Episode 70: Teddy Bear Island

A sequel, of sorts, to the Velveteen Rabbit, in which the nursery magic fairy from Margery William's classic story is hard at work today. An original bedtime story modern fairytale by Marlene Wurfel.  Licences and Attributions: The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (1922) is part of the public domain   Music: Heartbreaking by Kevin MacLeod under a Creative Commons Attribution license via the YouTube Audio Library https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?nv=1 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100787 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Fantasy Windchimes by Northern87 on freesound.org

Episode 69: The Velveteen Rabbit with Annotation

This beautiful story written in 1922 by Margery Williams is almost 100 years old and about a time in history before there was antibiotic treatment for scarlet fever, a potentially fatal childhood disease. It's a story not only about survival, but resilience, change, love, and fairy magic. Read and annotated by Marlene Wurfel Licences and Attributions: The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (1922) is part of the public domain Music: Gymnopedie No.1 by Kevin MacLeod Meditation Impromptu No.2 by Kevin MacLeod and Heartbreaking by Kevin MacLeod under a Creative Commons Attribution license via the YouTube Audio Library https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?nv=1 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100787 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Birdsong sample by juskiddink on freesound.org via a creative commons license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ & Fantasy Windchimes by Northern87 on freesound.org

Episode 68: Lily Reads her Letters

Thank you listeners for all the letter love! In this episode Lily reads her letters from all over the world and shares her recipe for stories. Lyrics for the song Lily recommends to help kids learn to wash their hands properly: Urm urm went the little green frog one day Urm urm went the little green frog Urm urm went the little green frog one day And the frogs went urm urm eh But we know frogs go La de dah de dah La de da de da, La de da de da, We all know frogs go La de dah de dah They don't go urm urm eh

Episode 67: Lily's Bright Green Mailbox

In this episode, inspired by the "Alone Together" message, one of many key messages by the UN to families fighting pandemic with self-isolation, Lily encourages listeners to think about how connected we all are and to write letters to her or someone else.

Episode 66: How to Write to Lily a frog who lives in a pond and loves to tell stories

Instructions for parents on how to write a letter to Lily and how to find older episodes.

Episode 65: Puff and Rose Rereleased

This is a Tales from the Lilypad remix of the Puff the Magic dragon song by Peter Yarrow and Leonard Lipton popularized by the musical group Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1963 hit. In this retelling by Marlene Wurfel, a modern little girl named Rose finds Puff hidden in a cave in the land called Honalee. This episode features an acoustic guitar version of the song Puff the Magic Dragon by Jorge Nolla. His website is: http://profdeguitare.com/

Episode 64: Three Tales of Yore

Three of Aesop's fables re-told and re-arranged by Marlene Wurfel for kids. Aesop was one of the sages of Ancient Greece, like Socrates. The stories ascribed to him are thousands of years old (all dating to at least 600 b.c.) and are called fables because they always include a moral lesson.

Episode 63: The Little Fir Tree

Merry Christmas, from Tales from the Lilypad. I've been researching Norwegian folktales and, as always, am awed by the sadness and suffering in children's stories of yore. This is a sad story, or is it? It's about how it feels to be a little tree. Or is it more about being a person? A retelling by Marlene Wurfel of Hans Christian Andersen's beloved Christmas classic story for kids & family.

Episode 62: Three Billy Goats Gruff

Rearrangement and retelling by Marlene Wurfel of the Norwegian folktale the Three Billy Goat's Gruff. A bedtime story for the littlest, middlest, and biggest siblings.

Episode 61: The Very Unimportant Mouse

Curd ia a terribly unimportant mouse who would never save the day just by being kind.

Episode 60: Escape from Cat Castle: Primrose the Mouse

Primrose The Mouse lives in an enchanted forest in and enchanted castle where all the humans turn into cats. Can she escape to perform a heroic task? This tale promises adventure, enchanted forest creatures and a whole lotta razzle-dazzle.

Episode 59: Cat Castle II Sleepytime in the Enchanted Castle

This is a sequel to the Tales from the Lilypad's version of Grimm's The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat. In the Grimm's fairytale, a poor boy is rescued by a cat who brings him to her enchanted castle in which all the servants are kittens. Inspired by the fairytale, this original 20 minute sleepycast or sleep mediation by Marlene Wurfel is to help kids fall asleep or to just rest and relax at naptime. Welcome to sleepytime at the Enchanted Castle where the sweetwater river flows past all the sleepy little kittens in the sleepy fortress in the enchanted forest.

Episode 58: Cat Castle Part I

A Tales from the Lilypad retelling of the Brother's Grimm's The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat. This story has EVERYTHING: enchanted princesses, revenge, comeuppance, plot twists, and did I mention a castle in which all the servants are kittens?

Episode 57: The Polka Dot Story Rerelease

Vintage Tales from the Lilypad circa 2015. One of the first original Tales by Marlene Wurfel. It's a love story to lake life, swimming, existential polka dots, and freckles.

Episode 56: Surly the Garden Gnome

Surly the garden gnome is annoyed by the lack of instructions in the Gnominomicon on how to parent. How are parents supposed to get by on just the advice 1) Be Kind and 2) Listen Deeply. Maybe if there were better instructions, all the gnome parents he knows would be better at their job. Good thing he doesn't have any little ones to take care of. Until...