Episodes
Tuesday Mar 06, 2012
The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids by the Brothers Grimm
Tuesday Mar 06, 2012
Tuesday Mar 06, 2012
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The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
by the Brothers Grimm
THERE was once upon a time an old goat who had seven little kids, and loved them with all the love of a mother for her children. One day she wanted to go into the forest and fetch some food. So she called all seven to her and said, “Dear children, I have to go into the forest, be on your guard against the wolf; if he comes in, he will devour you all—skin, hair and all. The wretch often disguises himself, but you will know him at once by his rough voice and his black feet.”
The kids said, “Dear mother, we will take good care of ourselves; you may go away without any anxiety.” Then the old one bleated, and went on her way with an easy mind.
It was not long before someone knocked at the house-door and cried, “Open the door, dear children; your mother is here, and has brought something back with her for each of you.” But the little kids knew that it was the wolf, by the rough voice; “We will not open the door,” cried they, “thou art not our mother. She has a soft, pleasant voice, but thy voice is rough; thou art the wolf!” Then the wolf went away to a shopkeeper and brought himself a great lump of chalk, ate this and made his voice soft with it. Then he came back, knocked at the door of the house, and cried, “Open the door, dear children, your mother is here and has brought something back with her for each of you.”
But the wolf had laid his black paws against the window, and the children saw them and cried, “We will not open the door, our mother has not black feet like thee: thou art the wolf!” Then the wolf ran to a baker and said, “I have hurt my feet, rub some dough over them for me.” And when the baker had rubbed his feet over, he ran to the miller and said, “Strew some white meal over my feet for me.” The miller thought to himself, “The wolf wants to deceive someone,” and refused; but the wolf said, “If thou wilt not do it, I will devour thee.” Then the miller was afraid, and made his paws white for him. Truly men are like that.
So now the wretch went for the third time to the house-door, knocked at it and said, “Open the door for me, children, your dear little mother has come home, and has brought every one of you something back from the forest with her.” The little kids cried, “First show us thy paws that we may know if thou art our dear little mother.” Then he put his paws in through the window, and when the kids saw that they were white, they believed that all he said was true, and opened the door.
But who should come in but the wolf!
They were terrified and wanted to hide themselves. One sprang under the table, the second into the bed, the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into the cupboard, the sixth under the washing-bowl, and the seventh into the clock-case. But the wolf found them all, and used no great ceremony; one after the other he swallowed them down his throat. The youngest in the clock-case was the only one he did not find. When the wolf had satisfied his appetite he took himself off, laid himself down under a tree in the green meadow outside, and began to sleep.
Soon afterwards the old goat came home again from the forest! Ah! What a sight she saw there! The house-door stood wide open. The table, chairs, and benches were thrown down, the washing-bowl lay broken to pieces, and the quilts and pillows were pulled off the bed. She sought her children, but they were nowhere to be found. She called them one after another by name, but no one answered. At last, when she came to the youngest, a soft voice cried, “Dear mother, I am in the clock-case.” She took the kid out, and it told her that the wolf had come and had eaten all the others. Then you may imagine how she wept over her poor children.
At length in her grief she went out, and the youngest kid ran with her. When they came to the meadow, there lay the wolf by the tree and snored so loud that the branches shook. She looked at him on every side and saw that something was moving and struggling in his gorged body. “Ah, heavens,” said she, “is it possible that my poor children whom he has swallowed down for his supper, can be still alive?”
Then the kid had to run home and fetch scissors, and a needle and thread, and the goat cut open the monster’s stomach, and hardly had she made one cut, than one little kid thrust its head out, and when she had cut farther, all six sprang out one after another, and were all still alive, and had suffered no injury whatever, for in his greediness the monster had swallowed them down whole.
What rejoicing there was! Then they embraced their dear mother, and jumped like a tailor at his wedding. The mother, however, said, “Now go and look for some big stones, and we will fill the wicked beast’s stomach with them while he is still asleep.” Then the seven kids dragged the stones thither with all speed, and put as many of them into his stomach as they could get in; and the mother sewed him up again in the greatest haste, so that he was not aware of anything and never once stirred.
When the wolf at length had had his sleep out, he got on his legs, and as the stones in his stomach made him very thirsty, he wanted to go to a well to drink. But when he began to walk and to move about, the stones in his stomach knocked against each other and rattled. Then cried he,
“What rumbles and tumbles
Against my poor bones?
I thought ’twas six kids,
But it’s naught but big stones.”
And when he got to the well and stooped over the water and was just about to drink, the heavy stones made him fall in and there was no help, but he had to drown miserably.
When the seven kids saw that, they came running to the spot and cried aloud, “The wolf is dead! The wolf is dead!” and danced for joy round about the well with their mother.
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Click on the player below to hear the audio version of this piece. The Wolf and the The Seven Little KidsMonday Mar 05, 2012
Road Rage and Restaurant Rage
Monday Mar 05, 2012
Monday Mar 05, 2012
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
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That melodic tune must mean it’s time for another episode of philosophy by Markus Tenacious Noggin.
I'm like a bulldog; I won't let go. That might be why my mamma named me Markus Tenacious Noggin.
MT Noggin at yer service.
Road and Restaurant Rag
I appreciate the road workers keepin' me up to date. There's always a sign here and there that says "Road Work Ahead". I like to know that the road works, but I don't know if I need so many signs tellin' me. It seems like a waste of tax payer money, usually, the roads don't work so well every time I see one of those "Road Work Ahead" signs.
I do have a bit of the arthuritis, and it seems like these same shovel crews are worried about me checkin' that my shoulder works. I don't know if I need a sign tellin' me check my shoulder. Shoulder work ahead? Whose business is that?
And even though I am a good God fearin' Christian man, I think there is a line that needs to be drawn between church and state. I have recently become aware of the road crews promotin' Christianity, and you know it's only a matter of time before one of these other religions complains, and then those signs are going to have to come down. You've seen those signs I'm talkin' about; "Look up and live."
It's just another promotion of religion, and like I said, I am a Sundy go to meeting kind of guy but "Look up and live?" It's just gonna cause problems, or you can't call me MT Noggin.
Those asphalt jockeys are gettin' pretty smart about it, too, puttin' those "Look up and live" signs right under those high power electrical wires. Very, very subtile.
And those deer crossin' signs. At least nowadays the deer on the signs look like deer. Back in the good old days, I remember lookin' at those deer signs and wondering who drew it. Cause it looked like a dog with horns, not a deer.
I just hope these new signs work better than the old ones, cause if the deer on the sign don't look like a deer, how are those deer gonna know where to cross?
We may have just caused more senseless deer casualties cause they were looking at a sign wondering if this is the right place for deer to cross, or is it a place for dogs with horns?
I just think it is a humanitarian thing to do, you know. Puttin' those signs up so the deer know where to cross. It just shows what kind 'a carin' people live here in the US of A.
But don't get me started about those "Fallin' Rocks" signs. Why would you put those near roads?
Oh also, I jist wanna take this opportunity to apoleegize to the waiter I was rude to yisterday. I'm usually a pleasant kinda person, but when my back gets up, watch out!
I don't know what was in my craw that made me complain in no uncertain terms that I was not pleased by being made to wait fer a seat at that fancy restaurant yisterday.
It may have been the fact that I am a pretty ornery lookin' fellow, with my wild whiskers and crazy hair. I do look a sight, and I'm not the kind of person most people want to see at an upscale feedbag place. I'm kinda surprized they didn't stick me in the back corner, which has been done to me before.
After I calmed down, I felt bad, so I wound up leavin' a really good tip, but that still don't mean I shoulda been rude.
Sorry, Mr. Matra-dee. Sometimes even MT Noggin puts on airs. But the real message here is you can't judge a book by it's cover. I may look like a crusty ole coot, and sometimes my manners ain't the best, but I gave that waiter the best bump he had all day -- probably a thirty-percent tip. Those table waitin' people deserve it, puttin up with all the nonsense us uppity people dish out.
But don't be judging us scroungy lookin' sorts. All one summer when I was especially hairy-faced and wild-lookin', I couldn't get no good service nowhere. People would ignore me, hopin' I was going away, but I jist stood my ground, waitin' for them to do their job, which was to serve me.
The worst place was those convenience stores. I couldn't walk up and down an aisle without havin' someone on my tail wonderin' what I was gettin' ready to steal.
The sad part about this whole tale is that the community as a whole is a God-fearin', Jesus-lovin' people. They want everybody to know that Jesus loves them, but he might not love you if you have a scroungy beard or uncombed hair.
Makes you wonder what kind of service Jesus would git around here if he came back and wanted a seat in an upscale place.
They'd probly make him wear shoes, and a tie. Come to think of it, if he went to church, he probly wouldn't git in the door, 'specily if he was wearin' sandals.
Mares eat oats
And does eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy
A kid’ll eat ivy too
Wouldn’t you?
Whistling
Jist remember, you heard it here first from MT Noggin.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems
$3.99 DVD
with FREE shipping
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Click on the player below to hear the audio version of this piece. Road Rage and Restaurant RageWednesday Feb 29, 2012
Abundance February 19th
Wednesday Feb 29, 2012
Wednesday Feb 29, 2012
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
This is the complete episode of Abundance from Feb. 19.LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems
$3.99 DVD
with FREE shipping