Showing results by publisher "Red Door Audiobooks" in Children's Audiobooks

Kipling’s classic tale taken from the Just So Stories. How a butterfly's dispute with his wife catches the attention of a sultan, who in solving the insect's dilemma, manages to sort out a problem of his own too.

'The Curse of the Seven Children' is a fairy tale about a king and queen who already have six sons. When the seventh child is due, the king must travel away. He tells his wife that when the baby is born, she should hang a lance out of the window if it is a boy and a distaff if it is girl. Shortly after this the queen bears a daughter. But a mistake is made, and a lance is hung out of the window. Desperate for a daughter, the king returns and curses his seven sons. When he realises his mistake it is already too late. Only the baby princess can save her brothers....

A fascinating collection of some of the great - but less well known - fairy tales of all time.

'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' is a fairy tale from Norway. A poor family is visited one night by a white bear who promises to make them rich if they will give him their youngest daughter. At first the girl refuses, but over several days she is persuaded to go with the bear. She is carried away on his back to a marvellous castle, where she learns that the bear turns into a prince at night.

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) was a Norwegian writer, scholar and collector of traditional folktales. Peter Gynt is the story of a hunter who gets the better of a group of trolls who like to take over peoples' farms.

'The Parrot' is the tale of a newlywed couple. Soon after the marriage, the husband must go away on business, so he gives his wife a parrot to keep her company while he is away. But another man sees the young wife at the window and falls in love with her. He engages the help of the woman who lives downstairs to try to seduce the young wife. But each time the woman is on the point of going with her neighbour, the parrot offers to tell her a story. So enchanting and absorbing are the parrot's tales that the young wife never leaves the house until her husband's return.

'The Bronze Ring' is a story in which a princess falls in love with the son of the palace gardener, although her father wishes her to marry the son of his Prime Minister. The King devises a quest for the two suitors and attempts to engineer the situation so that the rich youth will win. But the gardener's son does a good deed to an old woman, who in return helps him win a magic ring which will grant wishes. But the youth's adventures are not over when he marries the princess. The ring is stolen, and he must enlist the aid of some very clever mice to get it back.

'The Wise Princess' is a take on the traditional Russian fairy tale of the frog princess. Three princes are instructed by their father, the king, to fire their arrows at random and marry whichever maidens they land near to. The youngest son's arrow lands in a marsh next to a frog. But the frog turns out to be a wise princess in disguise - and when the prince sees the princess in her true form he falls in love with her. One night when the princess is not wearing her frog skin, the princes takes it and burns it.

'The Donkey Skin' is a strange fairy tale of a princess who escapes an unwanted marriage by running away from the palace dressed in a donkey skin, to a hard life of poverty as a hen-wife. When a young prince happens to catch a glimpse of her without her donkey skin, he falls in love with her. But how is he to find the beautiful maiden again?

Three princes are sent on a quest by their father, to find who it is who steals the golden apples from the King's tree. The youngest son befriends a wolf who is in reality a magician. From the wolf he learns that a magical golden bird is the thief. In attempting to steal the golden bird, the prince is captured by its owner, the Emperor. The latter agrees to spare the prince's life if he can steal the golden horse from the ruler of the neighbouring kingdom. In attempting to do this the prince is again captured.

Maurice Baring (1874-1945) was an English short story writer, children's writer, novelist, travel writer and war correspondent during the First World War. This is a collection of six of the magical fairy stories he wrote for children.

The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground is the tale of a king who goes to extreme lengths to safeguard his daughter from potential suitors unworthy of her hand. But one cunning young lad manages to outwit the king by disguising himself as a sheep. 

The Frog is a variant on the Frog Princess. Three brothers are told by their mother to set specific tasks for their sweethearts to complete, to see whether they will make suitable brides. The youngest lad does not know any girls, but a mystery frog proves amazingly adept at all the trials set her by her future mother-in-law.

The Stonecutter is a fairy tale Lang collected in Japan. A stonecutter sees how rich people live when he is delivering a gravestone one day. From that day on he is dissatisfied with his own lot and wishes to be rich. His wish is granted by the spirit that lives in the mountain...but the stonecutter is still not satisfied with his life and makes further wishes, each taking him a little further on his quest for happiness. 

The Silver Mountain is a fairy story about a king who sends his three sons on a quest. They are to search for the silver mountain. Whichever one of them finds it will inherit the kingdom. But they soon discover that everyone out in the world seems to be looking for the silver mountain, and nobody knows where it is. 

The Giant Who Had No Heart tells the story of a kind prince who sets off to rescue his brothers and their sweethearts, who have been turned to stone by a cruel giant. With the help of a raven, a salmon, a wolf and a very clever princess, he is finally able to rescue his brothers and their brides and win the princess for himself....

Maurice Baring (1874-1945) was an English short story writer, children's writer, novelist, travel writer and war correspondent during the First World War. The Glass Mender is a fairy story about a princess named Rainbow, who as a baby is cursed by a wicked fairy. If Rainbow hears or sees the spring, her happiness will end. Her parents decide to keep her in a tower for three months every year...but will they be able to keep her away from the spring forever?

Maurice Baring (1874-1945) was an English short story writer, children's writer, travel writer and war correspondent during the First World War. The Minstrel is a classic fairy tale about a childless couple who are granted a wish by a fairy. They wish for a daughter. The fairy gives them a heart-shaped copper coin to hang over their hearth, telling them that they must never give it away, for if they do, they will be giving away their daughter. One day, years later, when the beautiful child is home alone, a minstrel comes by and sings a lovely, captivating song. The girl gives the minstrel the heart-shaped copper coin from above the hearth...and her fate is sealed....

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction. 'The Magic Shop' is the story of a small boy and his father who go into a shop which appears to sell magic tricks. But the proprietor insists that all the tricks are really genuine magic, and the longer they stay in the shop the stranger the tricks become. Then the shopkeeper performs one truly terrifying trick...and what happens next is very peculiar....

When a gigantic stoorworm appears in the sea off the coast of a peaceful kingdom, the only way to appease the monster seems to be to offer the princess as a sacrifice. The king declares that anyone who can rid his land of the stoorworm shall have half his kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage. Only one young lad is prepared to make the attempt...