Showing results by publisher "Audible Studios" in Chapter Books & Readers

An old farmer was out in the woods chopping wood for his family when his ax slipped from his hands and went flying into the river. The farmer was so upset, he cried out to the river. The river spirit heard him and up out of the river rose a silver ax. "Is this your ax?" asked the River Spirit. The framer would have loved the ax, but he was an honest man and he said, "No."

A young man married, and at the wedding dinner at the bride's house, the bride excused herself to go in the cellar and draw some wine. While she was there, she noticed that an ax was stuck in one of the rafters. She thought that if one day she had a son and named him Bastianelo, and they were visiting her parents, and they asked him to get some wine, and he came down, and the ax fell and struck him in the head, then her son might be killed, and she began to cry while the wine poured out of the keg.

The chief sends his three sons out to find something special. He declares that the one that returns with the most valuable thing will become the new chief. They set out together. At a crossroads, they split up. They agree to meet back at the crossroads in a month. The first finds a mirror that you can look into and see anyone you wish to.

Crow was always causing trouble wherever he went, doing tricks and being mean. One of his tricks was to call a stranger who he wanted something from "Brother-in-law" so that they would treat him like family and give him food. He would always make up how some great ancestor had married into the other animal's clan.

An old man put the teakettle on the stove and went out to sit on his porch. When the water began to boil, the pot began to transform. It became a tanuki (sort of like a badger) and began racing around his house, causing all kinds of noise and trouble. The old man realized it was a magical kettle, as the tanuki became the kettle again when the old man came inside. He made a box and, before it could change again, put the teakettle into the box.

A young woman named Pirili lived in a village. She was kind and generous. A hunter named Mangowa from another village saw her and wished to marry her. She did not wish to marry him. He brought gifts and food and flowers. He hunted just for her and brought her everything he caught. He did not bring food to his own.

Spider wants scrambled eggs for breakfast but doesn't want to cook them. He pretends to have a stomach ache. He begs his wife to go to the doctor. She goes. Spider takes a shortcut and gets to the Doctor's house. Spider knows the doctor is not home. Spider goes in and pretends to be the Doctor. When the wife gets there, Spider tells her through the door to feed Spider scrambled eggs. She goes back home. Spider rushes back home and gets back into bed.

Manka was a clever girl. Her father was a shepherd and did a job for a neighbor. The neighbor had promised him a calf for pay, but when the job was done the wealthy farmer refused to give him the young cow. They wound up in court.

A farmer met a fairy and asked her to marry. She finally agreed but said he must never get angry or call her a bad fairy. He said of course he would not do that. They married, and everything went wonderfully. They had three children. One day he was in the upper pastures and saw a storm approaching. The fairy wife knew it was coming and so gathered her fairy clan, and they cut the green wheat and put it in the barn with an alder tree branch between each sheaf.

Bush Cat lies down under a tree to nap. Monkey comes along and decides to play a trick. Monkey ties Bush Cat's tail to the tree. Later Bush Cat wakes up and can't get away. Bush Cat asks Snail to untie its tail. Snail agrees once Bush Cat promises not to eat Snail. Once Bush Cat is free, Bush Cat wants to catch Monkey and decides on a trick. Bush Cat asks Snail to tell all the animals that Bush Cat is dead under the tree. This way when the animals come to dance around and sing in honor of their friend, Bush Cat can jump up and catch Monkey.

Lion was declared king and invited all the animals to come for a greeting, so he could thank them all. Little Ant was representing all the ants and she was so excited she got up extra early and got to the greeting place before any other animals. She didn't care.

In a small village, a mother and her daughter were just getting by. They had very little. One day the girl announced that she was going to go and find some work. There was no work in the village and so she set out on her own. She began to cross a field and there were 2 bulls fighting. The fighting made the girl sad and she sang to the bulls to stop their fighting and they did! She moved on.

The wealthy young man and all his family and servants are preparing for his wedding. Later in the day, he will travel by horseback to his fiancée's family's home for the ceremony. One old servant hears a noise down the hall from the kitchen. He sees the story bag where the young man used to store his stories when he was a little boy. He loved stories so much. The stories are angry about being left behind and forgotten about. They are planning to hurt the young man.

A father and son went to camp out in the forest and do some hunting. They found a place to set up camp. Before going to sleep, the father told the boy some stories including one about the monster that lived in the forest. The boy fell asleep and his father went to do some night hunting. The boy woke up, was scared and went looking for his father. His father had heard an animal up in the trees and climbed a tree to hunt. The boy heard his father in the tree and called to him. The father was startled and thought it was the forest monster.

The rabbits lived near a beautiful pond up in the hills. The elephants bathed and drank from a pond to the south. The elephants' pond dried up. They began looking for a new pond. Finally they came to the rabbits' pond. When they saw it, the elephants stampeded toward the water. The rabbits went flying in every direction as the elephants stomped around in the water, spraying and playing. The rabbits did not know what to do. The old grandmother rabbit got an idea.

Three friends borrowed a rowboat to row upstream. They wanted to row up to a village. There were three other villages that they would pass on the way. So the first friend rowed as far as the first village. The second friend rowed as far as the second village. The third friend rowed as far as the third village. Then they began arguing about who would row the final stretch. While they argued, they were carried back downstream to where they had started.

Munanchar and Menanchar are two friends who are out picking raspberries. As Munanchar fills his bucket, Menanchar eats them. Munanchar discovers what is happening and tells Menanchar that he is going to go get a stick and hit Menancnhar on the head! So Munanchar sets out and finds a tree that has a branch that will be just the right stick. But the tree tells him he needs an ax. He goes to the ax, and the ax tells him he needs a stone to sharpen the ax. The stone says he needs water to wet the stone.

A fox is walking down a path when it is pounced on by a hungry tiger. Fox has to do some quick thinking. It asks the tiger if it really means to eat the leader of the forest. Tiger says it would not eat the leader of the forest, but Fox is not the leader.

There was a farmer who worked hard on his land for many years. He and his wife had a little farmhouse and ate their simple meals each night together. One evening the farmer ran down from the fields all excited. His next door neighbor saw the old farmer and wondered what was going on. He sneaked over to the old farmer's house and listened through the window. The farmer told his wife how he had spotted down in a hole full of rocks a kettle that was full of gold coins.

Jack and his mother were having no luck on the farm. Jack was taking the cow into the village to sell it when he met a man who offered Jack some magical beans for the cow. Jack said, "Okay." When he came home, his mother got mad at him for making such a trade and threw the beans out the window. In the morning Jack woke to discover a huge beanstalk rising to the sky. He climbed it up into a cloud land. He walked on a path across the clouds to a great palace. Inside he discovered a huge woman. She was the ogre's wife.