When this world was filled with water, Earth-Maker floated upon it, kept floating about. Nowhere in the world could he see even a tiny bit of earth. No persons of any kind flew about. He went about in this world, the world itself being invisible, transparent like the sky. He was troubled. “I wonder how, I wonder where, I wonder in what place, in what country, we shall find a world!” he said. “You are a very strong man, to be thinking of this world,” said Coyote. “I am guessing in what direction the world is, then to that distant land let us float!” said Earth-Maker. In this world they kept flo ..read more

The MAIDU are an American Indian people of northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada, in the watershed area of the Feather and American rivers. They also reside in Humbug Valley. In the Maiduan languages, Maidu means “man.”   Estimates for the pre-contact populations of Maidu (including the Konkow and Nisenan) was, in 1770, estimated to be 9,000. Sherburne F. Cook later raised this figure slightly, to 9,500. After the arrival of the Europeans, Kroeber reported the population of the Maidu in 1910 as low as 1,100. The 1930 census counted only 93, following decimation by ..read more

From GRIMMS FAIRY TALES (Illustrated edition) ISBN: 9788828338611 Little brother took his little sister by the hand and said, “Since our mother died, we have had no happiness; our stepmother beats us every day, and if we come near her, she kicks us away with her foot. Our meals are the hard crusts of bread that are left over. The little dog under the table is better off, for she often throws it a nice bit. May Heaven pity us! If our mother only knew! Come, we will go forth together into the wide world.” They walked the whole day over meadows, fields, and stony places; and when it rained the l ..read more

From Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg   Gimme the Ax lived in a house where everything is the same as it always was.   “The chimney sits on top of the house and lets the smoke out,” said Gimme the Ax. “The doorknobs open the doors. The windows are always either open or shut. We are always either upstairs or downstairs in this house. Everything is the same as it always was.”   So he decided to let his children name themselves.   “The first words they speak as soon as they learn to make words shall be their names,” he said. “They shall name themselves.”   When the fir ..read more

From the ebook THE VILLAGE OF HIDE AND SEEK By B. T. WILSON The hot sun was now standing directly over the tops of the trees, and, as the moving shade had left the Vagabond with a part of his circle of children out in its broiling rays, he was glad indeed to pause with his story while they all rose at his request and formed a new circle farther in under the sheltering branches. Four of the boys leaped from the ground and scampered away to bring the water as the Vagabond had requested. When the new circle was formed, one of the little girls,—a sweet-faced darling of not more than five years, pu ..read more

From the ebook Sylvie and Bruno The sequel to Alice in Wonderland By Lewis Carrol I said something, in the act of waking, I felt sure: the hoarse stifled cry was still ringing in my ears, even if the startled look of my fellow-traveler had not been evidence enough: but what could I possibly say by way of apology? “I hope I didn’t frighten you?” I stammered out at last. “I have no idea what I said. I was dreaming.” “You said ‘Uggug indeed!’” the young lady replied, with quivering lips that would curve themselves into a smile, in spite of all her efforts to look grave. “At least—you didn’t say ..read more

This blog, Folklore and Fairytales, which I have been posting to since 2011, has been selected by Feedspot (https://blog.feedspot.com/kids_blogs/)  as one of the Top 100 Kids Blogs on the web ..read more

From the ebook “The Counterpane Fairy”  EDDY was all alone, for his mother had been up with him so much the night before that at about four o’clock in the afternoon she said that she was going to lie down for a little while.   The room where Teddy lay was very pleasant, with two big windows, and the furniture covered with gay old-fashioned India calico. His mother had set a glass of milk on the table beside his bed, and left the stair door ajar so that he could call Hannah, the cook, if he wanted anything, and then she had gone over to her own room.   The little boy had always ..read more

From the ebook “Favorite Fairy Tales” JACK was an idle, lazy boy who would do no work to support his widowed mother; and at last they both came to such poverty that the poor woman had to sell her cow to buy food to keep them from starving. She sent Jack to market with the cow, telling him to be sure and sell it for a good price. As Jack was going along the road to market he met a butcher. The butcher offered to buy the cow in exchange for a hatful of colored beans. Jack thought the beans looked very pretty, and he was glad to be saved the long hot walk to market; so he struck the bargain on th ..read more

From Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages translated from the compiled works of Dr. W. Wägner Tristram Teaches Isolde To Play The Guitar.   TRUSTY RUAL AND HIS FOSTER-SON A furious battle was raging before the gates of the castle, for Rivalin, the lord of the place, was fighting against Morgan, his feudal superior, whose oppression had grown too great to be borne. Within the castle, Blancheflur, Rivalin’s wife, was praying fervently for her husband’s safety, as she clasped in her weak arms her little son that had been born while the din of battle filled the air. All day long it lasted ..read more