Showing results by narrator "Katie Haigh" in All Categories

Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's best dramatist. His plays have been translated into every major language, and are the most performed ever. His work contains stunningly modern insight, witty jokes and soaring passion; it is an endless source of amazement and inspiration.

For ages, the ancient myths of Greece and Rome have delighted and inspired the people of the world. Great legendary heroes and mysterious gods come together in those charming stories, which will unleash imagination and all the pleasures we owe the ancient art of storytelling. This timeless selection of the richest legends will make you travel in the time and thoughts of ancient life. Enjoy the stories of Midas, Orpheus, Pandora, Pyramus and Thisbe, Philemon and Baucis, Atalanta, and Cadmus.

Once upon a time, there lived a Sultan in the land of Persia, who had two beautiful children who grew up to be the Prince and Princess of Persia. One day during a celebration, an Indian approached the Sultan about an enchanted horse he owned that would take the Sultan anywhere he wished in a very short period of time. The Sultan, doubtful about the contraption, sent his son to investigate this horse. When the Prince mounted the horse, he quickly pressed the button that took him high into the air. Wishing to see the country of Bengal because he had never been there, he directed the horse towards that kingdom. He arrived in the dead of the night and landed directly over the Princess of Bengal's chambers at the palace.

Sinbad the Sailor is a fictional sailor and the hero of a story-cycle of Middle Eastern origin. The tales of Sinbad are a relatively late addition to the "Thousand and One Nights"; he is described as living in Baghdad, during the Abbasid Caliphate. During his voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, he has fantastic adventures going to magical places, meeting monsters, and encountering supernatural phenomena.

War is not a fatality, peace is not an accident. While some see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue that t is only a result of specific socio-cultural or ecological circumstances. According to Conway W. Henderson, one source claims that 14,500 wars have taken place between 3500 BC and the late 20th century, costing 3.5 billion lives, leaving only 300 years of peace. So everyone should at least think about this subject, and be prepared to be concerned directly or indirectly by this question, peace or war.

Marriage is a great source of humour, of inspiration for artists, intellectuals, philosophers, writers, painters, creators in general. Marriage is of course a great source of happiness, of self accomplishment, of stress, and sometimes of disappointment. Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, social, libidinal, emotional, financial, spiritual, and religious purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced by socially determined rules.

We have selected for you 100 great quotes about faith. Faith is a strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof. Faith can inspire great men and women in their actions, in their thoughts, in their lives. The Bible contains a clear definition of faith in Hebrews 11.1: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Simply put, the biblical definition of faith is "trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove."

"The Ugly Duckling" is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. When the tale begins, a mother duck's eggs hatch. One of the little birds is perceived by the other birds and animals on the farm as a homely little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse from them. He wanders sadly from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He finds a home with an old woman but her cat and hen tease him mercilessly and again he sets off on his own. He sees a flock of migrating wild swans; he is delighted and excited but he cannot join them for he is too young and cannot fly.

"The toad" is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. A very exciting story of a little toad, who motivated by the excitement for adventure, leaves his home at the bottom of a well, and his curiosity leads him into some very interesting adventures. He bears inside his head a most precious jewel, the ceaseless longing for a higher experience. In the end he is carried as far up on a stork's mouth as he ever could be. This tale imparts the thought that our finest possession is not what we own, but what we are.

The Emperor of China learns that one of the most beautiful things in his empire is the song of the nightingale. When he orders the nightingale brought to him, a kitchen maid leads the court to a nearby forest, where the nightingale agrees to appear at court, where it remains as the Emperor's favorite. When the Emperor is given a bejeweled mechanical bird he loses interest in the real nightingale, who returns to the forest. The mechanical bird eventually breaks down; and the Emperor is taken deathly ill a few years later. The real nightingale learns of the Emperor's condition and returns to the palace; whereupon Death is so moved by the nightingale's song that he allows the Emperor to live.

On his birthday, a boy receives a set of 25 toy soldiers all cast from one old tin spoon and arrays them on a table top. One soldier stands on a single leg, as having been the last one cast there was not enough metal to make him whole. Nearby, the soldier spies a paper ballerina with a spangle on her sash. She too is standing on one leg and the soldier falls in love. That night, a goblin among the toys in the form of a Jack-in-the-box angrily warns the soldier to take his eyes off the ballerina, but the soldier ignores him.

A fairy gives an ugly prince named Ricky the gift of conferring wit upon the one he loves the best. Prince Ricky of the Tuft comes to a kingdom with two princesses. The elder one is beautiful but unintelligent and the younger one is intelligent but ugly. The elder princess is saddened that her ugly but smart sister receives more attention than her. One day as the elder princess was going for a walk in the forest to ease her sorrow, she is approached by Ricky who had fallen in love with her after seeing portraits of her that circulated. Ricky asks how a person so beautiful as she can be so sad, to which she responds that she is sad because she is beautiful but lacks intelligence. Ricky then bestows the gift of intelligence on the elder princess for a promise of marriage.

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy widower who married a proud and haughty woman as his second wife. She had two daughters, who were equally vain and selfish. By his first wife, he'd had a beautiful young daughter, a girl of unparalleled goodness and sweet temper. The stepmother and her daughters forced the first daughter into servitude, where she was made to work day and night doing menial chores.

A wealthy widowed merchant lives in a mansion with his three daughters. All are equal in beauty, but the youngest, Beauty, is kind and pure of heart; while the two elders, in contrast, are wicked, selfish, vain and secretly taunt and treat Beauty more like a servant than a sister. The merchant eventually loses all of his wealth in a tempest at sea.

A king had a beautiful wife and a rich castle, including a marvelous donkey whose droppings were gold. One day his wife died, after making him promise not to marry except to a woman whose beauty and attributes equaled hers. The king grieved, but was, in time, persuaded to seek another wife. It became clear that the only woman who would fit the promise was his own daughter.

A queen gives birth to a baby daughter, a girl with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony. She is named "Snow White". Sadly, the Good Queen, Snow White's mother, dies during childbirth. After a year has passed, Snow White's father, the King, takes a new and second wife, who is very beautiful, but a wicked and vain woman. The new queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, possesses a magic mirror, which she asks every morning, "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The mirror always replies: "My Queen, you are the fairest one of all."

Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling with giants, and becoming a favourite of King Arthur. The History of Tom Thumb tells that in the days of King Arthur, old Thomas of the Mountain, a plowman and a member of the King's Council, wants nothing more than a son, even if he is no bigger than his thumb.

Once upon a time, when the Queen gave birth to a baby princess, Angels came down and gave the infant blessings. However one evil Angel set a curse that would make the princess prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Another Angel set a magic on the princess that she would sleep, instead of dying, for a hundred years until a prince comes and awakes her from her sleep. At the age of 16, the princess gets her finger pricked by the sprindle, and falls asleep. After 100 years, a prince hears about a beautiful princess sleeping in the castle...

The tale opens with the third and youngest son of a miller receiving his inheritance - a cat. At first, the youngest son laments, as the eldest brother gains the mill, and the middle brother gets the mules. The feline is no ordinary cat, however, but one who requests and receives a pair of boots.

Bluebeard is a wealthy aristocrat, feared and shunned because of his ugly, blue beard. He has been married several times, but no one knows what became of his wives. He is therefore avoided by the local girls. When Bluebeard visits one of his neighbours and asks to marry one of his two daughters, the girls are terrified, and each tries to pass him on to the other. Eventually he talks the younger daughter into visiting him, and after hosting a wonderful banquet, he persuades her to marry him.