Stories I Like: Hansel and Gretel

Hansel & Gretel A Grimm Tale, Adapted by Joe Loesch illustrated by Kevin Menck, Dalmatian Press, Franklin, Tennessee, 2001.
I just read a 2001 version of the Hansel and Gretel story.  This was my favorite story growing up.  I loved my mother to tell this story; and then I retold it myself many times.  However this version is not true to the original I remember in my mind.  This story does not include an evil stepmother.  The children become lost in the woods because they wander too much when the play.  However they learn their lesson when they are unable to get home.  In this version they meet the witch with the house of candy.  They discover the witch's plot to eat them, and push her into the over and make their escape.  Lucky they find a chest of gold and take all they can carry in a couple potato bags and take it home with them so they will never be poor again.

Story Review: The Elves and the Shoemaker

This story appeared in 1806 in Grimm's Fairy Tales.  It has been rewritten in many different versions with slight variations.  Basically this is a story of a poor shoemaker and his wife.  He only has enough money for the leather for one pair of shoes.  He cuts out the leather, then goes to bed.  During the night two elves sew the shoes for him.  He finds them completed the next morning, and says them for more than his asking prices.  He now has leather for two shoes, which he buys and cuts out and leaves again for the next day.  He again finds them done the next morning.  Needless to say the exquisite sewing he is able to make the money to pay his debts and becomes successful.  One night he and his wife wait up to see who sews the shoes.  They discover the elves, but also find that their clothing is tattered and worn and they must be cold.  The next day the wife makes them clothes.  They leave the clothes, and when the elves receive them they are delighted, and leave to never return.  However their fortunes of our shoemaker have changed forever.

Musical Review: Tangled Soundtrack

This is the music from the Disney Musical Tangled.  The music was written by Alan Menken with lyrics by Glen Slater.  The story is based on the tale of Rapunzel by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.  I must admit, the song "I see the Light" I play over and over.  I find this song as enjoyable as the songs from "Frozen." 

All those days, watching from the windows
All those years, outside looking in
All that time, never even knowing
Just how blind I've been

Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight
Now I'm here, suddenly I see
Standing here, it's, oh, so clear
I'm where I'm meant to be

And at last, I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last, I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted

All at once, everything looks different
Now that I see you

All those days, chasing down a daydream
All those years, living in a blur
All that time, never truly seeing
Things the way they were

Now she's here, shining in the starlight
Now she's here, suddenly I know
If she's here, it's crystal clear
I'm where I'm meant to go

And at last, I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last, I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted

All at once, everything is different
Now that I see you

Now that I see you
This is the song that the main characters, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), sing while the are floating on the lake watching the floating lanterns.  I really don't care for the music of the old witch, (Donna Murphy) but Moore sings a couple other nice songs,
"When WIll My Life Begin" with a couple reprises and "The Tear Heals" which is very emotional.