The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

  SUMMARY OF The Hobbit 

Chapter 1 opens as the wizard Gandalf visits the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and invites him to join in an adventure. Bilbo declines, reluctant to leave the safety and comfort of his hobbit-hole. The next day, he is visited by dwarves who believe Bilbo can be of use to them in their journey to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim their ancestral treasure, now in the possession of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo realizes that Gandalf had represented him to the dwarves as a burglar. He reluctantly agrees to go, but he changes his mind the next morning. Gandalf urges him to join them, however, and they depart — a band of fourteen.

Chapters 2 through 10 depict Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves traveling out of the hobbit-lands toward the Lonely Mountain far to the east. As the landscape becomes less hospitable and the group faces hunger, bad weather, and attacks from hostile creatures, Bilbo often thinks fondly of home and questions his decision to come on this journey. In the Lone-lands, the travelers encounter trolls who capture the dwarves and tie them up in sacks, planning to roast and eat them later. They are rescued by Gandalf and Bilbo, who produces a key he found nearby. The key unlocks the trolls' secret cave, where the travelers find gold and weapons, to which they help themselves. They travel on to the valley of Rivendell at the edge of the Wild, and stay at the home of Elrond, a hospitable elf leader. Elrond translates the runes on the swords that Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield, king of the dwarves, took from the trolls' cave; they are ancient swords called Orcrist and Glamdring that come from dragon plunder or the Goblin-wars. Elrond also translates Thorin's map, which clarifies the importance of Durin's Day, the first day of the dwarves' New Year.. After two weeks, Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves resume their journey. Approaching the Misty Mountains, they take shelter from a storm in a cave that turns out to be the Great Goblin's cavern. The Goblins capture Bilbo and his companions and take their ponies. Using Glamdring, Gandalf kills the Great Goblin and frees Bilbo and the dwarves. The travelers try to find their way out of the cave as the Goblins retreat, but Bilbo falls on his way out and loses consciousness.

When Bilbo regains consciousness and tries to make his way out of the cave, he finds a ring that he absentmindedly pockets. This incident, in Chapter 5, marks a dramatic moment in his adventures, for the ring confers powers of invisibility on whomever wears it. Bilbo encounters old Gollum, a slimy, murderous creature who kills and eats Goblins and others who stray into the cave. They exchange riddles, and Gollum discovers that Bilbo has the ring, which is Gollum's favorite possession. At the same time, Bilbo puts on the ring and discovers its magical power. Pursuing the invisible Bilbo, Gollum inadvertently shows him the way out of the cave. Bilbo has the opportunity to kill Gollum, but decides his invisibility is an unfair advantage and, instead, leaps over his head through the mouth of the cave.

After he is outside, Bilbo plans to go back and rescue his friends but finds they have escaped, too. He tells his tale and gains their respect. Then they all run away from the Mountains, fearful of the Goblins. They are chased up into trees by Wargs, menacing wild wolves. Gandalf chases the Wargs away, but the Wargs soon return with Goblins and try to smoke Bilbo and the dwarves out of the trees by setting fire to the forest. Bilbo and the dwarves are rescued by eagles, who fly them to their nest. After spending the night in safety, they resume their travels east and Gandalf takes them to the house of Beorn, the skin-changer, who outfits them for the next leg of their journey, through the forest of Mirkwood. At the end of Chapter 7, Gandalf leaves them at the edge of Mirkwood, warning them not to stray from the path. Gandalf does not reappear until the Battle of Five Armies near the end of the book.

Bilbo and the dwarves travel through the forest and use a boat to cross an enchanted lake. They rescue Bombur, one of the thirteen dwarves, from a fall into the lake. Hungry, they approach a party of feasting elves, but to no avail. Bilbo is captured by a spider, but fights his way free with the sword he took from the trolls; he names it Sting. Wearing the ring of invisibility, he frees the dwarves who have been bound in spiders' webs and reveals to them the secret of the ring. At the end of Chapter 8, Bilbo and the dwarves find that Thorin has been captured by elves, and in Chapter 9, all the dwarves are captured and thrown into the dungeon under the palace of the Elvenking. Bilbo escapes this fate because he is wearing the ring that makes him invisible, and he wanders around the Elvenking's palace until he has developed a plan to free the dwarves. He hides them in empty wine barrels that are dropped through the floor of the palace and float down the river to Esgaroth or Lake-town. Bilbo and the dwarves spend some time in Lake-town, a town of men, but then move on and disembark near the Lonely Mountain.

Chapter 11 depicts the encounter with Smaug the dragon, the object of the journey. The travelers can see the door to Smaug's lair in the side of the Lonely Mountain, but they can't open it until Bilbo suddenly understands the clues in Thorin's map. On Durin's Day, using the key from Thorin's grandfather, Bilbo enters the Lonely Mountain. He sees Smaug the dragon sitting on the treasure hoard and, despite great fear, engages him in conversation and emerges with a cup he has stolen from the hoard. At this point, Bilbo becomes, in effect, the leader of the group. He re-enters Smaug's lair and steals the Arkenstone, the precious gem of the hoard. In a vengeful rage, Smaug comes out of his lair and destroys the town of Esgaroth. Bard, a Lake-town archer, kills Smaug.

At this point, in Chapter 14, various groups begin to converge on the Lonely Mountain, because the treasure Smaug had guarded is now up for grabs. Thorin refuses to ally with Bard or the elves, and Bilbo gives Bard the Arkenstone to use in bargaining with Thorin. Gandalf reappears. The Battle of Five Armies ensues — dwarves, men, and elves fighting against Goblins and Wargs. After the battle, Bilbo is taken to see Thorin, who is dying. He is buried with Orcrist and the Arkenstone; his inheritance, the hoard, is divided. Bilbo leaves with Gandalf, Elvenking, and Beorn to go back to the hobbit-lands. They stay with Beorn over Yule-tide and return to Elrond in the spring. When Bilbo arrives home, he finds that his house and its contents are being auctioned, because he is presumed dead. He recovers most of his possessions and leads an eccentric life, sometimes visited by his travel companions.

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A Visit from St. Nicholas - Clement Clarke Moore

 

 A Visit from St. Nicholas 

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house  
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;  
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,  
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;  
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;  
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,  
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,  
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,  
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,  
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.  
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow  
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,  
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,  
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,  
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.  
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,  
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!  
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!  
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!  
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”  
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;  
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,  
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.  
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof  
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,  
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.  
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,  
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;  
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.  
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!  
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!  
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow  
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,  
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;  
He had a broad face and a little round belly,  
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.  
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;  
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,  
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;  
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,  
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,  
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;  
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,  
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,  
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

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The Little Red Hen - Margot Zemach

 

summary of The Little Red Hen

In the tale, the little red hen finds a grain of wheat and asks for help from the other farmyard animals (most adaptations feature three animals, a pig, a cat, and a rat, duck, goose, dog, or goat ) to plant it, but none of them volunteer.
At each later stage (harvest, threshing, milling the wheat into flour, and baking the flour into bread), the hen again asks for help from the other animals, but again she gets no assistance.
Finally, the hen has completed her task and asks who will help her eat the bread. This time, all the previous non-participants eagerly volunteer. She declines their help stating that no one aided her in the preparation work. Thus, the hen eats it with her chicks leaving none for anyone else.
The moral of this story is that those who say no to contribution to a product do not deserve to enjoy the product: "if any would not work, neither should he eat."

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The Secret Garden -Frances Hodgson Burnett

SUMMARY of The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a story of rebirth as a result of the power of love. It opens with Mary Lennox, a 10-year-old girl who lives in India with her English parents. She is terribly neglected by them, causing her to be sickly, unpleasant, and demanding. When her parents die in a cholera epidemic, Mary is sent to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven, in Yorkshire, England. Mr. Craven lives in a huge manor house with nearly 100 rooms, most of which are unused since the death of his wife 10 years earlier, an event that has left him bereft. When she arrives at the Misselthwaite estate, the servants let her know that her uncle will pay no attention to her and that she is expected to get by on her own.
Soon after her arrival, Mary learns about a secret garden on the estate that has been locked away for 10 years. She becomes enchanted with the idea of the garden and determined to find it, and eventually she locates it and goes inside. It appears to be abandoned, but she finds a few sprigs of new growth and begins tending to them even though she knows nothing about gardening. Mary befriends Ben Weatherstaff, a gardener on the estate, and questions him about the garden, but he makes it clear that it is not to be discussed. She learns that the garden belonged to the late Mrs. Craven and her husband ordered that it be locked away after her death because it caused him too much pain. Mary also befriends Dickon Sowerby, the brother of her housemaid Martha, who is a great lover of nature and is beloved by every living thing, including every animal he meets, and he begins to help Mary tend to the garden.
After hearing the soft sound of crying from time to time in the house, Mary eventually discovers Colin, the sickly, demanding son of Mr. Craven, who remains secluded in his room and is not expected to live long. Mary and Colin are kindred spirits and when she tells him about the secret garden, he becomes determined to see it for himself. She brings Dickon to meet him and they conspire to take Colin to the garden in his wheelchair, but to keep it a secret from the adults in the house. Just as Mary has grown physically and mentally healthier by spending time in the garden, Colin immediately begins to transform when he enters it and declares that he will now live forever.
As spring comes, the garden begins to thrive along with the health of Colin and Mary. Soon Colin is able to stand and walk, but the children keep this a secret because he wants to surprise his father when he returns from his travels, hoping that his improved health will enable his father to love him. Unbeknownst to the residents of the manor, Mr. Craven has begun a simultaneous transformation as a result of the garden's spiritual power. When he returns to Misselthwaite, he is surprised to find that the garden has been discovered and is now thriving again and thrilled that his son, whom he has come to regret neglecting all these years, has now been made strong and healthy through his connection with nature and the power of love that comes from the secret garden.

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The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

 

summary of THE GIVING TREE

‘Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.’

So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk…and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave.

This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another’s capacity to love in return.

The Apple Tree had a relatively boring life before the boy moved into the cabin hidden behind the hill.  She liked the animals that lived in her branches, but this boys seemed to love her.  He’d always marvel over her apples, and carefully climb as high as he could in her branches.  Every summer he would come to the cabin, and the tree would look forward to his visits.
Then he grew older.  Once he came with a friend.  After a time spent clambering through the tree, his friend pulled out a sharp metal object, hacking at one of the trees smaller branches.  The tree was shocked at the exquisite pain that came from the tiny knife, but her boy didn’t make a comment.  Instead he took the branch in his hand, and once his friend cut away another branch, skipped back an forth, bashing the wood against each other.  Soon they grew bored, and tossed aside the tree’s branches, walking away together.
Later he came with a girl and a different metal object.  They lingered at the base of the tree, whispering together and the tree felt love for him.  Then he took out his own knife, and carved the couple’s initials into the trees bark.
He didn’t come for many years, and when he did it was with a large yellow machine.  He held pieces of paper, with outlines for another cabin drawn on it.  Soon men in orange hard hats arrived, brandished whirring knives, and ripped into the tree.
As the life dried from her wood, the tree tried her bet to remember the child that had scrambled through her branches, but the memory was fading, fading, then gone.

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The BFG -Roald Dahl

SUMMARY OF THE BFG

As The BFG begins, Sophie lies in bed in an orphanage, unable to sleep. She creeps to the curtains to shut them against the moonlight. It is the Witching Hour, the time when everything is quiet and still, and she is curious about what the world looks like at this time. She sticks her head outside and sees a giant walking toward her carrying a suitcase and a huge, trumpet-like object. He puts something into the trumpet and inserts it into a window. Then he looks up and sees Sophie watching.
Sophie runs back to bed and covers herself with her blanket. After a moment, she peeks out and sees the giant’s eye peeking in. He grabs her out of her bed, blanket and all, and starts to run. His legs have some kind of magical power that makes him travel extremely fast, as if by flight, across the land and maybe the ocean, too. Eventually he comes to a big mountain. He pushes a round stone away from the side of the mountain and goes inside, rolling the stone to close the opening behind him.
When the giant sets Sophie down, she cowers in fear and begs him not to eat her. He laughs. “Just because I is a giant, you think I is a man-gobbling cannybull!” he roars. He explains that she is almost right because most giants are cannybulls. His neighbor, Bone-Crunching Giant, loves eating “human beans” from Turkey because they are juicy and delicious. He launches into a long explanation of the flavors of people from around the world. People from Greece taste greasy, people from Wales taste fishy, and so on. Sophie tries to change the subject, but when she fails she decides to face her fate. She asks the giant what kind of people he likes best. He roars:

Me gobbling up human beans! This I never!....I is the BIG FRIENDLY GIANT! I is the BFG.

Sophie demands to know why the BFG snatched her if he is so friendly. He says he had to prevent her from telling people that he exists. Otherwise people would hunt him down and lock him up in a zoo. Sophie admits that this is probably true, and the BFG says that she will have to live with him forever. He warns her never to go outside without him, or the other giants will eat her up. To prove this, he gives her a peek of his nine cannibalistic neighbors, all of whom eat several people every night. The BFG thinks this is wrong, but he cannot stop them because he is far smaller than the others.
The BFG worries that Sophie’s parents must be missing her by now, and she says she is an orphan. He cries when he hears about her grim life in the orphanage and the punishments she suffered at the hands of Mrs. Clonkers, who runs the orphanage. To change the subject, Sophie asks what he was doing when she first saw him. The BFG explains that he is a dream-blowing giant who spends nights giving children nice dreams. Dreams are invisible creatures that live wild in the air. The BFG uses his enormous ears to hear them flit past. He catches them with a net, “the same way you is catching buttery flies,” and puts them in jars to take to children at night.
Tasty vegetables do not grow in giant country, so the BFG has nothing to eat except snozzcumbers. A snozzcumber is the most disgusting vegetable imaginable. It is black and white, lumpy, and longer than an ordinary man. When Sophie tastes it, she says it tastes like “frogskins” and “rotten fish.” She suggests that the BFG steal better vegetables when he goes dream-blowing at night, but the BFG says he is an honorable giant who does not steal. Sophie points out that he stole her, and he says, “I did not steal you very much.... After all, you is only a tiny little girl.”
Bloodbottler, one of the BFG’s giant neighbors, hears the BFG’s voice through his stone door and barges in. Sophie jumps out of sight behind the snozzcumber. The BFG distracts Bloodbottler, and Sophie scrapes some seeds out of the awful vegetable and climbs inside. Bloodbottler decides to try a bite of the snozzcumber, and Sophie soon finds herself in his mouth. Luckily for her, he hates the taste and spits the whole mouthful right out. She sails across the room, and the BFG’s cloak prevents her from being smashed against the wall. She hides in its folds until Bloodbottler leaves. The whole scene horrifies the BFG. He says he now hates the other giants more than ever and wants to “find a way of disappearing them.” Sophie promises to think up a plan.
Sophie is thirsty, but the BFG does not know what water is. He only has frobscottle, a delicious liquid full of bubbles that move down instead of up. Sophie objects that bubbles traveling downward from the stomach will inevitably produce a very rude noise, and the BFG insists that this rude noise, which he calls a whizzpopper, is fun and wonderful. He demonstrates by taking a sip of frobscottle and waiting until he emits the loudest, rudest sounds Sophie has ever heard. He is actually lifted him off the floor “like a rocket.” Sophie tries it out and finds she loves it as much as the BFG does.
When Sophie is refreshed, the BFG puts her in his pocket and takes her out to collect dreams. On the way, the other giants bully him. They toss him around like a ball while Sophie clings to the inside of his pocket. Fortunately the giants tire of the game before she falls out or gets squished. Afterward, Sophie says it is terrible that the mean giants eat people. The BFG agrees, but adds:

Human beans is squishing each other all the time....They is shootling guns and going up in aerioplanes to drop bombs on each other’s heads every week. Human beans is always killing other human beans.

When they arrive in Dream Country, the BFG tells Sophie to be very quiet. She watches his ears swivel around, listening for dreams. He catches them in his butterfly net, and Sophie helps him shut them up in jars. He catches a phizzwizard, the...

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The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

SUMMARY of The  Little  Prince

The narrator, an airplane pilot, crashes in the Sahara desert. The crash badly damages his airplane and leaves the narrator with very little food or water. As he is worrying over his predicament, he is approached by the little prince, a very serious little blond boy who asks the narrator to draw him a sheep. The narrator obliges, and the two become friends. The pilot learns that the little prince comes from a small planet that the little prince calls Asteroid 325 but that people on Earth call Asteroid B-612. The little prince took great care of this planet, preventing any bad seeds from growing and making sure it was never overrun by baobab trees. One day, a mysterious rose sprouted on the planet and the little prince fell in love with it. But when he caught the rose in a lie one day, he decided that he could not trust her anymore. He grew lonely and decided to leave. Despite a last-minute reconciliation with the rose, the prince set out to explore other planets and cure his loneliness.
While journeying, the narrator tells us, the little prince passes by neighboring asteroids and encounters for the first time the strange, narrow-minded world of grown-ups. On the first six planets the little prince visits, he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, and a geographer, all of whom live alone and are overly consumed by their chosen occupations. Such strange behavior both amuses and perturbs the little prince. He does not understand their need to order people around, to be admired, and to own everything. With the exception of the lamplighter, whose dogged faithfulness he admires, the little prince does not think much of the adults he visits, and he does not learn anything useful. However, he learns from the geographer that flowers do not last forever, and he begins to miss the rose he has left behind.

At the geographer’s suggestion, the little prince visits Earth, but he lands in the middle of the desert and cannot find any humans. Instead, he meets a snake who speaks in riddles and hints darkly that its lethal poison can send the little prince back to the heavens if he so wishes. The little prince ignores the offer and continues his explorations, stopping to talk to a three-petaled flower and to climb the tallest mountain he can find, where he confuses the echo of his voice for conversation. Eventually, the little prince finds a rose garden, which surprises and depresses him—his rose had told him that she was the only one of her kind.
The prince befriends a fox, who teaches him that the important things in life are visible only to the heart, that his time away from the rose makes the rose more special to him, and that love makes a person responsible for the beings that one loves. The little prince realizes that, even though there are many roses, his love for his rose makes her unique and that he is therefore responsible for her. Despite this revelation, he still feels very lonely because he is so far away from his rose. The prince ends his story by describing his encounters with two men, a railway switchman and a salesclerk.
It is now the narrator’s eighth day in the desert, and at the prince’s suggestion, they set off to find a well. The water feeds their hearts as much as their bodies, and the two share a moment of bliss as they agree that too many people do not see what is truly important in life. The little prince’s mind, however, is fixed on returning to his rose, and he begins making plans with the snake to head back to his planet. The narrator is able to fix his plane on the day before the one-year anniversary of the prince’s arrival on Earth, and he walks sadly with his friend out to the place the prince landed. The snake bites the prince, who falls noiselessly to the sand.
The narrator takes comfort when he cannot find the prince’s body the next day and is confident that the prince has returned to his asteroid. The narrator is also comforted by the stars, in which he now hears the tinkling of his friend’s laughter. Often, however, he grows sad and wonders if the sheep he drew has eaten the prince’s rose. The narrator concludes by showing his readers a drawing of the desert landscape and by asking us to stop for a while under the stars if we are ever in the area and to let the narrator know immediately if the little prince has returned.

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A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

 

summary of A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time is the story of Meg Murry, a high-school-aged girl who is transported on an adventure through time and space with her younger brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin O'Keefe to rescue her father, a gifted scientist, from the evil forces that hold him prisoner on another planet. At the beginning of the book, Meg is a homely, awkward, but loving girl, troubled by personal insecurities and her concern for her father, who has been missing for over a year. The plot begins with the arrival of Mrs. Whatsit at the Murry house on a dark and stormy evening. Although she looks like an eccentric tramp, she is actually a celestial creature with the ability to read Meg's thoughts. She startles Meg's mother by reassuring her of the existence of a tesseract--a sort of "wrinkle" in space and time. It is through this wrinkle that Meg and her companions will travel through the fifth dimension in search of Mr. Murry.
On the afternoon following Mrs. Whatsit's visit, Meg and Charles Wallace walk over to Mrs. Whatsit's cabin. On the way, they meet Calvin O'Keefe, a popular boy in Meg's school whom Charles considers a kindred spirit. The three children learn from Mrs. Whatsit and her friends Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which that the universe is threatened by a great evil called the Dark Thing and taking the form of a giant cloud, engulfing the stars around it. Several planets have already succumbed to this evil force, including Camazotz, the planet on which Mr. Murry is imprisoned.
The three Mrs. W's transport the children to Camazotz and instruct them to remain always in each other's company while on their quest for Mr. Murry. On Camazotz, all objects and places appear exactly alike because the whole planet must conform to the terrifying rhythmic pulsation of IT, a giant disembodied brain. Charles Wallace tries to fight IT with his exceptional intelligence but is overpowered by the evil and becomes a robot-like creature mouthing the words with which IT infuses him. Under the control of IT, Charles leads Meg and Calvin to Mr. Murry and together they confront IT. However, they, too, are unable to withstand IT's power; they escape only at the last minute, when Mr. Murry appears and seizes Meg and Calvin, "tessering" away with them (traveling via another tesseract) to a gray planet called Ixchel inhabited by tall, furry beasts who care for the travelers. Charles Wallace remains possessed by IT, a prisoner of Camazotz.
On Planet Ixchel the three Mrs. W's appear once again, and Meg realizes that she must travel alone back to Camazotz to rescue her brother. Mrs. Which tells her that she has one thing that IT does not have, and this will be her weapon against the evil. However, Meg must discover this weapon for herself. When standing in the presence of IT, Meg realizes what this is: her ability to love. Thus, by concentrating on her love for Charles Wallace, she is able to restore him to his true identity. Meg releases Charles from IT's clutches and tessers with him through time and space, landing in her twin brothers' vegetable garden on Earth, where her father and Calvin stand waiting. The family joyously reunites, and the Mrs. W's visit the happy scene en route to further travel.

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis

 

summary of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, four siblings in World War II-era England, are sent away from London to live in the countryside, where they will be safe from air raids and bombings. While they are staying in a large, historic country house owned by an old professor, Lucy discovers that a certain wardrobe in a spare room is a gateway to a magical land called Narnia. In Narnia, Lucy meets and becomes friends with a Faun named Mr. Tumnus, who tells her that Narnia is ruled by an evil White Witch who oppresses the people and magically creates an everlasting winter. Lucy returns home and tells her brothers and sister about her experience, but they don't believe her because the wardrobe now has a normal wooden back.
One rainy day, Lucy returns to Narnia through the wardrobe and Edmund follows her. While Lucy goes to visit Mr. Tumnus, Edmund is left alone and discovered by the White Witch as she travels through the countryside on her sledge. The Witch coaxes Edmund into telling her about his family and is disturbed to learn that there are four of them, two boys and two girls. She bewitches Edmund with an enchanted version of his favorite candy, Turkish Delight, and convinces him to bring his brother and sisters to her. After the Witch departs, Lucy discovers that Edmund has entered Narnia. Returning home again, she is sure he will back up her story, but instead he lies, telling Peter and Susan that Lucy's Narnia is make-believe.
Some time later, all four children are forced to hide in the wardrobe to escape from the housekeeper, Mrs. Macready, and a group of sightseers touring the country house. All four children find themselves in Narnia. Lucy takes them to visit her friend Mr. Tumnus, but they find that he has been arrested by the White Witch's secret police. While they are deciding what to do, a robin leads them to a talking Beaver, who introduces himself as a friend of Mr. Tumnus. Mr. Beaver takes the children home to his dam, where he introduces them to his wife Mrs. Beaver. The Beavers feed the children a solid meal and explain about the prophecies of Narnia: when four human beings, two male and two female, sit in the four thrones at Cair Paravel, a castle on the country's eastern coast, then the White Witch will be destroyed. The Beavers also tell the children about a lion named Aslan, the Lord of the Wood, who has returned to Narnia after a long absence. Aslan has the power to end the winter created by the Witch.
While the Beavers are explaining Narnian history and prophecy to the children, Edmund sneaks away and goes to the White Witch's house, where he discloses all their plans. He is horrified when the Witch treats him coldly and reveals that she intends to capture and murder his siblings. Taking Edmund as a hostage, she attempts to intercept the Beavers and the children by traveling quickly on her sledge. However, in a few hours, the endless winter dissolves into a beautiful spring, and the Witch is forced to march across country with Edmund and one servant, a Dwarf.
Meanwhile, Peter, Susan, Lucy, and the Beavers have escaped, taking only a little food with them. They head toward the Stone Table, an ancient monument, where Aslan is rumored to have set up camp. During their journey, they meet Father Christmas, who gives them weapons to use in the battle he anticipates between Aslan's forces of good and the White Witch's forces of evil. When they arrive at the Stone Table, they are awed by Aslan's presence, but Aslan is saddened by the news of Edmund's betrayal. Aslan speaks to Peter of Cair Paravel, but they are interrupted by Fenris Ulf, a fierce wolf in the service of the Witch. Peter slays Fenris and is knighted by Aslan.
Nearby, the Witch has decided to murder Edmund to prevent fulfillment of the prophecy. Just before she strikes, Edmund is rescued by some of Aslan's people. The Witch goes to see Aslan under a flag of truce and demands her right to Edmund's blood, citing the Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time, which gives her control over all traitors. Aslan comes to a private agreement with the Witch and she renounces her claim on Edmund. Depressed and subdued after this meeting, Aslan orders his people to move their camp away from the Stone Table.
At night, Aslan leaves camp alone and goes back to the Stone Table. Lucy and Susan follow him – feeling, but not understanding, his sorrow. As he gets close to the site, he insists that they remain behind, hidden. When Aslan walks into the clearing by the Stone Table, the White Witch and all the evil creatures she has gathered are there to meet him. They bind and torment him, but he bears their cruelty with patience. In the end, the Witch murders Aslan with an enormous stone knife. Then all the evil creatures rush away to do battle with Peter, Edmund, and Aslan's other followers.
Susan and Lucy weep over Aslan's dead body. With the help of some friendly mice, they remove the cords and muzzle that bind Aslan. All through the night, they mourn. At sunrise, the Stone Table breaks in half with a loud noise and Aslan is miraculously resurrected. He explains to the astonished girls that there is a Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time: because he was an innocent, willing victim and was sacrificed in place of a traitor, the Stone Table broke and Death worked backwards. The girls frolic with Aslan, who is feeling lively. Then they all rush over to the Witch's house and free her captives. Aslan is able to reverse the effects of the Witch's magic wand, turning many people and creatures from stone statues back into themselves.
With this new band of followers, Aslan and the girls return to the others, where they find Peter and Edmund fighting a losing battle against the Witch. The freed captives quickly turn the tide of battle as they join in on the side of Good, and Aslan kills the Witch. Lucy uses her Christmas present, a magic cordial, to heal the wounded, and Aslan cures those who were turned to stone by the Witch. Everyone goes to Cair Paravel, the castle on the eastern sea, where Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are crowned as kings and queens. They reign for many years and Narnia prospers, although Aslan comes and goes.
One day, while hunting a stag that grants wishes, King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy find a lamppost in the woods. They begin to remember their lives in England, and as they go further into the woods, they find themselves back in the wardrobe, and then back in the spare room in the country house. No time has passed in England since they first entered Narnia together, and they are children again.

this post was written and edited by HOME PC

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

 

short summary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Our story starts out with an introduction of the main characters: Charlie Bucket's family. Charlie, his parents, and his four grandparents all live together in a small house. They're poor, hungry, cold, and pretty much in dire straits. The one thing that brightens Charlie's life is the chocolate factory, owned by Willy Wonka, that's right in the neighborhood. That, and the one chocolate bar a year he gets on his birthday.
Grandpa Joe seems to know a lot about Wonka's factory and he tells Charlie a bunch of stories: about a chocolate palace Mr. Wonka built, and about how he had to close his factory down because of spies stealing his recipes. During one of these stories, Charlie's dad comes in with the news that Mr. Wonka will be opening up his factory to five lucky children who can find Golden Tickets in Wonka chocolate bars. Contest!
On his birthday, Charlie's whole family hopes that his chocolate bar will contain a Golden ticket, and guess what? It doesn't. (Did we trick you?) Grandpa Joe even gives him some saved-up money to buy one more. Still nothing. One day, while Charlie is walking home from school, hungry and cold, he finds some money on the ground and uses it to buy chocolate. And sure enough, without even expecting it, he finds his golden ticket.
Charlie and his Grandpa Joe go to the factory on the day of the tour and boy is it marvelous. There's a room made entirely of edible things (with a chocolate river), and little people called Oompa-Loompas who run the factory. And that's only the beginning! One by one, the other four children on the tour cause some major trouble and are carried away. Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river while trying to drink from it, Violet Beauregarde eats some magic gum that turns her into a blueberry, Veruca Salt tries to steal a worker squirrel and ends up down a garbage chute, and Mike Teavee is shrunken down when he tries to send himself through television.
Charlie is the only child who doesn't cause trouble, and Willy Wonka tells him he won. Wait, what did he win? The whole stinkin' factory. Mr. Wonka wants someone to take over for him when he gets old and he chooses Charlie. That's right, the whole factory is his! They shoot through the roof on the glass elevator, go get Charlie's family, and bring them back to the factory, where they'll never go hungry again.

this post was written and edited by HOME PC

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The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss

 

 review of The Cat in the Hat

Dr Seuss started writing his books with the idea of providing texts that would make learning to read and practicing reading fun and as easy as possible. Only careful examination of the illustrations, especially those including people and not bizarre fantastic creatures, reveals that many of his books are half a century old.
His heady mix of illustrations for which the word quirky must have been invented and the text, which provides verbal equivalent of those illustrations, is even now inimitable.
There is an anarchic element in all Dr Seuss books, both in the story lines (in those that actually have a discernible one) and particularly in the linguistic aspects of the text. They are bit like if a principle of free association was applied to pure language, as when small children playing with language in a way that can leave more traditionally minded parents flabbergasted at the complete nonsense that gets uttered. The genius of Dr Seuss lies in the fact that his books stay just about this side of sane, while retaining the free, rather manic, a bit hyper quality of a child running high on their own creativity and laughter.
The Cat in a Hat is amongst the relatively more conventional of Dr Seuss stories, in the sense that it actually has a clear storyline, the story involves two normal human children, in a normal house, and only when their mother goes out on a wet, boring day, the Seussian magic starts with the appearance of a Cat. The cat plays tricks, shows off, involves children in them, and finally lets out of a box two Things which bring the mayhem a few levels up. I love the fact that they are just called Things (Thing one and Thing two, to be precise): it shouldn't work but it does.
As the return of the mother gets near, children are left with a problem of getting rid of the Cat-created mess, and with even bigger dilemma: should they tell their mother about the Cat's visit? Well... /What would YOU do/ If your mother asked YOU?
It's hard to believe that The Cat in a Hat uses just 236 words, none of them above two syllables (given to Seuss by educationalists when he started to write). The text flows perfectly, and although obviously simple, it never appears stilted. The rhyme, the rhythm and repetition make it easier to read (both for an emergent reader child and for a parent reading aloud to a pre-reader). In fact, some Dr Seuss books can be a struggle to read aloud for a non-native like me, because of their tongue-twisting character ( Fox In Socks is a prime example), but The Cat in a Hat poses no such problems.
I can't really think of a criticism to make of The Cat in a Hat. It's fun, it can be used educationally, it is adventurous and anarchic like only the best excesses of juvenile imaginations can be, but it actually ends up with a big tidy up. If you have children aged 3 to 6 who have not experienced this vintage Dr Seuss, go and get it now. And no, the movies don't count.
Big thanks to the publishers for reminding TheBookBag of this fantastic text!

this post is written and edited by HOME PC

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ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND - Lewis Carroll

 

summary of ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Alice sits on a riverbank on a warm summer day, drowsily reading over her sister’s shoulder, when she catches sight of a White Rabbit in a waistcoat running by her. The White Rabbit pulls out a pocket watch, exclaims that he is late, and pops down a rabbit hole. Alice follows the White Rabbit down the hole and comes upon a great hallway lined with doors. She finds a small door that she opens using a key she discovers on a nearby table. Through the door, she sees a beautiful garden, and Alice begins to cry when she realizes she cannot fit through the door. She finds a bottle marked “DRINK ME” and downs the contents. She shrinks down to the right size to enter the door but cannot enter since she has left the key on the tabletop above her head. Alice discovers a cake marked “EAT ME” which causes her to grow to an inordinately large height. Still unable to enter the garden, Alice begins to cry again, and her giant tears form a pool at her feet. As she cries, Alice shrinks and falls into the pool of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and as she treads water she meets a Mouse. The Mouse accompanies Alice to shore, where a number of animals stand gathered on a bank. After a “Caucus Race,” Alice scares the animals away with tales of her cat, Dinah, and finds herself alone again.
Alice meets the White Rabbit again, who mistakes her for a servant and sends her off to fetch his things. While in the White Rabbit’s house, Alice drinks an unmarked bottle of liquid and grows to the size of the room. The White Rabbit returns to his house, fuming at the now-giant Alice, but she swats him and his servants away with her giant hand. The animals outside try to get her out of the house by throwing rocks at her, which inexplicably transform into cakes when they land in the house. Alice eats one of the cakes, which causes her to shrink to a small size. She wanders off into the forest, where she meets a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah (i.e., a water pipe). The Caterpillar and Alice get into an argument, but before the Caterpillar crawls away in disgust, he tells Alice that different parts of the mushroom will make her grow or shrink. Alice tastes a part of the mushroom, and her neck stretches above the trees. A pigeon sees her and attacks, deeming her a serpent hungry for pigeon eggs.
Alice eats another part of the mushroom and shrinks down to a normal height. She wanders until she comes across the house of the Duchess. She enters and finds the Duchess, who is nursing a squealing baby, as well as a grinning Cheshire Cat, and a Cook who tosses massive amounts of pepper into a cauldron of soup. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice and then departs to prepare for a croquet game with the Queen. As she leaves, the Duchess hands Alice the baby, which Alice discovers is a pig. Alice lets the pig go and reenters the forest, where she meets the Cheshire Cat again. The Cheshire Cat explains to Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice herself. The Cheshire Cat gives directions to the March Hare’s house and fades away to nothing but a floating grin.
Alice travels to the March Hare’s house to find the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse having tea together. Treated rudely by all three, Alice stands by the tea party, uninvited. She learns that they have wronged Time and are trapped in perpetual tea-time. After a final discourtesy, Alice leaves and journeys through the forest. She finds a tree with a door in its side, and travels through it to find herself back in the great hall. She takes the key and uses the mushroom to shrink down and enter the garden.
After saving several gardeners from the temper of the Queen of Hearts, Alice joins the Queen in a strange game of croquet. The croquet ground is hilly, the mallets and balls are live flamingos and hedgehogs, and the Queen tears about, frantically calling for the other player’s executions. Amidst this madness, Alice bumps into the Cheshire Cat again, who asks her how she is doing. The King of Hearts interrupts their conversation and attempts to bully the Cheshire Cat, who impudently dismisses the King. The King takes offense and arranges for the Cheshire Cat’s execution, but since the Cheshire Cat is now only a head floating in midair, no one can agree on how to behead it.
The Duchess approaches Alice and attempts to befriend her, but the Duchess makes Alice feel uneasy. The Queen of Hearts chases the Duchess off and tells Alice that she must visit the Mock Turtle to hear his story. The Queen of Hearts sends Alice with the Gryphon as her escort to meet the Mock Turtle. Alice shares her strange experiences with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, who listen sympathetically and comment on the strangeness of her adventures. After listening to the Mock Turtle’s story, they hear an announcement that a trial is about to begin, and the Gryphon brings Alice back to the croquet ground.
The Knave of Hearts stands trial for stealing the Queen’s tarts. The King of Hearts leads the proceedings, and various witnesses approach the stand to give evidence. The Mad Hatter and the Cook both give their testimony, but none of it makes any sense. The White Rabbit, acting as a herald, calls Alice to the witness stand. The King goes nowhere with his line of questioning, but takes encouragement when the White Rabbit provides new evidence in the form of a letter written by the Knave. The letter turns out to be a poem, which the King interprets as an admission of guilt on the part of the Knave. Alice believes the note to be nonsense and protests the King’s interpretation. The Queen becomes furious with Alice and orders her beheading, but Alice grows to a huge size and knocks over the Queen’s army of playing cards.
All of a sudden, Alice finds herself awake on her sister’s lap, back at the riverbank. She tells her sister about her dream and goes inside for tea as her sister ponders Alice’s adventures.

   this post was written and edited by HOME PC

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TREASURE ISLAND - Robert Louis Stevenson

 

SUMMARY OF TREASURE ISLAND - Robert louis stevenson

Treasure Island tells of Jim Hawkin’s boyhood adventure on a quest for buried treasure.
The story opens at Jim’s father’s inn, the Admiral Benbow. A wild seaman, Billy Bones, comes to stay, bringing with him a large sea chest. He frightens the locals by getting raucously drunk and singing the sea chanty:
“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest –
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” (p. 13)
Bones asks Jim to keep an eye out for “the seafaring man with one leg” (p. 11), who Bones fears above all else. One day, the pirate Black Dog comes to the inn and fights with Bones. Wounded, Black Dog retreats and Bones collapses. Bones confesses to Jim that he was first mate for the infamous Captain Flint, and that he knows where Flint’s treasure is buried. He also knows that Black Dog, another of Flint’s men, will bring the rest of the crew to find him so that they can seek the treasure for themselves.

Meanwhile, Jim’s ailing father dies. While the house is in mourning, a frightening and evil pirate Blind Pew, delivers the Black Spot to Bones. The Black Spot, a summons which tells Bones he has until 10PM to tell the pirates where the treasure is, shocks Bones so badly that he dies of apoplexy.

Terrified that the pirates will descend at any moment, Jim tells his mother everything. They seek assistance from their neighbours who are too frightened to do any more than send for the revenue officers.

Jim’s mother, angered that Bones never paid for his lodging, decides to take from his sea chest the money that she is owed. Jim finds a packet of documents and takes it. He and his mother hide and watch the pirates ransack the inn. At last, the pirates are chased away by revenue officers on horseback, who accidentally trample Pew to death.

Jim asks the officers to take him to Dr Livesey, who is visiting Squire Trelawney. He gives him the packet which contains Flint’s treasure map. Thrilled by the possibility of adventure and buried gold, the Squire commissions a ship, the Hispaniola. He hires a crew to seek the treasure – Jim will be the cabin-boy and Livesey will be ship’s doctor. Jim bids farewell to his mother and arrives in Bristol, where the ship is docked.

The Squire has meanwhile hired a cook for the voyage, Long John Silver, who has chosen most of the rest of the crew. Silver is a charming but morally ambiguous character who switches allegiance whenever it suits him. He has only one leg, reminding Jim of Bones’s fears. He also has a parrot named Captain Flint who constantly shrieks “Pieces of eight!”.

Jim carries a message to Silver, only to find that Black Dog is also in the same tavern! Jim’s suspicions are calmed, however, by Silver’s flattery.

Just before the journey begins, the upright and serious Captain Smollett warns the Squire and Livesey that he does not trust the crew. They all know it is a treasure-seeking voyage, although this is meant to be a secret.

During most of the voyage, his fears seem unfounded and the crew seems to be happy and efficient. One day, however, Jim overhears Silver convincing a man to turn traitor: it is clear that Silver has planned all along to wait until the treasure is aboard and then to kill everyone who hasn’t joined their mutiny. Jim even learns that Silver was the quarter-master on Flint’s ship.

Jim tells the Captain, the Squire, and Livesey about Silver’s treachery. Because of the crew’s increasing agitation as they draw close to the island, the Captain resolves that the pirates should go to shore while he plans their next move. Jim sneaks ashore and hears in the distance one of the honest men being slain at the hands of the pirates. He also sees Silver murder a man who he was unable to convince to join his mutiny.

Terrified that he will be next, Jim runs into the woods. Here, he meets the wild-looking Ben Gunn, another of Flint’s old crew. Gunn reveals that Flint had buried the treasure on the island with the help of six men, whom he had then killed. Gunn had returned to the island with a group of others three years before. When the treasure wasn’t found, the others marooned him on the island. Gunn, who is affable but slightly mad from his long solitude, has sought the treasure ever since. He now offers to help Jim and his friends if they will give him a passage off the island.

Meanwhile, the Squire, Livesey, Smollett and the few honest hands left abandon the ship, taking possession of an old stockade which Flint’s crew had built. Jim returns with his news about Gunn and finds a battle has already depleted their numbers.

Surprisingly, Silver offers a truce but the Captain refuses. Another battle leaves more dead and the Captain wounded.

Jim sneaks away, armed with a couple of pistols, and finds the little boat that Gunn had mentioned he’d made. He steers the boat to theHispaniola, where he cuts the anchor cables. Climbing on board, he sees that the pirate O’Brien is dead, and that Israel Hands is badly wounded.

Hands promises he will help Jim sail the ship safely to shore if Jim will bind his wound and bring him some drink. Jim complies, but then sees he is not as badly wounded as he claims – and that he has a knife. Once they sail to shore, Hands attacks. Jim escapes by climbing the rigging. Hands throws his knife, pinning Jim’s shoulder to the mast. Jim shoots and Hands falls to the water and dies.

Jim now returns to shore. Thinking he will surprise his sleeping friends in the stockade, he enters quietly, only to hear the piercing cry of the parrot, “Pieces of eight!” – the pirates had taken the stockade! Most of the pirates want to kill Jim, but Silver takes Jim’s side – after all, Jim can testify for them in court and help them when they return to England. However, the pirates only agree when Silver reveals he has the treasure map!

Livesey comes to treat the wounded pirates (despite their enmity Livesey believes in his duty as a doctor). Jim tells him where the ship is, and tells him that Silver saved his life. Outnumbered, Livesey is powerless to help Jim and Jim has also promised Silver not to try to escape.

Shortly afterwards, the pirates set off to find the treasure with Jim in tow. They come across the skeleton of one of the six pirates Flint killed, whose arms have been arranged to point in the direction of the treasure. Frightened by the remains, the pirates speculate whether Flint’s ghost is nearby. They remember how he used to sing

“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest –
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” (p. 215)

They are terrified when they hear a voice (we later learn that this is Gunn) from the woods singing that very song. Silver urges them to put their superstitions aside. When they come to the place where the treasure is supposed to be buried, however, they find it is gone.

Enraged, the pirates turn on Silver. He is saved when Livesey, Ben Gunn and another honest hand, Alasdair Gray, emerge from the trees, firing at the pirates.

Jim learns that Ben had found the treasure after all, and hidden it in a cave. Knowing this, Livesey had given Silver the map so the pirates would be distracted.

Silver, who now firmly allies himself with Jim and the others, helps to load the ship with the treasure and they sail away, marooning the three remaining pirates. During a stop in a South American port, Silver escapes, taking with him one bag of the treasure. Everyone is pleased to be rid of him so easily.

Quotations from Treasure Island, The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Swanston edn, vol vi (London: Chatto and Windus, 1911).

They return to England, but Jim admits that “the worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about its coasts, or start upright in bed, with the sharp voice of Captain Flint still ringing in my ears: ‘Pieces of eight! pieces of eight!’” (p. 231).

Thumbnail image from RLS, Treasure Island, illus. by Frank Godwin (Philadelphia: Winston, 1925). Map from RLS, Treasure Island, The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Swanston edn, vol vi (London: Chatto and Windus, 1911)

this post was written and edited by HOME PC

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

 

Summary of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Dorothy lived with her hardworking but dour Uncle Henry and Aunt Em on the bleak Kansas prairie. She was an energetic and joyful little girl who delighted in her small dog, Toto. One day a dangerous cyclone swept across the prairie. Toto hid under the bed in the farmhouse, so Dorothy did not make it into the storm cellar. The cyclone picked up the house with Dorothy and Toto still inside. As the hours passed, Dorothy tried to remain calm and eventually fell asleep.
When she awoke she and Toto were in a fantastical and strange land. Coming out of the house, she and Toto were met by a few small men that called themselves Munchkins and the elderly but beautiful Witch of the North. The Witch informed Dorothy that her house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East and killed her, thus setting the Munchkins free from their long slavery under her command. Dorothy was horrified to hear that she had killed someone, but she was given a present of the Witch's silver slippers. She asked how she could get home and the Witch told her she would do best to ask the powerful Wizard of Oz who lived in the Emerald City.
Dorothy's journey on the yellow brick road that led to the Emerald City began in the pretty and well-tilled land of the Munchkins. Passing a field, she encountered The Scarecrow, whom she released from his position held aloft in the field. He told her he wanted brains and asked if he could go with her to visit the Wizard. She happily agreed and the two companions (and Toto) continued along the yellow brick road to Oz. They helped save The Tin Woodman, who had rusted in the forest while cutting down a tree. He joined them, hoping to ask the Wizard for his dearest wish – a heart. They also met The Cowardly Lion, who, after roaring at them loudly, sheepishly admitted he had no courage and wanted to ask Oz to grant him some so he could be a real King of Beasts.

The travelers continued along their path and faced several obstacles. They found a large ditch in their path and had the Lion jump over it with his friends on his back. They arrived at a field full of beautiful but deadly poppies; Dorothy and Toto and even the Lion fell into a deep sleep. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman carried out Dorothy and Toto but received the help of thousands of field mice in carrying out the Lion.
When they finally arrived at Oz, the Guardian at the Gate of the sparkling green city was surprised to hear that they wanted to see Oz, as no one had requested a visit for many years. They were told they could see Oz one by one in his throne room on separate days. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion each encountered a different Oz – a massive head, a beautiful woman, a frightening creature, and a ball of fire – and were all told that the Wicked Witch of the West must be killed before their wishes would be granted. Despondent but realizing there was no other way, the companions set out once more.
Their journey was beset by danger because the powerful Witch knew that they were coming. She tried to destroy them with various minions - forty wolves, crows and black bees - but each swarm was defeated. Finally, the Witch sent the Winged Monkeys after the travelers. The Monkeys were bound to the Golden Cap, which said that its owner could command them to do whatever he or she wanted three times. The Witch commanded them to destroy the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow and bring her Dorothy and the Lion. Dorothy, who she could not harm since the Good Witch of the North had given her a mark of protection, was made to work in the Witch's kitchen. The Lion was chained up when he refused to toil for her.
One day the Witch noticed Dorothy's silver slippers, and realizing their secret power, tried to trip Dorothy so they would fall off of her feet. This angered Dorothy and she threw a pail of water on the Witch. To her shock, the water melted the Witch and Dorothy was free. This was heartening to those in the Witch's land whom she had enslaved – the Winkies. Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion left the Witch's castle, and, taking control of the Golden Cap, commanded the Monkeys to take them to Emerald City.
To their dismay, when they arrived in the Emerald City the Wizard claimed he could not help them. The Lion roared loudly in anger, scaring Toto and sending him tumbling into a curtain. This revealed a small and elderly old man. He was a mere ventriloquist and balloonist from Omaha who had accidentally ended up in Oz when the wind took his balloon far away from home. The Munchkins thought he was a powerful Wizard, and while not a cruel man, he went along with the delusion. They built the Emerald City and lived happily under the Wizard's rule. He told them to rid of the Witch since she had real power and frightened him.
After telling his story and apologizing for his trickery, he said he would try to help them anyway. With a bit of goodhearted manipulation, he gave the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion what they wanted, noting that each had displayed what they thought they lacked on the journey. His plan for Dorothy was to fly away over the desert borders of Oz in his balloon. He planned on going as well, but just as they were about to depart, Toto distracted Dorothy and she missed the balloon. It sailed away in the sky and she cried out in sadness.

She tried to ask the Winged Monkeys in her second command to take her to Kansas, but they said they could not travel beyond the borders of Oz. A soldier in the Emerald City suggested she travel to the home of the Good Witch of the South, Glinda. This seemed a valid plan and Dorothy set out once more, accompanied by her friends. Together they faced more curious and dangerous creatures - people made of china, the devious Hammer-Heads, and the beasts of the forest who later crowned the Lion as their king.
Their journey was not easy but they finally made it to the lovely Glinda's castle. She said she did not need to help Dorothy because the girl's silver shoes possessed that power: she merely had to click her heels together three times and say where she wanted to go and she would be there. In exchange for her help, Dorothy gave her the Golden Cap, and she used the three commands to send the Scarecrow back to rule over the Emerald City, the Tin Woodman to rule over the Winkies, and the Lion to rule over the beasts in the forest. She then gave the Cap to the Monkeys and set them free from their bondage.
Dorothy kissed her friends goodbye and wished them well, and then clicked her heels together and said "Take me home to Aunt Em!" She ended up in the Kansas prairie, the silver shoes having fallen off in the desert. She ran towards her Aunt Em who was astonished to see her and asked her where she had been. Dorothy replied she had been in Oz and was glad to be home.

this post was written and edited by HOME PC

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Grimms Fairy Tales - the Brothers Grimm

         

                                                    summary

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, commonly known as the Brothers Grimm, were not primarily writers but philologists whose names are still as well known in the field of linguistics as they are to readers of fairy tales. Grimm’s Law is a basic rule in the study of Indo-European languages, and the dictionary of the German language is largely their work. Although the fairy tales were always intended to be read by children, they were also meant to represent German culture at its most fundamental level. The Grimms thought that culture at the level of the common people exists in its purest form and is the least influenced by foreign traditions.
During the late eighteenth century, after centuries of cultural stagnation, Germany experienced a cultural renaissance, which brought with it a pride in all things German. The fairy tales were the Grimms’ contribution to that flowering. Theirs remains one of the largest, and certainly the most famous, of national collections. Among the best-known stories are “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “The Golden Goose,” “The Goose Girl,” “Rumplestiltskin,” “The Frog Prince,” “The Juniper Tree,” and “Snow White and Rose Red,” and these and many others have become the unquestioned property of childhood in the Western world. In many instances, popular children’s books quickly become dated or are crowded into the background by more recent books, but Grimm’s Fairy Tales remains as popular as when it was first published. New editions of single stories or of the whole collection continue to appear every year.
The term fairy tale is used both for children’s stories that have been created and transmitted orally and for literary stories such as those by Hans Christian Andersen, which imitate the folktale form. The stories of the Brothers Grimm are genuine folktales and as such have certain characteristics. They are inevitably short, they involve obvious parallels and repetitions in structure and language, descriptions are brief and stylized, characters are obvious stereotypes, the setting in place and time is usually vague and generalized, animals can talk, and magic is commonplace. Because they are so stylized, very little practice is needed to learn to tell any folktale effectively. The Grimms refined the language of the stories extensively in the course of the seven editions that were published in their lifetimes, but the fact that the stories remain highly tellable shows their essentially oral nature.
The tales reveal little about the external world, history, culture, class, or politics. They are, however, close to the human unconscious, and they have much to say in symbolic terms about sibling rivalry, intergenerational hostility, human sexuality, ambivalence about the opposite sex, fear of parental desertion, and much else. Because fairy tales usually end happily, the term “fairy tale romance,” came into being, but even the prettiest of fairy tales touch on the darker sides of human nature. Snow White is menaced by her mother’s murderous sexual jealousy, and her triumphant marriage coincides with the mother’s death. It takes no great depth of psychological sophistication to see in the wicked witch, with her pretense of maternal concern covering treacherous intentions and her welcome house that proves to be a death trap, the malign image of the mother, or to see in the noisy, brutal, and stupid giant who seems always to be coming in from outdoors, the malign image of the father. It is this quality of psychological tension that gives the tales their power, not the quaint trappings of the story—castles, beautiful princesses, and talking frogs. It is this quality that also makes them a little uncomfortable. Literary imitations nearly always emphasize the quaintness and avoid the dangerous quality that underlies the...

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Charlotte 's Web - E. B. WHITE

                                                          SUMMARY

One morning at the breakfast table, eight year old Fern sees her father leave the house with an axe and asks her mother where he's going. Her mother delivers the shocking news that Mr Arable is going out to kill a runt that was born the night before. Fern chases her father down and persuades him to spare the runt, telling him that it is unjust to kill a piglet just because it is small. Moved by his daughter's plea, Mr Arable decides to give the runt to her to look after.
Fern names the piglet Wilbur and looks after him like a baby, pushing him in her pram alongside her doll and feeding him with a bottle. At five weeks old Mr Arable insists that Wilbur is sold and he goes to live in the Zuckerman barn down the road.
Wilbur initially struggles at the barn because he misses Fern so much but soon he becomes acquainted with new friends, the best of whom is a lady grey spider called Charlotte. Wilbur is fascinated by Charlotte, although to begin with he is slightly suspicious of the way she catches her food - he doesn't like the idea that she spins bugs in her web and sucks their blood. He soon realizes that Charlotte is everything but cruel and bloodthirsty and that her method of eating is entirely necessary for a spider.

Wilbur is complete happy during the summer days - Fern comes to visit and his new friend tells him exciting stories and has the patience to try and coach him about how to spin a web (although she knows fine well he will never be able to) but one day he gets some terrible news that puts an end to his carefree attitude.
The sheep tells Wilbur that Mr Zuckerman is fattening him up for Christmas dinner and Wilbur is distraught - he is so happy on the farm and doesn't want to die. Charlotte calms him down and promises him that she won't let him be killed. She hasn't worked out how to save him yet, but she is determined that she will.
One morning as Lurvy pours Wilbur's slops, he notices Charlotte's twinkling spider web in the morning fog. The words 'SOME PIG' have been weaved into the web. Lurvy is gobsmacked and utters a prayer. He quickly tells Mr Zuckerman who is equally amazed and soon the news spreads near and far.
Worried that people may be getting bored of 'SOME PIG', Charlotte asks Templeton the rat to aid her in finding more words to write in her web. Knowing that if Wilbur is killed he won't have access to his slops, Templeton reluctantly scavenges for newspaper clippings to help Charlotte. The next word she writes is 'TERRIFIC' and after that, 'RADIANT.'
Meanwhile, Mrs Arable is concerned that Fern is spending too much time down at the barn and becomes even more alarmed when her daughter tells her about Charlotte and the stories Charlotte tells. Mrs Arable decides to go and see Dr. Dorian to ask him what he makes of Fern thinking the animals can talk and what he makes of the mysterious writing in the web. Dr Dorian is very calm and rational and says that the real miracle is not the writing in the web but the fact that a spider instinctively knows how to build a web without any tuition. He says that it is quite possible that animals can talk and that the reason that adults cannot hear them might be because they talk too much to hear what is going on in nature.
With the news of Zuckerman's famous pig spreading, the Zuckermans and Arables decide to take Wilbur to the County Fair. Charlotte agrees to go too although she is feeling tired and soon has to build a sac to hold her eggs. At the fair, Charlotte is disappointed to see that beside Wilbur's pen is a much larger spring pig called Uncle. Knowing he is fierce competition, Charlotte decides to spin another web and once again Templeton is sent off to find a word.

The adults and children enjoy themselves at the fair and Avery and Fern are particularly excited that they are allowed to go off without their parents all afternoon. Fern spends all afternoon with Henry Fussy and they go on the Ferris wheel together. For months after, Fern will look back nostalgically at her time on the Ferris wheel with Henry.
Before nightfall Charlotte weaves her web with the new word 'HUMBLE' written into it and throughout the night she makes her egg sac. In the morning the Zuckermans and Arables see the web but they also notice that Uncle has a blue tag on his pen - he has already won first prize. Mr Zuckerman ignores the tag and tells everyone to buck up and give Wilbur a buttermilk bath. Everyone who comes to Wilbur's pen has something good to say about him.
Suddenly, over the loudspeaker a voice is heard asking Zuckerman to bring his famous pig to the judges' booth for a special award. Wilbur is awarded a medal for being phenomenal and completely out of the ordinary and Mr Zuckerman is given $25. Since the writing first appeared in the web, the miracle has been on everyone's mind. After the press photos and the commotion, Wilbur is returned to his pen.
Wilbur notices that Charlotte is quiet and looks unwell. She tells him that she is content now that she knows he is safe - she knows Mr Zuckerman will never harm him now, but she tells Wilbur that she is failing and will be dead in a day or two. Panicked and distraught Wilbur races around the pen, begging Charlotte to come home with him, but she hasn't enough energy to move. Wilbur decides to take Charlotte's egg sac and promises Templeton first choice of his slops if he retrieves the sac. As Wilbur carries the sac in his mouth and is led into the crate, he winks at Charlotte and she musters all the energy she can to wave goodbye. The next day, as the Ferris wheel is being taken apart, Charlotte dies.
Back at the Zuckerman’s, Wilbur is given a noisy welcome home. He waits patiently for the birth of Charlotte's children and often looks longingly at her empty, broken web. When her children are finally born, Wilbur is distraught to see them let out loose clouds of fine silk that carries them far away on the breeze. Three of Charlotte's children stay in the barn with Wilbur, however and become his good friends. Year after year new spiders are born to replace the old but no one ever replaces Charlotte in Wilbur's heart.

 

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