The story of Aladdin comes from The Arabian Nights or The 1,001 Nights, a collection of traditional stories from the Middle East. In the story, a young boy is approached by a man who claims to be his uncle. Actually a powerful magician, the supposed uncle leads Aladdin to a… Continue reading
Taino Tales: The Secret of the Hummingbird contains just one Taino Tale. In the story, a Taino girl falls invoke with a Carib boy. The Taino and Carib, bit Caribbean indigenous peoples, were traditional rivals. Here’s background information on the two groups: What Became of the Taino? Taíno: Indigenous… Continue reading
“Cinderella” is one of the best-known and best-loved of all fairy tales, and for good reason. It’s a dramatic story with a strong moral. The story tells of a virtuous, hard-working young girl who is mistreated by her cruel stepmother and stepsisters and forced to sit among the ashes and… Continue reading
Many cultures have trickster tales: stories about a clever person or animal who plots to play tricks on others. Sometimes the tricksters have an undercurrent of danger, sometimes they’re mean, sometimes they’re foolish, and sometimes they’re just funny. Anansi the Spider, Jack of stories like “Jack the Giant-Killer,” and Coyote… Continue reading
The story of The Blind Men and the Elephant is a simple one: a group of unsighted men have their first encounter with an elephant. Since they approach the beast from different perspectives, they all end up with different impressions of the elephant. The man who feels the elephant’s side… Continue reading
“The Princess and the Pea” is another tale by Hans Christian Andersen, though he himself said that it was a story he remembered from his childhood. The Brothers Grimm included a similar story in one of their collections in the 1840s, but removed it when they found that Andersen had… Continue reading
“The Ugly Duckling” is not a fairy tale, since there are no magical elements, and it is not a folk tale, since we know that it was written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1844. It is probably best described as a fable– that is, a story that makes a point… Continue reading
“The Three Billy Goats Gruff” is a Norwegian folk tale. Three goats want to visit a distant field to get some enticing green grass, but must cross over a bridge with a troll living under it. They go one at a time, from the youngest to the oldest. The troll… Continue reading
“The Little Mermaid” is a story by Hans Christian Andersen. Since it was made into an animated film by Disney, it is well-known and popular, but there may also be confusion in younger students’ minds between the two versions. If you like the Disney version, you can make short work of… Continue reading
“Chicken Little” is a very good story for young students, with its high level of repetition and simple, cumulative story. But I also like it as a lead-in to disaster preparedness issues for the older ones. “Chicken Little” is also sometimes called “Chicken Licken.” It is even sometimes called “Henny… Continue reading
