検索キーワード： 制作 "Phoenix Books" 童話・民話・神話

Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer who made up special stories for children filled with sweetness and tenderness, as well as lessons about life. Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author and poet best remembered for his fairy tales with lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity. In this pairing of classics, Dudley Moore reads "The Happy Prince"— Oscar Wilde's tale of charity and loyalty—and David Dukes reads Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," a fable about a toy soldier's love for a paper ballerina.

The evil Duke of cold Coffin Castle fancies he has frozen time by stopping all of the clocks. He is fearful that one day a Prince may come and win away the hand of his niece, beautiful Princess Saralinda—the only warm hand in the castle. Several suitors have tried to court the Princess, but the Duke assigns them impossible tasks to thwart that fate. A few days before Saralinda's twenty-first birthday, a mysterious prince arrives to complete a seemingly impossible task and free Saralinda from the clutches of her uncle.

> The Wonderful O tells of a man named Black who despised the letter "O". He deleted it from his language and omitted it from his words. Opals, moonstones, owls and oaks could not possibly be his items of choice. He preferred emeralds, rubies, sapphires and maps. At least they had no "O". Soon he wanted his entire village to omit the letter "O". But the villagers found words they would not do without HOPE, LOVE, VALOR, and the most important one of all.

In addition to her acclaimed performances on film—including her Academy Award-winning role in Roman Holiday—Audrey Hepburn was also a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, an organization dedicated to the lives of children. As one of her final projects for young listeners, Hepburn left the world a treasure of exquisitely told fairy tales. This recording features Mary Sheldon's fresh adaptations of “Sleeping Beauty"; “Tom Thumb”; “Beauty and the Beast”; and “Laidronette, Empress of the Pagodes.”