EpicsClassic retold
Arjuna and the Bird's Eye
The great teacher Drona sets his young princes a simple test. A wooden bird sits high in a tree. Before they shoot, he asks each of them one question. Only one gives the answer he is waiting for.
Life LessonsClassic retold
After Twenty Years
Two young friends in New York promise to meet in the same doorway exactly twenty years later. One of them keeps the appointment. O. Henry's story of loyalty and duty.
For KidsClassic retold
The Elves and the Shoemaker
A poor shoemaker has leather left for just one more pair of shoes. He cuts it out, goes to bed, and in the morning, something wonderful is waiting on his workbench.
Life LessonsClassic retold
The Last Leaf
A young painter lies ill in a New York studio, counting the leaves on an ivy vine outside her window. When the last one falls, she says, she will go too.
Life LessonsClassic retold
The Lottery Ticket
After supper one evening, a comfortable husband and wife discover that their lottery ticket might have won a fortune. Before they even check the number, things begin to change. Chekhov's sharp, funny story.
Life LessonsClassic retold
The Postmaster
A young man from Calcutta is posted to a lonely village post office, where an orphan girl keeps house for him. Tagore's tender story of a bond that means far more to one than to the other.
For KidsClassic retold
The Princess and the Pea
On a stormy night, a dripping-wet girl knocks at the palace gate and says she is a real princess. The queen has a clever, rather strange way to find out.
For KidsClassic retold
The Ugly Duckling
One egg in the mother duck's nest is bigger than the rest, and the chick that hatches from it looks nothing like his brothers and sisters. Nobody wants him. Not yet.
KindnessClassic retold
Two Old Men
Two old friends set off on foot on the long pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Only one of them gets there. Tolstoy's story of what it really means to keep a promise to God.
Life LessonsClassic retold
Where Love Is, God Is
A lonely old cobbler hears a voice in the night promising a visitor tomorrow. All day he watches the street from his basement window, waiting. Tolstoy's gentle story.
Life LessonsClassic retold
The Gift of the Magi
A young couple with almost no money each secretly give up their greatest treasure to buy the other a Christmas present. O. Henry's most loved story.
KindnessClassic retold
The Happy Prince
A golden statue who can see all the sorrow of his city asks a little swallow to give away his jewels and gold, one piece at a time. Oscar Wilde's tender fairy tale.
Life LessonsClassic retold
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
A peasant is offered all the land he can walk around in a single day, for one small price. Tolstoy's famous parable about wanting more.
Life LessonsClassic retold
The Bet
At a party, a rich banker bets a young lawyer two million roubles that he cannot survive fifteen years alone in a room. Chekhov's story of what the lawyer learns.
ReflectionClassic retold
The Three Questions
A king believes he would never fail if he knew three things - the right time, the right people and the right thing to do. Tolstoy's quiet parable about the answers.
For KidsClassic retold
The Emperor's New Clothes
Two tricksters sell a vain emperor cloth that only clever people can see. Everyone pretends, until one child says what they all can see.
Life LessonsClassic retold
The Necklace
Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace for one glittering night at a ball. When it disappears, she and her husband pay for it with ten years of their lives.
KindnessClassic retold
The Selfish Giant
A giant builds a wall to keep the children out of his beautiful garden. Then spring refuses to come. Oscar Wilde's fairy tale about a heart that opens.
Life LessonsClassic retold
Kabuliwala
A five-year-old girl in Calcutta becomes best friends with a tall Afghan fruit-seller. Years later he returns, and her father understands what they shared. Tagore's beloved story.
KindnessClassic retold
The Bishop's Candlesticks
A hungry ex-convict, turned away by every inn, is welcomed by a kind old bishop, and repays him by stealing his silver. The famous scene from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.