enjoying the dances, while in the much darker Kate Crackernuts, the prince is forced by the fairies to dance to exhaustion, and is an invalid by day
Though the stepmother acts the usual part in a fairy tale, her part
is unusually truncated, without the usual comeuppance served to
evil-doers and the stepsisters show a solidarity that is uncommon even among full siblings in fairy tales.
Adaptations
Katherine Mary Briggs adapted the story for her children's novel Kate Crackernuts.
DISCLAIMER
Disclaimer:
This website contains materials authored by me and also partly a
collection of items from the internet. The collections are, I believe,
in the Public Domain. In case any material, inadvertently put up, which
has a copyright please do write to me and it will be removed.
The
compilations are for the entertaimment of children and familiesonly and have not been compiled for educational or historical purposes.
In Burma there are two races of people. One race lives in villages and tills the ground; 
nature.
He is startled and frightened at the slightest sound and runs away as
if his house is on fire. All the animals of the forest started calling
the rabbit ' Mister Faintheart'. The rabbit disliked this kind of
name-calling and did not know what to do to stop it.
day and alas, she never came out again.
An old soldier returned from war came to the king's call after
several princes had failed in the endeavour to discover the princesses'
secret. Whilst traveling through a wood he came upon an old woman, who
gave him an 
invisibility cloak and
followed them down. He trod on the gown of the youngest princess, whose
cry to her sisters that all was not right was rebuffed by the eldest.
The passageway led them to three groves of trees; the first having
leaves of silver, the second of gold, and the third of diamonds. The
soldier, wishing for a token, broke off a branch from each grove; only
the youngest princess heard the noises made, and voiced concerns that
the eldest princess again ignored.
The princesses danced until their shoes were worn through and they
were obliged to leave. This strange adventure went on the second and
third nights, and everything happened just as before, except that on
the third
night the soldier carried away a golden cup as a token of where he had
been. When it came time for him to declare the princesses' secret, he
went before the king with the three branches and the golden cup, and
told the king all he had seen. The princesses saw there was no use to
deny the truth, and confessed. The soldier chose the eldest princess as
his bride for he was not a very young man, and was made the king's heir.
In 1978, a made for TV telling of the story was made directed by Ben Rea. Significant changes were made to the story.
Jack and the Beanstalk
very special beans."
Then he fetched a couple of bags of gold from a
cupboard and started counting gold coins. Before long he dropped off to
sleep.
bored and decided to climb the beanstalk again.
"We are on our way to tell the king the sky is falling down," said Henny Penny.
KATE CRACKERNUTS
At last the cock crew, and the prince made all haste to get on
horseback; Kate jumped up behind, and home they rode. When the morning
sun rose they came in and found Kate sitting down by the fire and
cracking her nuts. Kate said the prince had a good night; but she
would not sit up another night unless she was to get a peck of gold.
The second night passed as the first had done. The prince got up at
midnight and rode away to the green hill and the fairy ball, and Kate
went with him, gathering nuts as they rode through the forest. This
time she did not watch the prince, for she knew he would dance and
dance, and dance. But she sees a fairy baby playing with a wand, and
overhears one of the fairies say: “Three strokes of that wand would
make Kate’s sick sister as bonnie as ever she was.” So Kate rolled
nuts to the fairy baby, and rolled nuts till the baby toddled after
the nuts and let fall the wand, and Kate took it up and put it in her
apron. And at cockcrow they rode home as before, and the moment Kate
got home to her room she rushed and touched Anne three times with the
wand, and the nasty sheep’s head fell off and she was her own pretty
self again. The third night Kate consented to watch, only if she
should marry the sick prince. All went on as on the first two nights.
This time the fairy baby was playing with a birdie; Kate heard one of
the fairies say: “Three bites of that birdie would make the sick
prince as well as ever he was.” Kate rolled all the nuts she had to
the fairy baby till the birdie was dropped, and Kate put it in her
apron.