Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Audio, Inc." in Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

George MacDonald was the great 19th-century innovator of modern fantasy who influenced the work of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. This book collects some of his finest fairy stories.

It is both amazing and wonderful that so much of the richness of our language and our moral education still owes a huge debt to a Greek slave who was executed over 2,000 years ago. Yet "sour grapes", "crying wolf", "a dog in a manger", "actions speak louder than words", "honesty is the best policy", and literally hundreds of other metaphors, axioms, and ideas that are now woven into the very fabric of Western culture all came from Aesop's Fables.

Jason is born the son of King Aeson. His destiny is to rule Iolcus, the land that his father's brother, King Pelias, has taken from him. When Jason comes of age, he returns to Iolcus. But the king is not yet willing to give up his throne. So he cunningly persuades Jason to accept a dare to bring back the famous Golden Fleece of Colchis. Jason accepts the challenge, unaware that he is being conned into a dangerous and perhaps fatal journey far, far from the land he loves.

The Tale of Troy tells of the last great adventure of the Heroic Age. It is the story of Helen and the judgment of Paris; of the gathering of the heroes and the siege of Troy; of Achilles, reared by the centaur on wild honey and the marrow of lions; of Odysseus, his great strategy of the Wooden Horse, and of his many adventures on his long journey home to Greece.

Andrew Lang drew upon his classical learning to recreate the Greek myths for children. He follows Ulysses from his boyhood, thorugh the Trojan Wars, to his voyage to seek the son of Achilles. The story of Helen of Troy, and the Trojan Horse, is told with the pace of a modern adventure. Lang's collection of retold myths includes Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece, and recounts the lives and heroic deeds of two other major figures: Theseus, who slew the Minotaur; and Perseus, who freed the princess Andromeda as one of his many tests, with the helo of the gorgon's head. Perseus, Andromeda, and her parents, Cephus and Cassiopeia, are remembered in the constellations of the summer sky. Not only will theres tales bring to life for children of all ages the quest for good and the struggle against eveil embodied in the myths, they also reveal the roots of characters referenced throughout Western litereature from Shakespeare's time to the present day. In the true spirit of adventure, Lang dedicated his book to H. Rider Haggard.

When a dragon is discovered up on the Downs, the Boy is not in the least surprised. He's always known the cave there was a dragon cave, so it seems only right for a dragon to be living in it. The Boy decides to pay a visit to the cave, and he thinks he knows just what to expect. But this particular dragon is not a bit like the ones in fairy tales!

These classic stories of magic, imagination, and inspiration will delight children again and again. From "Puss in Boots" to "A Day at Santa's Workshop", these tales will capture children's interest and spark their imagination.

In 1890s South Dakota, Amy and Joshua escape from their mean aunt Vootch. They plan to find their grandparents in New York and manage to team up with a traveling magician, Mortimer Wintergreen, who is also New York bound. Mortimer owns a truly magic hat with a temperamental, mischievous mind of its own. Adventures abound as their way is blocked by outlaws, runaway hot-air balloons, geese, and the persistent Aunt Vootch - but the hat is always ready for action.

This long-awaited new volume in the acclaimed "Lives of" series presents the fascinating true tales of both notorious and little-known pirates. Why did Blackbeard and Long John Silver go to sea? Who was Madame Cheng? How did pirates really talk? What did they eat and what did they do to pass the time during long sea voyages? Lives of the Pirates answers these and many other questions.

Once upon a time, there was an old woman. She was very kind and loving. She also was very lonely, because she had no children. Quite often, she dreamed about having a little girl whom she would love and care for. One morning, in one of her flowers, she found a little girl. The girl was so small - smaller than the thumb on the old woman’s hand. The woman gave her a name: Thumbelina.

This volume of the ongoing collection of children's stories offers six well known and well loved classic fairy tales. Included are: "The Princess and the Pea" read by Jaclyn Smith, "The Emperor's New Clothes" read by Michael York, "Thumbelina" read by Jaclyn Smith, "The Ugly Duckling" read by Michael York, "Aladdin's Lamp" read by Lou Diamond Phillips, and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" read by Sharon Stone

When the old woodcarver Geppetto decides to make a puppet boy to dance and turn somersaults, he doesn't know that he has chosen a magical piece of wood. To his amazement, his puppet can talk and play just like the liveliest child. But a human soul must be earned; and thus begin the adventures of Pinocchio.