by Chris Colfer
And so Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Lucky, and Turkey Lurkey followed Foxy Loxy through the countryside to speak to the king. However, Foxy Loxy led them off the path and toward a dark hole in the ground.
“This isn’t the way to the king,” Henny Penny clucked.
“It’s a shortcut,” Foxy Loxy growled.
All of sudden, Foxy Loxy grabbed Cocky Locky by the neck and Ducky Lucky by the bill and threw them into the hole. Then he grabbed Goosey Loosey by the wing and Turkey Lurkey by the wattle and threw them inside the hole too.
“Thanks for the snack, Henny Penny!” Foxy Loxy growled.
Henny Penny ran home and never saw Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, or Turkey Lurkey again. The sky stayed perfectly intact and the chicken refused to involve her friends in her affairs from that day forward.
The End
THE LITTLE MERMAID
ADAPTED FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
Once upon a time, deep in the cold waters of the ocean, there lived a wonderful kingdom of merpeople. It was so far below the surface that it was completely untouched by mankind. The merpeople were a proud race and lived together in a large underwater palace that had coral walls and seaweed gardens.
The Mer kingdom was ruled by the powerful Mer king. He and his wife had six beautiful daughters, but the Mer queen tragically died giving birth to the youngest, so the Mer princesses were raised by their grandmother.
It should be no surprise that the mermaid princesses were just as fascinated with stories of our world as our children are of theirs. Their grandmother found their interest very amusing, but she raised them to believe they had everything they needed at home in the underwater palace.
“I know the upper world may seem appealing to you; it was to me too, when I was your age,” she said. “Trust me, little ones, it’s all just a bunch of dirt and air up there.”
The grandmother knew the princesses would never take her word for it, so on their fifteenth birthdays, she allowed them to swim to the surface for a glimpse of the upper world themselves.
The youngest princess, whom everyone called the Little Mermaid, for she was the smallest, was more curious about the upper world than any of her older sisters. It was agonizing having to wait for her fifteenth birthday, and torturous watching each of her sisters experience it before her.
“I saw a big bright light in the sky,” the oldest sister said when she returned from her visit to the surface. “It was brighter than anything I’ve ever seen!”
“That’s called the sun, my sweet,” the grandmother said. “It’s what provides light for the creatures living above and below water.”
“I felt a wave of air when I went to the surface!” the second-oldest Mer princess said.
“That’s called wind, my dear,” the grandmother said. “You’ll find a lot of that up there.”
“I saw a strange fish that sang as it swam through the air! It had long scales and a pointed mouth like a squid,” the third-oldest princess said.
“That’s called a bird, my love,” her grandmother said. “And birds don’t swim through the air, they fly.”
“I saw a large sand dollar in the sky, and beyond it were thousands of twinkling lights,” the fourth-oldest princess said.
“What you saw is called the moon and stars,” the grandmother said.
“I saw a small whale made of wood floating along the surface!” the second-youngest mermaid said.
The grandmother’s amusement at her granddaughters’ adventures was suddenly replaced with fear and paranoia.
“You must listen to me very carefully,” she said sternly. “No one is allowed to go near the surface ever again! Is that understood? The wooden whale you spoke of is called a ship, and it transports humans. If they see you, you’ll be kidnapped and taken far away!”
The Little Mermaid was heartbroken. She had spent her whole life waiting for her turn to travel to the surface, and now it was forbidden. She didn’t care how dangerous her grandmother said it might be; she was certain she’d die of curiosity unless she saw it herself.
So, on her fifteenth birthday, the Little Mermaid traveled to the surface against her grandmother’s wishes.
The higher she swam, the brighter and warmer the water became. She was getting closer and closer to a rolling and rippling ceiling, which she assumed was the surface. Finally, the Little Mermaid poked her head out of the water and saw the upper world with her own eyes.
It was nothing like she expected. There was no sun, moon, stars, or birds in the sky, only thick clouds. Her grandmother was right about one thing: There was lots of wind, powerful wind! It blew the ocean water in many different directions.
In the distance, the Little Mermaid saw a large wooden structure with wide sails. It must have been a ship like her sister had seen. She swam closer to get a better look and saw dozens of humans running around the deck in a panic.
“The storm will sink us! Abandon ship!” one of the men yelled. “Get the prince to safety!”
A handsome young man was escorted to a boat on the side of the ship. The Little Mermaid had never seen someone so handsome in her whole life. He had tan skin, dark hair, and brown eyes—he looked nothing like the pale mermen she was used to.
Just as the prince stepped into the boat, a huge wave came from the north side of the ship and knocked him into the water. He tried to tread the water with all his might, but the waves kept knocking him back below the surface.
“Oh no!” the Little Mermaid said. “I must save him before he drowns!”
The Mer princess dived below the water and searched for the prince. By this point the ship was sinking, so it made it much harder to spot him through the debris. At last she found him. She wrapped her arms around his body and carried him to the surface.
By the time the Little Mermaid reached land with the prince, the storm was gone and the sun was out. Merpeople were forbidden to leave the water, so she rested his weak body on the sand and then fled before he awoke. She stayed just a little ways offshore to keep an eye on him as he recovered.
The prince was very tired and confused and had little memory of the storm. A fisherman and his wife came across him as they were taking a walk along the beach.
“Your Highness,” they said and bowed to him. “What has happened to you?”
“My ship was caught in a terrible storm,” the prince said. “The last thing I remember is being knocked overboard. I nearly drowned.”
“Who saved you?” the fisherman asked.
The prince stared out at the ocean in bewilderment. “I don’t know,” he said. “It must have been an angel.”
In that moment, the Little Mermaid fell in love with the prince. He was the only thing on her mind from that minute forward. It was as if her heart didn’t belong to her anymore but beat solely for him.
The thought of living without him was too devastating to bear. But as a mermaid, she knew she could never live with the prince on land, so she would have to become human. And unfortunately for the Mer princess, there was only one creature she knew who could help her do that.
The Little Mermaid traveled to the deepest and darkest part of the ocean, to a cave where an infamous Sea Witch dwelled. She was feared throughout the ocean, but the Little Mermaid’s love for the prince gave her the courage to face the witch.
The Sea Witch was a nasty creature—she was part merperson and part crustacean, and she had seaweed for hair.
“What have you come here for, child?” the Sea Witch snarled.
“I wish to become human so I may live on the land with the prince,” the Little Mermaid said.
“Changing your form forever is quite a commitment. Are you sure the prince is who you want to be with?”
“I’ve never been so certain of something in my life,” the Little Mermaid said.
A greedy smile appeared on the Sea Witch’s face, exposing her rotting teeth. The Little Mermaid was her favorite kind of client.
“Such a s
trong spell will come at a high price,” she said.
“What will it cost me?” the Little Mermaid asked.
“A trade,” the Sea Witch said. “I’ll give you legs in exchange for your tongue.”
“My tongue?” the Mer princess asked in shock. “But how will I speak to the prince and tell him I love him?”
“If it’s true love, you won’t need words,” the Sea Witch hissed. “But I must warn you that if the prince does not love you the same way you love him, you will turn into sea foam the second you return to the ocean… and cease to exist.”
The Little Mermaid never expected that her wish would come at such a price, but she couldn’t image anything more painful than living without the prince. She agreed to the trade.
The Sea Witch cut the Little Mermaid’s tongue out of her mouth with a sharp knife. She grabbed both ends of the mermaid’s tail and ripped it into two pieces down the middle. Her fins magically turned to feet, her scales turned to skin, and two wonderful legs appeared on her body.
The Little Mermaid—no longer a mermaid—almost drowned in the Sea Witch’s cave. She swam to the ocean surface just before it was too late and washed ashore on the beach in the exact spot she had left the prince.
Luckily, the prince himself returned to this beach every day hoping to find answers to the mystery of his rescue. He found the Little Mermaid and helped her to her feet. Since she had never walked before, she immediately fell back on the ground.
“What happened to you?” the prince asked.
The Little Mermaid tried to respond, but without a tongue, she could only mumble.
“What’s your name?” the prince asked.
Again, the Little Mermaid tried to tell him, but he didn’t understand.
“You don’t talk much, do you?” the prince said with a smile. “Why don’t I take you home to my castle and get you cleaned up?”
The Little Mermaid nodded her head, and tears came to her eyes. She couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful than that. She stayed with the prince for many months, and he took wonderful care of her.
The prince taught the Little Mermaid how to walk, how to run, and how to dance. They danced together every night before bed, each night dancing closer and closer, until they were so close she could rest her head on his chest and they swayed as one.
The Little Mermaid was convinced the prince loved her as much as she loved him. The transformation was worth every ounce of pain.
One day, a beautiful young woman arrived at the castle accompanied by the sound of trumpets and cheering crowds. From the look on the Little Mermaid’s face, the prince knew she didn’t recognize the young woman.
“She’s a princess from another kingdom and my betrothed,” he said. “We’re going to be married at the end of the week.”
The Little Mermaid collapsed on the ground when she heard this. She felt as if her heart had broken into a dozen pieces.
“I’m sorry, I thought you knew,” the prince said. “I thought everyone in the kingdom knew.”
The Little Mermaid ran from the castle in tears. Knowing the prince loved someone else gave her the strongest pain she had ever felt. She headed for the ocean and fell to her knees on the sand.
Just as she was about to touch the water with her toe and become sea foam, all five of her sisters surfaced in the water ahead.
“Dear sister, we’ve been looking everywhere for you!” the oldest said.
Something was different about the Mer princesses. When the Little Mermaid took a closer look, she saw that all of their beautiful hair had been chopped off.
“What happened to your hair?” she mumbled, and thankfully her sisters understood what she meant.
“We’ve traded it to the Sea Witch in hopes of turning you back into a mermaid,” the second oldest said. “She gave us this dagger and said if you want to return to the sea, you must stab the prince in the heart with it and let the blood fall on your feet.”
The second oldest placed a small dagger with a blade of sea glass and a handle of coral at the Little Mermaid’s feet.
The Little Mermaid returned to the castle on the night of the prince’s wedding. She snuck through the halls and entered the newlyweds’ chambers. She stood over the prince and raised the dagger above his heart.
Right as she was about to strike, the Little Mermaid froze. She looked down at the prince as he slept peacefully beside his new bride and realized she could never cause him harm. Although the prince did not love her, she still loved him very much.
The Little Mermaid returned to the beach and threw the dagger into the ocean. She stepped into the cold water and walked into the sea toward the full moon. As much as I’d like to say the Little Mermaid had a happily-ever-after, her body turned into sea foam just as the Sea Witch had warned her.
However, she did not cease to exist as she had been told. The Little Mermaid’s spirit lived on, traveling across the ocean to help those in need and guiding young people away from making mistakes similar to her own.
The End
THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF
ADAPTED FROM ASBJØRNSEN & MOE
Once upon a time, there was a family of three billy goats who lived together in a field. The goats were brothers and were different in size and age. The youngest was the smallest and had only the slightest hint of horns growing on his head. The second-oldest goat was larger and had much bigger horns than his younger brother. The oldest brother was the largest goat in the family and had two strong horns growing on top of his head.
One day, the family of goats ran out of grass to eat in their field. It wasn’t a problem, though, because there happened to be another grassy field just on the other side of the river. So the goats traveled down the river until they found a small stone bridge.
The youngest goat crossed the bridge first. Before he made it to the other side, a hideous troll jumped up from under the bridge and blocked his path.
“How dare you cross my bridge without paying the toll?” the troll roared.
The little goat trembled in the troll’s presence.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Troll,” he said. “But I’m only a goat and have no gold coins to spare.”
“Then you shall be my dinner!” the troll growled, and lunged toward the frightened goat.
“Wait!” the goat said. “I would make you nothing but a small snack. You should wait until my older brother crosses your bridge and eat him. He’ll make you a much more satisfying meal!”
The troll couldn’t believe the small goat would wish this upon his own brother, but he had a point. He let the little goat pass and waited for his brother to cross the bridge.
“How dare you cross my bridge without paying the toll?” the troll roared.
“I’m sorry, sir!” said the second-oldest goat. “But I am just a simple billy goat and have no money to give.”
“Then you shall be my dinner!” the troll growled.
“Wait!” the goat said. “I would only be a light meal for you, but if you wait for my older and larger brother to cross your bridge, you’ll have a wonderful feast!”
The goats were the most dysfunctional family the troll had ever encountered. But he was so hungry, he was glad they were turning on each other. He let the second-oldest goat pass and waited for the oldest goat to cross the bridge.
“How dare you cross my bridge without paying the toll?” the troll roared at the oldest goat.
The oldest goat laughed at him, for he was much larger than the troll. The troll tried to run, but the goat charged toward him horns-first and knocked the foolish troll off the bridge and into the river.
The three goats crossed safely into the next field, where there was plenty of grass for them to eat. The river sent the troll all the way to the other side of the kingdom, and he learned never to take on more than he could chew.
The End
THE SNOW QUEEN
ADAPTED FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
Once upon a time, there lived a little boy named Kay and a
little girl named Gerda. The children were neighbors, and although they weren’t related by blood, they loved each other as if they were brother and sister.
They lived in a great big city that was so crowded, there wasn’t room for a garden or yard, so when the children wanted to play, they had to travel into the nearby forest. Kay’s and Gerda’s homes were especially close together. In fact, they were so close that they could reach through their windows and shake the other’s hand.
They were only one short hop away from being rooftop to rooftop, so when the weather was warm, Kay and Gerda spent most of the day up there looking out across their busy city. They kept a little rooftop garden, where a small rose plant grew.
At night, Kay’s grandmother would tell him stories while she tucked him into bed. Kay would leave his window open, and Gerda would do the same, so they could listen to the stories together.
“There once was a nasty little demon who enjoyed bringing misery into the world,” Kay’s grandmother said. “He created a magic mirror that gave everything a foul reflection. Beautiful women would look into the mirror and see ugly old hags. Handsome men would stare into the mirror and see disgusting old geezers. Even the most pleasant landscape you could think of would look like a filthy wasteland inside the mirror.
“The demon became very popular at his demon school for making such a repulsive creation. His demon peers helped him take the mirror all around the world in hopes of ruining the spirit of mankind.
“One day, the demons decided to take the mirror up to heaven to get a rise out of God and the angels. As the demons flew toward heaven with it, the evil living inside the mirror began laughing with excitement. It laughed so hard, it burst into thousands and thousands of pieces before they were even close to heaven’s gates.