The White Snake (Academy Storytime)
Episode Stats
Harmful content
Misogyny
1
sentences flagged
Toxicity
3
sentences flagged
Hate speech
1
sentences flagged
Summary
The White Snake by Grimm's Fairy Tales Read by Mrs. Piggie Read and illustrated by Ms. Baldwin Read and Illustrated by Ms Baldwin Read by Edna Racette The White Snake is a tale of a king whose wisdom was noiseless in all the country, and nothing remained long unknown to him, and it was as if the knowledge of hidden things was brought to him in the air. However, however, he had one curious custom every day at dinner: every day, at dinner, a servant brought in a dish, but it was covered up, and no one else knew where the dish was, and the servant himself did not know what was in it.
Transcript
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All right, so we're going to be reading The White Snake from Grimm's Fairy Tales.
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a long time ago there lived a king whose wisdom was noised abroad in all the country nothing
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remained long unknown to him and it was as if the knowledge of hidden things was brought to him
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in the air however he had one curious custom every day at dinner after the table had been cleared
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and everyone gone away the trusty servant had to bring in one other dish but it was covered up
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and the servant himself did not know what was in it and no one else knew where the king waited
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until he was quite alone before he uncovered it this had gone on a long time but at last there
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came a day when the servant could restrain his curiosity no longer but as he was carrying the
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dish away he took it into his own room as soon as he fastened the door securely he lifted the cover
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and there he saw a white snake lying on the dish after seeing it he could not resist the desire to
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taste it and so he cut off a small piece and put it in his mouth as soon as it touched his tongue
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he heard outside his window a strange chorus of delicate voices he went and listened and found
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that in it was the sparrows talking together and telling each other all they had seen in the fields
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and woods the virtue of the snake had given him power to understand the speech of animals
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now it happened one day that the queen lost her most splendid ring
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and suspicion fell upon the trusty servant who had the general superintendents and he was accused
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of stealing it the king summoned him to his presence and after many reproaches told him
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that if by the next day he was not able to name the thief he should be considered guilty and
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punished it was in vain that he protested his innocence he could get no better sentence
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in his uneasiness and anxiety he went out into the courtyard and began to consider what he could do
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in so great a necessity there sat the ducks by the running water and rested themselves
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and plumed themselves with their flat bills and held a comfortable chat the servant stayed there
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where he was and listened to them they told how they had waddled about all yesterday morning and
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found good food and then one of them said pitifully something lies very heavy in my craw
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it is the ring that was lying under the queen's window i swallowed it down in too great a hurry
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then the servant seized her by the neck took her into the kitchen and said to the cook kill this
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one she is quite ready for cooking yes said the cook weighing it in her hand there will be no
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trouble of fattening this one it has been ready ever so long she then slid up its neck
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and when it was opened the queen's ring was found in his craw the servant could now clearly prove
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his innocence in order to make up for the injustice he had suffered the king permitted
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him to ask some favor for himself and also promised him the place of greatest honor in
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the royal household but the servant refused it and only asked for a horse and money for traveling
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for he had a fancy to see the world and look about him a little
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so his request was granted and he set out on his way and one day he came to a pool of water by
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which he saw three fishes who had gotten entangled in the rushes and were panting for water although
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fishes are usually considered dumb creatures he understood very well their lament that they were
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to perish so miserably. And as he had a compassionate heart, he dismounted from his
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horse and put the three fishes back again into the water. They quivered all over with joy,
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stretched out their heads, and called to him, We will remember and reward thee,
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because thou hast delivered us. He rode on, and after a while he heard a small voice come up from
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the sand underneath his horse's feet. He listened and understood how an ant king was complaining.
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if only these men would keep off with their great awkward beasts here comes this stupid horse
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treading down my people with his hard hoofs the man then turned his horse to the side path and
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the ant king called out to him we will remember and reward thee the path led him through a wood
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and there he saw father raven and mother raven standing by their nest and throwing their young
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ones out off with you young gallows birds cried they we cannot stuff you anymore you are big
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enough to fend for yourselves the poor young ravens lay on the ground fluttering and beating
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the air with their pinions and crying we are poor helpless things we cannot fend for ourselves we
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cannot even fly we can only die of hunger the kind young man dismounted killed his horse with
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his dagger and left it to the young ravens for food they came hopping up feasted away at it and
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cried we will remember and reward thee so now he had to use his own legs and when he had gone a
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long way he came to a great town there was much noise and thronging in the streets and there came
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a man on a horse who proclaimed that the king's daughter seeks a husband but he who wishes to
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marry her must perform a difficult task and if he cannot carry it through successfully he must lose
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his life many had already tried but had lost their lives in vain the young man when he saw
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the king's daughter was so dazzled by her great beauty that he forgot all danger went to the king
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and offered himself as a wooer then he was led to the seaside and a gold ring was thrown in the
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water before his eyes. Then the king told him that he must fetch the ring up again from the
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bottom of the sea, saying, If you come back without it, you shall be put under the waves again
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and again until you are drowned. Everyone pitied the handsome young man, but they went and left
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him alone by the sea. As he was standing on the shore and thinking of what he should do,
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there came three fishes swimming by none other than those who he had set free the middle one
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had a muscle in his mouth and he laid it on the strand at the young man's feet and when he took
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it up he opened it there was a gold ring inside full of joy he carried it to the king and expected
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the promised reward but the king's daughter proud of her high birth despised him and set him another
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task to perform she went on to the garden and strewed about over the grass ten sacks full of
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millet seed by the time the sun rises in the morning you must have picked up all these she
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said and not a grain must be wanting the young man sat down in the garden and considered how it
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was possible to do this task but he could contrive nothing and stayed there feeling very sorrowful
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and expecting to be led to death at break of day but when the first beams of the sun fell in the
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garden he saw that the ten sacks were all filled standing one by the other not even a grain was
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missing the ant king had arrived in the night with his thousands of ants and the grateful creatures
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had picked up all the millet seed and filled the sacks with great industry the king's daughter
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came herself into the garden and saw with astonishment that the young man had performed
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all that had been given him to do but she could not let her proud heart melt and said although
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he has completed the two tasks he shall not be my bridegroom unless he brings me an apple from
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the tree of life the young man did not know where the tree of life was to be found but he set out
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and went on and on as long as his legs could carry him but he had no hope of finding it when he had
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gone through the three kingdoms, he came one evening to a wood and seated himself under a
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tree to go to sleep. But he had heard a rustling in the bows, and a golden apple fell into his
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hand. Immediately three ravens flew around him, perched on his knee, and said, We are the three
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young ravens that you delivered from starving. When we grew big and heard that you were seeking
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the golden apple we flew over the sea to the end of the earth where the tree of life stands and we
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fetched the apple full of joy the young man set off on his way home and brought the golden apple
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to the king's beautiful daughter who was without any further excuse so they divided the apple of
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life and ate it together and their hearts were filled with love and they lived in undisturbed