The Ugly Ducking and Other Stories
The Ugly Duckling


Once upon a time, a mother duxk had many little ducks, one og whom was... different. This duck was larger than the others, and a dirty grey, where the others were soft, bright yellow.

Although mommy duck loved her little one, the other ducks on the pond made fun of him and treated him badly. When winter arrived, the other ducks flew south without him, leaving him to fend for himself.

Over the corse of the winter the ugly duckling grew up, and come spring, when he saw his reflection in the pond, he was a swan! Whereupon he promtly joined a bunch of swans and lived happily ever after



Hansel and Gretel


Hansel and Gretel were two children who lived in the forest with their father, the wood cutter. Children are expensive, though, and a lot of trouble, and the woodcutter didn't like his anyway, so he threw them out.

Hansel and Gretel walked through the forest looking for someplace to live. The left bread crumbs scattered behind them so they could find their way back to the cottage if they got lost, but when they turned to find their trail, it had been eaten by birds.

They wandered a little farther into the forest and came upon a house made of gingerbread. They started eating the house, whereupon a nice old lady came out ond invited them to eat the inside bits of the house, and maybe have something to drink, too.

They accepted, and she fattened them up a bit, and then turned out to be a witch and put them in a cage for cooking the next day. The children got loose and stuffed the witch into her own oven. Then they ran home to the wood cutter, who had apparently decided to keep them after all.



The Frog Prince


Once upon a time, a princess was wandering near some kind of deep water (either a fountain or a lake, depending on which version you watch/hear/read) and she dropped her favorite trinket into it.

The Princess was, naturally, very upset, so when a frog... okay, here the versions differ, also. in some, he demands a kiss before fetching the trinket, in others he fetches it and then asks like a nice little froggie. The Princess says yes in all versions, then they diverge again. Either she renigs, or the frog gets frog-napped and she can't kiss him. now, in the one where he get frog-napped, she rescues him, kisses him, and they start dating, so i'm thinking this is.... a paraphrased version, you might say. In the real version, the frog has dinner with her or something and talks to her father, who holds the princess to her word. The frog turns into a handsome prince, who then refuses to marry the princess because she's mean, spiteful, and she doesn't keep promises made to talking frogs.



The Pied Piper of Hamlin


There once was a town called Hamlin. (actually, there probably IS a town called Hamlin somewhere) The town was overrun with rats, so the mayor offered a sizeable reward to anyone who could get rid of them.

The Pied Piper shows up and promises to get rid of the rats, which he does, by playing his magic pipes and luring them away.

Once the job was finished, he returned and asked for his reward. The mayor refused to give it to him, thinking that the Piper could do nothing about it.

The Piper, thinking no doubt what a terrible example this set for the children (yeah, right. vindictive little man, wasn't he?) lured THEM away with his pipes, and into a place where they would always be children, and there were lots of things to play with. the end.