Fairy tale information

One warm summer day long ago in Ireland, two shepherds were tending their sheep. The men, Jamie and Patrick, sat down beneath a tree to rest, and before long Jamie fell fast asleep. When Jamie began to snore, a very peculiar thing happened. Jamie's mouth opened a little wider, and out of that mouth crawled a beautiful white butterfly. Patrick was mesmerized. He stood up and followed the butterfly as it flitted along a narrow path that crossed the meadow. Soon the flock of sheep was following right behind Patrick, too. The butterfly fluttered its wings and headed toward the stream at the foot of the hillside. At the edge of the water, the butterfly stopped for a moment. Then, to Patrick's amazement, the butterfly flew onto a stepping stone in the stream and began to follow a path of steppin ...

Once upon a time a poor shepherd and his family lived in a place known as the Land of the Lion and the Sun, and he was as proud and strong as any lion. Like his fellow villagers, the shepherd and his family lived in a modest mud hut beside a green oasis fed by an underground spring. Nearly every hut had a beautiful garden. In summer the scent of roses filled the air, and everyone felt blessed by the gifts the world offered up from mere soil.But this shepherd alone was not interested in planting a garden. Year after year, the shepherd's family pleaded with him to plant a garden, but he always said flowers were useless and too delicate. "And Father," the eldest son argued, "a garden is a place to dream." "I dream!" the shepherd answered. "I dream of things our neighbors never even imagine." ...

One spring morning, fisherman Patrick Gannon stood upon the seashore as the sun rose. "Lovely morning," he sighed to himself. He puffed on his pipe, for nothing could bother Patrick this day. Except one thing. He wished he could share his pleasure with a wife. "Ah, a wife would be fine on such a morning," he sighed again. Just then, he spied a rock upon the shore, upon which sat a beautiful young woman, combing her sea-green hair.Patrick looked down at the sand. He knew this was a mermaid, a sea fairy. Beside the maiden sat a red cap with a feather 一 a magic cap, that is, the sort the mermaids wear to find their way home beneath the sea. Patrick ambled down the shore toward the rock. "Hello," he said, startling the mermaid. "Don't be afraid," he said. "I came only to say how pretty you lo ...

Once upon a time a fearsome king lived in a frozen land. As he grew older, he began to feel lonely, so he decided to get married. The king sent his servants out into the world to search for the perfect woman. "Find someone who will melt my heart," he commanded. "She must be kind, generous and good. She must be beautiful and sweet. But most of all, she must be warm." Everywhere the servants traveled, they met beautiful women, but no one seemed right until they met a shy young girl named Violet. Her smile was so wide and warm, and her eyes so bright, that the servants knew at once that this was the woman for their king. Violet felt sad to leave her family, but agreed to meet the king. "Surely he will not ask me to stay," she told her parents and her sisters. "Why would a king want to marry s ...

There once was a samurai who lost one of his eyes in a battle. Afterwards, he was unable to join his fellow warriors again in battle. Trapped in the palace, he longed every day for the adventures he had once had outside the palace walls. One day, the shogun called the samurai to his chamber. The shogun remarked, "Look at this Mandarin drake, isn't it a beauty?" When the samurai saw the drake in a cage, his heart immediately sank. He told the shogun that the drake did not belong in a cage and that it wanted to be with its lover. But the shogun did not listen; instead he got angry and ordered the samurai to leave. One night, one of the maids in the palace saw the drake. She pitied the drake and didn't want it to be trapped anymore, so she secretly freed the drake. The drake flew to the windo ...