Folklore, Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends and Other Children's Stories from Around the World E-Book

Various

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The 15 stories contained in this eBook have been selected from the books that make up the series “ Fairy Tales, Folklore, Myths and Legends from Around the World”

Fifteen stories have been selected from the books in the series. So you will find stories from ancient Celtic England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. As well as Roma and Gypsy stories which have travelled across Europe from the Black Sea region. There are also stories from the Zulus and Bushmen of South Africa, to the Orient, the Silk Route, the Vikings, the Red Indians of North America and beyond.
The books in the series are rare and out of print books and have been republished as part of a Social Enterprise project where the main aim is to give a large portion of the profits to charity. In fact 10% of the profit from each book sold is donated to charities.

This is eBook is but a sampler of the rich and diverse tapestry of tales and folk-lore contained in the volumes published to date. We encourage you to visit the Abela eBooks webpage at http://bit.ly/GetB00ksHere and to search for the hundreds and hundreds of individual tales and stories.

This book is mainly for children aged 6 to 12 year olds.

TAGS/KEYWORDS: fairy tales, Folklore, myths, legends, children's,stories, children’s books, celtic stories, Arabian tales, perfidious vizier, African folklore, lost message, chameleon, American Indian stories, moowis, gypsy stories, the vampire, central European tales, slippers of the twelve princesses, celtic fairy tales, king o'toole and st. Kevin, Irish stories, young king of easaidh ruadh. welsh folklore, story of Gelert, English fairy tales, tom tit tot, lawkamercyme, Uighur folklore, magic of the old monk, Caucasian fairy tales, gulambara and sulambara, Jewish fairy tales, rabbi’s bogey-man, Hausa fairy tales, west African folklore, story of the boy and the old woman, how the wasp got his small waist, Viking, norse folklore, ‘twas the night before Christmas

Leseprobe

A FREE e-BOOK

containing a sample of children’s fairy storiesfrom the Abela Catalogue

YESTERDAY’S BOOKS

raising funds for

TODAY’S CHARITIES

Folklore, Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends

and Children’s Stories from Around the World

1st Edition 2008

2nd Edition 2013

3rd Edition 2018

Typographical arrangement of this 3rd edition

© Abela Publishing 2018

This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical ( including photocopy, file or video recording, internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other information storage and retrieval system) except as permitted by law without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Abela Publishing, London

[2018]

ISBN-13: 978-X-XXXXXX-XX-X

WebsiteAbela Publishing

Acknowledgments

John Halsted and Abela Publishing

acknowledge and thank the

Compilers and Publishers

who originally collated, edited and published these stories in a time before electronic media was in use.

Philanthropy

10% of the net profit from the sale of the books in this series are donated to charities around the World

Contents

Introduction

The Lost Message

The Further Adventures Of Eut-Le-Ten

The Vampire

The Slippers Of The Twelve Princesses

King O'toole And St. Kevin

The Young King Of Easaidh Ruadh.

The Story Of Gelert

Tom Tit Tot

Lawkamercyme

The Perfidious Vizier

The Magic Of The Old Monk

Gulambara And Sulambara

The Rabbi’s Bogey-Man

The Story Of The Boy And The Old Woman, And How The Wasp Got His Small Waist

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Other Books In The Series

INTRODUCTION

The stories contained in this free eBook have been selected from the books that make up the series

“Fairy Tales, Folklore, Myths and Legends from Around the World”

Fifteen stories have been selected from the books in the series. So you will find stories from ancient Celtic England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. As well as Roma and Gypsy stories which have travelled across Europe from the Black Sea region. There are also stories from the Zulus and Bushmen of South Africa, to the Orient, the Silk Route, the Vikings, the Red Indians of North America and beyond.

The books in the series are rare and out of print books and have been republished as part of a Social Enterprise project where the main aim is to give a portion of the profits to charity. In fact 10% of the profit from each book sold is donated to charities around the globe.

This is eBook is but a sampler of the rich and diverse tapestry of tales and folk-lore contained in the volumes published to date. We encourage you to visit our webpage at

Abela Publishing

We also encourage you to pass this free eBook on to anyone and everyone you know, especially those with young children.

YESTERDAY’S BOOKS

raising funds for

TODAY’S CHARITIES

THE LOST MESSAGE

(a folk story from South Africa)

THE ant has had from time immemorial many enemies, and because he is small and destructive, there have been a great many slaughters among them. Not only were most of the birds their enemies, but Anteater lived almost wholly from them, and Centipede beset them every time and at all places when he had the chance.

So now there were a few among them who thought it would be well to hold council together and see if they could not come to some arrangement whereby they could retreat to some place of safety when attacked by robber birds and animals.

But at the gathering their opinions were most discordant, and they could come to no decision.

There was Red-ant, Rice-ant, Black-ant, Wagtail-ant, Gray-ant, Shining-ant, and many other varieties. The discussion was a true babble of diversity, which continued for a long time and came to nothing.

A part desired that they should all go into a small hole in the ground, and live there; another part wanted to have a large and strong dwelling built on the ground, where nobody could enter but an ant; still another wanted to dwell in trees, so as to get rid of Anteater, forgetting entirely that there they would be the prey of birds; another part seemed inclined to have wings and fly.

And, as has already been said, this deliberation amounted to nothing, and each party resolved to go to work in its own way, and on its own responsibility.

Greater unity than that which existed in each separate faction could be seen nowhere in the world; each had his appointed task, each did his work regularly and well. And all worked together in the same way. From among them they chose a king-that is to say some of the groups did-and they divided the labour so that all went as smoothly as it possibly could.

But each group did it in its own way, and not one of them thought of protecting themselves against the onslaught of birds or Anteater.

The Red-ants built their house on the ground and lived under it, but Anteater levelled to the ground in a minute what had cost them many days of precious labour. The Rice-ants lived under the ground, and with them it went no better. For whenever they came out, Anteater visited them and took them out sack and pack. The Wagtail-ants fled to the trees, but there on many occasions sat Centipede waiting for them, or the birds gobbled them up. The Gray-ants had intended to save themselves from extermination by taking to flight, but this also availed them nothing, because the Lizard, the Hunting-spider, and the birds went a great deal faster than they.

When the Insect-king heard that they could come to no agreement he sent them the secret of unity, and the message of Work-together. But unfortunately he chose for his messenger the Beetle, and he has never yet arrived at the Ants, so that they are still to-day the embodiment of discord and consequently the prey of enemies.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Source: South African Folk Tales

ISBN-13: 978-0-9560584-5-4

Format: ePub, Kindle, PDF

Website: https://goo.gl/iAuoVd

The Further Adventures

of

Eut-Le-Ten

THE ARROW CHAIN TO HEAVEN

Some time had passed by, and Eut-le-ten conceived a plan to reach the land above the sky, which he believed, like all the Indian race, to be the roof of this our world, and hiding from our view the Illahie where the great chief--the Sagh-al-lie Tyee, Nas-nas-shup, the chief of all the chiefs abode. Nas-nas-shup had a daughter, far famed for her exceeding beauty, and the tales of her attractions were often related among the younger braves, and Eut-le-ten became enamoured of the thought of winning her, although the stories also told of dangers and death most terrible to him who strove to undergo the tests the old chief set for all who would desire his daughter's love.

He shot the arrow straight above his head.

Now Eut-le-ten was skillful with the bow, for many times he had brought down the deer as they were bounding through the forest glade, and with his arrow he had often pierced the silver salmon when they jumped from out the rushing waters of his native stream, and he had shot down from off the tallest tree, golden eagles or the great fish hawk.

Eut-le-ten called the men together, for he was highly favoured in his tribe, and counted as a chief because he killed the evil chehah, dread E-ish-so-oolth, and he directed them to make a multitude of arrows, straight and strong, and have them ready by a day he named to them. Forthwith they followed his instructions, and fashioned

many arrows, long and straight and strong, and each one tipped with bone or flint, so sharp that it would pierce the thickest hide of the great elk which roamed in bands among the hills and in the open lands.

The arrows were completed in four suns, when Eut-le-ten went out upon the beach taking with him his strongest bow of yew, and shot an arrow straight above his head, high into the vault of heaven, far out of sight. Again he shot, and again, until at last an arrow line was formed from the earth beneath to heaven above, for his first shaft had fixed itself into the roof of this old world of ours, and the second arrow aimed with such great skill, had caught the end of it. The third, the fourth, and each succeeding one had attached itself, until a rope of shafts was made, for Eut-le-ten to climb into the world above--the Illahie, where Nas-nas-shup, the Sagh-al-lie Tyee, the chief of chiefs, and his fair daughter dwelt.

Then Eut-le-ten took leave of all the tribe and climbed the rope of arrows to the sky, beyond the peoples' sight, until at last he reached the portals of the land above.

THE TWO BLIND SQUAWS

First, Eut-le-ten saw two blind and ancient squaws preparing simple food for their repast, and when it was all ready they began to help each other to the food, not hearing Eut-le-ten who quietly watched until impelled by thoughts of mischief or of jest, took the food away from them.

Soon each old squaw accused the other of taking all the food and giving none, and angrily they talked and quarrelled much, each upbraiding the other for a misdeed of which neither was guilty, while Eut-le-ten stood by enjoying their discomfiture. Presently he spoke however, and at the sound of his young voice they stopped their noise, and ceased to wrangle more about the food. Instead they asked him to tell from whence he came, and who he was, and what had brought him there.

"I am a being from the lower world, and I have come to ask from Nas-nas-shup, the love of one, of whose great charms long tales are told among the young men of the world below." Thus Eut-le-ten answered the questions put by the old squaws, and when they heard his words, they were alarmed, and warned him to desist from his bold quest which was full of peril, as many men had found before, for none had yet returned who dared essay to win the daughter of Nas-nas-shup. Eut-le-ten would not be turned away from his resolve by any craven fear of perils or of dire calamity. Had he not killed the witch E-ish-so-oolth, and also her much dreaded chehah man? But before he left to go upon his quest, he asked the aged squaws what he could do to make amends for playing tricks at their expense.

"Oh stranger, give us sight, that we may see," they said, "for we have long been blind."

Eut-le-ten then bored a little hole into each eye of both the ancient squaws, and when they saw the pure white light of day after their long darkness, they were overjoyed, and thanking Eut-le-ten, they told to him the secrets of the house of Nas-nas-shup. They gave him charms to overcome the fire, in which he would be made to stand alone, and last, a stone of wondrous power to break the spikes which were set round the resting place of her he sought to win.

THE FOUR TERRORS GUARDING THE HOUSE OF NAS-NAS-SHUP

Before the house of Nas-nas-shup there was a lake in which there lived great demon frogs, which croaked loud warnings when any dared approach. Inside the outer door a codfish lay, of size enormous, ready to devour the bold intruder who might gain entrance there, and if the stranger safely passed the cod, his body would be entered by two snakes which waiting, sought to kill the fearless one. All these were safely passed by Eut-le-ten, who change [...]