Showing results by author "James Gardner" in All Categories

"The Three Treasures of the Giants" is a Slavonic fairy tale. A man had three sons. When he was dying, he told his oldest that he would inherit, but must be kind to his mother and his younger brothers; he then gave the older two more advice, and told the youngest son that while he was not clever, he had a kind heart and should follow it. After he died, the sons set out to seek their fortune; the older two wanted to leave the youngest behind, but their mother said there was nothing for him there.

"The Princess on the Glass Hill" is a Norwegian fairy tale. It recounts how the youngest son of three obtains a magical horse and uses it to win the princess... The imagery in fairy tales (such as personified animals, adults represented as giants and allegorical magic vegetables) allows the child to explore their fears in remote and symbolic terms. Fairy tales allow the reader to explore each virtue and path of action through the different characters' fates. The child decides their own personal stance after deliberating each consequence.

"Prince Darling": An aged king who is a widower lavishes indulgence on his only son, who the people consequently call "Prince Darling". He fears he will die before the child is of age and confesses his concern to his friend, the Fairy of Truth. The fairy promises to grant the boy a boon such as beauty, wealth or military success, but the king asks only that the fairy make the boy a good person. The fairy says she cannot change the boy's character, but she can give him advice and correct him when he errs.

12 stories from all over the world: "Lovely Ilonka", "Lucky Luck", "The Hairy Man", "Little Wildrose", "Paperarelloo", "The Gifts of the Magician", "The Strong Prince", "The Crab and the Monkey", "The Cottager and his Cat", "The Stone-Cutter", "How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished", "The Colony of Cats", "Clever Maria", "The Magic Kettle". The imagery in fairy tales (such as personified animals, adults represented as giants and allegorical magic vegetables) allows the child to explore their fears in remote and symbolic terms.

11 magical tales for little kids: "Babes in the Wood", "Snow Drop" and "Seven Little dwarfs", "The Magic Mirror", "The Crow", "The Wizard King", "The White Duck", "The Golden Crab", "The Dragon and his Grandmother", "The Six Swans", "The Story of the Emperor's New Clothes", "The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership". The imagery in fairy tales (such as personified animals, adults represented as giants and allegorical magic vegetables) allows the child to explore their fears in remote and symbolic terms.

The Adventures of a Jackal is a classic children's short story : "In a country which is full of wild beasts of all sorts there once lived a jackal and a hedgehog, and, unlike though they were, the two animals made great friends, and were often seen in each other's company. One afternoon they were walking along a road together, when the jackal, who was the taller of the two, exclaimed: "Oh! there is a barn full of corn; let us go and eat some." "Yes, do let us!" answered the hedgehog.

Thrilling tales of despair litter the countryside of Rustle County, where children have been disappearing for hundreds of years. This collection of terrifying short stories details the odious occurrences that have haunted Boltsville for generations. Follow Sheriff LeBuff and his affable deputy, Officer LeBlanc, as they try to piece together the dark mystery.

Most people would love to сrеаtе (more) wеаlth and achieve (more) finаnсiаl success, ѕо thаt they саn livе thе life оf their dreams. You could be one of them! Tо асhiеvе thiѕ, уоu need to learn the inconvenient truths about the rich. The inconvenient truths contain information about what rich people dо. What they do, sets them араrt frоm everyone else.

Only days have passed since a freak accident granted four college students superhuman powers. Now Jools and her friends (who haven’t even picked out a name for their superhero team yet) get caught up in the hunt for a Mad Genius’ misplaced super-weapon. But when Jools falls in with a modern-day Robin Hood and his band of superpowered Merry Men, she finds it hard to sort out the Good Guys from the Bad Guys - and to figure out which side she truly belongs on. Especially since nobody knows exactly what the Gun does....

"The Death of Adonis" is a fundamental part of Greek mythology and one of its most touching stories. Accidentally wounded by one of Eros' arrows, the goddess Aphrodite falls desperately in love with the handsome Adonis, son of a king and a beauty among mortals. Yet his only passion is hunting and he refuses to take her warnings seriously when he hears about a great boar he would love to slay. There is something of the idea of coming of age in this tale, when the moment of realisation brings forth the understanding of what could have been and where the real beauty lays.

The myth of King Midas is a cautionary tale about the dangers of believing that gold should be coveted above all things, and the foolishness of wishing without thinking. It appeared in Ovid's "Metamorphosis", and has inspired many works of art and literature through the centuries. This is a retelling of the complete tale of "The King with the Golden Touch", from the Gordian knot to the ears of an ass, in great detail and with an elegant style that will edify children and adults alike.

Alexander III was Emperor of Russia from 1881 until his death in 1894. He was highly conservative and reversed some of the liberal reforms of his father, Alexander II. He was a pacifist, focused on the protection of his people; mostly seen as lacking refinement and elegance, he rather relished the idea of being of the same rough texture as some of his subjects. Discover the life and struggles of this influential ruler through this precise, clear and thorough presentation.

"King Kojata" is a Slavonic fairy tale. A king and a queen had no children. One day, the king was travelling and grew thirsty. He found a spring with a cup floating in it. He did not succeed at trying to grab the cup: it always evaded his hands. When he dropped to drink directly, a creature in the well grabbed his beard and would not free him until he promised to give it something he knew nothing about, and which he would find on his return home.

Phaeton is the son of Apollo and a mortal woman, and his heart's desire is to be seen but once driving his father's chariot, the one used by the god to make the sun travel in the sky. This myth is an ageless story of failure at the hands of pride, similar to that of Icarus. It is a fundamental part of Greek mythology and of modern culture. This short story is a retelling of the myth in great detail and with an elegant style that will edify children and adults alike.

Five famous English historical figures, five controversial characters of almost legendary proportions, that have to be well-known and understood if one is interested in knowing about the English spirit and history. Sir Francis Drake was a sea captain and a privateer of the Elizabethan era; his exploits made him a hero to the English but his privateering led the Spanish to brand him a pirate. Henry VIII was king in a time of extreme religious unrest, and became such a bloody monster that he was eventually called the "English Nero".

Elizabeth Petrovna was the Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death. She led the country during the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48) and the Seven Years' War (1756-63), left her mark on the service of nobility, the establishment of the Univeresidy of Moscow and the Imperial Academy of Arts; she remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs due to her strong opposition to Prussian policies and her decision not to execute a single person during her reign.

The myth of Icarus is an ageless story of failure at the hands of pride, similar to that of Phaeton. It is a fundamental part of Greek mythology and of modern culture. This short story is a retelling of the myth from 1914, a year in which it was easy to fear for a son who would soar in the sky with metal wings; the story of Icarus and Daedalus is told in great detail and with an elegant style that will edify children and adults alike.

Alexander II was Emperor of Russia from 2 March 1855 until his assassination on 13 March 1881. He is remembered as Alexander the Liberator, as he led the emancipation of Russia's serfs; during his reign, he kept seeking peace, although the context of the surrounding countries was proving more and more difficult. Although he went down in history as a reformer, his actions were too little too late for the revolutionaries of late imperial Russia, who managed to assassinate him in 1881.

Charlemagne's wars in Italy, Spain and Saxony formed part of the common epic material, and there are references to his wars against the Slavs; but especially he remained in the popular mind as the great champion of Christianity against the creed of Mahomet, and even his Norman and Saxon enemies became Saracens in current legend. He is the Christian emperor directly inspired by angels; his sword Joyeuse contained the point of the lance used in the Passion; his standard was Romaine, the banner of St Peter.

Ivan IV the Terrible was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then Tsar of All Russia until his death in 1584. He transformed Russia from a medieval state into an empire, though at immense cost to its people, and its broader, long-term economy. He was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental instability that increased with his age. In one such outburst, he killed his son and heir Ivan Ivanovich, which left his younger son, pious but politically ineffectual, to inherit the throne.