A retelling of the story told to Marco Polo about the Magi of Saveh, three wise men from a town in Persia, who followed a strange star and find a special child.
Folklore and Fairy Tales
Goha: The Wise Fool
A collection of fourteen tales about the folk hero Nasreddin Hoca, also known as Goha, a man with a reputation for being able to answer difficult questions in a clever way.
Rubia and the Three Osos
Retells the story of Goldilocks and the three bears in rhyming text interspersed with Spanish words, which are defined in a glossary.
When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew
In these three imaginative stories, Jan Andrews introduces us to Quebec’s traditional folktale hero, Ti-Jean. He’s an endearing character who is both wise and foolish, and though he does find himself in hard situations (often of his own making), in the end, he somehow manages to do what needs to be done. In “Ti-Jean and the Princess of Tomboso” he eventually outwits a greedy princess; in “Ti-Jean the Marble Player” he gets the best of a pint-sized scoundrel; and in “How Ti-Jean Became a Fiddler” he turns the tables on a too-clever-for-her-own-good seigneur’s daughter, and finds true love in the process.
The Flying Canoe: A Christmas Story
One frosty Christmas Eve in the Canadian wilderness, six homesick fur traders are visited by a mysterious stranger. The man claims that he can send them home to faraway Montreal that very night, but on one condition: they must not utter a word until they reach their homes. Agreeing to the terms, the fur traders climb into an enchanted canoe and paddle through the sky. But when hot-headed Armand cannot keep silent, it will take a daring move to outwit the stranger.
Master Man: A Tall Tale of Nigeria
A boastful strong man learns a lesson harder than his muscles when he encounters one of Nigeria’s superheroes in this Hausa tale which explains the origin of thunder.
Jabuti The Tortoise: A Trickster Tale From The Amazon
Jabut’s shell was smooth and shiny, and the songs he played on his flute were sweet. But his music was a reminder, too, of the mischievous pranks Jabut sometimes played. When a concert takes place in heaven, Vulture offers to fly Jabut there . . . all the while plotting a trick of his own.
How Night came from the Sea: A Story From Brazil
There was no starlight or moonbeams. There were no night creatures and no night flowers to fill the air with perfume. Everywhere there was only sunlight and brightness and heat.
In graceful, deeply felt text and bold, brilliant pictures, this story shows how an ancient African sea goddess brings the gift of night to the land of daylight. With the coming of night there is not only beauty and wonder of night flowers opening their petals at dusk, of stars and moonbeams flickering across the sky, and of the gentle chorus of night creatures, but there is rest, too. For when the dark, cool blanket of night covers everything, the people can then leave their work from under Brazil’s bright, hot sun.
This traditional story expresses Brazil’s unbroken connection to Africa as it show how one woman finds peace and hope in a strange new land. Celebrating all the beauty of the lush, tropical night, here is a tale that will be long remembered.
Dancing Turtle: A Folktale from Brazil
After being caught by a hunter, a clever turtle uses her wits and her talent playing the flute to trick the hunter’s children into helping her escape.
The Frog Princess
Forced to marry an ugly frog, the youngest son of the Tsar is astounded to learn that the frog is really the beautiful princess Vasilisa the Wise.