Little Mouse worries that the big, hungry bear will take his freshly picked, ripe, red strawberry for himself.

In this volume you will find fairy tales and folklore from Spain plus a few from other countries brought back to Spain by sailors and merchants in the heyday of their great navy. Compiled by J. Munoz Escamez, these 19 Spanish tales are further enhanced by the eight colour plates by W. Matthews. Here you will find uniquely Spanish tales like: The City of Fortune, The Garden of Health, Carabi! Carabo!, The Author of the Wall, The Devil's Tournament, The Treasure of the Dragon, The Man with the Two Faces plus many more. Many of the old fairy tale books published over a century ago, best sellers in their time, are now in a dilapidated condition. Reading them would only ruin them further. But there is a solution! It is the aim of Abela Publishing to give these old books new life in the digital age and ensure they are kept alive for our children and our children’s children. Abela is the Zulu word for to share or distribute. As such Abela Publishing will donate 10% of the profit from the sale of this book to charities. We invite you to curl up with this unique sliver of Spanish culture not seen in print for over a century; and immerse yourself in the tales and fables of yesteryear. ---------------------------- TAGS: fairy tales, folklore, myths, legends, children’s stories, Spanish children’s stories, Spain, bygone era, classic stories, children’s bedtime stories, Khing-Chu-Fu, City of Fortune, Garden of Health, Carabi! Carabo!, Author of the Wall, Devil's Tournament, Treasure of the Dragon, Man with the Two Faces, Treachery of Micifuf, Trompetilla and Trompetin, Quack Doctor, Drawing School, Man with the Nose, Island of Brilliants, Judgment of the Flowers, Three Questions, Captain's Exploit, Topsy-Turvy World, Don Suero the Proud, Iberia, Iberian

IN selecting these Spanish Tales for Beginners, three objects have been kept in view: (1) that they be good literature, (2) that they portray modern Spanish life, and (3) that they be interesting and not too difficult in language and thought. Some of the stories do not conform to all three rules,—the first two, for instance, do not portray modern Spanish life; but I hope that most of them will be found to conform fully. A few short lyric poems have also been included, since poetry forms an integral part of literature. Verse, moreover, is better for oral work and memorizing than prose. Spain has a rich and varied literature, from which other nations have freely drawn,—a literature that gives true expression to the life and aspirations of the Spanish people. The selections in this volume are taken from literary works that have been written in the past fifty or sixty years, and although they are inferior in some respects to the great master-pieces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, I believe that they have literary excellence, and they have, besides, the advantage of being written in the language of today and of describing present-day life. It is my greatest wish that this volume may awaken the students' interest in the civilization of Spain, and that it may serve as an introduction to the study of Spanish literature. The integrity of the texts has been preserved so far as the exigencies of a beginners' book permit, but the following changes have been made: (1) Some words or passages have been omitted, chiefly in the earlier stories. The parts thus omitted are, for the most part, digressions or uninteresting descriptive passages. Omissions have generally been marked by four suspensive points, or by three at the beginning of a story. Except at the beginning of a story, three suspensive points form a part of the punctuation of the several authors. (2) The orthography has been made to conform to that now prescribed by the Royal Spanish Academy. (3) In the earlier stories, le has been substituted for the feminine indirect object-pronoun la, and los for the masculine plural direct object-pronoun les.

The tales are "captivating," full of Spanish tradition and character, and easy to read.