1-Minute Story: The Frogs in the Milk

Two frogs fell into a bucket of milk.

They swam around and around, but there was no way out.

One frog said, "It's hopeless! We'll never get out." Then he sank to the bottom and died.

But the other frog said, "I won't give up! I'll never stop trying!" So she kept swimming. She swam around and around, faster and faster, faster and faster... and so the milk was churned into butter. 

When the butter pat was big enough, the brave little frog hopped on top of the butter, and then hopped up and out of the bucket to safety!

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Retold from "The Frogs in the Milk" published in The Third Book Of Fables by Herbert McKay (with illustrations by an uncredited artist), 1930. Internet Archive text. 

Other stories in this book, mostly Aesop's fables, but also stories not in Aesop (including the frogs in the milk):

The Lion and the Hare

The Vain Jackdaw

The Cock and the Gem

The Frogs in the Milk  

The Oyster

The Spilt Milk  

The Wolf and the Crane

The Crooked Tree

Look Before You Leap 

The Two Pots

A Gift of the Gods

The Fox and the Grapes

The Lark

The Ant and the Grasshopper

The Dog in the Manger

Nothing Like Leather 

The Cock and the Fox 

The Treasure

The Miser

The Fat Hen

The Eagle, the Cat, and the Sow

The Nurse and the Wolf

The Boaster

The Boys and the Frogs

The Mountain and the Mouse 

The Camel

The Frogs and the Bulls

The Cat, the Weasel, and the Rabbit

The Doe With One Eye

The Lost Camel

The Friends

The Lamb and the Wolves

The Poor Man and the Rich Man

The Frog and the Mouse

The Mountain and the Squirrel

The Sick Lion

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

The Raven and the Eagle

The Cat Rolled in Flour

The Lion and the Fox

The Snake

The Palace and the Cottage ..

The Lion Goes Hunting

The Bees and the Drones

The Old Woman and Her Servants

Black and White

The Lion in Love

The Trumpeter

The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox

The King of Beasts

The Monkey and the Camel

Birds, Beasts, and Bats

The Wise Fox

1930: Little Engine That Could... with Readers Theater!

Here's a book published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026. I've recorded an audio version of this book, and I've also adapted the story to Readers Theater!

The Little Engine That Could
by Watty Piper
(illustrated by Lois Lenski)
Internet Archive
Audio (at the Internet Archive)

You can read more about this classic children's story at Wikipedia: The Little Engine That Could. The author, Watty Piper (Arnold Munk), died in 1957. The illustrator, Lois Lenski, died in 1974. Both the text and illustrations are in the public domain in the United States as of January 1, 2026, but for countries in which copyright is based on the death of the author, the text and/or illustrations may not yet be in the public domain.

Earlier versions: As Watty Piper acknowledges on the title page, his version of the story was inspired by "The Pony Engine" by Mabel Bragg, which was published in a children's magazine in 1916. At the Internet Archive, you can listen to "The Pony Engine" read by none other than Boris Karloff, but I have not been able to find the text online. There is an even earlier version of the story, also entitled "The Pony Engine," which was published by Mary Jacobs in The Kindergarten Review in 1910; you can read that version here. Miller's Book House series, published in 1920, includes a version of The Little Engine That Could, author unnamed, with illustrations that look like they are also by Lois Lenski (if so, these would have been among Lenski's earliest published illustrations).

The Readers Theater script is published with a CC-BY license, allowing you to remix and adapt the play for your own purposes. For more information about Readers Theater and adapting the script, see the information in the packet which contains the following materials:

• a preview of the script to help readers become familiar with the story and the characters
• a script to adapt and perform; it is written for 11 readers but the number of readers can be increased or decreased as needed
• a copy of the 1930 edition of The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper with illustrations by Lois Lenski (the Lenski illustrations are used throughout the packet)
• a brief article about readers theater: "Open the Language Classroom Curtains to Readers Theater" by Laura Gibbs and Heather Kretschmer 

(For more CC-licensed Readers Theater scripts, visit Scripts.LauraGibbs.net.)

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1930: Tales of A Basque Grandmother

Here's a book published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026:

Tales of A Basque Grandmother
by Frances Carpenter
(illustrated by Pedro Garmendia)
Internet Archive

Frances Carpenter [1890-1972] was a folklorist and children's book author, most famous for her "Grandmother" series. This is the first of the "Grandmother" books to enter the public domain; we will have to wait for the rest — Tales of a Russian Grandmother published in 1933, Tales of a Chinese Grandmother published in 1937, Tales of a Swiss Grandmother published in 1940 and Tales of a Korean Grandmother published in 1947. You can find out more about Carpenter's life and work at Wikipedia.

1930: The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians

Here's another important Native American publication from 1930, a two-volume book entering the public domain on January 1 2026:

The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians
by Franz Boas
Internet Archive: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Volume 1 contains the Kwakiutl texts, and Volume 2 contains the English translations. There are shamanistic texts, texts related to the winter ceremonial and other prayers, myths, along with personal anecdotes and accounts. You can also read an earlier volume of Kwakiutl Tales by Franz Boas at the Archive which has both the Kwakiutl texts and English translations.

You can find out more about the Kwakiutl people at the Kwakiutl Band Council website. For more about Boas and his work, see Wikipedia: Franz Boas.

1930: The Sun God's Children

Here's another book documenting Native American traditions, published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026: it is a collection of myths and ceremonies of the Blackfoot Indians:

The Sun God's Children
by James Willard Schultz
Internet Archive

The author of the book is James Willard Schultz, whose Blackfoot name was Apikuni. You can read about Schultz's life and career at Wikipedia, and you can also read about the Blackfeet Nation.

The book is illustrated with many portraits of Blackfeet people; here is one of their chiefs, Crow Big-Foot, Issapóómahksika, who you can read about at Wikipedia:

1930: Sacred Stories of the Sweet Grass Cree

Here's another essential book of Native American stories published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026:

Sacred Stories of the Sweet Grass Cree
by Leonard Bloomfield
Internet Archive

This collection of stories in Cree with English translations features a cycle of trickster tales about Wisahketchahk, the great Cree trickster-hero. You can read more about the Sweetgrass First Nation at Wikipedia. You can also read about Wisakedjak at Wikipedia. And you can read about Leonard Bloomfield too!

1930: Californian Indian Nights Entertainments

Moving on to Native American storytelling traditions, here is a very important book published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026:

Californian Indian Nights Entertainments
by Edward Gifford and Gwendoline Harris Brooks
(illustrated with photographs)
Hathi Trust

Both Gifford and Harris worked at UC Berkeley, based at the Anthropology Museum. The book was reissued in 1990 by Bison Press with a forward by Albert Hurtado. The book is organized thematically as you can see in the screenshot below from the table of contents (partial), and it also has a lengthy introduction (80 pages) providing an overview of the Native peoples of California.

1930: Dance Songs and Tales from the Bahamas

Moving on from African traditions, Here's an article about African American traditions published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026:

Dance Songs and Tales from the Bahamas
by Zora Neale Hurston
(from the Journal of American Folklore)
Internet Archive

This article contains 11 songs with lyrics and musical transcription, plus 20 folktales. Here is a photo of Hurston playing the drums while in the Bahamas (from Library of Congress):

1930: Wit and Wisdom In Morocco

Here's another book published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026, which is valuable for African folklore studies:

Wit and Wisdom In Morocco
by Edward Westermarck
Internet Archive

This is a remarkable book, almost 500 pages long, very useful both for speakers of Arabic and also for people who just love proverbs but who do not know Arabic. The author, Edward Westermarck, was a Finnish sociologist; you can read more about his life and work at Wikipedia. There are just over 2000 proverbs collected here, arranged thematically. In the text of the book the Arabic is presented in English transliteration so you can get a sense of the sound-play in the sayings, and then the Arabic texts are all in the back of the book, keyed to the proverbs by number. The proverbs have some commentary to help situate them in their cultural context; here's a screenshot of a typical page (marriage was one of his main topics of interest):

1930: African Stories

Here's a book published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026; it's not a major anthropological study like Rattray's Akan-Ashanti book from yesterday, but it is still valuable:

African Stories
by Albert Helser
Internet Archive

Albert Helser was a founder of the Church of the Brethren Mission in Nigeria, and so his collection of folktales of the Bura people of northeastern Nigeria falls into the missionary category. Still, it can be useful, as it contains 54 stories, which Helser explains in the preface represent just half of the stories that he collected. To his credit, Helser wrote down the stories in the Bura language first, and then translated them into English; he also worked with transcriptions provided by the Bura students in the missionary school. He says that his translations are as literal as he could make them, and to my knowledge this is the only extensive collection of Bura tales available in English.

Helser is also the author of Education of Primitive People: Presentation of the Folklore of the Bura Animists, along with other books based on his missionary work, online at Hathi Trust.

1930: Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales

Of all the books published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026, this one is the most important for my own research and writing. Because this book was essential for my work, I had purchased a copy (not cheap!) around six or seven years ago, thinking at the time that 1926 seemed very far away, but now, at last, this book is about to enter the public domain!

Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales
by R. S. Rattray
(illustrated by Ashanti, Fanti, and Ewe artists)
Internet Archive

R. Sutherland Rattray [1881-1938] studied anthropology at Oxford University and then went on to join the British civil service in Africa; details at Wikipedia. During his 25 years in Africa from 1906 until his retirement in 1930, he published several major collections of African stories and proverbs. This monumental collection of Akan folk-tales from Ghana (then the Gold Coast) contains 75 stories both in Akan and in a very literal English translation, along with illustrations by members of the Ashanti, Fanti, and Ewe tribes with whom Rattray lived and worked.

Rattray is also the author of Ashanti Proverbs, Hausa Folklore, and Folklore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja, all of which contain the African language text along with an English translation; those books are all already in the public domain.

Here are a few of the illustrations:

1930: Orpheus: Myths of the World.

Here's a book published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026:

Orpheus: Myths of the World
by Padraic Colum
(illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff)
Internet Archive

Padraic Colum was a well-known reteller of folktales and myths; you can find out more about him at Wikipedia: Colum. Many of his books are already in the public domain; here's a list.

This book has a wide range of stories, some from unusual sources; the Jewish legends are especially intriguing (they are both about the angel Samael) — although Colum does not, unfortunately, provide a bibliography of his sources. The 20 illustrations are wonderful; you can read more about the illustrator at Wikipedia: Artzybasheff.

Here is an illustration for the Polynesian creation legend:

And here is the Celtic legend of Pwyll:

And that's the image you can see on the cover of this 1996 edition:

LibriVox Widget: Installment 3

At the bottom of this post and in the right-hand sidebar of this blog, you will see a random LibriVox audiobook: the audio is embedded so that you can listen here, story by story. Thanks to all the LibriVox volunteers and the tech-wizards at the Internet Archive for making this possible!

I'll be adding more and more books to this widget (see all the update posts); here is the complete set of the LibriVox mythology anthologies, all 18 of them! 

1. Myths and Legends Around the World: 1 (an anthology):
   Internet Archive - LibriVox - Text
   
   
2. Myths and Legends Around the World: 2 (an anthology):
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3. Myths and Legends Around the World: 3 (an anthology):
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4. Myths and Legends Around the World: 4 (an anthology):
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5. Myths and Legends Around the World: 5 (an anthology):
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6. Myths and Legends Around the World: 6 (an anthology):
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7. Myths and Legends Around the World: 7 (an anthology):
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8. Myths and Legends Around the World: 8 (an anthology):
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9. Myths and Legends Around the World: 9 (an anthology):
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10. Myths and Legends Around the World: 10 (an anthology):
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11. Myths and Legends Around the World: 11 (an anthology):
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12. Myths and Legends Around the World: 12 (an anthology):
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13. Myths and Legends Around the World: 13 (an anthology):
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14. Myths and Legends Around the World: 14 (an anthology):
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15. Myths and Legends Around the World: 15 (an anthology):
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16. Myths and Legends Around the World: 16 (an anthology):
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17. Myths and Legends Around the World: 17 (an anthology):
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18. Myths and Legends Around the World: 18 (an anthology):
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And here's the widget! Just reload for a random audiobook from the widget:

1930: Folk Tales of All Nations

Here's a book published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026:

Folk Tales of All Nations
by F. H. Lee
Internet Archive

This absolutely enormous book, almost 1000 pages in length, is a truly comprehensive anthology of folktales and other traditional stories from around the world, and it really takes the global imperative seriously: there are 50 pages of African folktales, for example, which I was very glad to see, as African traditions are often not included in so-called "world" anthologies. And the Americas section is represented by Indigenous and African American stories! The overall organization is alphabetical, which is why Africa and the Americas come first; the book closes with Switzerland, Tibet, and Turkey.

Unlike many such anthologies, Lee is scrupulous about indicating his sources; see the introductory paragraph for each section of the source(s) used in that section.

Of course there are yet thousands and thousands more pages of folk tale texts in the public domain that can be used to create anthologies like this... but this book alone is quite monumental. Anyone who reads their way through it would have a great awareness of the world's storytelling traditions. I'll definitely be recording stories from here, and I'll also create a linked bibliography here so that if you want to find yet more stories from the sources that Lee used, you'll be able to do so here.

F. H. Lee is best known for his "children's versions" of literary classics, like The Children's Swiss Family Robinson, Children's Don Quixote, Children's Hiawatha, Children's Alice, Children's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and on and on. 

LibriVox Widget: Installment 2

At the bottom of this post and in the right-hand sidebar of this blog, you will see a random LibriVox audiobook: the audio is embedded so that you can listen here, story by story. Thanks to all the LibriVox volunteers and the tech-wizards at the Internet Archive for making this possible!

I'll be adding more and more books to this widget (see all the update posts); here is the second set of ten books, and you can see a complete widget catalog here:

1. African Jungle Tales by Carl Bender:
   Internet Archive - LibriVox - Text
   
2. The King of the Snakes by Rosetta Baskerville:
   Internet Archive - LibriVox - Text
   
3. The Flame Tree by Rosetta Baskerville:
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4. Ikom Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell:
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5. Blackfoot Lodge Tales by George Bird Grinnell:
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6. Winnebago Stories by Oliver LaMere:
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7. Where Animals Talk by Robert Hamill Nassau:
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8. Animal Fables from the Dark Continent by Alphonso Orenzo Stafford:
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9. Black Tales for White Children by Chauncey and Nancy Stigand:
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10. Select Fables of Aesop by H. Clarke:
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And here's the widget! Just reload for a random audiobook from the widget:

LibriVox Widget: Installment 1

At the bottom of this post and in the right-hand sidebar of this blog, you will see a random LibriVox audiobook: the audio is embedded so that you can listen here, story by story. Thanks to all the LibriVox volunteers and the tech-wizards at the Internet Archive for making this possible!

I'll be adding more and more books to this widget (see all the update posts); to get started, here are the first ten books, and you can see a complete widget catalog here:

1. Black Folk Tales by Erick Berry:
   Internet Archive - LibriVox - Text
   
   
2. Folk Tales From the Far East by Charles H. Meeker:
   Internet Archive - LibriVox - Text
   
   
3. Skazki: Tales & Legends of Old Russia by Ida Zeitlin:
   Internet Archive - LibriVox - Text
   
   
4. South African Folk-Tales by James A. Honeÿ:
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5. Tales of 1927 (an anthology):
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6. Tales of 1928 (an anthology):
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7. Tales of Giants From Brazil by Elsie Spicer Eells:
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8. The Life of Buddha by A. Ferdinand Hérold:
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9. Little Peachling and Other Tales of Old Japan by Georgene Faulkner:
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10. Tales of Enchantment from Spain by Elsie Spicer Eells:
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And here's the widget! Just reload for a random audiobook from the widget: