Showing results by narrator "Emma Fenney" in All Categories

In The Leap-Frog, a flea, a grasshopper, and a frog arrange a contest to see who can jump highest. The King offers the hand of the princess to the victor. The flea and the grasshopper, victims of their own vanity and ambition, are matched against the patient, wise and humble frog. The short tale is a fable about the perils of high self-regard.

In The Story of a Mother, a mother, watching over her sick child, briefly closes her eyes, and Death comes. Rushing outside to pursue Death, she encounters various spirits who offer conditional advice. When she finally finds her child, Death offers her a terrible choice. First published in 1847, this story has been adapted for film several times.

In The Naughty Boy, an old poet welcomes a wet and shivering boy into his home to warm up, not realizing that the boy has an ulterior motive - and a bow and arrow. This short tale ruminates on the naughtiness and ubiquity of Cupid.

In this fable about what happens to liars and boasters, a gentleman’s collar decides to marry and proposes to various female objects, embroidering his accomplishments and good qualities at every turn.

In The Shoes of Fortune, a series of people who are dissatisfied with their lives put on a pair of magic shoes that grants them wishes. A civil servant who idealizes the middle ages experiences all its inconveniences. A watchman lives the lonely life of his superior and endures a terrifying visit to the moon. The shoes pass from owner to owner until one exhausted wearer who wishes for rest and spiritual freedom dies. Andersen concludes with a quote by Solon: Call no man happy until he rests in his grave.

In The Happy Family, a pair of snails live inside a burdock forest near an old manor house. They remember the old days when their kinfolk were served on platters in the old house and suspect the house has since been abandoned. Deciding to grow their family, they adopt a common snail and must arrange a marriage for their new child.

In The Princess and the Pea, a prince who wants to marry a princess finds it difficult to ascertain whether a princess is authentically noble. On a stormy night, a bedraggled young woman claiming to be a princess seeks shelter in the prince's castle. The Prince’s mother tests the girl’s claim by placing three peas underneath the 20 mattresses laid out for her. A humorous tale about the absurdities of the noble.

In this parable about the transience of earthly things, a mysterious bell is heard by the inhabitants of a village. They search the forest but are unable to find the source. When a prince and a child eventually discover it, they realize that it is as mysterious and old as nature itself.

In "The Emperor's New Clothes", two weavers tell the emperor that they can make him a new suit of clothes that is invisible to people who are unfit for their positions or who are stupid or incompetent. Con men, the two weavers actually outfit the emperor in nothing, but will anyone be willing to tell the emperor that he is naked? As an idiom, the story's title refers to things that are accepted as common knowledge in spite of being obviously untrue.

In "The Elderbush", a boy arrives home with a cold. His mother whisks him off to bed and prepares some elderflower tea to warm him up. A kindly older neighbor stops by to visit the boy, who asks for a fairy tale. The old man struggles to think of one, but becomes inspired by the aroma of the elderflower tea. A story about how real life can provide subjects for some of the most wonderful fairy tales.

In "The Dream of Little Tuk", a little boy named Tuk interrupts his studying to help an old woman carry water. Later, when he goes to sleep, he puts his geography book under his pillow in the hopes that its knowledge will be magically transmitted into his brain. In his dreams, the old woman appears and repays his earlier kindness.

Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness. Readily accessible by children, they present lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity that appeal to mature listeners as well. This collection of 18 tales includes "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Princess and the Pea", and "The Snow Queen".