The Water of Life & The Three Languages

by The Brothers Grimm
narrated by Jon Ingram
Language: English

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Number of pages: 30
Audiobook length: 0:23:55
EBook series:
Collection: Sinkronigo learner
Age Group: Youth literature
Read aloud type: Word-by-word
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eBook description:

The Water of Life (German: Das Wasser des Lebens) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. A king gets sick. An old man tells them to his three sons to seek the Water of Life to heal him. The first two brothers are rude to a dwarf who imprisons them in a gorge, while the third brother is kind, so the dwarf advises him on how to enter an enchanted castle. When the brother enters the castle, he swipes some cool magic items, and encounters a beautiful princess who says she'll marry him in a year's time. He leaves with the Water of Life and also rescues his brothers. Then, he uses the magical items to help a kingdom in distress on the way home. But his brothers decide to betray him so as to gain the kingdom for themselves, so they swap out the Water of Life for bitter saltwater. The king thinks his youngest son is trying to off him, so he orders him killed. Luckily, the hunter takes pity on him and lets him go. The kingdom that the younger brother had helped sends tokens of gratitude, leading the king to think something is up. Wising up, he forgives his youngest son, who passes the princess's test when it's time to marry. The Three Languages is another German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. A count's son could learn nothing. The count sent him to find a master who could teach him something. One year later, he came back saying he knew what dogs said when they barked; the next, what birds said; the third, what frogs said. Infuriated by his uselessness, his father drove him out. He was offered a night's shelter in a tower, but warned that wild dogs barked and howled there, and every night ate a man. He went and came back, saying that the dogs were there to guard a treasure until it was taken, and they had told him how to take it. The lord of the castle asked him to do it, and he came out with a chest of gold, and the lord adopted him as a son. He went to Rome. On the way, listening to frogs made him thoughtful. In Rome, the Pope had died, and they could not choose his successor, and were looking for some marvelous sign. Two doves descended on him, and they chose him as Pope — as the frogs had foretold. The doves persuaded him, and he had to sing Mass, but the doves whispered how to do it in his ear. The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859), were born in the German state of Hesse. They were universally known for the collection of over two hundred folk tales they made from oral sources and published in two volumes of 'Nursery and Household Tales' in 1812 and 1814. Although their intention was to preserve such material as part of German cultural and literary history, and their collection was first published with scholarly notes and no illustration, the tales soon came into the possession of young readers. This was in part due to Edgar Taylor, who made the first English translation of part of the tales in 1823. (Summary from Wikipedia and Shmoop, adapted by Sinkronigo)

eBook index:

  • The Water of Life
  • The Three Languages

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