The "Town Musicians of Bremen" (German: Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten) is a popular German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819.  It tells the story of four aging domestic animals, who after a lifetime of hard work are neglected and mistreated by their former masters. Eventually, they decide to run away and become town musicians in the city of Bremen.  Amazon has it as an ebook -...

The White Cat (French: La Chatte Blanche) is a French literary fairytale written by Madame d'Aulnoy and published in 1698.  The "Animal Bride" story type was made popular by Mme. d'Aulnoy's literary opus and pointed that the tale type maintained a clear and vigorous tradition in the folklore of all of Europe", with more than 300 versions collected. The tale of The White Cat was a product of the salon culture of the late 17th and early 18th century France, a period of prolific literary...

"How Six Made Their Way in the World" is a Grimms' fairy tale about an ex-soldier and his five companions with special abilities who through their feats obtain all of the king's wealth. The Grimms' main version is the one of many collected from storyteller Dorothea Viehmann, localized in Zwehren a version close to it known in Paderborn is also discussed in their notes. "How Six Men got on in the World" (Hunt, 1884), "How Six Travelled through the World" (Wehnert, 1853) are among other...

"The Ugly Duckling" (Danish: Den grimme ælling) is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection,  with three other tales by Andersen in Copenhagen, Denmark to great  critical acclaim. The tale has been adapted to various media including  opera, musical, and animated film. The tale is an original story by  Andersen. -- "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod...

"Sleeping Beauty" (French: La Belle au bois dormant), or "Little Briar Rose", also titled in English as "The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods", is a classic fairy tale about a princess who is cursed to sleep for a hundred years by an evil fairy, to be awakened by a handsome prince at the end of  them. The good fairy, realizing that the princess would be frightened if  alone when she awakens, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace asleep, to awaken when the princess...

"Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole, publishing under pen name Felix Summerly, popularized the tale in The Home Treasury (1845), and Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in English Fairy Tales (1890). Jacobs' version is most commonly reprinted today, and is believed to be  closer to the oral versions than Tabart's...

"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale about oppression and triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The protagonist is a young woman living in forsaken circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between around 7 BC and AD 23, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered...

"Master Cat or the Booted Cat", commonly known in English as "Puss in Boots", is an Italian and later European literary fairy tale about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a  princess in marriage for his penniless and low-born master. Amazon has this in a few formats, and as usual The Book Depository has you covered for physical copies. If you haven't already, please follow the show on Instagram @stwdpodcast. -- "Our Story Begins"...

"Three Billy Goats Gruff" is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr, first published between 1841 and 1844. It has an "eat-me-when-I'm-fatter" type plot.  The first version of the story in English appeared in George Webbe Dasent's translation of some of the Norske Folkeeventyr, published as Popular Tales from the Norse in 1859. The heroes of the tale are three male goats who need to outsmart a ravenous troll to cross the...

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (originally titled "The Story of the Three Bears") is a 19th-century British fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells  of a badly-behaved old woman who enters the forest home of three bachelor bears while they are away. She sits in their chairs, eats some of their porridge,  and sleeps in one of their beds. When the bears return and discover  her, she wakes up, jumps out of the window, and is never seen again. The...

This is a variation of the well known story "The Gingerbread Man", with the usual characters of the cook, the cat, and the dog however this version has no fox, but a jumpy monkey called Jocko instead. If you'd like to read this version of the story, you can find it here, alternatively Amazon and The Book Depository have plenty of options as well. -- "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under  Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License...

This version of  the familiar fairy tale "The Elves and the Shoemaker" dates from 1918. In the story, a poor cobbler gets help making shoes  from an unlikely source: two fairies or brownies (house spirits). "The Elves and The Shoemaker" is a set of fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm about a poor shoemaker who receives much-needed help from three young helpful elves. Amazon has a lovely leather-bound version of all of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, if you want a Kindle version try...

Beauty and the Beast is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in The Young American and Marine Tales. Its lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and published by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 in Children's Collection to produce the version most commonly retold and later by Andrew Lang in the Blue Fairy Book of his Fairy Book series in 1889. Amazon has a variety of formats available, if you would like a physical...

"The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses, made of straw and leaves respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house, made of bricks. Printed versions date back to the 1840s, but the story itself is thought to be much older. Amazon and the Book Depository have a variety of retellings of the story, you can pick any of these up at an affordable price to enjoy. -- "Our...

"Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to the 17th century to several European folk tales, including one from Italy called The False Grandmother. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Amazon has a variety of formats available for the Brother's Grimm version of the story, if you would like a physical book, the Book Depository is another option. -- "Our Story...

The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real) is a British children's book written by Margery Williams in 1922. It is a heartwarming tale about the love between a child and his toy rabbit. If you enjoyed the story and would like to own a copy, you can purchase it from either Amazon or the Book Depository or if you would prefer you could leave me a review with your thoughts! -- "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License...