European Fairy Tales

The Boy who saved Holland

One day, a young boy went to visit his blind, elderly friend, Mr. Janssen. After a pleasant visit, he started walking home. On his way, though, he was distracted by the flowers, the butterflies and the birds. He played for many happy hours near the dikes that ran by the road. 
The dikes were large walls that held back the sea. Every child in Holland knows that if the dikes break, water will rush in and all will be lost. Hans was so busy playing that he didn’t notice the sun setting. When he realized how late it was, he speedily headed for home. 

Alice in Wonderland

It was a warm summer day and Alice was getting bored sitting beside her sister, who had her nose buried in a book. Suddenly, a little White Rabbit with pink eyes ran in front of her shouting, "On dear, oh dear, I'm late."
The Rabbit pulled a watch out of his pocket to check the time. He shook his head, then disappeared down a rabbit's hole. "I must find out why he's in such a hurry!" cried Alice. Filled with curiosity, she ran to the rabbit's hole and peeped through the entrance.
The hole dropped suddenly and Alice fell. "When will I ever reach the bottom of this dreadful hole?" she shouted, while falling helplessly downwards.
Finally she landed in a long, narrow hallway with doors of many sizes. On a three-
legged table, Alice found a tiny gold key and a green bottle that said "DRINK ME". "This key must fit one of the doors," she said.

The Boy who cried Wolf

A boy called Peter lived with his parents in a village on the hillside. His parents, like most of the other people in the village, were sheep farmers. Everybody in the village took turns to look after the sheep, and when Peter was 10 years old, he was considered old enough to take his turn at shepherding.

But Peter was too easily bored, and he found it very tiresome being on the hillside with only sheep for company. So he’d find ways to amuse himself, running up rocks, climbing trees, chasing sheep, but nothing really kept him amused for very long. Then he hit upon a brilliant idea. He climbed to the top of the tallest tree, and started shouting towards the village: “Wolf! Wolf! Wooolf! Woooolf!”

Hansel and Gretel

Once upon a time a very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny cottage in the forest with his two children, Hansel and Gretel. His second wife often ill-treated the children and was forever nagging the woodcutter. 

"There is not enough food in the house for us all. There are too many mouths to feed! We must get rid of the two brats," she declared. And she kept on trying to persuade her husband to abandon his children in the forest. 

Rapunzel

There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world. 

The Frog Prince

There once was a Princess. She was not an ordinary princess, however. This Princess loved to play alone in the palace gardens while she tossed around her favorite beaming golden ball.Now, the problem with playing alone was that no one was ever there to catch the ball if she tossed it too high in the air. One day, as she was running around lilies and daisies and hedges and roses, she tossed her ball higher in the air than she ever had before.

Cinderella

Once upon a time, there lived an unhappy young girl. Unhappy she was, for her mother was dead, her father had married another woman, a widow with two daughters, and her stepmother didn’t like her one little bit. All the nice things, kind thoughts and loving touches were for her own daughters. And not just the kind thoughts and love, but also dresses, shoes, shawls, delicious food, comfy beds, as well as every home comfort. All this was laid on for her daughters. But, for the poor unhappy girl, there was nothing at all. No dresses, only her stepsisters’ hand-me-downs. No lovely dishes, nothing but scraps. No nice rests and comfort. For she had to work hard all day, and only when evening came was she allowed to sit for a while by the fire, near the cinders. 

Sleeping Beauty

Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who were very unhappy because they had no children. But at last a little daughter was born, and their sorrow was turned to joy. All the bells in the land were rung to tell the glad tidings.
The king gave a christening feast so grand that the like of it had never been known. He invited all the fairies he could find in the kingdom—there were seven of them—to come to the christening as godmothers. He hoped that each would give the princess a good gift.
When the christening was over, the feast came. Before each of the fairies was placed a plate with a spoon, a knife, and a fork—all pure gold. But alas! As the fairies were about to seat themselves at the table, there came into the hall a very old fairy who had not been invited. She had left the kingdom fifty years before and had not been seen or heard of until this day.