akorn - Mighty Old Tales Retold

In the German country of Wurttemberg, where the beautiful acacia tress bloom inside the highways and the apple and pear trees bend down in autumn under the weight of their ripe blessings, there lies the little town of Marbach.

Around the garden ran a hedge of hazelnut bushes, and beyond it lay fields and meadows with cows and sheep; but in the middle of the garden stood a blooming Rosebush, and under it sat a Snail, who had a lot inside his shell -- namely, himself.

At dawn, when the clouds are red, a great star shines, the beautiful morning star. Her beams tremble on the white wall, as if she would like to write there the story of all she has seen during the thousands of years she has watched our revolving earth.
Listen to one of her stories.

When Rudy went to visit the mill a couple of days later, he found the young Englishman there. Babette had just set a plate of boiled trout before him, which she herself had decorated with parsley, to make it look appetizing, no doubt. Rudy thought that was entirely unnecessary.

Oh, what a load Rudy had to carry the next day, when he started his return home over the mountains! He had two handsome guns, three silver cups, and a silver coffee pot -- this past would be useful when he set up his own home.

When Rudy arrived in his uncle's house he thanked God to see people such as he was accustomed to. 

Let us visit Switzerland. Let us take a look at that magnificent land of mountains, where the forests creep up the side of the steep rocky walls; let us climb to the dazzling snowfields above, and descend again to the green valleys below, where the rivers and streams rush along as if afraid they will be too late to reach the ocean and disappear. 

A duck arrived from Portugal. Some people said she came from Spain, but that doesn't really matter. She was called the Portuguese; she laid eggs and was killed and dressed and cooked; that's the story of her life.

"It's so bitterly cold that my whole body crackles!" said the Snow Man. "This wind can really blow life into you! And how that glaring thing up there glares at me!" He meant the sun; it was just setting.

Now I am going to tell you a story when I was a little fellow and that I like better and better the more I think of it.