Modern Fairy Tales

The Material Ghost

The Green Glass Vase

This is the main story part - and it is quite gruesome at times.  I would not recommend this story for young children.  But I am hoping that some adults may be able to think about the values that do tie us all to some extent - and how horrible it would be to have to sacrifice people to a dragon - or have people torturing each other - and I am thinking about how horrible it must be for all of those living and suffering in Syria at the moment - it may seem eccentric - but I am kind of hoping that a reminder of this story might help us come to some kind of resolution around what to do to try and restore peace.  That may sound very ambitious indeed - but I think it may be worth a try - and I hope you will forgive me for seeming rather silly if you do not agree with my attempt or think that such an aim is over-ambitious for a couple of podcast episodes. Cappadocia is in Turkey.  It is probably correctly pronounced - Cappadokia?

This is not part of my Modern Fairy Tales series at the moment - and I have no plans at the moment to update this tale. I am still working on altering The Old Street Lamp - but when I came across this text I wondered whether it might be helpful for some people in some way - and thought I might like to share it with you - and that you might like to share it with others too. The main story is presented after this short introduction - should there be enough space allowed for me to complete this task. I am sorry about the rather rough and ready reading.

This is a very interesting and quite unusual story by Hans Christian Anderson that I wish to think about more, hopefully transforming it, or elements from it, into a Modern Fairy Tale next time.

 This is the second modern Fairy Tale by Sally Burdyke in the Arcadian series.  You might object “It has nothing to do with sculpture!” I think that there may be a connection - but I admit it does not have the humourous elements found in the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale that I took as my inspiration.  I have just chosen to concentrate on the theme from that rather than the individual elements.  The recording is a bit rough and I cough sometimes which I apologise for.  I considered editing the podcast - but you can also vaguely hear me clicking my computer’s arrow downwards as I read from my Word manuscript and I would not know how to erase that as it is concurrent to the talking (My printer has run out of ink and I can’t afford to buy any more at the moment!)  So I have decided to leave it all ‘Live’ as it were. I hope you enjoy the tale, and would welcome any feedback you may want to give.  You are always welcome to comment - maybe say in what way you think the tale might be improved etc.

This is a reading of “Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind” by Hans Christian Anderson.  My modern version of this tale will appear on my podcast next month - so don’t forget to tune in - or better yet add yourself as a Follower so that you get to hear what I make of it once the tale is transfigured and changed for a modern audience.

This is the first of my own tales in the Modern Fairy Tales podcast - and I do hope you enjoy it.  If you like it you may also be interested in the e-book of it, (a few small changes to the wording - and some pictures to add)  The e-book entitled “A Country in Peril” is soon to be available to buy on Amazon. “The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.” Joseph Heller

In this the first of my podcasts I read to you the original story of The Golden Bird by the Brothers Grimm.  It will be amusing for you perhaps to try and speculate how I may be thinking of taking my inspiration from this tale and updating it for a modern audience.  Will I just include some key elements from the tale, or try to transpose the whole into a more contemporary setting?  What would you do?  I hope you will enjoy my reading of this tale and will tune into my next podcast ….and then you will find out!