The classic folk tale of the little red hen, retold by Florence White Williams. Excerpt from the Little Red Hen: Little Red Hen lived in a barnyard. She spent almost all of her time walking about the barnyard in her picketty-pecketty fashion, scratching everywhere for worms. She dearly loved fat, delicious worms and felt they …

Das Beste Weihnachtsgechenk – Bubu the fox’s Christmas adventures translated into German. By: Ivan Parvov       Text and Images from Das Beste Weihnachtsgechenk   Der Winter kam und der Schnee bedeckte das Tal, von Bubu, dem kleinen Fuchs. Alle Tiere verstecketen sich in ihren Häusern. Bubu mochte den Winter nicht, aber auf einen …

Huckleberry Finn, the Mark Twain classic, was written using a variety of period related southern dialects, which make it very colourful and an interesting piece of history but also very hard to read for younger readers or ESL students. This version has been edited to provide the story in a modern easier to read language. …

Old Sultan – A shepherd had a faithful dog, called Sultan, who was grown very old, and had lost all his teeth. And one day when the shepherd and his wife were standing together before the house the shepherd said, ‘I will shoot old Sultan tomorrow morning, for he is of no use now.’ But his …

THE STRAW, THE COAL, AND THE BEAN – In a village dwelt a poor old woman, who had gathered together a dish of beans and wanted to cook them. So she made a fire on her hearth, and that it might burn the quicker, she lighted it with a handful of straw. When she was …

Briar Rose –  A king and queen once upon a time reigned in a country a great way off, where there were in those days fairies. Now this king and queen had plenty of money, and plenty of fine clothes to wear, and plenty of good things to eat and drink, and a coach to …

The Dog and The Sparrow – A shepherd’s dog had a master who took no care of him, but often let him suffer the greatest hunger. At last he could bear it no longer; so he took to his heels, and off he ran in a very sad and sorrowful mood. On the road he met …

This is a collection of popular children stories and tale from Hans Christian Andersen’s Classic Fairy Tales. This is the read online text only version. Andersen’s Classic Fairy Tales CONTENTS THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES THE SWINEHERD THE REAL PRINCESS THE SHOES OF FORTUNE THE FIR TREE THE SNOW QUEEN THE LEAP-FROG THE ELDERBUSH THE BELL …

THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES – There was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. They slept in twelve beds all in one room; and when they went to bed, the doors were shut and locked up; but every morning their shoes were found to be quite worn through as if they had been danced in …

THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES – Many years ago, there was an Emperor, who was so excessively fond of new clothes, that he spent all his money in dress. He did not trouble himself in the least about his soldiers; nor did he care to go either to the theatre or the chase, except for the …