Showing results by narrator "Bert Stauff" in All Categories

In the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White,” a beautiful princess is targeted by her jealous stepmother, a vain and wicked queen who uses a magic mirror to confirm her beauty. The queen orders a huntsman to kill Snow White, but he spares her. Snow White finds refuge with seven dwarfs, and the queen, disguised, eventually poisons her with a poisoned apple.

“The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats” by the Brothers Grimm is a cautionary tale about the importance of being cautious and listening to parental advice. When a mother goat leaves her seven kids at home while she goes to the forest, she warns them about the dangers of the wicked wolf, who might try to trick his way into their house. The cunning wolf attempts to impersonate the mother goat, first with a gruff voice and then with a softened one, but the kids recognize his deception.

After climbing through a mirror, Alice enters a backward, chess-like world where she becomes a pawn aiming to reach the eighth square and become a queen. On her journey toward adulthood, she meets strange, nonsensical characters like Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Jabberwock, and Humpty Dumpty. Alice’s adventure is revealed to be a dream at the end, leaving her to wonder who was dreaming and what was real.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland tells the story of a young girl named Alice who, while sitting bored with her sister, follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole into a fantastical world. In Wonderland, Alice experiences a series of bizarre and illogical encounters, including a shrinking potion and growing cake, meeting the Cheshire Cat, attending a mad tea party with the Mad Hatter, and playing croquet with the ill-tempered Queen of Hearts.

In The Little Mermaid, a mermaid gives up her voice to become human and pursue a prince she loves, but her love is ultimately unrequited. She is given a chance to kill the prince and return to the sea, but she chooses to sacrifice herself, becoming sea foam. Instead of ceasing to exist, she becomes a spirit, working towards earning an immortal soul through good deeds.

In Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Fir Tree, a young fir tree in the forest longs to grow tall and experience more exciting things than its current life offers. It yearns to be cut down and become a ship’s mast, then later desires the splendor of being a decorated Christmas tree in a warm house.

The Real Princess, also known as The Princess and the Pea, is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a prince seeking a true princess to marry. The prince travels the world, but cannot find a princess he feels is truly authentic. One stormy night, a bedraggled young woman claiming to be a real princess arrives at the castle gate.

Puss in Boots is an anthropomorphic cat who helps his penniless master gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess. He achieves this through cleverness and deceit, presenting gifts from his master and eventually tricking an ogre out of his castle. In the end, the miller’s son, with Puss’s help, marries the princess and becomes wealthy, rewarding the cat with a life of luxury as a lord.

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Old House tells the story of a dilapidated, centuries-old house in a street of modern homes. A curious boy befriends the lonely old man who lives there and explores the house, filled with relics and memories of the past. The house and its contents, including a lost tin soldier, are eventually sold and the house is demolished, yet its history and the friendship it fostered endure as memories in the boy’s mind, represented by the rediscovery of the tin soldier years later.

Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Swineherd” tells the story of a Prince who, rejected by an arrogant Princess who disdains his genuine gifts of a rose and nightingale, disguises himself as a swineherd. The Princess is then lured by the Swineherd’s clever, but ultimately superficial, trinkets, trading kisses for a magical pot and a musical rattle. When the Emperor discovers his daughter’s scandalous behavior, he banishes them both, only for the Prince to reveal his true identity and denounce her for valuing triviality over true worth and rejecting his genuine love.

“The Twelve Brothers” is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It tells the story of twelve brothers who are forced to flee their home after their father decrees they must die if their next child is a girl. They are eventually reunited with their sister, but their reunion is short-lived when they are transformed into ravens by a magical curse. Their sister bravely endures a period of silence and laughter for seven years to break the curse and ultimately rescue them.

The Little Brother and Sister is a tale from the Brothers Grimm about two siblings escaping their abusive, witch stepmother. She enchants all water sources in the forest to transform anyone who drinks from them into an animal.

“Faithful John,” a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, follows a loyal servant named John who promises a dying king to protect his son, the young prince, and keep him from harm. The king entrusts John with the secret of a forbidden room containing a portrait of a beautiful princess, warning that if the prince sees it, he will fall in love and face grave dangers. Despite John’s efforts, the prince discovers the portrait and insists on finding the princess to marry her.

In “The Musicians of Bremen,” four aging domestic animals—a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster—are neglected by their masters and decide to run away to Bremen to become town musicians. On their journey, they encounter a house inhabited by robbers. The animals work together to create a cacophony of noise, scaring away the robbers and claiming the house for themselves. Despite their initial goal, the animals decide to settle in the robbers’ house, finding happiness and contentment in their new home.

In the Grimm Brothers’ version, Cinderella is a kind and pious girl who is cruelly mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters after her father remarries. She is forced to do all the housework and is given the demeaning nickname “Aschenputtel” (Ashgirl). Despite the hardship, she remains good and kind, praying at her mother’s grave. Aided by a magical white bird that resides in a tree planted on her mother’s grave, she attends a royal festival, where she captivates the prince.

In the Grimm’s fairy tale, Rapunzel is a girl with long, magical hair who is locked in a tower by an enchantress named Mother Gothel. Gothel raises Rapunzel as her own and keeps her isolated, only visiting to have Rapunzel let down her hair as a ladder. A prince discovers Rapunzel’s singing and visits her, eventually leading to Rapunzel becoming pregnant. Gothel, enraged, banishes Rapunzel, who then wanders the wilderness and gives birth to twins.

This Brothers Grimm tale tells of a young man who, despite experiencing various spooky and potentially horrifying situations like encountering spirits in a haunted castle or sitting with hanged men under a gallows, cannot understand what it means to feel fear or “shudder.” He is perplexed by the concept and seeks to learn it. After surviving these trials and even marrying a princess, who is annoyed by his constant lack of fear, he finally learns to shudder when his wife’s chambermaid plays a trick on him, pouring a bucket of cold water and fish on him while he sleeps.

The Wind in the Willows, a classic children’s novel by Kenneth Grahame, follows the adventures of four anthropomorphic animal friends: Mole, Ratty, Badger, and Toad. Mole, initially content with his spring cleaning, ventures out and discovers the joys of the riverbank with Ratty.

Rumpelstiltskin is a small, peculiar creature from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale who can spin straw into gold. He makes deals with a desperate miller’s daughter who, due to her father’s boast, must perform this impossible task for a greedy king. In exchange for his help, Rumpelstiltskin demands increasing payment, culminating in the miller’s daughter promising him her firstborn child after she becomes queen.

The Fisherman and His Wife, a classic fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, stands as a stark and timeless parable exploring the complexities of human desire, the perils of unchecked ambition, and the true meaning of happiness.