The library

The Six Sillies

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Six Sillies from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Six Sillies' (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a practical young man will happily marry his sweetheart, Posy -- if only he can first find three people sillier than her family. It starts when Posy goes down to the cellar to draw a jug of beer, and gets so lost imagining her future baby that she forgets all about the tap: what on earth will they NAME the child, she frets, when every last name in the calendar is already taken? Down comes her mother to help her worry about it, then her father -- all three weeping on the stairs while the beer runs merrily across the floor. So Barney closes the tap, promises to come straight back and marry her the moment he has found three people sillier still, and sets off. He finds them before supper: an orchard of folk pitching walnuts into a cart one at a time with a FORK, a farmer trying to boost his PIG up an oak tree to reach the acorns, and a man who has tied his TROUSERS to a branch and is leaping at them out of the air. He comes home and marries her anyway -- because the whole world is a little silly, and the only thing that matters is being kind about it. Pure gentle comedy for K-4: nobody and no animal is harmed (the pig simply declines to climb), and the lesson is warm -- don't cry over troubles that haven't happened, and love the ones who do. Six scenes for a big, flexible class, with Posy's runaway-imagination naming speech ready to lift out as a monologue.

The New Kid in Room 12

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Room 12 has spent a week preparing to welcome a new student, but nobody thought to ask whether the new student is ready to meet Room 12.

The Bystander

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Everyone saw what happened to Marcus at lunch -- and everyone looked the other way. A sharp, funny one-act about the kid watching from the sidelines and the very inconvenient moment he decides he can't anymore.

The Rumor Mill

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A tiny piece of gossip about Jordan and a sandwich triggers an actual, expanding machine onstage -- until the machine outgrows everyone who fed it, and it takes the whole class to shut it down.

The Lunch Table Treaty

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

When a new kid sits at the wrong table, the rival lunch factions of Maplewood Middle demand a formal peace treaty -- and spend so long negotiating it that they forget why they were enemies in the first place.

The Try-Again Club

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Five kids who each bombed at something -- a spelling bee, a soccer tryout, a science fair, a baking contest, and an audition -- accidentally form a club with one rule: you have to try again.

Everybody Else's Shoes

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A battered lost-and-found box at the back of the gym starts swapping kids into each other's shoes -- and suddenly the most confident kid at Pinecrest Elementary is the one who stutters, the new girl's too-cool older sibling is the one losing words mid-sentence, and nobody can get their own feet back until they figure out what they've been missing.

The Honesty Experiment

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

When Jordan decides to turn honesty into a science-fair experiment -- telling only the truth for one full week, observations logged -- things go wrong in the funniest possible order before landing on something more useful than either pure honesty or polite fiction.

The Water Cycle: A Journey

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Droplet is a perfectly happy water drop sitting at the bottom of a lake -- until the sun shows up, things get weird, and suddenly she is floating thousands of feet in the air with no idea how she got there or how to get back. A funny, fast science adventure for grades K-4 that teaches evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection by living them.

The Solar System Variety Hour

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

The planets of the solar system host a talent show -- and every act somehow teaches the audience something true about rings, storms, moons, and one very passionate dwarf planet who keeps showing up anyway.

The Inventors' Workshop

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

When Priya falls asleep in the school science room, she lands in a workshop where Edison keeps blowing up lightbulbs, the Wright brothers are arguing about wings, George Washington Carver has turned everything into peanuts, and Ada Lovelace is the only one who brought a notebook -- a comedy about the part of invention nobody puts on the poster: the thousand things that went wrong first.

How a Bill Becomes a Law (The Play)

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A fourth-grader's proposal for longer recess survives committees, floor votes, a presidential veto, and a two-thirds override -- a full obstacle course of real civics, staged as the most stressful afternoon of one kid's life.

The Fraction Friends

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Six fractions work the counter at Primo's Pizza and must figure out if a chaotic class order actually adds up to one whole pie -- without anyone agreeing on anything.

The Library at Midnight

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

When Maya gets locked in the school library overnight, the book characters refuse to let her sleep -- and she discovers she cares about stories before she even notices it happening.

The Time Capsule Project

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

When Mr. Garcia's class digs up a 50-year-old time capsule from under the oak tree, the objects inside pull them into six flashback scenes from 1974 -- and what they find out about kids who sat in those same chairs is funnier, and stranger, and closer to home than any of them expected.

Kindness Is Contagious

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

One small act -- a borrowed eraser, a held-open door, a saved lunch seat -- hops from student to student across an entire school day, growing as it goes, until it finds its way back to where it started.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Classroom Cut

by William Shakespeare, abridged for the classroom by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A classroom abridgment of Shakespeare's comedy for grades 7-12, running roughly 75-90 minutes at performance pace: Shakespeare's own lines, trimmed to the essential spine of fairy mischief, tangled love, and the mechanicals' disastrous play-within-a-play.

A Midsummer Night's Dream for Young Players

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

A modern-language retelling of Shakespeare's enchanted comedy for grades 3-6: four tangled young lovers, a weaver with a donkey's head, and the King and Queen of the fairies all collide in a moonlit forest where magic makes everything wonderfully wrong before it comes wonderfully right.

The Comedy of Errors: Classroom Cut

by William Shakespeare, abridged for the classroom by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A 55-70 minute abridgment of Shakespeare's shortest comedy -- identical twins, mistaken identities, and mounting chaos in the city of Ephesus -- drawn entirely from the original text, for grades 7-12.

The Comedy of Errors for Young Players

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

A modern-language retelling of Shakespeare's funniest play -- two pairs of identical twins, one very confused city, and a whole lot of mistaken identity -- adapted for grades 3-6 as a 30-40 minute ensemble piece.

Twelfth Night: Classroom Cut

by William Shakespeare, abridged for the classroom by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A 40-50 minute abridgment of Shakespeare's own text for grades 7-12, preserving the central love-tangle plot and the play's most famous speeches while compressing the Malvolio gulling subplot to its yellow-stockings payoff and final reckoning.

Twelfth Night for Young Players

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

A modern-language retelling of Shakespeare's comedy of mistaken identity, disguise, and love gone sideways -- faithful to the plot and characters, with Shakespeare's most famous lines kept as touchstones -- written for ensemble performance by grades 3 through 6.

The Tempest for Young Players

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Tempest by William Shakespeare

A modern-language retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest for grades 3-6, following Prospero, Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban through a magical island story of shipwrecks, forgiveness, and a love that surprises everyone.

Captain Bluebeard's Treasure Map

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Captain Bluebeard's fearsome pirate crew finally cracks open the legendary sea chest -- and pulls out a fractions worksheet instead of a map. What follows is a wild, entirely accidental treasure hunt, one very embarrassed new hand, and the discovery that the smartest pirate on board might be the one who's been hiding a library card.

Sir Nutkin, Knight of the Backyard

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A gray squirrel who has knighted himself sets out to win back the yard's last acorn store before the frost, crossing the River Sprinkler and the Vine Wall to face the Sleeping Dragon of the Hedge -- who turns out to be an old, lonely cat with a sore hip and a story of his own. A gentle comic one-act about looking silly on purpose, and about what happens when somebody finally stops being scared long enough to ask a question. Grades K-5.

The History Project

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Nora and Miles just need their Deep Time Day diorama dry before Open House -- so they zap it in a borrowed, badly-labeled microwave from the science closet. Now their Age-of-Dinosaurs project is actually in the age of dinosaurs, something small is loose in Room 12, and the rival Egypt table just traded its pyramid ornament for a very dignified visitor from history. A fast, funny project-panic comedy about the shortcut that goes exactly as far as everyone feared -- and the twenty-nine minutes it takes to feed it back before the families walk in. Grades 3-8.

Group Project

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Five wildly different kids. One poster board. One afternoon. When the slacker, the perfectionist, the quiet genius, the talker, and the kid who just wants everyone to stop fighting finally stop arguing about who does what, they might actually pull it off -- but only barely.

The Cat Who Became Head-Forester

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Cat Who Became Head-Forester' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

A grumpy one-eared tomcat gets bundled into a sack and dropped in the deep forest -- and lands, being a cat, right on his feet. One tall tale from a clever vixen later, the whole forest is convinced he is Cat Ivanovitch, the terrible new Head-forester sent from far Siberia. The bear and the wolf haul him a feast and hide to watch, the cat mistakes a twitchy nose for a mouse, and the biggest beasts in Russia flee for their lives from a house cat the size of a loaf of bread. No swords, no villains, no boots -- just a rumor that gets away from everybody.

The Stolen Turnips and the Magic Tablecloth

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Stolen Turnips, the Magic Tablecloth, the Sneezing Goat, and the Wooden Whistle' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

A tired old man grows turnips on the roof of a dovecot -- on the top of a tower, on the top of a house -- because his wife told him to, and then somebody steals them. Hunting the thieves, he finds a hut in the pines packed with dozens of laughing children who pay their debts in magic: a tablecloth that lays a feast, a goat that sneezes gold, and a whistle nobody should ever, ever blow. A comedy about greed, good manners, and never carrying your relatives up a staircase in your teeth.

Little Master Misery

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Little Master Misery' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

Everything goes wrong for kind Ivan Ilyitch -- his cow won't milk, his hens won't lay, and his rich brother pays a whole week of hard work with exactly one loaf of bread. Then, singing to save face on the long walk home from a feast where nobody fed him, Ivan picks up a companion he never asked for: a damp, groaning little fellow named Misery, who wants nothing in the world but the tavern and drinking up everything Ivan owns. It's a comedy about the oldest trick going -- how to stop feeding your own bad luck, and how to shut it under a very large rock.

The Golden Fish

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Golden Fish' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

A poor old fisherman nets a golden fish that talks, grants wishes, and answers absolutely everything with the words 'Go home.' His wife has other ideas -- a loaf, then a trough, then a house, then a whole palace -- and the sea gets one shade crosser with every trip. A gentle, very funny fable about wanting more than enough, built for a class of waves who can rumble on cue.

Who Lived in the Skull?

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Who Lived in the Skull?' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

An old white horse skull lies out on the open steppe, and one by one a mouse, a frog, a hare, a fox, and a wolf each decide it is exactly the palace they have been looking for. They squeeze in, they get cozy, they learn all the neighbors very long names by heart. Then a large, slow, extremely heavy bear comes along looking for somewhere to sit down. A call-and-answer, pile-everybody-on tale for the very youngest actors, with the softest landing in the whole book.

The Hunter and His Wife

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Hunter and His Wife' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

A hunter does a good turn for a snake in a burning wood-pile and is repaid with a marvel: he can suddenly understand every animal alive. There is only one rule -- tell a living soul and he is done for -- and he happens to be married to the most curious woman in the district. It takes two gossiping dogs, one clean white shirt, and a spectacularly smug rooster to teach him the one thing worth knowing: how to keep his own counsel.

Salt

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Salt' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

Everybody calls Ivan a ninny -- his father, his two clever brothers, and eventually a whole foreign Tzar. But when the family fool sails off in a leaky boat crewed entirely by pensioners and runs aground on an island made of pure salt, the joke slowly stops being funny. A warm rags-to-riches comedy with a homesick Princess, an anchor that behaves badly, and a giant who cannot hold his mead. (Not the magic-mill story 'Why the Sea is Salt' -- this is the tale of the salt merchant's son.)

The Cat on the Dovrefell

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Cat on the Dovrefell' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

Every Christmas Eve a whole pack of trolls barges into Halvor's farmhouse, eats the feast, and chases the family out into the snow. This year a traveler shows up with a giant white bear he calls a cat -- and one very confused little troll is about to offer it a sausage. A dry, warm, crowd-pleasing farce with a scalable troll horde, one enormous mostly-silent star, and a punchline that lands a full year later.

Gudbrand on the Hill-Side

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Gudbrand on the Hill-Side' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

Gudbrand loves his wife, and his wife loves Gudbrand, and that is the whole trouble. Sent to sell one cow, he trades it for a horse, and the horse for a pig, and the pig for a goat, all the way down to a single shilling and a song -- certain, every single time, that she will be delighted. His nervous neighbor bets a hundred dollars she will skin him alive. It is a comedy about the one marriage in the whole world where the neighbor is dead wrong.

Why the Bear is Stumpy-Tailed

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Why the Bear is Stumpy-Tailed' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A fox with a string of stolen fish and no intention of sharing tells a large, trusting bear the one true secret of ice-fishing: sit still, drop your beautiful long tail through a hole in the frozen lake, and wait. Bruin waits all night. The lake does not wait back. A whole-class winter comedy that ends with the loudest, most satisfying SNAP in Norway -- and the reason bears have worn stumpy tails ever since.

Not a Pin to Choose Between Them

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Not a Pin to Choose Between Them' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

Marit comes home from market covered head to foot in feathers, entirely convinced she has turned into a large and mysterious bird. Her sensible husband Nils decides he simply cannot be married to the silliest woman in Norway -- surely there are three sillier ones out there -- and marches off to prove it. He meets a woman scooping sunshine indoors with a sieve, a wife pounding a neck-hole into a shirt with her husband still buttoned inside it, and a widow shipping a whole cartload of clothes to her late Peter out in 'Paradise.' The catch is what he finds waiting when he gets back home.

The Three Aunts

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Three Aunts' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A hunter's daughter whose only skills are plucking birds and roasting them talks her way into a palace and then -- thanks to some extremely helpful coworkers -- into promising the queen a pound of spun flax by morning. Three strange old aunties turn up to save her, each glad to spin, weave, and sew for the low, low price of being called 'Auntie' at the wedding. The bill comes due at the feast, where the prince gets one long look at exactly what a lifetime of needlework does to a person.

The Lad Who Went to the North Wind

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Lad Who Went to the North Wind' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A widow sends her son to the pantry for flour, and the North Wind keeps blowing it away -- so the boy marches off across the whole map to get it back. What he brings home instead is a cloth that lays a feast, a ram that coins gold, and a stick that will not stand for thieving innkeepers. Polite to a fault, and very hard to rob twice.

The Three Billy-Goats Gruff

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Three Billy-Goats Gruff' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

Three goats, all named Gruff, all starving, all staring at the fattest greenest hill in the whole world -- and the only way across is one rickety bridge with a troll living under it. The little ones talk their way past by promising him someone bigger. The someone bigger has other plans. A whole-class classic with a bridge you build out of children and a 'Trip, trap' you will be hearing in your sleep.

Well Done and Ill Paid

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Well Done and Ill Paid' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A bear bullies a woodcutter out of his horse, and only a fast-talking fox can save the day -- by convincing the bear to let himself be tied up like a log. The rescue goes perfectly. The thank-you goes sideways. A dry, quick-footed fable about how a good deed done is not always a good deed paid.

The Husband Who Was to Mind the House

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Husband Who Was to Mind the House' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

Halvard is sure his wife does nothing all day, so they swap jobs for one day: she mows the hay, he minds the house. What could go wrong? The ale, the pig, the churn, and one cow who ends up grazing on the roof. By supper the whole farm has fought back, and Halvard has learned a very sooty lesson.

Farmer Weathersky

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Farmer Weathersky' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A farm boy gets apprenticed to a sorcerer who commutes by flying sledge, then comes home having learned rather more magic than the contract allowed -- enough to turn himself into a very sellable horse. What follows is a shape-shifting chase (fish, dove, ring, fox) and one long-nosed family of aunts who will grant a weary traveler absolutely anything in exchange for a really good sneeze. Faithful to Dasent, staged bloodless, and built for a whole class of beasts, fish, and birds.

Tatterhood

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Tatterhood' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A queen who wanted a child so badly gets two at once: a lovely, gentle sister and Tatterhood, who arrives yelling, riding a goat, and swinging a wooden spoon. When Christmas witches barge into the palace, guess which twin runs toward the noise. A loud, brave, gloriously stubborn heroine who saves her sister, out-argues a prince, and refuses to be anyone's idea of pretty until she is good and ready.

The Doll in the Grass

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Doll i' the Grass' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A king wants twelve daughters-in-law who can each sew a whole shirt in a single day, which is a great deal to ask of anybody. His youngest son, who is officially not fit for anything, finds the perfect bride living in a tuft of grass -- sweet, clever, and roughly the size of a teaspoon. It has a silver spoon, two white mice, and one very careful horse.

The Jellyfish and the Monkey

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Jelly Fish and the Monkey' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

Back when a jellyfish had four legs, a hard shell, and a very high opinion of himself, the Dragon King of the Sea sent him ashore to fetch a monkey -- and the monkey, once he heard the plan, out-talked him the whole way home. A courtroom, an island, a very long swim, and one excuse about a liver left hanging in a tree. This is the tale of how the jellyfish lost his bones and the sea learned to double-check its errands.

How an Old Man Lost His Wen

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'How an Old Man Lost his Wen' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

A cheerful old man has a lump the size of a tennis ball on his cheek and a habit of dancing while he does the chores. Caught in a thunderstorm, he hides in a hollow tree and finds himself at the moonlit party of a whole crowd of goblins -- who are jolly, horned, and terribly bored of watching each other dance the same old steps. He dances so well they take his lump as a promise he will come back, which is how a lump becomes a cure. Then his envious neighbor, who has never practiced a step in his life, decides he wants some of that magic too.

Roughing It: Tall Tales from the Territory

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Mark Twain, Roughing It

A young man heads West convinced he will strike it rich in the silver mines -- and instead rides a stagecoach across half a continent, survives a horse that cannot be ridden, meets the most feared gunfighter on the frontier (who just wants his sugar), nearly freezes to death in a snowstorm of his own making, and sits through the most baffling funeral arrangement in the history of the church.

Five More Minutes (A Masterclass)

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A pajama-clad tactical genius walks us through the ancient art of not going to bed: water, one more story, and a mysterious noise.

The People Versus Broccoli

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid rises at the dinner table to deliver a full courtroom closing argument prosecuting the broccoli on their plate.

Pick Me For The Hamster

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid makes a full, impassioned campaign speech to the teacher for the right to take the class hamster home for the weekend.

This Is Gary

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid proudly introduces their imaginary friend Gary to a skeptical grown-up -- and defends him with total conviction and increasingly specific details.

It Is Just A Game

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid who just lost the board game tries, out loud and against all odds, to be a good sport about it.

The Ballad Of The Missing Mitten

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid narrates the epic, tragic, heroic quest to find one lost mitten as if it were the greatest adventure ever undertaken.

The Negotiation

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid with a very wiggly tooth is thrilled, terrified, and ready to make a deal -- with the Tooth Fairy, tonight, on their terms.

The Presentation

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid delivers a fully-prepared, airtight, slightly desperate presentation to a parent explaining why the family NEEDS a puppy immediately.

The Water Fountain

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A teen paces the hallway, coaching themselves to finally say one normal sentence to the person they like by the water fountain.

A Series of Learning Experiences

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A teen recaps a catastrophic first job interview at a frozen yogurt shop, reframing every disaster as valuable personal growth.

A-Minus

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A straight-A perfectionist cheerfully insists she is completely fine about her first A-minus, one twitch at a time.

Totally Fine

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A graduating senior gives a cheerful tour of why leaving high school does not affect them at all, right up until it does.

For the Record

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Three days too late, a teen re-litigates a debate they lost, armed with all the devastating comebacks they only just thought of.

The Map

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A middle schooler gives a brand-new kid a deadly-serious guided tour of the entire unwritten social geography of the cafeteria before they sit in the wrong place.

Vote For Me

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A middle schooler delivers a wildly over-the-top class-president campaign speech built entirely on promises they have no power to keep.

Chaperone

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A middle schooler recaps, in horror, the school dance their parent volunteered to chaperone -- and then treated like a personal concert.

The Group Project

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A kid who did the entire group project alone presents to the class while smiling so hard it hurts, refusing to throw their teammates under the bus out loud.

The Negotiation

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A middle schooler whose phone was confiscated conducts a full hostage negotiation with the teacher who is holding it in a desk drawer.

All the World's a Stage

by William Shakespeare

Jaques, a melancholy nobleman in the Forest of Arden, sizes up the whole of human life as a play in seven acts -- from squalling infant to toothless old age.

Bottom's Dream

by William Shakespeare

Bottom the weaver wakes from a very strange night, still half-asleep, and tries -- hilariously -- to describe a dream too wonderful for words.

If We Shadows Have Offended (Puck's Epilogue)

by William Shakespeare

Left alone on the empty stage, the mischievous sprite Puck asks the audience to forgive the play and think of it as nothing more than a dream.

Rosalind's Epilogue

by William Shakespeare

Rosalind steps out of the play to charm the audience directly, teasing them into loving the show and sending them home with a smile.

The Blueprint

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Two kids build a couch-cushion fort together, but one has a strict architectural vision and the other just wants a door big enough to actually get in.

The Edge of the Blacktop

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A shy new kid stands alone at recess and a friendly kid tries, a little clumsily, to figure out how to start being friends.

The Last Cookie

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Two friends find one cookie left on the plate and try to split it fairly -- but every fair rule somehow ends with the other person getting more.

The Best Excuse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

One kid lost their homework and a very unhelpful friend keeps 'helping' by inventing excuses that get more and more impossible.

Whose Turn Is It

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Two kids, one game controller, and a fierce disagreement about what counts as a 'turn' -- until the clock becomes the referee.

The Double Shift

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Two coworkers stuck closing a dead fast-food shift invent increasingly ridiculous games to survive the boredom -- and accidentally say something true. A comedy with a heartbeat.

The Understudy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Twenty minutes to curtain, the lead's voice is gone, and the understudy who has resented them all season is suddenly the only one who can save the show. Rivalry, meet teamwork. A comedy with a heart.

The Egg Drop

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A ferociously organized planner with a laminated schedule is stuck with a partner who does everything the night before, and they have one egg, one class period, and no idea how to survive each other.

Ok Period

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Two friends stare at a one-word reply in the group chat -- 'ok.' with a period -- and spiral into full forensic panic over whether their whole friend group is secretly furious.

The Elephant's Child

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the story by Rudyard Kipling

A one-act classroom comedy for a big, flexible cast: a young elephant with no trunk and too many questions gets spanked by every relative in Africa for asking what the Crocodile has for dinner, walks to the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River to find out, and comes home with a nose he did not leave with. 10 speaking parts plus a river-and-fever-tree chorus of 4 to 12, with scaling notes for classes of 18, 24 and 30. Grades 2 to 6, about 15 minutes. Adapted from "The Elephant's Child" in Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg #2781; the departures from the source are listed at the end of the script.

A Very Merry Fairy Tale

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A holiday play where Red Riding Hood's grandmother, Cinderella's fairy godmother Gladys, a scheming Willy Wolf, and Santa all cross paths in Fairy Land. Built for audience participation and improvisation, with song parodies set to familiar tunes.

The Red Monologue

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Little Red tells her mother about a very strange walk to Grandmama's -- the huffy wolf, the three little pigs, a huntsman with a dented axe, and a surprise waiting at the end. A comic solo monologue for one performer.

The Red Monologue 2.0

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

The same story from the Big Bad Wolf's side: brunch plans, a nap in Grandmama's bed, the huntsman's axe, and a very warm place to wake up. A punchy comic monologue that pairs with The Red Monologue.

Voice Warm-ups for Actors

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A director's set of vocal and diction warm-ups -- tongue twisters, vowel drills, and rhythm exercises to run with your cast before a read-through or a show. A rehearsal resource, free to use.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare

Four young Athenians tangle their hearts in a moonlit wood, a troupe of amateur players rehearses a play, and the fairy king and queen quarrel while a mischievous sprite makes a merry mess of them all. Shakespeare's most-loved comedy, hosted here in full.

The Comedy of Errors

by William Shakespeare

Two sets of identical twins, separated at birth, all end up in the same city on the same day -- and nobody can tell who is who. Mistaken identity piles on mistaken identity in Shakespeare's fastest, funniest farce, hosted here in full.

Twelfth Night

by William Shakespeare

Shipwrecked and alone, Viola disguises herself as a boy and falls for the duke she serves -- who loves a countess -- who falls for Viola. Add a mischievous household and a twin thought lost, and you have Shakespeare's warmest romantic comedy, hosted here in full.

Romeo and Juliet: Classroom Cut

by William Shakespeare, abridged for the classroom by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A 40-50 minute abridgment of Shakespeare's own text for grades 8-12 -- the balcony scene, the street duel, the potion soliloquy, and the full tragic arc, with comic digressions and secondary subplots cut to fit a single class period.

Macbeth: Classroom Cut

by William Shakespeare, abridged for the classroom by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A 60-75 minute abridgment of Shakespeare's tragedy retaining the major soliloquies and the full arc of Macbeth's rise and fall -- ideal for grades 9-12 reading the play in class or staging a focused production.

Detective Daisy and the Big Game

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

The night before Eastbrook Middle School's sixtieth annual Founders' Game against Chandler Creek, someone empties the trophy case. The dented, tape-wrapped tin cup the two rival schools have handed back and forth since 1966 is gone, and Principal Fig needs it back before the halftime ceremony or there is no ceremony. Sixth-grade detective Daisy Marlowe takes the case, and by lunch, half the building has a motive, an alibi, or both: a superstitious coach, an art teacher's suspiciously perfect replica, a janitor who never writes anything down, a new kid terrified of being blamed for a tradition she hasn't learned yet, and one very badly timed prank. A whodunit where every teacher and student is a suspect, built to cast as small as about eighteen kids or as large as the whole class.

The Lost Princess of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum

One morning Princess Ozma is simply gone -- and so, on the very same night, are Glinda's Great Book of Records, the Wizard's black bag, Ozma's Magic Picture, and, on a lonely mountain miles away, one cook's diamond-studded dishpan. Every scrap of magic in Oz has been stolen at once, which means somebody in this famously honest fairyland is a thief. Dorothy leads a search party of thoroughly odd volunteers -- a Patchwork Girl who never stops talking, a boy who gets lost for a hobby, a dog who has mislaid his growl -- and runs headlong into a second party led by the vainest frog in the world. The trail ends at a wicker castle, a duel of borrowed magic, and a suspect nobody suspected: a shoemaker. A whodunit where the smallest, silliest clue solves the whole case.

Thumbelina

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Thumbelina from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A tiny girl no bigger than a thumb is born from a flower, kidnapped by a toad, passed from creature to creature who all want to keep her, and finds her way at last to a warm kingdom where she truly belongs -- Hans Christian Andersen's beloved tale, staged for K-4 with flexible casting and plenty of room for the ensemble to shine.

The Snow Queen

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A girl named Gerda sets off across the frozen world to find her best friend Kay, who was stolen away by the Snow Queen after a splinter of a wicked mirror lodged in his eye and turned his heart cold. Along the way she meets a river, a garden of enchanted flowers, a crow, a princess, a robber girl, a reindeer, and two wise women at the top of the world -- and discovers that love and stubbornness together are stronger than any winter.

The Nightingale

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Nightingale from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

The Emperor of China owns the most magnificent palace in the world -- yet the most beautiful thing in his kingdom turns out to be a plain little bird singing in the forest. When a jeweled mechanical nightingale arrives as a royal gift and the real bird quietly slips away, the Emperor learns the hard way that a perfect copy is no substitute for the real thing.

Rapunzel

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Rapunzel from Grimm's Household Tales

A husband steals rampion from an enchantress's garden to save his ailing wife, and pays for it with their newborn daughter. The enchantress locks Rapunzel in a tower with no door and no stairs -- only a long golden braid for a ladder. A prince finds her, a plan is hatched, the enchantress finds out, and things go badly before they go beautifully. Faithful to Grimm, school-safe, genuinely funny, and big enough for a real cast.

The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids from Grimm's Household Tales

Mother Goat goes to market and leaves her seven kids at home with one rule: do not open the door for the wolf. The wolf, of course, has a plan -- several plans -- and the kids are about to find out how tricky a determined wolf can be. A lively, funny Grimm tale for the youngest performers, with seven great little-kid roles and a mother who knows exactly how to set things right.

The Fisherman and His Wife

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Fisherman and His Wife from Grimm's Household Tales

A fisherman catches a magical flounder who grants wishes -- but his wife always wants just a little more. A cautionary comedy in six scenes that starts with a cottage and ends right back where it began.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Our own stage adaptation of the public-domain Aladdin (Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book): a lazy tailor's son, a scheming African magician, a lamp that changes everything, and a princess worth fighting for -- warm, funny, and genuinely full of peril, with a genie who takes the job very seriously, a mother who never stops doing laundry, and an Aladdin who grows up just in time.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Forty Thieves from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Ali Baba, a poor woodcutter, stumbles on a secret cave full of stolen gold -- and the two words that open it. His greedy brother Cassim cannot keep a secret, and that starts the trouble. It falls to Morgiana, the cleverest person in the story, to outwit the captain of the forty thieves and keep her household safe. Six scenes, a huge flexible cast, genuinely funny, and faithful to Andrew Lang's public-domain retelling.

The Road to Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum

Dorothy follows a peculiar shaggy stranger down a road that shouldn't exist, picks up a lost boy and a sky-dancing rainbow fairy along the way, and arrives just in time for Princess Ozma's birthday -- a comic quest full of odd companions, impossible geography, and no shortage of polite but firm arguments about which direction is which.

The Princess and the Pea

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Princess and the Pea from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A prince who has searched every kingdom for a real princess comes home empty-handed. One stormy night a young woman knocks at the palace gate -- soaked to the bone and claiming to be a princess. The queen has a test. One tiny pea, twenty mattresses, twenty feather beds, and one very uncomfortable night later, the proof is in. A warm, funny six-scene play for younger grades, with a Mattress Chorus that grows with your class.

The Elderbush

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Elderbush from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A boy with cold feet and a cup of elderflower tea gets the most unusual fairy tale of his life -- one that lives inside the teapot itself -- as a merry old neighbor conjures Old Nanny, the spirit of the elder tree, who sweeps the boy across all four seasons of Denmark and tells him the story of a sailor and his wife who grew up, grew old, and loved each other for fifty years.

The Swineherd

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Swineherd from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A Prince with a tiny kingdom sends the Emperor's daughter two genuine gifts -- a real rose and a real nightingale -- and she rejects them both because they aren't artificial. Undaunted, the Prince disguises himself as a swineherd and wins kiss after kiss from the Princess with two magical contraptions. When the Emperor catches them and throws them both out, the Prince reveals who he really is -- and walks away. A warm, funny, and pointed fairy tale about what actually matters.

The Shoes of Fortune

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Shoes of Fortune from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

Two magical shoes -- left behind at a Copenhagen party -- grant every wish of whoever wears them, dragging a pompous councillor to the muddy Middle Ages, a daydreaming watchman to the moon, a vain clerk through a stranger's heart, and a weary young clergyman to the ends of the earth, until each traveler learns the hard way that the life you already have is the one worth keeping.

The Leap-Frog

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Leap-Frog from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Leap-frog enter a royal jumping contest -- and only one of them figures out where the finish line actually is. A funny, lively play about showing off, keeping quiet, and knowing what counts.

The Bell

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Bell from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A beautiful bell rings somewhere in the forest at sunset, and nobody can quite explain where the sound comes from. On Confirmation Day a group of children sets out to find it -- but only two keep going all the way to the mountain summit, where the sea opens before them and the whole world becomes the bell.

The Old House

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Old House from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A curious boy looks out his window every day at the crumbling old house across the street, and the very lonely old man who lives inside it. He sends the old man a tin soldier for company -- and so begins a friendship of window nods and strange visits, talking furniture, and a pewter soldier who misses home so badly he throws himself off the dresser. When the old man is gone and the house comes down, something small and tin survives in the earth for years and years, until the boy -- now grown -- finds it in a garden and tells his wife the whole story. Funny, warm, and gently bittersweet: a play about loneliness, memory, and the small things that keep a connection alive.

The Happy Family

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Happy Family from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

Two elderly snails live contentedly under the burdock leaves, convinced the whole forest exists for their benefit and that the greatest honor in the world is to be served on a silver dish at the manor house -- a destiny they and all their descendants cheerfully never achieve.

The Dream of Little Tuk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Dream of Little Tuk from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

Little Tuk has to learn his geography lesson by morning, but the candle has burned out and there is no light to read by. After helping a tired old washerwoman carry her pail, he falls asleep with his book under his pillow -- and the towns of Seeland come to life in his dreams, one by one, each showing him just what he needs to know. A warm, funny dream-play for grades 2-5, with a big ensemble role for every student in the class.

The Naughty Boy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Naughty Boy from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

On a stormy night an old poet takes in a cold, shivering child who claims to be lost -- but the cheerful stranger is not quite what he seems, and by morning the poet has a flutter in his heart and a very important warning to share with every child in the audience.

The Little Match Girl

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Little Match Girl from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

On the last cold evening of the year, a poor barefoot girl who has not sold a single match strikes them one by one and sees, in each brief flame, a warm stove, a feast, a lit tree, a falling star, and at last her grandmother -- the one person who ever loved her. A tender, faithful stage version of Andersen's tale about compassion for the poor and the warmth of remembered love, with the child's passing handled gently and off the harsh edge. Older-grade lean, grades 4-12.

The Story of a Mother

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of a Mother from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

When Death slips away with her sick child, a mother runs into the winter night to follow -- singing every lullaby she knows to Night, warming a frozen thornbush against her own heart, weeping her eyes into pearls to cross a lake, and at last standing in Death's great greenhouse to bargain for her child's life. A reverent, faithful stage version of Andersen's tale about the depth of a mother's love and the hard grace of trusting a wisdom larger than our own. Older-grade lean, grades 5-12.

The Red Shoes

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Red Shoes from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

Karen, a poor orphan taken in by a kind old lady, falls so in love with a pair of glittering red shoes that she wears them where she should not -- and finds she cannot stop dancing. A faithful stage version of Andersen's cautionary tale about vanity and self-absorption, and the humility and repentance that finally bring peace. The story's harsh turn is kept off-stage and by implication; its meaning is kept whole. Older-grade lean, grades 5-12.

The Shadow

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Shadow from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

A learned man who writes about what is true and good and beautiful sends his own shadow, one warm evening, to peek into the house across the street -- and the shadow does not come back the same. Years later it returns rich, clothed, and calling itself a gentleman, and it slowly trades places with its master until the man is the shadow and the shadow is the man. A faithful stage version of Andersen's sharp, unsettling tale about losing one's substance and integrity to something hollow. The dark ending is kept off-stage and by implication. Older-grade lean, grades 6-12.

Allerleirauh (All-Kinds-of-Fur)

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Allerleirauh (All-Kinds-of-Fur) from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A princess flees her home in a cloak made of a thousand furs, hides her identity in a foreign kingdom's kitchen, and attends three dazzling royal balls -- each time in one of her three magical dresses -- before a golden ring gives away her secret and the king discovers who she truly is.

Bearskin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Bearskin from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A discharged soldier, with nothing left but his courage, meets a mysterious figure on a lonely heath who offers him a coat always full of gold -- but for seven years he must not wash, not comb his hair, not cut his nails, and must sleep only on a great bearskin. Wandering the world shaggy and wild, he does good everywhere he goes. When he helps a ruined old man out of debt, the man offers him a daughter as a bride. Two daughters mock him and run; the youngest keeps her promise. Three years she waits in black while her sisters jeer. Then the seven years end, the enchantment breaks, and a handsome stranger drives to her door in a velvet coat and four white horses -- carrying the other half of a broken ring.

Brother Lustig

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Brother Lustig from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A discharged soldier with a big heart and very little sense shares his last loaf of bread with every stranger he meets -- and one of those strangers turns out to be considerably more powerful than he looks. Brother Lustig collects a magical knapsack, causes chaos at every inn between here and the horizon, and eventually talks his way through a door that was firmly closed to him. A comic fairy tale about generosity, stubbornness, and the power of a really good trick.

Clever Elsie

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Clever Elsie from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Elsie is famous for her cleverness -- but when she goes to the cellar for a jug of beer and spots a pickaxe stuck in the ceiling, she imagines the most elaborate possible disaster and cannot stop weeping long enough to fetch the drink. One by one, everyone in the house comes down to find out what is taking so long, and one by one they all join in.

Clever Grethel

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Clever Grethel from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Grethel the cook is famous for her red-rosette shoes and her very good opinion of herself. When her master asks her to roast two fine chickens for a dinner guest, one small taste leads to another, and by the time the guest arrives there is nothing left to serve. Grethel talks her way out of it anyway -- with a story so clever it sends the guest running and the master chasing him down the road with a carving knife.

Clever Hans

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Clever Hans from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Hans visits his sweetheart Gretel six times, and each time he carries her gift home in exactly the wrong way -- because he is faithfully following his mother's advice about the last gift. A short, very silly comedy of literal-minded helpfulness that never quite goes right.

Dr. Know-All

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Dr. Know-All from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A peasant named Crabb buys an ABC book, nails a sign above his door, and accidentally becomes the most famous doctor in the land -- without knowing a single thing.

Faithful John

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Faithful John from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When the old King dies, his most trusted servant Faithful John swears to protect the young King at any cost. Three ravens warn of deadly traps ahead -- a bewitched horse, a poisoned wedding coat, and a fatal swoon at the wedding dance -- and Faithful John stops each one, at a terrible price: he is turned to stone for keeping the secret. Only the King's willingness to sacrifice what he loves most can bring Faithful John back. A play about loyalty so deep it costs everything, and love that finds a way to make it right.

Ferdinand the Faithful

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Ferdinand the Faithful from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Ferdinand the Faithful sets out into the world with nothing but a white horse, a magic pen, and a flute given to him by a grateful fish -- and soon finds himself at the court of a King who has a scheming rival for every task, a homesick princess in his palace, and a white horse with a secret that will change everything.

Foundling-Bird

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Foundling-Bird from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When the cook old Sanna announces a terrible plan for their friend Fundevogel, Lina and Fundevogel slip out before dawn and outfox three pursuing servants -- and the cook herself -- by transforming into a rose-tree and a rose, then a church and a chandelier, then a pond and a duck, until the duck dunks Sanna into the magic water and she washes away for good.

Frau Holle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Frau Holle from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When kind Mary falls down a well and lands in a magical kingdom, she finds work shaking snow from Frau Holle's great feather bed. Her lazy stepsister follows -- and discovers that Frau Holle's reward fits the work you actually do.

Frederick and Catherine

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Frederick and Catherine from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Frederick goes out to plow and leaves Catherine in charge of everything at home -- which turns out to be a catastrophic miscalculation, as Catherine manages to empty a beer barrel, trade away the family gold for bottomless pots, grease a road with butter, roll cheese down a hill, and terrify a pastor, all without meaning the slightest bit of harm. A slapstick comedy in eight scenes, freely adapted from the Brothers Grimm.

Godfather Death

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Godfather Death from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor man with thirteen children chooses Death itself as his youngest child's godfather -- and the gift turns out to be the most powerful, and most dangerous, thing the boy will ever receive.

Hans in Luck

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Hans in Luck from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Hans trades his gold wages for a horse, the horse for a cow, the cow for a pig, the pig for a goose, and the goose for two heavy stones -- and every single trade makes him happier than the last.

Hans Married

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Hans Married from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Hans sits happily behind a hot stove with white bread and a farthing while his uncle talks a greedy farmer into a wedding -- using the word 'patches' to mean two completely different things at once -- and the joke pays off magnificently when Hans takes his new bride out to show her all the land he owns.

Hans the Hedgehog

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Hans the Hedgehog from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A farmer and his wife long so desperately for a child that the farmer cries out he would take one even if it were a hedgehog. Sure enough, their son Hans is born -- half boy, half hedgehog -- and the villagers cannot quite decide what to make of him. Hans grows up tending pigs and playing the bagpipes from a treetop in the deep forest, where he helps two lost kings find their way home in exchange for a promise. One king breaks his word; the other keeps it. In the end, a kind act and a lit fire on a wedding night reveal the handsome young man who was always inside the prickles.

Herr Korbes

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Herr Korbes from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A cock and a hen set off in a fine carriage pulled by four mice -- and before long they have picked up a cat, a millstone, an egg, a duck, a pin, and a needle, all bound for the house of the very wicked Herr Korbes. He is not home when they arrive, so everyone finds a hiding spot and waits. When he walks through the door, the traps spring one by one -- and each one is more surprising than the last.

Jorinda and Joringel

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Jorinda and Joringel from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When Jorinda is transformed into a nightingale by a powerful witch who keeps seven thousand caged birds in her enchanted castle, her beloved Joringel must search nine days for a blood-red flower with a pearl at its heart -- the one thing in the world the witch cannot stand against.

King Thrushbeard

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on King Thrushbeard from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A princess who mocks every suitor at the royal assembly -- giving the finest king a nickname that sticks -- learns that pride has a price, and that the kindest teacher can arrive in disguise. A warm and funny fairy tale in six scenes, faithful to the Brothers Grimm, with a sharp-tongued princess, a patient fiddler, a very bad day at the market, and a feast that turns the whole story upside down.

Little Brother and Little Sister

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Little Brother and Little Sister from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Two children flee a wicked stepmother into the forest, where Little Brother drinks from an enchanted brook and becomes a roebuck. Little Sister refuses to leave him, keeps house in the woods, and catches the eye of a passing King -- but their troubles are not over when a witch schemes to replace the Queen. A full-length Grimm fairy tale in seven scenes, warm, funny, and faithful to the Brothers Grimm.

Old Sultan

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Old Sultan from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Old Sultan the farm dog has lost all his teeth and fears his master plans to be rid of him -- until a clever wolf hatches a daring plan to save his life. A warm comedy about loyalty, gratitude, and the world's most accidental sword-fight.

One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Two-Eyes has two perfectly ordinary eyes -- and that, according to her sisters and mother, is the problem. Outcasts come with one eye or three; two eyes are disgracefully normal. Sent out hungry to tend the goat every day, Two-Eyes meets a wise woman who teaches her a rhyme that summons a little table covered with the most delicious food. Her sisters try to spy on her; the third eye nearly gives the game away. When the goat is taken from her and the magic seems lost forever, a tree grows overnight from the earth -- silver leaves, golden fruit -- and only Two-Eyes can pick it. Faithful to Grimm, warm, funny, and genuinely satisfying.

Our Lady's Child

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Our Lady's Child from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A woodcutter's young daughter is taken to live in heaven, where she is given the keys to thirteen doors -- twelve she may open freely, one she must not. When curiosity wins and she opens the forbidden door, she finds herself unable to admit the truth, and the consequences follow her into the world below. A play about honesty, stubbornness, and the harder courage it takes to finally say the true thing out loud.

Straw, Coal, and Bean

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Straw, Coal, and Bean from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A straw, a coal, and a bean escape from an old woman's cooking fire and set off together through the wide world. When they reach a brook with no bridge in sight, the Straw has a very big idea -- and the Bean cannot stop laughing at what happens next. A funny, fast-moving fairy tale that ends with an answer to one of life's great questions: why does every bean have a black seam?

Sweet Porridge

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Sweet Porridge from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor girl receives a magic pot from a kind old woman in the forest: say the right words and it cooks the most wonderful sweet porridge in the world; say the other words and it stops. The trouble begins the day her mother forgets which words are which -- and the porridge decides it has somewhere to be.

Sweetheart Roland

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Sweetheart Roland from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A clever girl outwits a wicked witch with a stolen magic wand, three drops of blood, and a series of dazzling disguises -- turning herself and her sweetheart Roland into a duck, a lake, a flower, and a fiddler -- while staying faithful to Roland even after he forgets her entirely.

The Blue Light

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Blue Light from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A discharged soldier, cheated out of his wages and left to starve, discovers a magical blue light at the bottom of a well -- and the little dwarf who answers its call. What begins as survival becomes a plan to expose a king's cruelty, with help from the most unlikely quarter: the very princess the king wronged him to protect.

The Brave Little Tailor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Brave Little Tailor from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A quick-witted tailor kills seven flies with one swat, embroiders 'Seven at one stroke' on a belt, and walks out into the world -- where everyone assumes he means seven warriors. What follows is a chain of outrageous bluffs: he out-tricks a giant, outwits two quarreling giants, traps a unicorn with a tree, catches a wild boar in a chapel, wins a princess, and foils a palace plot -- all without once swinging a weapon in earnest. A funny, fast, and fully stageable fairy tale about the power of wit over size.

The Cunning Little Tailor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Cunning Little Tailor from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A quick-witted little tailor outwits a proud princess, outfoxes a very large bear, and wins a royal wedding -- not by strength or wealth, but by sheer nerve and a well-timed bluff. A funny, warm fairy tale about keeping your wits when the odds are enormous.

The Death of the Little Hen

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Death of the Little Hen from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A little hen swallows one too many nut-kernels, a little cock sets off a hilariously impossible chain of errands to fetch water, and the whole forest turns out for the most chaotic funeral procession ever attempted -- with an ending that surprises even the hen herself.

The Devil and His Grandmother

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Devil and His Grandmother from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Three soldiers desert a stingy king's army, strike a dangerous bargain with a fire-breathing ogre-master who promises them seven years of gold, and must answer a riddle at the end -- or belong to him forever. Their only hope is a sharp-eared hiding spot, a midnight supper, and one very sharp-witted grandmother.

The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A boy born under a lucky star is prophesied to marry the King's daughter -- which suits nobody at the palace at all. The King throws the baby in a river, intercepts letters, and invents impossible quests, and the boy cheerfully survives every single one. His final errand takes him straight to the underground home of a grumpy ogre, where a clever grandmother hides him as an ant, pulls three golden hairs while the ogre sleeps, and bluffs her way through three 'bad dreams' to extract three secrets the world badly needs. A funny, warm, and fully stageable fairy tale about luck, wit, and the justice of a well-handed oar.

The Elves

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Elves from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Three tales in one evening: a poor shoemaker wakes to find his shoes already made by two tiny helpers; a servant girl is whisked underground to a fairy christening and loses seven years without knowing it; and a young mother outsmarts a changeling with nothing but a fire and two egg-shells.

The Four Skilful Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Four Skilful Brothers from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor father sends his four sons into the world to learn a trade. They return four years later as a star-gazing astronomer, a light-fingered thief, a dead-eye huntsman, and a gifted tailor -- and they put every skill to the test when the King's daughter is carried off to a rocky island by a dragon. Who deserves the reward? The King's answer surprises everyone.

The Fox and the Cat

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Fox and the Cat from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A boastful fox meets a cat in the forest and cannot stop listing all the clever tricks he knows -- right up until the hounds arrive and the cat's one good trick turns out to be worth more than a hundred.

The Fox and the Geese

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Fox and the Geese from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A fox strolls into a sunny meadow and finds a flock of fine, fat geese sitting together beautifully -- and announces he will eat them all. The geese beg and plead, but the fox will not budge an inch. Then one brave goose has an idea: could they have just one last prayer before the end? The fox agrees. The geese begin to pray. And pray. And pray. A warm, funny fairy tale in six scenes about courage, quick thinking, and the extraordinary power of a prayer that never quite ends.

The Fox and the Horse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Fox and the Horse from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A faithful old horse is turned out by his master with one impossible condition: bring home a lion and you may stay. A clever fox has other ideas -- and a very good knot.

The Frog King, or Iron Henry

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Frog King, or Iron Henry from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A young princess makes a promise to a frog to get her golden ball back -- and a king who keeps his word makes sure she keeps hers. A warm and funny fairy tale in six scenes, faithful to the Brothers Grimm, with a grumpy princess, a very polite frog, and a servant named Henry whose heart was so full of joy it cracked three iron bands right off his chest.

The Girl Without Hands

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Girl Without Hands from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A miller's daughter is so good and so pure that the Devil cannot harm her -- so he drives her out into the world with her arms bound useless at her sides. She wanders alone, finds refuge in a king's garden, marries the king, is falsely accused by the Devil's forged letters, and spends seven years in a forest cottage until her hands are restored by God's grace and the king finds her at last.

The Gnome (The Earth-Manikin)

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Gnome (The Earth-Manikin) from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A King's three daughters vanish underground after plucking a forbidden apple, and only the youngest of three huntsmen -- the one everyone calls Stupid Hans -- is brave enough to follow them into the dark and bring them home.

The Gold-Children

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Gold-Children from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor fisherman catches a magical golden fish that grants his family a castle -- as long as his wife keeps the secret. When the secret is broken again and again, the fish takes matters into its own fins and gives the family something far more lasting: two golden sons, two golden horses, and two golden lilies that glow when the brothers are safe. A tale of brothers who look out for each other, no matter how far apart they roam.

The Golden Bird

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden Bird from Grimm's Fairy Tales (the Brothers Grimm)

A king's youngest son sets out to find the legendary Golden Bird, guided by a clever Fox who warns him at every turn -- warnings his older brothers ignored. A full-length fairy tale in seven scenes, close to the Brothers Grimm original, with a daring prince, a talking Fox, a radiant princess, a horse that runs faster than the wind, and two brothers who learn the difference between cleverness and wisdom.

The Goose-Girl

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Goose-Girl from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A princess is robbed of her identity by a treacherous waiting-maid on the road to her betrothed's kingdom -- forced to tend geese while an impostor takes her place. Only a speaking horse's severed head, a mischievous wind, and the honest walls of an old iron stove can restore the truth. Seven scenes, faithful to the Brothers Grimm, with a brave princess, a scheming maid, a very patient goose-boy named Curdken, and a horse who speaks good sense even after death.

The Hare's Bride

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Hare's Bride from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A hare keeps eating the cabbages, so the mother sends her child to shoo it away -- but the hare has a very different idea, and the next thing anyone knows, there is a wedding being planned in a rabbit hutch with a crow for a parson and a fox for a clerk. Lucky for the girl, she is smarter than the whole wedding party put together.

The Iron Stove

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Iron Stove from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A prince trapped inside an iron stove in the middle of a dark forest makes a deal with a lost king's daughter -- she will free him, and he will guide her home. Keeping that promise costs her everything, sends her on a quest across a glass mountain and a great lake with nothing but a handful of needles, a plough-wheel, and three magical nuts, and lands her in a castle kitchen scrubbing pots while the prince she loves is about to marry someone else. A full fairy tale in seven scenes, warm and funny and faithful to Brothers Grimm.

The Juniper-Tree

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Juniper-Tree from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A beautiful bird born of an old juniper tree carries three gifts -- a golden chain, red shoes, and a millstone -- and sings the truth of what happened in a household where love and cruelty lived side by side, until justice falls and a lost boy comes home.

The King of the Golden Mountain

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The King of the Golden Mountain from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A merchant's son is pledged to a black dwarf before he can even walk -- but he outsmarts the bargain, drifts to a bewitched castle, breaks an enchantment through three nights of silent courage, becomes king, and eventually has to fight his way back to a throne his own queen tried to give away. A full-length fairy tale in eight scenes, faithful to Brothers Grimm, with a brave hero, an enchanted princess, three magic giants' gifts, and a banquet where invisible mischief unmasks a very public betrayal.

The King's Son Who Feared Nothing

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The King's Son Who Feared Nothing from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A prince who fears nothing leaves home, outplays a giant at ninepins, then sets off to fetch a golden apple from a guarded garden -- where a magic ring grants him a loyal lion companion. After the giant's treachery leaves him blind and stranded on a cliff, the lion saves his life, a woodland spring restores his sight, and he arrives at an enchanted castle to face three nights of howling mischief. His courage breaks the spell and frees the castle's captive princess.

The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Three brothers set off to seek their fortunes; the youngest refuses a hill of silver and a hill of gold and ends up with four magical treasures instead -- a wishing-cloth, a knapsack full of soldiers, a hat that fires cannon, and a horn that topples walls -- and uses them to outfox a scheming princess and win a kingdom.

The Lambkin and the Little Fish

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Lambkin and the Little Fish from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A wicked stepmother turns a little brother into a fish and his sister into a lamb -- but when the cook overhears the two creatures singing to each other across the kitchen yard, everything changes, and a wise woman sets the children free.

The Lazy Spinner

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Lazy Spinner from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A woman who hates spinning will go to absolutely any length to avoid it -- including hiding in the forest to cry out a mysterious curse that terrifies her husband away from the woodpile, and secretly boiling a lump of tow while blaming the cock for her husband's carelessness. Two schemes, two victories, and a husband who will never, ever, bring up the subject of yarn again.

The Little Peasant

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Little Peasant from Grimm's Fairy Tales

The one poor peasant in a village full of rich ones hatches a plan involving a wooden calf, a raven that tells fortunes, a mill full of hidden food, and a shepherd who really, really wants to be mayor. A fast-moving comedy of bluffs, grudges, and the world's least convincing soothsayer.

The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A mouse, a bird, and a sausage run a very tidy, very happy household -- until a nosy stranger bird convinces them to swap their jobs. The result is pure slapstick chaos: the sausage meets a hungry dog, the mouse nearly boils itself, and the bird loses a bucket down the well. A warm and funny Grimm fable about the wisdom of knowing your own strengths.

The Old Man and His Grandson

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Old Man and His Grandson from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A grandfather grows old and his hands begin to shake -- so his son and daughter-in-law move him to the corner behind the stove and give him a wooden bowl to eat from alone. Then one afternoon their four-year-old child starts collecting scraps of wood on the floor. When the father asks what he is building, the child's answer changes everything.

The Old Woman in the Wood

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Old Woman in the Wood from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A servant-girl survives a robber attack in the middle of a dark forest and is left entirely alone -- until a small white dove arrives with a golden key and a surprising amount of practical help. The dove turns out to have a secret, and the only way to free it is to outwit a wicked old woman who really does not want to let go of a birdcage.

The Pack of Ragamuffins

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Pack of Ragamuffins from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A cock and a hen eat too many nuts, build a nutshell carriage, press-gang a duck into pulling it, pick up a pin and a needle along the road, and leave an innkeeper with a very bad morning -- a short, silly comedy in six scenes.

The Peasant's Clever Daughter

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Peasant's Clever Daughter from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor peasant's daughter outwits a king with a riddle, wins a crown, and then -- when the king tries to send her away -- proves once more that the cleverest thing in the palace was her all along.

The Pink (The Carnation)

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Pink (The Carnation) from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A queen's prayer is answered with a son who can wish for anything -- but a jealous cook steals the baby, frames the queen, and raises the boy in secret. As the boy grows, he discovers the truth, frees his mother, and transforms the cook into a very repentant poodle.

The Poor Man and the Rich Man

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Poor Man and the Rich Man from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When a mysterious old traveler arrives at nightfall needing a place to sleep, the rich neighbor slams the door and the poor family shares everything they have -- potatoes, goat milk, and their own bed. The next morning the traveler grants three wishes, and the poor family's humble, warm choices change their lives forever. When the rich man finds out, he chases the traveler down the road and demands his own three wishes -- and promptly wastes all three in the most spectacular fashion imaginable. A warm, funny fairy tale about generosity and the dangers of wishing in anger.

The Queen Bee

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Queen Bee from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Three brothers arrive at an enchanted castle with three impossible tasks to break its spell. The two clever brothers fail. Simpleton -- the youngest, who always stopped to be kind to small creatures -- discovers that the ants, the ducks, and the Queen of the Bees remember every good turn.

The Raven

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Raven from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A queen's impatient wish turns her little daughter into a raven who flies into the dark forest; a kind wanderer promises to break the spell -- but an old woman's food and drink keep putting him to sleep at exactly the wrong moment. The raven leaves him a ring, a letter, and a meal that never runs out, and the wanderer sets off for the Golden Castle of Stromberg, far away on a glass mountain, armed with nothing but stubbornness and the three magic items he tricks from a trio of squabbling robbers.

The Riddle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Riddle from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A traveling prince and his quick-thinking servant stumble through a witch's house, an inn full of scheming villains, and a royal riddle contest where nine suitors have already lost their heads -- and the prize is a princess who is far too clever for her own good.

The Robber Bridegroom

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Robber Bridegroom from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A miller finds what looks like the perfect match for his daughter -- a wealthy suitor with a house in the forest -- but the daughter's instincts keep whispering that something is wrong. She marks the path with peas and lentils, meets a hidden old woman who knows the truth, and witnesses enough from behind a barrel to confirm every fear. The real question is not whether the bridegroom is a villain -- he is -- but whether a clever, steady young woman can expose him in front of everyone without putting herself in danger. At the wedding feast she tells the story as a dream, piece by piece, until she holds up the proof.

The Seven Ravens

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Seven Ravens from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A girl discovers that her seven brothers were turned into ravens by their father's angry wish -- and sets out alone across the sun, the moon, and the glass mountain to bring them home.

The Seven Swabians

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Seven Swabians from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Seven brave Swabians set off together to seek great adventures -- all carrying the same enormous spear -- and manage to be terrified, in order, by a hornet, a sleeping hare, and a frog croaking across a river. A fast, funny ensemble comedy about the gap between bluster and courage, with seven named roles, a chorus of panic, and a soaking finale.

The Singing Bone

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Singing Bone from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A brave younger brother slays the wild boar with a magic spear -- but his envious elder brother steals the glory and buries the truth under a bridge. Years later, a shepherd finds a small white bone in the sand, carves it into a horn, and the bone begins to sing.

The Singing, Springing Lark

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Singing, Springing Lark from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When a merchant promises the lion who owns his lark that the first thing greeting him at home will be the lion's, his youngest daughter walks straight into an enchanted castle -- and straight into the adventure of her life. A full-length fairy tale of loyalty, searching, and a love that survives seven years and a very long walk, faithful to Brothers Grimm, with a singing lark, a lion who is also a prince, a helpful chain of Sun, Moon, and Wind, and a golden hen with twelve golden chicks.

The Skilful Huntsman

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Skilful Huntsman from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A young locksmith trades his tools for a never-miss air-gun and walks into the world. One night in a dark forest he outwits three boasting giants, slips into a sleeping castle to rescue a princess -- taking only a slipper and a corner of silk as proof -- then watches a lying captain seal his own fate by answering one very clever question at the King's table. A fast, funny tale about wit, honesty, and the value of actual evidence.

The Spirit in the Bottle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Spirit in the Bottle from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor woodcutter's son comes home from university with no money left -- and finds an ancient oak tree, a very small bottle, and a very large spirit who is furious about being trapped. A funny and quick-witted fairy tale in six scenes: the student must out-clever a boastful spirit, explain a mysteriously silver axe to his father, and outwit a suspicious goldsmith before he can finally return to his studies and become the most celebrated doctor in the world.

The Strange Musician

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Strange Musician from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A musician roams a forest looking for company and plays his fiddle -- which brings, one by one, a wolf, a fox, and a hare. He tricks each of them with cheerful cleverness, leaving them comically stuck while he wanders on. When the three catch up to him and demand revenge, a poor woodcutter with an axe arrives to set things right. Faithful to Grimm, funny throughout, and full of parts big and small.

The Tailor in Heaven

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Tailor in Heaven from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A lame tailor talks his way past Saint Peter into heaven, sneaks into the Lord's golden chair, spots an old woman stealing washing by a stream below, and lets the Lord's footstool fly -- with predictably heavenly consequences.

The Three Apprentices

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Apprentices from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Three traveling apprentices, down to their last coin, make a strange bargain with a mysterious old man: their pockets will stay full of gold as long as they answer every question with only three phrases -- but can they keep it up when an innkeeper's crime lands them in front of a judge?

The Three Army Surgeons

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Army Surgeons from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Three surgeons who can do absolutely anything -- at least according to themselves -- check in at an inn, lock their spare parts in a cupboard, and wake up the next morning with a thief's hand, a cat's eyes, and a pig's heart. Pure Grimm farce.

The Three Children of Fortune

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Sons of Fortune from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A dying father has no money to leave his three children -- only a rooster, a scythe, and a cat. He tells them: find a land where no one has ever seen such a thing, and your fortune is made. Each child sets off, and each lands on an island so peculiar that the ordinary becomes extraordinary. A play about ordinary things in the right place at the right time, and the good sense to notice the difference.

The Three Feathers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Feathers from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A king sends his three sons on three impossible tasks -- find the finest carpet, the finest ring, and the finest bride -- and only the youngest, nicknamed Simpleton, thinks to follow a feather straight down through a trap-door into the earth, where a most unusual toad turns out to be the most reliable helper in the kingdom.

The Three Languages

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Languages from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A count's son whom everyone calls hopeless spends three years learning the languages of dogs, birds, and frogs -- and those three strange gifts carry him from the edge of the forest to the seat of the Pope in Rome, with a grateful castle full of wild dogs cheering him on the way.

The Three Little Birds

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Little Birds from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A queen is wrongly imprisoned when her jealous sisters-in-law scheme against her, but the three children she thought were lost -- two brave boys and a bold girl -- have been quietly growing up by a river, and now they are coming home to find the father, the truth, and each other.

The Three Little Men in the Forest

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Little Men in the Forest from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A kind girl is sent into a winter forest in a paper dress to find strawberries -- and meets three remarkable little men who change her life forever. A stepsister tries the same trick, gets the opposite results, and learns that manners matter more than a magnificent fur coat. Faithful to the Brothers Grimm, with gold coins, a duck in the night, a king, and a very satisfying barrel.

The Three Spinning Women

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Spinning Women from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A girl who hates spinning finds herself locked in a palace with three rooms full of flax and an impossible deadline. Three very strange women -- one with a broad flat foot, one with a drooping lower lip, and one with a remarkably wide thumb -- show up at her window with an offer she cannot refuse. All they want in return is an invitation to the wedding. Faithful to Grimm, funny, and surprisingly satisfying.

The Twelve Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Twelve Brothers from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A princess discovers that her twelve brothers are living hidden in the forest -- and that picking twelve lily flowers has turned them all into ravens. To save them she must keep silent for seven years without speaking a single word, no matter what happens.

The Twelve Huntsmen

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Twelve Huntsmen from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A prince promises his dying father to marry a princess he has never met -- but he already has a bride he loves. She refuses to disappear quietly. She recruits eleven friends who look exactly like her, dresses them all as royal huntsmen, and walks right into the King's own court. The King's clever lion suspects the truth. A kind servant tips off the huntsmen at every turn. And when news arrives that the new bride is coming, the disguise finally cracks -- not from any test, but from the heart.

The Two Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Two Brothers from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Twin brothers grow up as huntsmen, each with a lion, a bear, a wolf, a fox, and a hare at their side. When the younger fights a seven-headed dragon and saves a princess, a treacherous marshal takes the credit and leaves him for dead -- only loyal animals and a life-giving root can save him, and only the elder twin can free him from a witch's stone vault. A full-length adventure with real stakes, funny animals, and a truth that cannot stay hidden.

The Two Kings' Children

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Two Kings' Children from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A king's son chases a stag deep into the forest -- and the stag turns out to be something else entirely. Now he must keep watch for three nights, cut down a forest, clean a fish-pond, and build a castle, all with glass tools that shatter on the first swing. Good thing the youngest princess has a knotted handkerchief and a crew of very reliable earth-workers. A full-length fairy tale of impossible tasks, shape-shifting escapes, and three magical walnuts, faithful to the Brothers Grimm.

The Two Travellers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Two Travellers from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A cheerful tailor and a selfish shoemaker set off down the road together, but when food runs short deep in the forest, the shoemaker's true colours show -- he tricks the tailor, takes his food, and leaves him alone and lost. Helped by the creatures he was kind to along the way -- a young foal, a stork, a family of ducks, and a whole buzzing hive of bees -- the tailor reaches a royal city, outwits every impossible task the shoemaker schemes against him, and wins the hand of the princess, while the shoemaker's scheming earns him exactly what he deserves.

The Water-Nix

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Water-Nix from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A little brother and sister fall into a well and find themselves the unwilling servants of a bossy, grumbling Water-Nix who gives them impossible chores and rock-hard dumplings for supper. But the children are cleverer than she thinks -- and when Sunday morning comes and the Nix goes to church, they make a run for it, with a brush, a comb, and a mirror tucked in their pockets.

The Wedding of Mrs. Fox

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wedding of Mrs. Fox from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When old Mr. Fox pretends to be dead, suitors come knocking one by one -- but Mrs. Fox has very particular standards. A funny, fast-moving fairy tale in two parts, faithful to the Brothers Grimm, with a clever cat, a parade of hopeful foxes, and a wedding that does not go quite as planned.

The White Snake

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The White Snake from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A curious servant sneaks a taste from the king's secret covered dish and discovers it holds a white snake -- and a very strange power: he can now understand the language of every animal alive. That gift sets him off on a journey across three kingdoms, saving fish from a pond, steering his horse around an ant hill, and feeding his horse to a pair of starving young ravens. When he arrives in a city and falls for the princess, she sets him three tasks that should be impossible -- but a fish, a thousand ants, and three grateful ravens have long memories.

The Wilful Child

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wilful Child from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A child named Petra refuses to listen to anyone -- not her mother, not the neighbors, not even her own better judgment -- until a stubborn arm in a dream finally teaches her what stubbornness really costs.

The Willow-Wren and the Bear

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Willow-Wren and the Bear from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A bear calls the wren chicks disreputable, and suddenly every creature in the forest has to pick a side. A comic muster of animals and birds escalates toward the most chaotic battle the forest has ever not quite had -- ending in a very sheepish apology and a very satisfied feast.

The Wishing-table, the Gold-ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wishing-table, the Gold-ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A tailor's three sons each earn a magic gift on their travels -- a table that covers itself with food, a donkey that drops gold coins, and a sack with a cudgel inside -- but a greedy innkeeper steals the first two, and only the youngest son's very enthusiastic sack can set things right.

The Wolf and the Fox

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wolf and the Fox from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A bullying wolf orders the clever fox to fetch food three times over -- and every single time the wolf's greed lands him in more trouble than the fox can get him out of. A funny, fast-moving Grimm tale about what happens when the biggest appetite in the forest meets one cellar door that is just a little too narrow.

The Wolf and the Man

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wolf and the Man from Grimm's Fairy Tales

The Wolf has never seen a man, and the Fox is about to fix that. They stake out the road together and watch three travelers pass -- an old soldier, a schoolboy, and finally a huntsman with a very loud gun and a very sharp sword. The Wolf is sure he can handle it. The Fox is very sure the Wolf cannot. One of them is right.

The Young Giant

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Young Giant from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A thumb-sized farm boy is carried off by a giant, raised on giant's milk, and grows so enormous he can carry two horses on his shoulders like a bundle of straw. When he hires out as a head-servant -- for the unusual wage of three blows per year -- his miserly master plots to be rid of him, dropping a millstone on his head (he wears it as a necktie), sending him to a haunted mill (he boxes the ghosts right back), and finally gets the boot himself -- literally -- out the window. A big, funny, muscle-gag fairy tale about a gentle giant who always keeps his agreements.

The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A boy who cannot shudder sets out to learn what fear is -- through a haunted church tower, a gallows in the frost, three wild nights in an enchanted castle full of cats, skulls, and a very grumpy spirit -- and discovers, at last, that a bucket of cold fish-water does what monsters never could. Funny, spooky, and school-safe.

Thumbling

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Thumbling from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor tailor and his wife wish for a child -- even one no bigger than a thumb -- and get exactly what they asked for. Thumbling is clever, bold, and roughly the size of a walnut, which turns out to be both a problem and a very great advantage as he talks a horse through the woods, outwits a pair of swindlers, spoils a robbery, survives being swallowed (twice), and talks a wolf straight into his father's kitchen. True to Grimm's plot, gently softened for the youngest audiences, funny all the way through, and built for a real cast.

Thumbling as Journeyman

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Thumbling as Journeyman from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Thumbling is no bigger than a thumb, but he has a darning-needle sword, a pocketful of nerve, and a plan to see the whole world. Along the way he outsmarts a cranky mistress, outwits a treasure chamber full of royal sentries, survives the inside of a very confused cow, endures a winter inside a smoked sausage, and talks a fox into carrying him home -- all before supper.

Wise Folks

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Wise Folks from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Hans the peasant threatens to punish his wife Trina for a foolish deal -- then sets off to find three people sillier than she is, and stumbles into the most gloriously gullible strangers imaginable.

A Riddling Tale

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on A Riddling Tale from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Three friends are changed into identical flowers by a jealous enchanter, but one is allowed to spend each night at home -- and when her husband must pick her from among a field of perfect lookalikes, the answer turns on something as quiet and clever as morning dew.

Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A cheerful suitor with the most ridiculous name in the village goes door to door -- then room to room -- asking every member of the Hollenthe family for permission to marry fair Katrinelje. Each one says yes, if everyone else agrees, and sends him to the next. When he finally reaches Katrinelje herself, the real negotiation begins: she has a dowry (fourteen farthings, three and a half groschen, dried apples, fried bread, spices, and more), and he has a trade -- though she has to guess it seven times before he will admit what it is.

Lazy Harry

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Lazy Harry from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Harry has one job -- walk the goat to pasture every day -- but even that is too much work, so he hatches a plan to do absolutely nothing at all, and each step of that plan somehow makes things worse and funnier until the honey pitcher settles the matter once and for all.

Lean Lisa

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Lean Lisa from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Lean Lisa works from sunup to sundown and pushes her husband Lanky Lenz to the bone -- yet they have nothing to show for it. One night Lisa hatches a grand plan to get rich from a single florin, but the two of them cannot agree on a single detail, and a heated bedtime argument about a cow they do not own yet grows so long and so loud that Lisa finally talks herself to sleep.

Maid Maleen

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Maid Maleen from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A princess who refuses to give up the prince she loves is walled into a tower for seven years. When she finally escapes into a ruined kingdom, she must find her way back to the one person who has been looking for her all along -- but a scheming false bride has other plans. A faithful and stirring fairy tale in seven scenes, with three riddle-verses, a gold chain, and a scullery maid who turns out to be royalty.

Master Pfriem

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Master Pfriem from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Master Pfriem is the world's most critical shoemaker -- he finds fault with everything and everyone, from his apprentice's stitching to the way the builders lay their bricks. But one night he dreams himself straight into heaven, where Saint Peter warns him to hold his tongue. Can the most opinionated man alive keep quiet for five minutes? He almost makes it.

Old Rinkrank

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Old Rinkrank from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When a princess slips inside a glass mountain and falls into the realm of a grumbling old miser who makes her cook and clean and calls himself Old Rinkrank, she has to use every bit of her wits to trap him, steal back his ladder, and climb home. A lively fairy tale about patience, cleverness, and the most satisfying beard-in-a-window moment in all of Grimm.

Sharing Joy and Sorrow

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Sharing Joy and Sorrow from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A quarrelsome tailor is hauled before the magistrate and ordered to share joy and sorrow equally with his wife -- which he cheerfully agrees to do, then cheerfully redefines in the most creative way possible. A short, sharp comedy about a man whose logic is absolutely airtight and absolutely wrong.

Simeli Mountain

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Simeli Mountain from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor woodcutter stumbles on a magic mountain that opens at a secret word and fills his pockets with gold -- but when his greedy rich brother tries the same trick and loads himself down with precious stones, he discovers too late that greed can make you forget the one thing you cannot afford to forget.

Strong Hans

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Strong Hans from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When two-year-old Hans is carried off with his mother by robbers and raised in a cave deep in the forest, he grows up into the strongest boy who ever swung a fir-tree club. After settling scores with the robbers and reuniting with his father, Hans sets off travelling, picks up two remarkable companions (one who twists fir trees like rope, one who splits boulders bare-handed), and ends up facing a tricky little dwarf, a trapped princess, and two very faithless friends -- with nothing but a good club, a magic ring, and some helpful spirits of the air.

The Boot of Buffalo Leather

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Boots of Buffalo-Leather from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A discharged soldier with nothing to his name but a battered old coat and a pair of tough buffalo-leather boots wanders into a forest, shares a meal with a mysterious huntsman, stumbles into a den of robbers, and -- with one enchanted bottle -- manages to feed himself royally, capture a gang of twelve, and accidentally save the life of a king.

The Crystal Ball

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Crystal Ball from Grimm's Fairy Tales

An enchantress transforms two of her sons into an eagle and a whale. Her third son escapes and sets out to break the spell on a princess trapped in the Castle of the Golden Sun. To free her he must find a crystal ball hidden inside a fiery bird -- but he cannot do it alone, and his two enchanted brothers may be exactly the help he needs.

The Ditmarsh Tale of Wonders

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Ditmarsh Tale of Wonders from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A travelling Storyteller arrives in town boasting that every word out of their mouth is pure truth -- then proceeds to describe roasted chickens flying through the air, an anvil and a millstone swimming across a river, a frog eating a ploughshare, four hopelessly mismatched companions catching a hare, sailors drowning on dry land, a cow on a rooftop, and flies the size of goats. The children of the town must catch every lie before the Storyteller can open a window and let them all escape.

The Donkey

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Donkey from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A king and queen who longed for a child finally receive one -- but the child is a young donkey. The king raises him as his heir anyway, and the donkey grows up cheerful, kind, and astonishingly good at the lute. When he sets out into the world and arrives at a neighboring kingdom, a princess and an old king discover that looks are a very poor guide to what a person is worth.

The Drummer

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Drummer from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A young drummer finds a piece of white linen at a lake and hears a princess's voice: she is imprisoned on a glass mountain by a witch, and only a traveler with courage and cleverness can reach her. He tricks giants into carrying him through a dangerous forest, seizes a wishing-saddle from two quarreling men, faces three impossible tasks set by the witch, and still must race against a curse that will make him forget everything he has fought for.

The Duration of Life

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Duration of Life from Grimm's Fairy Tales

On the day God finishes creating the world, the Ass, the Dog, the Monkey, and Man each step forward to negotiate their lifespans -- with results that explain, once and for all, exactly why grown-ups behave the way they do.

The Ear of Corn

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Ear of Corn from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Long ago, when the world was newer, corn grew from the very bottom of the stalk all the way to the tip -- hundreds of grains on every plant. But when people grew careless with such abundance, something changed. A warm, funny, and gently serious fairy tale in six scenes about gratitude, the small birds who saved the harvest, and why ears of corn grow where they do today.

The Giant and the Tailor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Giant and the Tailor from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A tailor who is great at boasting but not so great at doing wanders into the forest and is hired by a terrifying giant. Every task the giant sets him, the tailor answers with an even more outrageous boast -- fetch a jug of water? He will bring the entire well! Cut a little firewood? He will level the whole forest! The giant, convinced his tiny new servant must be a sorcerer, spends the night in cold terror plotting how to get rid of him. His clever plan with a willow branch works -- but not in the way anyone on stage quite expected.

The Glass Coffin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Glass Coffin from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A wandering tailor's apprentice loses his way in a great forest, shelters in the hut of a peculiar old man, and the next morning watches a stag defeat a black bull in a thunderous fight. The grateful stag carries him to a hidden underground chamber where two glass chests hold an entire miniature castle -- and a sleeping maiden sealed inside a glass coffin. When the tailor opens the coffin and wakes her, she tells him the whole story: a sorcerer's curse, a transformed brother, a shrunk castle, and servants trapped as blue smoke in bottles. Together they undo every piece of the curse and restore a whole world.

The Goose-Girl at the Well

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Goose-Girl at the Well from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A young count helps a strange old woman carry an impossibly heavy load through the forest -- and winds up holding an emerald book with a single pearl inside that unlocks the secret of a lost princess, three years of exile, and the question of whether a king can ever truly be sorry for what he has done.

The Griffin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Griffin from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Hans, the youngest of three brothers and the one nobody expects anything from, cures a sick princess with golden apples, builds a boat that sails on dry land, herds a hundred hares without losing a single one, and then sets out to pluck a feather from the tail of the mighty Griffin. Along the way he carries three questions for three strangers -- and the answers he brings back home change everything.

The Hare and the Hedgehog

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Hare and the Hedgehog from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A boastful hare mocks a hedgehog's short legs and agrees to a race across a turnip field -- not knowing the hedgehog has a very clever plan involving a very cooperative wife who happens to look exactly like him. A funny, warm tale about wit beating swagger, faithful to the Brothers Grimm.

The Hut in the Forest

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Hut in the Forest from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A woodcutter's three daughters each get lost in the forest and find a mysterious hut where an old man lives with a cock, a hen, and a brindled cow -- and the animals notice everything. The first two daughters eat well, sleep warm, and ignore the creatures entirely. The youngest feeds them first and asks nothing for herself. What happens next changes everything, for all of them.

The Little Folks' Presents

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Little Folks' Presents from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A tailor and a goldsmith are travelling together when they hear strange music rising from a hill. They find a circle of tiny folk dancing around a curious old man who shaves their heads while they sleep and leaves them a pile of coal to carry away. When they wake, the coal has turned to gold. The tailor is happy with his share and goes home to set up a proper workshop and live well. The goldsmith is not satisfied -- he sneaks back the next night with extra pockets -- and the little folk have something waiting for him.

The Master Thief

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Master-Thief from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A peasant's long-lost son rides home in a fine carriage and confesses he has become the world's greatest thief -- one who never touches the poor. His godfather the Count sets three impossible tasks: steal the Count's own horse from a guarded stable, steal the sheet and wedding-ring from beneath the Count and Countess while they sleep, and carry the Parson and Clerk bodily out of the church at midnight. Armed with disguise, a cask of sleeping-wine, a candle-lit crab-parade, and the nerve of ten swindlers, the Master Thief sets to work. A clever, funny fairy tale about wit, disguise, and knowing exactly when to say goodbye.

The Moon

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Moon from Grimm's Fairy Tales

In a land where the nights are always dark and no star has ever shone, four young travelers discover something astonishing hanging in an oak tree in the next country over: the moon. They borrow it -- permanently -- and carry it home. Decades later, when each traveler dies and insists on keeping his quarter of the moon, the pieces find each other in the dark below the earth, and the sleeping residents wake up to discover it is suddenly, inexplicably bright. A playful fairy tale in seven scenes, faithful to the Brothers Grimm, full of civic officials, honest ghosts, and a very tired Saint Peter.

The Nail

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Nail from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A merchant heading home from a profitable fair ignores two clear warnings about a missing nail in a horseshoe -- because the journey is short and the hurry is great -- and pays for it every step of the way.

The Old Man Made Young Again

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Old Man Made Young Again from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When a wandering wonder-worker passes through the village, a frail old beggar named Balthazar becomes the astonishing proof that some magic is real -- he goes into the blacksmith's forge bent and shuffling, and springs out young, straight, and practically skipping. Unfortunately, the village blacksmith decides he saw enough to try it himself on his grumpy mother-in-law, and the results are spectacularly, hilariously wrong. A short, funny fairy tale about the gap between watching a thing and actually knowing how to do it.

The Peasant and the Devil

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Peasant and the Devil from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A quick-witted peasant outwits a boastful imp who offers treasure in exchange for a share of the harvest -- twice the imp tries to get the better of the deal, and twice the peasant sends him home with nothing but leaves and stubble.

The Peasant in Heaven

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Peasant in Heaven from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor pious peasant and a very rich lord arrive at the gate of heaven on the same day. Saint Peter lets the rich man in first -- and inside, the trumpets ring, the angels sing, and there is a tremendous fuss. When the peasant is let in quietly, with nothing but warm affection and no ceremony at all, the peasant speaks up. Saint Peter's answer turns out to be the best joke heaven has ever made.

The Poor Boy in the Grave

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Poor Boy in the Grave from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor orphan shepherd-boy is sent to live with a cruel farmer and his wife who beat him for every misfortune, feed him almost nothing, and blame him for things no child could control -- until the night everything goes wrong at once and the boy makes a very bad decision involving a jar of honey and a bottle of Hungarian wine.

The Sea-Hare

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sea-Hare from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A proud princess with twelve magical windows can see everything in her kingdom -- and she has declared that only the man who can hide from her completely will win her hand. Two brothers try and fail. The third makes friends with a raven, a fish, and a very clever fox, and on his last chance he hides somewhere no one would ever look.

The Shepherd Boy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Shepherd Boy from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A shepherd boy whose wise answers have made him famous across the kingdom is summoned by the King to answer three impossible questions -- about the ocean, the stars, and eternity itself. The royal advisors have already given up. The shepherd boy has not.

The Six Servants

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Six Servants from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A prince sets out to win the hand of a princess whose sorceress mother has destroyed every suitor who tried. Along the road he collects six companions with impossible gifts -- one who can drink a sea, one whose glance shatters stone, one who never feels warm -- and together they face three tasks, a bonfire, a midnight kidnapping, and a week of tending pigs before the story finds its proper ending.

The Sparrow and His Four Children

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sparrow and His Four Children from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A father sparrow's nest is torn apart by mischievous boys, scattering his four fledglings before he can teach them anything. Come autumn, all four find their way back to him in a wheatfield -- and each one has a very different story to tell about what the wide world taught them over the summer.

The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A girl who learned to spin, weave, and sew from her godmother lives alone at the end of the village after the old woman dies -- and when a prince rides through looking for the bride who is both the poorest and the richest, three faithful tools decide to take matters into their own hands.

The Star-Money

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Star-Money from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor orphaned girl sets out into the world with nothing but the clothes on her back and a small piece of bread -- and gives every last thing she has away to strangers who need it more. Then the sky opens up.

The Three Sluggards

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Sluggards from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A king with three equally beloved sons must decide which one shall inherit his kingdom -- and the only way to choose is to find out which of them is the laziest. Each son makes his case with great passion and absolutely no shame, and the results are exactly as ridiculous as you would expect.

The True Sweetheart

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The True Sweetheart from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A hardworking girl is given three impossible tasks by her stepmother -- twelve pounds of feathers picked by nightfall, a pond emptied with a spoon, a whole castle built in a rocky valley -- until a kind old woman steps in each night to make the impossible happen. When the girl at last finds love with a king's son and he forgets her, she wraps herself in three enchanted gowns embroidered with suns, moons, and stars, and sets out to make him remember. Six scenes, faithful to the Brothers Grimm, with a determined heroine, a memorable magical helper, a very patient calf, and three dresses that sparkle at every step.

The Turnip

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Turnip from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A poor soldier-turned-farmer grows a turnip so enormous it takes two oxen to move it. He gives it to the King -- and the King rewards him with gold, land, and herds. His wealthy brother, sure he can top that, brings the King gold and horses expecting an even grander gift in return. What he gets is the turnip. Jealousy makes a very poor business plan.

The Twelve Idle Servants

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Twelve Idle Servants from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Twelve servants who have done nothing all day lie on the grass at night and compete to prove who among them is the laziest -- until the Master walks in and hears every word.

The White Bride and the Black One

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The White Bride and the Black One from Grimm's Fairy Tales

When a kind stepdaughter helps a stranger on the road, she is blessed with beauty, a never-empty purse, and a place in heaven -- but her jealous stepmother has other plans. A tale of disguise, a brother in a pit of snakes, a white duck who knows everything, and a truth that cannot stay hidden forever.

The Willow-Wren (The King of the Birds)

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Willow-Wren (The King of the Birds) from Grimm's Fairy Tales

The birds of the world gather to choose a king by the fairest test they can think of -- whoever flies the highest wins -- but a tiny, nameless bird has a plan that involves hiding, a mouse-hole, and one very sleepy owl.

The Wise Servant

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wise Servant from Grimm's Fairy Tales

A master sends his servant John to find a lost cow. John stays out all day, finds no cow at all, and comes home with a perfectly logical explanation involving three blackbirds -- one he can see, one he can hear, and one he is running after. A short, very funny comedy about following orders to the letter of everything except the point.

The Good Bargain

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Good Bargain from Grimm's Household Tales

A peasant sells his cow for seven thalers, loses them all to a pond full of frogs he mistakes for buyers, leaves a joint of meat with a greyhound expecting payment, and ends up before the King -- where a single laugh from the Princess sets off a chain of bargains, beatings, and borrowed coats that leaves the peasant richer than he deserves and everyone else rather sore.

The Golden Goose

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden Goose from Grimm's Household Tales

Dummling, the youngest and least-regarded brother, shares his lunch with a little grey man in the forest and receives a magical golden goose -- and the stuck parade of people that follows him all the way to the palace makes a princess laugh for the first time in her life, but the King refuses to let her go until Dummling completes three tasks that seem impossible, each solved with the grey man's help: finding a man who can drink a full cellar of wine, a man who can eat a mountain of bread, and a ship that sails equally well on land and water.

Iron John

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Iron John from Grimm's Household Tales (the Brothers Grimm)

A young prince frees a wild man from a cage, loses his home, earns his way as a gardener's helper in a foreign kingdom, fights one war with an iron army, and wins a princess -- until a wedding feast reveals that Iron John was an enchanted king all along.

The Enchanted Deer

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Enchanted Deer from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

Ian the fisher's son follows an enchanted deer across Erin, dies and is revived three times, and journeys through three wise sisters to the kingdom under the waves -- where the princess he sought chooses him at the foot of the gallows.

Ball-Carrier and the Bad One

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Ball-Carrier and the Bad One from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A boy lured away by a child-stealing witch must fast for fifty days, earn gifts from the good spirits, and then cross a great river to steal a magic bridge and gold from a dangerous spirit called the Bad One -- and after he finally drowns the Bad One and is free, he searches and searches for the witch's house but can never find it again.

The Sister of the Sun

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sister of the Sun from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A gardener's boy sent to find a golden hen on pain of death rescues a princess from giants with the help of a clever fox, earns a promise of marriage from the radiant Sister of the Sun, survives a jealous king's three impossible tasks, and crosses a lost country armed with magic objects to revive a fallen army and keep his promise -- ending in a real wedding at the Castle on the Banka.

The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A cat talks a mouse into sharing a house and a pot of fat set aside for winter. The cat, of course, cannot leave the fat alone -- and keeps sneaking off to eat it while inventing the most elaborate excuses. A funny, warm tale about a false friend, told in six scenes.

The Six Swans

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Six Swans from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A girl must sew six shirts of star-flowers in six years of complete silence to break the spell that turned her six brothers into swans -- all while a wicked queen-mother schemes against her at the king's court. Faithful to Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book, genuinely funny, and full of warmth.

Story of the Emperor's New Clothes

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Story of the Emperor's New Clothes from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

Two smooth-talking swindlers convince a clothes-mad emperor they are weaving him a suit of magical cloth -- cloth so fine that only fools cannot see it. Every minister, every courtier, every sensible adult goes along with the lie rather than look foolish. It takes one small child in the crowd to say what everyone already knows: the emperor has nothing on at all.

The Donkey Cabbage

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Donkey Cabbage from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A young hunter wins a magic cloak and a heart-eating bird -- then loses both to a scheming witch and her daughter. His revenge? A patch of enchanted cabbages that turns the greedy pair into donkeys. A fairy-tale comedy in six scenes with a school-safe ending: the witch confesses, returns what she stole, and the spell is lifted -- because mercy matters as much as justice.

How Six Men travelled through the Wide World

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How Six Men travelled through the Wide World from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A discharged soldier with nothing but his uniform and his wits gathers five companions -- each with a single outrageous talent -- and together they take on a cheating king, run the race of the century, eat enough to empty a royal kitchen, and freeze their way out of a locked iron room. The king tries every trick in the book to avoid paying up; the six friends have an answer for every one of them. A big-ensemble underdog comedy about teamwork, cleverness, and what happens when people in power get too comfortable cheating.

The Nixy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Nixy from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A water-nixy claims a miller's son the day he is born, and the debt comes due years later when she drags him beneath the mill-pond. His devoted wife refuses to give up: she walks to a wise woman three times, receives three magical gifts, and plays and spins and combs by moonlight until the spell breaks -- though love still has one more test to pass before the two find each other again. Faithful to the Lang source tale: six scenes, warm and funny, with a nixy who is perfectly charming about being terrible, a wise woman who has heard this story before, and an ending that earns its happiness.

The Glass Mountain

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Glass Mountain from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

For a hundred years, knights have charged at a mountain of glass trying to reach a golden apple tree -- and a princess -- at the top. Every one of them slides back down. A quiet young man with almost nothing to his name keeps coming back, keeps watching, and finally makes a friend who can actually fly.

The Three Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Brothers from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A father with one house and three grown children must decide who inherits it. Each sibling goes out to learn a trade -- barber, farrier, fencer -- and returns to prove their skill in the strangest contest a father ever staged.

In the Land of Souls

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on In the Land of Souls from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A young hunter follows his lost love into the spirit world -- and discovers that the greatest act of love is sometimes learning to let go and live.

The Magic Ring

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Magic Ring from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

Martin is a poor farmer's son with more kindness than sense -- or so his neighbors think. He spends his last coin rescuing a dog and a cat from a cruel merchant, earns a magic ring from a grateful enchanter, and builds a good life. Then a scheming neighbor steals the ring while Martin sleeps, and everything falls apart. Lucky for Martin, a loyal dog and a very determined cat are about to show the world what gratitude really looks like.

The Flying Ship

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Flying Ship from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A simple fool sets out to win the Tsar's daughter and comes home with a flying ship and six companions whose impossible gifts -- a ear that hears everything, legs that outrun lightning, a gun that hits what it aims at across the world, a mouth that drinks a river dry, a belly that holds a mountain of bread, and a man who can freeze a kingdom in summer -- together outwit every trick a nervous Tsar can devise. Warm, funny, full of heart, and built for a big class.

The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A husband and wife who have longed for children are granted two: a snow-daughter born of winter play and a fire-son born of a warm hearth. The two children love each other fiercely but can never be in the same room -- ice and flame, each made of what undoes the other. A poignant fairy-tale fable about opposites, longing, and the love that does not require sameness.

The Story of King Frost

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of King Frost from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A kind stepdaughter is left alone in the frozen woods and wins King Frost's gifts through courtesy and grace, while her rude, greedy stepsister goes out expecting treasure and earns nothing but a very cold morning and a lesson she will not soon forget.

The Tinder-box

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Tinder-box from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A soldier returning from war meets a witch who sends him down a hollow tree to fetch her tinder-box. Inside he finds three enormous dogs guarding chests of gold -- and takes the lot. With the tinder-box he can summon the dogs whenever he strikes a light, which turns out to be very useful when a king is keeping a princess locked in a copper tower. A full-length fairy tale with adventure, comedy, and a king who keeps very bad records.

The Witch in the Stone Boat

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Witch in the Stone Boat from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A witch sails up in a stone boat, casts the queen adrift on the open sea, and takes her shape at court -- until the true queen finds her way home and the imposter is unmasked for all to see.

The Nightingale

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Nightingale from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

The Emperor of China owns the most magnificent palace in the world, yet the most beautiful thing in his empire turns out to be a plain little bird in the forest. When a jeweled mechanical nightingale arrives from Japan and dazzles the whole court, the real bird quietly slips away -- and when the Emperor falls gravely ill and the toy breaks down at the worst possible moment, only the living bird's song can bring him back.

Hermod and Hadvor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Hermod and Hadvor from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

When a wicked stepmother-witch casts a spell that traps Hermod on a desert island as a lion by day and a man by night, his sweetheart Hadvor must outwit a giant, cross the sea on foot, and burn a lion's skin to set him free -- and the counter-curse Hermod laid on the witch takes care of the rest.

The Steadfast Tin-soldier

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Steadfast Tin-soldier from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

A one-legged tin soldier loves a paper dancer from the very first moment he sees her, and holds on through a river, a fish, and a very hot fire -- until, at the end, they are found together in the ashes as a small tin heart, a keepsake of something that turned out to be real.

Blockhead-Hans

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Blockhead-Hans from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book

When the king's daughter declares she will marry whoever can hold a real conversation with her, the two eldest sons pack their memorized facts and ride off on their best horses -- while their little brother Hans pockets a dead crow, a broken shoe, and a handful of mud, borrows the old goat, and talks his way to the throne.

The Cat's Elopement

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Cat's Elopement from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Two cats -- the elegant Gon and the clever Koma -- fall in love under a cherry tree, but their owners will not let them be together. So they elope into the wide world, face a ferocious dog, get separated by chance, and find each other again through loyalty and courage -- ending up in a princess's palace, together for good.

How the Dragon Was Tricked

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How the Dragon Was Tricked from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A quick-witted young man is given three impossible tasks by a greedy king: steal a flying horse from a fearsome dragon, make off with the dragon's enchanted bed covering, and -- somehow -- bring the dragon in person. He manages all three through patience, cunning, and a wooden box that the dragon is too proud to admit he fits inside. A comic fairy tale about wit beating bluster every single time.

The House in the Wood

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The House in the Wood from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A woodcutter's three daughters each lose their way in the forest and find shelter at a mysterious house where an old man lives with a cock, a hen, and a brindled cow. The first two daughters eat well and go to bed without a thought for the animals -- and wake up somewhere very dark. The youngest feeds every creature before herself, and her small act of kindness breaks a witch's curse that has held the house for years.

Uraschimataro and the Turtle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Uraschimataro and the Turtle from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A young fisherman named Uraschimataro rescues a tiny turtle from his nets and sets it free. Years later the turtle returns the kindness -- carrying him through the waves to a shimmering palace beneath the sea, where the princess Otohime and her court welcome him as a guest of honor. The days there feel like heartbeats. When Uraschimataro finally longs for home, he discovers that three hundred years have passed above the waves -- and that the golden box Otohime pressed into his hands holds the weight of all that time.

The Slaying of the Tanuki

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Slaying of the Tanuki from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A mischievous Tanuki steals food from an old farmer's friendship with a Hare -- and when the farmer catches the creature and locks it up, the Tanuki causes real trouble. The Hare, loyal and clever, sets out to even the score with a series of escalating pranks that grow more outrageous with every scene, until the Tanuki learns that trickery has a way of catching up with the trickster.

The Flying Trunk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Flying Trunk from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A merchant's son blows his entire inheritance on theater tickets and kites made of banknotes, then discovers a magic trunk that flies -- launching him into Turkey, into a princess's bedroom window, and into one of the best stories ever told about a box of matches. A bittersweet fairy tale about storytelling, cleverness, and what happens when you leave your magic ride unattended near a box of fireworks.

The Snow-man

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Snow-man from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A snow-man built by the neighborhood boys comes to life on a cold winter evening, talks philosophy with the hoarse old yard-dog, and falls completely, helplessly in love with the kitchen stove he can see glowing through the window -- not knowing the strange reason why.

The Shirt-collar

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Shirt-collar from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A shirt-collar so proud of himself he cannot stop proposing to everyone he meets -- a garter, a flat-iron, a pair of scissors, even a hair-brush -- and boasting about possessions that are not even his. Every one of them turns him down flat. His whole story ends up on paper, which happens to be the very paper you are holding.

The Princess in the Chest

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Princess in the Chest from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A cursed princess lies sleeping in a wooden chest in the church, and every soldier sent to guard her through the night vanishes by morning -- until a cheerful young blacksmith named Christian refuses to run and, guided by a small mysterious stranger, keeps his post for three nights and breaks the enchantment for good.

The Fir-tree

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Fir-tree from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A little fir tree in the forest can never stop wishing for the next thing -- to be tall, to sail as a ship's mast, to stand as a Christmas tree -- and discovers too late how much beauty was already there. A warm, funny, and genuinely moving play with a large ensemble, a showstopping Christmas party scene, and a closing reflection on cherishing the moments you are living right now.

Hans, the Mermaid's Son

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Hans, the Mermaid's Son from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Hans shows up at his father's smithy one morning, six years old but built like a grown man, hungrier than any family can feed, and carrying an iron staff heavier than the anvil. What follows is a string of jobs no ordinary farmhand could survive -- the squire who hires him keeps trying to get rid of him, and Hans keeps not noticing. A slapstick Danish folk adventure full of impossible feats, a very put-upon squire, and a devil who ends up flat as a pancake.

Peter Bull

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Peter Bull from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A Danish farming couple love their clever bull-calf Peter so much they pay the parish clerk to teach him to talk -- and the clerk, who is no fool, happily spends their money and their faith until a newspaper notice about a new merchant named Peter Bull sets the whole family on a journey that ends in happiness, despite everyone being thoroughly mistaken about almost everything.

The Bird 'Grip'

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Bird 'Grip' from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A blind king can only be healed by the song of a magical bird named Grip. His two elder sons fail the quest entirely. His youngest son sets out alone, earns the trust of a mysterious fox, and -- with a great deal of stumbling and second chances -- returns with the bird, a princess, and a horse with golden shoes. A full-length fairy tale with six scenes, a talking fox, a wronged innkeeper's maid, and a final reckoning that puts honesty above revenge.

Snowflake

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Snowflake from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Old Ivan and Marie have no children, so one winter's day they shape a little girl out of snow -- and she comes to life. Snowflake is clever, kind, and beloved by every child in the village. But when Midsummer comes and the bonfire is lit, Snowflake must follow her own nature. A tender Slavonic fairy tale about love, seasons, and the kind of gift that returns every winter.

I Know What I Have Learned

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on I Know What I Have Learned from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A well-meaning but hapless farmer visits his three daughters -- each married to a troll underground -- and watches the trolls perform impossible tricks. He loses every coin on the way home and swears he has 'learned something.' Back in his own kitchen, he tries out each trick himself with painfully comic results, until the final scene on the lake puts everything right.

The Cunning Shoemaker

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Cunning Shoemaker from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A quick-witted shoemaker named Master Joseph keeps outwitting the same band of robbers -- with a golden donkey, a musical guitar, a very clever dog, and a sack full of nerve -- in this rollicking comic caper from Sicily.

The King Who Would Have a Beautiful Wife

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The King Who Would Have a Beautiful Wife from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A vain king sends his servant to find a perfect bride, who instead discovers two elderly spinning sisters hiding behind a lattice -- and the younger one's deception sets off a chain of events involving four generous fairies, a very high nail, and a lesson in what beauty actually means.

Catherine and Her Destiny

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Catherine and Her Destiny from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A merchant's daughter named Catherine chooses a happy old age over a happy youth -- and spends the next seven years wondering if she made a terrible mistake, as her Destiny follows her from job to job and wrecks everything in sight. It takes a ball of silk, a pair of scales, and a king's golden crown to prove that patient waiting is its own kind of courage.

How the Hermit Helped to Win the King's Daughter

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How the Hermit Helped to Win the King's Daughter from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

When a king promises his daughter to whoever builds a ship that sails both land and sea, the kindest of three brothers earns the help of a mysterious hermit -- and together they collect the most unlikely crew ever assembled -- to face a king who keeps moving the finish line.

The Water of Life

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Water of Life from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Three brothers fail a perilous quest when they cannot keep their eyes forward on a mocking mountain -- but their sister walks straight through every jeer and every temptation, reaches the summit, and carries home the Water of Life, the singing bird, and the branch of the tree of beauty that turns their palace into something worth keeping.

The Wounded Lion

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wounded Lion from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A penniless girl who herds cows, then asses, then pigs finds the same wounded lion three years running and stops to help each time -- no matter the cost. When she finally learns the lion is an enchanted prince, she sets off to win a princess's lock of hair, climb a giant's mountain, and do the one thing the giant demands to break the spell. The kindest act in the play is also the hardest one.

The Man Without a Heart

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Man Without a Heart from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Seven brothers set out to find brides, but a shriveled old sorcerer turns six of them -- and their brides -- to stone. The seventh brother must cross a moat, breach an iron-doored church, and catch a bird that never eats or drinks, because the old man hid his heart inside it. A full-length fairy tale about sharing what you have, keeping your word, and the moment a spell finally breaks.

The Two Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Two Brothers from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Two poor brothers release a tiny fish and are rewarded with armour, horses, and the open road. The elder slays a seven-headed serpent and wins a princess -- but a scheming slave steals the credit. When an old witch turns the elder to stone, the younger brother must outwit her, revive the statues, and carry an awkward truth home that nearly costs him everything. A Sicilian fairy tale about loyalty, forgiveness, and knowing when to say sorry.

Master and Pupil

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Master and Pupil from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A sharp-witted boy tricks a wizard into hiring him, secretly reads every forbidden book on the shelves, and then must out-shift the wizard himself through a wild chain of transformations -- horse to dove to gold ring to barley grain to polecat -- before he can be free.

The Golden Lion

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden Lion from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A merchant's youngest son needs to find a princess hidden among twelve identical maidens -- and he has eight days or he forfeits his chance. His two older brothers already tried and failed. His only ally is a sharp-tongued old woman with an extraordinary plan: a golden lion statue, big enough to hide in, with crystal eyes and a tune it plays all by itself. A full-length fairy tale with six scenes, a clever trick, a king who is not quite as clever as he thinks, and a princess who decides to make things just a little bit easier for the right person.

The Sprig of Rosemary

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sprig of Rosemary from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A young woman pulls a sprig of rosemary from the ground and releases a magician who whisks her away to his palace -- but when she opens the one chest he told her to leave alone, the palace vanishes and the magician disappears. To find him again she must walk to the ends of the earth, visit the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind, and finally touch him with the rosemary sprig before a king's wedding plan comes true.

The White Dove

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The White Dove from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A king's two eldest sons promise their unborn brother to a sea-witch to survive a storm. Years later the youngest prince keeps their word and goes to serve the witch -- where a white dove helps him with impossible tasks, reveals herself as an enchanted princess, and together they outwit the witch and race home across a conjured forest and a conjured lake, free at last.

The Troll's Daughter

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Troll's Daughter from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A young man takes work with a troll and spends three years running as a hare, soaring as a raven, and swimming as a fish -- until he finds a glass palace at the bottom of the sea, a lonely girl locked inside it, and a plan that just might outwit the most powerful troll in the country.

Esben and the Witch

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Esben and the Witch from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Esben is the youngest of twelve brothers -- small, overlooked, and riding a stick instead of a horse -- but when a scheming courtier and a furious witch conspire to get his brothers killed, it is Esben alone who outsmarts them both, three tasks at a time.

Princess Minon-minette

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Princess Minon-minette from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

King Souci was raised by the scatterbrained fairy Girouette and never learned manners, shyness, or how to treat people well -- so the fairy Aveline hides him away as a castle worker until he earns the love of Princess Minon-minette. But the wicked fairy Grimace has a curse ready, and before long the princess is a goose-girl and the king is learning to fly. The sky itself becomes the bridge that saves them both.

Maiden Bright-eye

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Maiden Bright-eye from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A kind stepdaughter wins three magical wishes from a little bergman on the moor -- but when her cruel stepsister tries the same trick, the results go badly wrong. Bright-eye must survive a shipboard betrayal, a life as a duck, and three midnight visits to a kitchen dog before her brother can break the spell and set everything right.

The Merry Wives

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Merry Wives from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Three neighboring wives -- married to a tailor, a carpenter, and a smith -- make a friendly wager to see whose husband is the most gullible: one dresses hers in a fur coat and chains him to a dog kennel; one convinces hers he has died and tucks him in a coffin with a bottle of brandy; and one blacks the third with soot so he arrives at his neighbor's funeral looking exactly like the devil. A warm, very funny Danish comedy that ends with the whole village laughing -- coffin and all.

King Lindorm

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on King Lindorm from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A queen's careless mistake at breakfast dooms her firstborn to become a giant serpent -- and the only person who can break the curse is a brave shepherd's daughter armed with seven white shirts, three magic nuts, and the best comeback in fairy-tale history: 'Undress yourself first.' A full-length Swedish fairy tale about courage, stubbornness, and the surprising things that happen when you refuse to follow instructions.

The Jackal, the Dove, and the Panther

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Jackal, the Dove, and the Panther from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A scheming jackal bullies a mother dove out of one of her chicks, tricks a helpful heron, then smooth-talks his way into babysitting the panther's cubs -- but every swindle carries a price, and the day of reckoning arrives in a cloud of very angry bees.

The Little Hare

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Little Hare from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A fast-talking, quick-footed hare outwits a lake full of thirsty animals, a gullible rabbit, a boastful lion, and a whole clan of hyaenas -- but the trickster's own big mouth keeps getting him into fresh trouble.

The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

A kind old man rescues a little sparrow from a raven and nurses it back to health -- but his jealous wife slits the bird's tongue and drives it away. After a long search through a bamboo forest, the old man finds a beautiful house where the sparrow has become a gracious maiden, who welcomes him with music and dancing and sends him home with a chest full of gold. When his greedy wife races back to claim a bigger chest for herself, the sparrow-princess's gift turns out to be exactly what greed deserves.

The Story of Ciccu

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Ciccu from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Ciccu is the youngest of three brothers, and he inherits the least impressive thing in his father's will: the fruit of a fig tree. But through cleverness, generosity, and a horse who gives very good advice, Ciccu ends up fetching a magic sword, capturing the fearsome Man-eater, tracking down the fairest woman in the whole world, recovering a dropped veil with the help of an eagle, and retrieving a lost ring with the help of a fish -- all while his two jealous brothers keep sending the king new impossible ideas. A full-length fairy tale adapted from the Sicilian source in Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book, with seven scenes, a talking horse, a bag of mosquitoes, and one very stubborn princess.

Don Giovanni De La Fortuna

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Don Giovanni De La Fortuna from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book

Don Giovanni squanders every coin he has and sets off as a beggar -- until a mysterious Imp on the road offers him a magic purse that will fill itself with gold, if only Don Giovanni can go three years, three months, and three days without washing, combing his hair, or changing his clothes. His fortune-and-filth adventure leads to a palace, a royal marriage offer, and a triumphant arrival by ship that the proudest people at court will never forget.

Donkey Skin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Donkey Skin from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A princess flees the palace disguised in a grimy donkey skin, takes work on a royal farm, secretly wears her three dazzling dresses when no one is looking -- and hides a ring inside a cake that sets an entire kingdom trying on jewelry. A full-length fairy tale about keeping your head, trusting your godmother, and the fact that fine clothes do not wash themselves.

The Goblin Pony

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Goblin Pony from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

On Hallowe'en night, old Peggy warns her grandchildren to stay by the fire -- witches are out and goblins walk in disguise. But the children slip away anyway, and near the gate they find a little black pony none of them can resist. One by one they climb on, the pony trots faster and faster, and when the road bends toward the sea instead of the pond, they realize too late that the creature is no ordinary horse. A spooky, funny, and fast-moving fairy tale about what happens when good advice goes in one ear and out the other.

An Impossible Enchantment

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on An Impossible Enchantment from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A king marries the wrong princess -- proud, sharp-tongued Mutinosa -- and pays for it when a fairy turns her fortunes upside down. The king's daughter Graziella grows up in a magical shell tower ringed by sharks, cut off from the world, until Prince Blondel spots the tower through a spy-glass and hatches the most unlikely rescue plan imaginable: love letters by pigeon, portraits by return post, and one very surprised hummingbird.

The Story of Dschemil and Dschemila

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Dschemil and Dschemila from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Dschemil is away buying wedding gifts when an iron mortar transforms into an ogre and carries his cousin Dschemila to a desert castle. Her family tells him she has died -- but a passing traveler carries her secret message home, and Dschemil sets out to bring her back.

Janni and the Draken

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Janni and the Draken from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Janni has three loyal dogs, a magical knife, and a talent for walking straight into trouble. When his sister secretly marries the leader of a band of Draken -- monster-like creatures who live in a castle full of stolen treasure -- Janni is sent on three impossible quests into three terrifying gardens. Each time, his dogs save him. But the Drakos has one more trick: he discovers that Janni's strength lies in two fingers, blinds him, and drops him in a well. What follows is a journey of rescue, a sorceress who puts eyes back where they belong, a princess with a ring, and a homecoming reckoning that ends the Drakos's plans for good.

The Partnership of the Thief and the Liar

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Partnership of the Thief and the Liar from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A thief and a liar form a partnership to swindle three kings out of their gold by trading outrageous fibs for enormous bets -- but when greed turns them against each other, every trick they try to play backfires, and the rascals discover that cheating your own partner is the surest way to lose everything.

Fortunatus and his Purse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Fortunatus and his Purse from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A boy from Cyprus grows up poor after his father spends every coin the family had. He wanders half of Europe, nearly starves in a dark wood, and is visited by Dame Fortune herself -- who offers him his choice of six gifts. He picks riches, receives a magic purse that never runs dry, sails the world, steals a sultan's wishing-hat, and then, old and gray, gives everything to his two sons with one very serious piece of advice.

The Goat-faced Girl

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Goat-faced Girl from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A peasant named Masaniello gives his youngest daughter Renzolla to a great green lizard, who raises the girl like a princess. When a king falls in love with Renzolla and takes her home, she leaves without so much as a thank-you -- and the lizard's curse turns her face into a goat's head. Renzolla must earn her way back to her own reflection through something she has never tried before: genuine gratitude.

What came of picking Flowers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on What came of picking Flowers from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Three sisters disappear one by one after picking flowers in a water-meadow, and their brother sets out with a pair of magic boots, a key that opens any door, and an invisible cap to find them -- only to discover that rescuing all three will require the help of a king of fish, a king of birds, a very small sardine, and one carefully-aimed egg.

The Story of Bensurdatu

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Bensurdatu from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

When three princesses vanish into a dark cloud during a picnic, two generals ride off to find them and fail completely. It takes Bensurdatu -- a loyal royal servant with more courage than sense of self-preservation -- to descend to the bottom of a river, defeat two giants and a seven-headed serpent, and free all three. Then his so-called comrades betray him. Then things get interesting.

The Magician's Horse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Magician's Horse from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A lost prince takes work at a mysterious forest palace, tends a magic stove, and befriends a black horse who can talk -- and who has a very good plan for getting both of them out before the magician who owns the place figures out what is happening.

The Little Gray Man

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Little Gray Man from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Three wandering friends -- a nun, a countryman, and a blacksmith -- move into a ruined castle and discover that a very strange visitor keeps eating all the food. The blacksmith finally stands firm, and one swing of a hammer unlocks a secret: two enchanted princesses, a hidden treasure, and a prince who was the dwarf all along.

Herr Lazarus and the Draken

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Herr Lazarus and the Draken from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A cobbler named Lazarus kills forty flies with one blow, has a sword inscribed to prove it, and blunders his way into an alliance with the fearsome Draken -- creatures who believe every word of his outrageous bluffs. A comedy of bravado, misread swords, and a very unlucky fox.

The Story of the Queen of the Flowery Isles

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of the Queen of the Flowery Isles from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A princess is swallowed by the earth after a jealous queen casts a curse on her -- and wakes underground, guided only by a little dog and her own good sense. She makes it home, inherits a kingdom, and refuses to give up searching for her strange companion, until the day a fleet of ships sails in and the truth finally comes out.

Udea and her Seven Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Udea and her Seven Brothers from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Udea sets out across the desert to find the seven brothers she has never met -- but the treacherous servant Barka, a jealous aunt, a mischievous cat, and a boastful trickster ogre all stand between her and the reunion she has dreamed of her whole life.

The White Wolf

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The White Wolf from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A king promises a white wolf the first thing that meets him on the road home -- and it turns out to be his youngest daughter. What follows is a winter journey, a castle where a wolf sheds his fur and becomes a prince, two sisters' weddings, a mother's terrible mistake, and a daughter who walks to the ends of the earth -- past the Wind, the Star, the Moon, and the Sun -- to find her way back.

Mohammed with the Magic Finger

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Mohammed with the Magic Finger from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A boy born with a magic finger that lets him see two days into the distance uses his uncanny gift -- and a sharp wit -- to outwit a shape-shifting serpent, a greedy employer, and every swindler on the desert road, until his wandering uncle finally finds a home and young Mohammed rides off to seek new adventures alone.

Bobino

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Bobino from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Bobino's father sends him away to learn foreign languages, but his master teaches him something far stranger: how to understand the speech of animals. When he comes home able to translate the sparrows, the dogs, and the frogs, his furious father wants nothing to do with him. Bobino is turned out into the world with nothing but his peculiar gift -- and discovers that dogs, frogs, and sparrows know a great deal more than anyone gives them credit for.

The Dog and the Sparrow

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Dog and the Sparrow from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A mistreated sheep-dog runs away from a cruel master, finds a true friend in a small sparrow who feeds him from the town market, and then watches helplessly as a reckless carter drives straight over him. The sparrow, furious and grief-stricken, takes on the carter one comic calamity at a time -- spilling his wine, blinding his horses with a peck, and outlasting every axe-swing -- until the carter is left sitting in a puddle of his own making with nothing but his embarrassment for company.

The Story of the Three Sons of Hali

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of the Three Sons of Hali from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Three sons of a great Bassa -- Neangir (who was once turned into a copper pot), Ibrahim (condemned to count coral beads that keep rolling away), and Hassan (whose hand turned to ebony) -- must each break an enchantment, rescue the daughters of the soldier Siroco who have been trapped inside two watches, and find their way back to one another in Constantinople, with help from a clever page, a wise Jewess named Sumi, and a pair of very determined Circassian dancers.

The Story of the Fair Circassians

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of the Fair Circassians from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Tezila and Dely, two talented sisters, escape from a royal caravan with the help of a kind dervish -- but grief and a cruel queen's command drive them to vow revenge on all happy lovers. When a wise young woman named Sumi and the sons of a great lord unravel the talisman mystery the sisters have spun, sorrow finally gives way to six weddings and a celebration long overdue.

The Jackal and the Spring

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Jackal and the Spring from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

When a terrible drought grips the land, all the animals work together to dig a spring -- all except the jackal, who thinks work is for other people. The animals guard their spring in turns, but the jackal has a bag of honeycomb and a very persuasive tongue. First the rabbit, then the hare, fall for his trick and let him drink. But the tortoise is not fooled by honeycomb, and the jackal learns -- at some cost to his dignity, if not quite to his fur -- that you cannot con someone who simply does not want what you are selling.

The Bear

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Bear from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A princess trapped inside a palace by her overprotective father gets a tip from her nurse: ask for a bear's skin and a magic wheelbarrow. In disguise, she slips away into the forest, finds a prince who is kind instead of frightened, and becomes the most industrious bear-housekeeper the kingdom has ever seen -- all while attending three dazzling royal balls in gowns woven from moonlight, sunlight, and stars, without anyone guessing who she is.

The Sunchild

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sunchild from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A woman who longs for a child strikes a bargain with the Sunball: she may raise a daughter until the girl turns twelve, and then the Sunball will take her back. When twelve-year-old Letiko is carried away to the Sunball's palace in the sky, she hides her homesickness behind polite excuses -- but the Sunball hears her true heart and arranges her journey home. The trip goes smoothly until a sly lamia tries every trick she knows to lure Letiko down from a tree, and the race back to mother is closer than anyone expects.

The Daughter of Buk Ettemsuch

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Daughter of Buk Ettemsuch from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A girl escapes a witch by hiding behind a barrel, stumbles into an ogre's house, and ends up in an arrangement stranger than any she could have planned: the ogre becomes her protector, a prince falls in love with her from a garden wall, and a single oath becomes the key to everything.

Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye, or the Limping Fox

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye, or the Limping Fox from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A Servian tale of a simpleton who succeeds where his clever brothers fail: by sharing his bread with a lame fox, he earns a guide for a chain of impossible quests -- a stolen vine, a golden apple, a horse that circles the world in a day, and a maiden made of gold who has never once seen the sun. The fox's instructions are always right, and the simpleton almost never listens. Almost.

The Unlooked-for Prince

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Unlooked-for Prince from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A king makes a rash promise to an underground sorcerer king -- and the price turns out to be the son born while he was away. Years later the prince must descend into Kostiei's underground realm, face three impossible tasks, and outwit the king himself, with help from the cleverest of Kostiei's twelve daughters. A Polish fairy tale full of wit, magic disguises, a chase across the countryside, and a very satisfying ending at a church door.

The Simpleton

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Simpleton from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Moscione is the son of a rich man and, by everyone's account, not very bright -- but when he sets out to seek his fortune he collects five extraordinary companions (a runner, a listener, a sharpshooter, a strongman, and a windmaker) and together they out-race a princess, outwit a king, carry away a treasury, blow an army flat, and get home safely, splitting the gold equally among friends.

The Street Musicians

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Street Musicians from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A donkey, a greyhound, a cat, and a rooster all face the same grim fate at their owners' hands -- and all make the same bold decision: run away and become street musicians. On the road to the nearest big town they spot a light in the woods, find a house full of robbers, and cook up a plan to take the place for themselves. A funny, warm, and boisterous fairy tale about four friends who discover that the best instrument is the one you already have.

The Twin Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Twin Brothers from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Born from a golden fish divided six ways, two identical brothers share horses, dogs, and cypress trees that mirror their fates. When the first twin is turned to stone by a wand-wielding old woman, his brother must race across kingdoms to find him -- and what happens on the road home tests the bond between them in ways neither expected.

Cannetella

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Cannetella from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A princess of the kingdom of Bello Puojo refuses every suitor until she demands the impossible: a husband with a head and teeth of pure gold. A wicked magician obliges -- and immediately imprisons her in a stable for seven years. Cannetella endures, escapes inside a barrel, and races home to her father, but the magician is not finished with her yet.

The Ogre

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Ogre from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Antonio is the most good-natured simpleton in the land of Marigliano -- and possibly the most gullible. When he runs away from home and stumbles into an ogre's cave, he finds the ogre is actually the kindest employer imaginable. Three times the ogre sends Antonio home with a magical gift; three times the same crooked innkeeper steals it. But the third gift is a stick that knows exactly what to do about thieves, and Antonio -- against all reasonable odds -- gets the last laugh.

A Fairy's Blunder

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on A Fairy's Blunder from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

Dindonette is the kindest fairy alive -- and the most spectacularly bad at magic. Centuries ago she enchanted an island spring to grant every wish at once, and the results were catastrophic. Now two young children, Cornichon and Toupette, have stumbled onto that very island and drunk from the very same spring. They are growing up much too fast, a scheming sorcerer has whisked Toupette away, and Dindonette keeps proposing fixes that make everything worse. It will take a wise fairy, an unexpected father, a magic ring used exactly right, and considerable patience with Dindonette to set things straight.

Long, Broad, and Quickeye

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Long, Broad, and Quickeye from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A prince falls in love with a portrait of a princess held captive in an Iron Castle by a wicked wizard. He sets out to rescue her and along the way meets three extraordinary companions: Long, who can stretch himself as tall as a pine tree; Broad, who can swell to the size of a mountain; and Quickeye, whose bandaged eyes can split rocks and see across three hundred miles of ocean. Three nights in the castle, three impossible escapes, and one last-second throw stand between the prince and the princess -- and between the wizard and the fate he has earned.

Prunella

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Prunella from Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book

A little girl named Prunella is caught picking plums from a witch's orchard and kept as a servant. As she grows up, the witch sets her one impossible task after another -- a basket that won't hold water, a whole sack of wheat to grind and bake before noon, a dangerous errand to the witch's even-crueler sister. Each time, the witch's own kind-hearted son Bensiabel quietly saves her, asking only for a kiss she is too proud to give. When the witch's final trap nearly closes on Prunella, she must decide at last what Bensiabel is really worth.

The Blue Bird

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Blue Bird from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A king transformed into a blue bird and a princess locked in a tower keep faith across two years of nightly visits -- until a trap set by a jealous queen separates them and sends Fiordelisa on a long search across dangerous country to find him. A fairy tale about loyalty that costs something real.

The Half-Chick

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Half-Chick from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A peculiar half-chick named Medio Pollito ignores his mother's warnings and sets off for Madrid to see the King -- passing a tangled stream, a sputtering fire, and a trapped wind along the way, refusing to help any of them. What greets him in the city, and what those three remember, make for a lesson he will stand with for a very long time.

The Story of Caliph Stork

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Caliph Stork from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A proud Caliph and his Vizier buy a magical powder that turns them into storks -- then laugh at exactly the wrong moment and forget the word to change back, setting off a wild adventure through ruins, enemy territory, and an unlikely friendship with an enchanted owl-princess.

The Enchanted Watch

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Enchanted Watch from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Jenik is the youngest of three brothers -- the one everyone calls foolish -- but he is the only one who stops to help a dog, a cat, and a serpent in trouble. The King of Snakes rewards him with an enchanted watch that grants any wish. Jenik uses it wisely, marries a princess, and builds a good life. When the princess steals the watch and vanishes across the sea, it is Jenik's faithful animals -- not wealth, not cleverness, not power -- who prove that kindness given freely always finds its way home.

Rosanella

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Rosanella from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Two rival fairies make a wager over who can work the greater wonder: Surcantine raises a prince to be perpetually fickle in love, while Paridamie divides the soul of the infant princess Rosanella into twelve charming maidens -- and must reunite them before the prince's heart can ever be truly won.

Sylvain and Jocosa

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Sylvain and Jocosa from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Sylvain and Jocosa have been best friends since childhood, tending their sheep and sharing every good thing they find -- until one spring morning, each distracted by gathering flowers for the other, they both forget their promise to the Fairy of the Meadows. A river rises and separates them, and they spend three long years following its banks to the sea before the Fairy brings them home again. A fairy tale about what gratitude looks like when it costs something.

Fairy Gifts

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Fairy Gifts from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Before the princess Sylvia can choose her own gift from the Flower Fairy, she travels to four royal courts -- and what she finds there will shape the most important decision of her life.

Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A princess hidden away by a jealous queen, a prince with a magic ring of invisibility, and a very large, very one-eyed enchanter who believes ten thousand frogs performing a five-hour opera is a reasonable way to impress someone -- all converging on a question of who truly deserves to be loved.

Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A vain prince who cares only for his own reflection and a proud princess who wanted to be loved for herself must each learn the hard way -- through disguise, wandering, and honest reckoning -- that real charm has nothing to do with a mirror.

Heart of Ice

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Heart of Ice from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A tiny prince called Mannikin -- raised in secret by the good Fairy Genesta -- must climb a mountain of ice to rescue the stolen heart of Princess Sabella, who cannot love until her heart is returned to her.

The Enchanted Ring

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Enchanted Ring from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Rosimond is a good young man thrown out of his home on a lie told by his jealous brother. A fairy in the forest gives him an enchanted ring that makes him invisible or lets him appear as a prince -- and warns him that real power is only safe in honest hands. He uses it to forgive, rescue, and restore. His brother gets the same ring and uses it for wickedness, and discovers the hard way that power is the worst thing you can give a person who hasn't earned it.

The Snuff-Box

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Snuff-Box from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A young traveller picks up a magic snuff-box that grants any wish he names -- and soon has a castle of gold and a princess for a wife. Then a jealous queen steals the box and wishes them both far away. To win back what he lost, the traveller must cross the world and ask the Moon, the Sun, and the Wind where his palace has gone.

The Golden Blackbird

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden Blackbird from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

When a great lord falls gravely ill and only the Golden Blackbird can cure him, his three sons set out -- but only the youngest keeps his promise, earns the help of a magical hare, and brings home the bird, the Porcelain Maiden, and the truth about what loyalty really costs.

The Little Soldier

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Little Soldier from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

John the soldier--nicknamed the Kinglet--breaks an enchantment and frees a princess, then discovers that courage alone is not enough when the person you trust most is the one who betrays you.

The Magic Swan

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Magic Swan from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

When kind-hearted Peter is given a magic swan that traps anyone who touches it, he marches through town collecting a clay-covered worker, a washerwoman, a chimney sweep, a circus clown, and the Mayor and Mayoress in an ever-growing, ever-howling chain -- and drags the whole ridiculous parade before the princess who has never laughed.

The Dirty Shepherdess

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Dirty Shepherdess from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A princess banished for saying she loves her father 'as salt in food' disguises herself as a shepherdess, hides a ring in a loaf of bread, and proves her worth -- until a wedding feast without salt teaches her father what her words truly meant.

The Enchanted Snake

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Enchanted Snake from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A peasant woman named Sabatella takes in a talking snake as the son she never had -- but when the snake grows up and demands to marry a princess, the whole kingdom discovers that the most surprising people carry the most extraordinary hearts.

The Biter Bit

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Biter Bit from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Three clever rogues talk old Simon out of his mule with a bare-faced lie -- but Simon is not finished with them. A comedy of one-upmanship, trick answering trick, until the tricksters find they have outwitted themselves.

King Kojata

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on King Kojata from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A king makes a reckless promise at a well and must send his son Prince Milan to the underground realm of a fearsome magician. There Milan meets the magician's daughter Hyacinthia, who is cleverer than her father and brave enough to prove it. Three impossible tasks, a breathless escape, and a shape-shifting chase across field and forest lead to the discovery that a promise, once broken, costs more than the one who breaks it.

Prince Fickle and Fair Helena

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Prince Fickle and Fair Helena from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Helena suffers under a cruel stepmother until a kind Fairy helps her through three impossible tasks, earning her a castle and the heart of a prince -- who then rides away and forgets her. Disguised in three dazzling gowns, she must find a way to make a fickle heart remember.

Puddocky

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Puddocky from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

When a king sets his three sons three impossible tasks -- finest linen, tiniest dog, fairest bride -- only the youngest listens to a small toad named Puddocky under a bridge, and discovers that kindness and honesty are worth more than ridicule.

The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Hok Lee is the most respectable man in town -- by day. But when a mysterious swelling punishes his secret life, only the dwarfs of the moonlit forest can cure him, and first he must earn it by dancing.

Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A prince who can never sit still and a princess who never wants to move are each sent off by a demanding fairy to learn the one lesson they like least -- and find, to their own surprise, that the only cure for either of them is the other.

The Three Snake-Leaves

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Snake-Leaves from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A poor soldier rises to honor by winning a great battle, wins a princess who demands a grim vow, and discovers three magic snake-leaves that can raise the dead -- only to learn that the one he saved most does not intend to save him.

The Golden Mermaid

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden Mermaid from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

When the king's golden apples keep disappearing, the youngest prince -- the one everyone has written off -- sets out alone, befriends a wolf who turns out to be a mighty magician, and completes three impossible tasks before his jealous brothers betray him; loyalty, wit, and a faithful golden mermaid bring everything right in the end.

The Three Musicians

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Musicians from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

Three travelling musicians hear about a haunted castle where treasure is hidden and an evil spirit beats everyone who enters -- the first two come back battered and silent, but the third, a clever flute-player, grabs hold of the spirit's magic beard and discovers that beneath the castle lies an enchanted land, a sleeping princess, and a way to break her spell forever.

The Three Dogs

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Dogs from Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

A shepherd's son trades his three sheep for three remarkable dogs named Salt, Pepper, and Mustard, then uses their gifts to save a princess from a dragon -- only to be cheated of the credit by a lying coachman, until truth and loyalty find a way to set the record straight.

Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Prince Hyacinth has a nose the size of a small canoe and an entire kingdom trained to call it 'majestic.' Court portraits are painted nose-first, the tutors swear every hero in history was mostly nostril, and the one word nobody at the palace is allowed to say is 'long.' Then Hyacinth falls for a princess with a small, sensible nose -- and learns the hardest thing in the world to see is the thing right in front of your face.

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on East of the Sun and West of the Moon from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A poor girl who can scrub the stain out of anything goes off to live with an enormous, extremely polite White Bear -- who is a man by night, a bear by day, and mortified about both. She has exactly one rule: never light a candle to look at him. She lights the candle. Now he is promised to a troll-princess with a nose three ells long, in a castle nobody can find, and the only way to get him back is to out-wash the trolls at their own laundry. Featuring the Four Winds, who cannot agree on which of them is strongest, and a girl who was never once afraid of the weather.

The Yellow Dwarf

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Yellow Dwarf from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A princess so beautiful she has never once had to be nice about it turns down every suitor in the kingdom, including a very rich and very patient king. Then she and her mother each make the exact same panicked promise to the exact same ugly little schemer -- and the Yellow Dwarf keeps his receipts. It takes a salty mermaid, a borrowed sword, and one genuinely humble apology to fix what pride broke.

The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Everybody shudders. It is the one thing everybody agrees on. Everybody, that is, except one cheerful boy who has never once felt a shiver and cannot for the life of him understand what the fuss is about. So he sets out to learn -- which is how he ends up spending three nights in a haunted castle, playing cards with a very large cat, refereeing a game of skittles for some extremely social skeletons, and calmly tidying up after a giant who is used to being taken more seriously. He wins a princess and a kingdom and still, maddeningly, has not shuddered. It takes his brand-new wife, one bucket of cold water, and a handful of wriggling little fish to finally get the job done.

The Master-Maid

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Master-Maid from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A prince takes a job with a giant who has three rules, two locked rooms, and a very long list of impossible chores. Good news: the giant also has a captive -- the Master-Maid, a girl who can clean a stable with a wave, tame a horse made of fire, and out-think everyone in the building before breakfast. She does the prince's chores, warns him off the fork he is about to grab wrong, and then engineers the whole escape while he is still saying 'wait, which room?' They flee on the fire-horse and throw down a comb, a pinch of salt, and a flask of water to grow a forest, a mountain, and a lake behind them. Then, one warning away from safe, the prince forgets her completely -- so she gets a golden hen, a golden rooster, and a golden apple, and reminds him the clever way. A comedy about the smartest person in the room finally getting the credit. 11 named roles plus a forgetful court.

Why the Sea is Salt

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Why the Sea is Salt from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

One brother is rich and keeps count of everything, down to the crumbs. The other brother is poor and kind and, this Christmas Eve, entirely out of dinner. Sent off with nothing but a side of bacon and a rude word about where to take it, the poor brother comes home instead with a little hand-mill that grinds out anything you ask for -- and stops only when you thank it nicely, which is the one thing his greedy brother absolutely cannot do. A comedy about kindness, gratitude, and the terrible trouble of a machine that will not turn off, ending at the bottom of the sea with a mill still grinding salt to this very day. Features a house that floods with herring, a skipper who did not read the instructions, and two narrators who cannot agree on where a story is supposed to start.

Felicia and the Pot of Pinks

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Felicia and the Pot of Pinks from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

When their father dies, kind Felicia inherits one pot of pink carnations and a plain silver ring. Her brother Bruno grabs the house, the money, and the last of the eggs, then complains that she breathes too much of his air. But Felicia is kind to a philosophical cabbage, a hen with a long memory, and a flowerpot that turns out to be a very patient prince -- and it is the kindness, not the flowers, that makes a queen. Bruno keeps the house. Only the house.

The White Cat

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The White Cat from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A King who loves his throne slightly more than he loves stepping off it keeps inventing 'one last quest' to put off retiring -- the smallest dog, then cloth fine enough to thread a needle, then the fairest princess. His youngest son keeps washing up at the same enchanted castle, where a witty White Cat runs a spotless household staffed entirely by floating paws and quietly hands him exactly what he needs to win. She is, of course, a bewitched princess -- and the charm that breaks her spell turns out to be the one thing a boy chasing a crown never thinks to give. Big-hearted, very silly, and built for a whole class.

The Water-Lily. The Gold-Spinners

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Water-Lily. The Gold-Spinners from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Three stolen sisters spin gold all day for a witch who wants, very much, to be called 'Auntie.' The one iron rule of the house: never answer a voice that calls you. So of course a lovesick young hunter shows up and starts calling. With a magic ball of thread, a rescue-charm that someone tore the ending off of, a helpful wizard who lives in an oak, and one water-lily where a girl ought to be, this is a chase play about the exact right moment to keep your mouth shut. Narrated, with great patience, by two reeds.

The Terrible Head

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Terrible Head from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A boastful king wants to marry a brave boy's mother, so he does what boastful kings do: he sends the boy off to fetch something impossible, a monster's head that turns onlookers to stone, and assumes that settles it. It does not. Armed with borrowed flying sandals, a cap that makes him vanish, a shield polished to a mirror, and firm instructions to NEVER look directly at anything, the boy talks his way past three ancient sisters who share exactly one eye and one tooth between them, defeats a monster he is careful never to see, rescues a princess chained to a rock, and brings the boastful king a wedding present he did not ask for. It is the Perseus story with the Greek names filed off and the comedy filed on.

The Story of Pretty Goldilocks

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Pretty Goldilocks from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A vain king hears there is a princess more admired than he is, and this will not stand -- so he sends his kindest courtier, Charming, to go win her hand FOR the king, which is a bit like sending your nicest friend to buy you a birthday present you then keep. On the road Charming stops to help a stranded fish, a tangled raven, and a soggy owl, because that is simply the sort of person he is, and every one of them says 'I will remember this.' They do. When Princess Goldilocks demands three impossible tasks, three grateful animals quietly make them possible -- and then the princess, who has met both the king and the courtier, makes an entirely reasonable choice about which one to marry.

The History of Whittington

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The History of Whittington from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Dick Whittington walks to London on the strength of one rumor -- that the streets are paved with gold -- and is deeply disappointed to find them paved with the usual mud. Cold, hungry, and out of ideas, he lands a kitchen job scrubbing pots for a kind merchant and getting yelled at by a Cook who yells at everything, including furniture. With his only penny he buys the one thing that will change his life and does not know it yet: a very businesslike CAT who catches rats the way other people breathe. A comedy about hope, honest work, a cat who takes her job extremely seriously, and a set of church bells that will only ever tell you ONE thing, no matter how many follow-up questions you have. Big kitchen, a whole palace of scurrying rats for your class to play, and a hero who becomes Lord Mayor of London three times over -- which, the bells would like it noted, they called from the start.

The Wonderful Sheep

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wonderful Sheep from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Princess Miranda commits the one unforgivable crime in her father's court: she answers a question honestly. Banished to the forest for it, she is taken in by a flock of alarmingly well-mannered sheep -- who turn out to be a bewitched king and his whole court, waiting years for someone to love them enough to break the spell. When Miranda is finally invited home for a royal wedding and loses track of the clock, the entire enchantment comes down to whether one girl can keep one promise in time.

Little Thumb

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Little Thumb from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Little Thumb is the seventh son of a poor woodcutter, no bigger than a thumb and easily the smartest person in any room he is small enough to hide in. When hard times send the seven brothers wandering into the forest, it is the littlest one -- who says almost nothing and misses almost nothing -- who leaves a trail of white pebbles to lead them home, out-thinks a hungry Ogre in the pitch dark with nothing but a fistful of swapped nightcaps, and walks off in a pair of seven-league boots to make the family's fortune one enormous stride at a time. A comedy about being underestimated, staying calm, and the six older brothers who genuinely cannot tell which one of them is which. Nobody gets eaten. Everybody snores.

The Goose-Girl

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Goose-Girl from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A princess rides off to marry a prince she has never met, armed with excellent manners, a magic handkerchief, and a horse named Falada who talks only when it is true. Unfortunately her bullying waiting-maid has read the situation exactly right: a girl this polite will not fight back. One forced clothes-swap later, the maid is the bride, the princess is minding geese, and the only witness is a horse standing at the gateway. Told by two deadpan geese who care about three things -- grass, water, and who is standing too close to the water -- and who insist they are the only ones who got the story right.

Toads and Diamonds

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Toads and Diamonds from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A widow spoils her rude older daughter rotten and works her kind younger daughter to the bone -- which is exactly the wrong bet, as it turns out. At the well, the kind sister gives a drink to a thirsty old woman (a Fairy, obviously) and is 'rewarded' with roses, pearls, and diamonds tumbling out of her mouth every time she speaks. Mother, seeing profit, sends the rude sister to score the same deal. The rude sister gets toads and snakes instead. One girl marries a Prince; the other is packed off to Manners School. Two narrators who cannot agree on anything supervise the whole thing.

Prince Darling

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Prince Darling from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A good king rescues a rabbit who turns out to be a fairy, and spends his one and only wish on his son: please, let the boy be good. The trouble is you cannot hand a person goodness -- so the fairy hands Prince Darling a ring that pinches him every time he does something rotten, and pinches HARDER the longer he pretends not to feel it. Darling is genuinely lovely for about a week. Then flattery, power, and one very smooth adviser get to work, the ring comes off, and the fairy is forced to make her point the hard way: as a lion, a wolf, and a snake, all at once, in a very gentle zoo. A comedy about conscience, narrated by two people who can feel that pinch coming a mile off.

Blue Beard

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Blue Beard from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Everyone in the district agrees on two things about the rich man in the big house: he throws a very good party, and he has a blue beard, and nobody wants to be the one to bring up the beard. When young Fatima marries him and he hands her every key in the house -- plus one little key she is absolutely, positively never to use -- she lasts about a day and a half. What she finds behind the forbidden door is not treasure and not a monster: it is the truth about where his other wives 'went.' A tense, bloodless race against the clock, powered by the greatest stalling tactic in the history of fairy tales -- 'Sister Anne, do you see anyone coming?'

Trusty John

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Trusty John from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A dying king asks his oldest servant to swear one small promise -- guard my boy, show him every room but ONE. You already know how that goes. Trusty John keeps the promise, breaks the promise, sails across the sea for a Princess with a golden roof, and then has to save his young king THREE times without being allowed to say a single word about why -- because the moment he explains, he turns to stone. A play about loyalty that looks exactly like treason from the outside, and the love that finally sets it right. Nobody is harmed. One servant is very tired.

The Brave Little Tailor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Brave Little Tailor from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A cheerful little tailor swats seven flies with one smack of a rag, is so delighted with himself that he stitches 'SEVEN AT ONE BLOW' onto a belt, and marches out to see the world -- letting every giant, king, and terrified knight assume he means seven MEN. He never actually lies. He just stands very still while other people jump to conclusions. Armed with a lump of cheese, a bird in his pocket, and an unshakable good mood, he squeezes 'water' from a stone, out-tricks a giant, sets two enormous bullies fighting each other, catches a unicorn by its own bad temper, and wins a princess -- all on brains, and not one ounce of muscle. The two giants can flee, the whole court can grumble in a chorus, and the whole thing runs on the oldest trick in the book: let them believe it.

A Voyage to Lilliput

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on A Voyage to Lilliput from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

A shipwrecked traveler named Gulliver wakes up on a beach and cannot move -- because several hundred people the size of your hand have spent the night tying him to the ground with thread. He could stand up and end the whole thing at any moment. He is far too polite to try. What follows is the world's largest guest visiting the world's smallest, fussiest government: an Emperor who awards jobs to whoever can jump highest over a stick, a Royal Scholar who can tell you exactly how many loaves a Man-Mountain eats (he measured a thumb), two great nations at war over which end of an egg you are allowed to crack, and a bloodless toy-boat sea-battle Gulliver wins by wading in up to his knees. A big, warm, whole-class comedy about scale, good manners, and the strange things people take very seriously. 13 named roles plus an unlimited crowd of Lilliputians -- court, soldiers, tailors, and rope-crew.

The Princess on the Glass Hill

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Princess on the Glass Hill from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Every midsummer eve the hay disappears and nobody knows why. The two older brothers are far too brave to go and look -- which is to say they hide -- so it falls to Boots, the youngest, who everyone agrees is useless, to sit in a barn all night and find out. What he finds is three thunder-horses in copper, silver, and gold armor, and a very good reason to keep a secret. Then the King glues his daughter to the top of a hill made of glass and dares the entire kingdom to ride up it. Spoiler: most of the kingdom slides right back down.

The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Three princes love the same cousin, so their father does the sensible fatherly thing and turns it into a shopping contest: whoever brings back the single most wonderful thing gets to marry her. They come home with a flying carpet, a tube you can see anything through, and an apple that cures any illness -- and then, plot twist, they need all three at once to save the very princess they are competing for. When even an archery tie-breaker fails to settle it, the youngest prince, Ahmed, loses his arrow, goes looking for it, and finds instead a fairy, a palace, and a much better story than the one he was in. It takes a jealous adviser, two impossible errands, and one very small brother with a very large iron bar to sort everybody out.

The History of Jack the Giant-Killer

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The History of Jack the Giant-Killer from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

In old Cornwall there is a giant problem, and the giant problem is genuinely enormous. His name is Cormoran, he eats a farmer's whole herd for a light snack, and nobody can knock him down because you cannot punch a hill. Enter Jack -- a farmer's boy with no muscles worth mentioning and a truly dangerous amount of ideas -- who decides that if you cannot knock a giant down, you can always let a giant fall down, and proceeds to solve the entire county by digging a very good hole. What follows is a tour of every giant in the west: a two-headed one whose two heads cannot agree on lunch, a three-headed one who talks himself into hiding in his own basement, and a moat-dwelling bellower named Thunderdell who really should have checked the bridge. Jack wins every single fight without ever winning a single fight. It is the original brains-over-brawn story, and the brains are having a wonderful time.

The Black Bull of Norroway

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Black Bull of Norroway from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Meg is the youngest of three sisters and was told from the cradle she would get the leftovers of everything, so she decided very young that the one thing nobody could take from her was that she would never flinch. Then the great Black Bull of Norroway comes to carry her off -- a bull the size of a barn, gentle as a lamb, courtly as a duke, and, though he cannot say so, a knight under a spell. She does not flinch at him, or the dark, or the glass hill she has to climb in iron shoes. She flinches exactly once, out of pure joy, at the worst possible moment -- and loses him. What it costs to win him back is not bravery. It is the far harder thing: patience, a washtub, and three long nights of staying awake.

The Red Etin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Red Etin from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Two brothers set out to seek their fortune, and the only real difference between them turns out to be a slice of bread. The elder, Tam, takes the big half of the cake, skips his mother's blessing, snubs a hungry old woman on the road, and marches straight up to the Red Etin -- a three-headed giant who turns travelers to stone when they cannot answer his three riddles. Tam cannot. In fairness, he never listens to anyone, which is precisely how he ended up as a lawn ornament. His younger brother Jock takes the small half with the blessing, shares his last crust with the same old woman, and learns the one thing the giant never counted on: the answers. Because the terrible Red Etin, it turns out, has asked the exact same three riddles for a hundred years and is far too lazy to think up new ones. A comedy about kindness, riddles, and a giant whose three heads cannot agree on lunch. 11 named roles plus a chorus of statues who get the best entrance in the whole show -- all at once, waking up.

The Princess Mayblossom

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Princess Mayblossom from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Princess Mayblossom' (Madame d'Aulnoy, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a long-awaited princess is cursed at her own christening by Carabosse, a cross old fairy holding a twenty-year grudge over a boyhood bowl of pepper porridge. Her parents seal her in a windowless tower behind eleven iron doors to wait out the bad luck -- which works right up until the doors open and a boasting ambassador in solid-gold boots turns up to propose on somebody else's behalf. Warm and genuinely funny, with a princess who understands everything the first time you explain it (including the ambassador, in about one honeycomb), a King who thinks doors can out-plan a fairy, a good fairy whose swans and peacocks will not get along, and a villain who is foiled -- never harmed -- and leaves in the largest huff you have ever seen. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open court, and as many swans, peacocks, and judgmental squirrels as you have. It ends on the classic happy note (and a first, wonderful rain), then hands your cast the last word.

Soria Moria Castle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Soria Moria Castle from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Norse tale Soria Moria Castle (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): Halvor, a good-hearted lad who cannot settle to a single chore, sails off on a trading ship, is blown ashore in a nameless land, and finds three castles, each holding a captive princess and a troll -- one with three heads, one with six, one with nine. He wins a magic sword he can barely lift, then can; he learns the trolls turn to stone at sunrise, so instead of fighting he simply keeps them arguing (three heads that never agree, a six-head committee, a nine-head grudge over a sheep) until the sun does the work. There is a wishing ring he wastes to win an argument at a party, a long walk to the house of the four Winds where even the Moon can't point the way -- a cloud was before her -- and the West Wind, who is flying there to dry the wedding clothes, carries him to Soria Moria Castle and his princess at last. Warm and genuinely funny, with the trolls comic and bloodless, and Aase -- the youngest princess -- would rather help than be rescued. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: the three trolls are three, six, and nine students, so a whole grade can be a troll. It ends on a warm reunion, then hands your cast the last word.

The Death of Koschei the Deathless

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Death of Koschei the Deathless from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the great Russian wonder-tale from Andrew Lang's public-domain Red Fairy Book: three storms come courting and carry off Prince Ivan's sisters, a battle-winning warrior princess named Marya Morevna marries the one man who forgets to be afraid of her, and behind the one door she tells him never to open hangs a chained old sorcerer who only wants a cup of water. Ivan gives it -- because giving away his water is the whole trouble with him, and also the whole point -- and out walks Koschei the Deathless. What follows is a real adventure: three bird-brothers who are also princes, a witch with a house on chicken legs and a hundred magic mares, a deadpan horse who knows exactly how good he is -- and who turns out to be the faster younger brother of the one horse that ever caught anyone. We keep the tale's famous name but soften the darkness for school: Koschei's 'death' is reframed as a broken SPELL, and when it ends he is simply switched off -- an ordinary, powerless old man shown the door, bloodless, with no on-stage violence. Six scenes for a large, flexible class. It ends on the reunion, then hands your cast the last word.

The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

A jealous stepmother wins one rash card game and sends three young princes off to steal the Knight of the Glen's Steed of Bells -- a horse wearing sixty bells, which is a terrible thing to try to sneak up on. They fail, of course, and fall into the Knight's power along with a road companion called the Black Thief: a rogue who turns out to be far kinder than his name. The Knight will free them all on one condition -- the Black Thief must tell three true tales of a time he was in worse trouble than this and got out of it. So he tells them, and the whole cast acts each one out: three witches who chase him as a greyhound, a hare, and a hawk; a suit of armor that takes the arrows so he doesn't have to; and a one-eyed giant, a swapped pie, and a very cold fish-pond. The third tale holds a secret that sets everyone free. A story inside a story inside a story -- funny, warm, and built to scale from a handful of actors to a whole grade, because every tale needs a fresh little cast. Narrators optional; the Black Thief's tellings pull out cleanly as monologues.

The Master Thief

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Master Thief from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Norse tale (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): the youngest of three poor sons leaves home with one strange gift -- nobody can guard a thing from him -- and comes back famous as the Master Thief, a name that is only half right, because he gives every single thing back by morning, better than he found it. To earn honest standing from a doubting, spoon-counting Lord (and to win the hand of the Lord's daughter Marit, who is nobody's prize and everybody's match), he takes on four impossible tests set as a friendly wager: steal the roast from two brave cooks, steal the prize horse from three watchful grooms, steal the sheet off the Lord's own bed while the Lord lies on it wide awake, and get past the proud, book-loving Parson himself. He wins every one by pure wit and disguise -- an old apple-seller, the most boring bedtime story in the world, a scarecrow in a coat, and the rarest book that may only be read inside a sack -- and never once robs, breaks, or hurts anybody. Everything comes back at dawn: the roast hot on the table, the horse brushed and ribboned, the sheet folded with a flower, the Parson home with a free book and his pride polished. A warm, genuinely funny caper for a class -- thirteen named roles around an open ensemble, narrators optional, three extractable 'watch closely' caper speeches for the Master Thief. It ends with him earning a real post as the Lord's Keeper and Marit choosing him out loud of her own free will, then hands your cast the last word.

Brother and Sister

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Brother and Sister from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Brother and Sister (Grimm, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a brother and sister leave a cold house and a witch of a stepmother, and lose their way into an enchanted forest where every brook is under a spell. The sister talks her thirsty brother safely past a tiger-brook and a wolf-brook -- but the third brook is quicker than she is, and he comes up from it a little deer with wide eyes and a working sense of humor. She ties her one gold garter round his neck for a collar and swears she will never leave him. A king who calls off every arrow the moment he sees that gold marries her and brings the deer home too; a jealous witch locks the real queen in a tower and dresses her own daughter in the crown; and the truth gets out because a loyal little deer will not stop knocking at the right door. Warm and genuinely funny -- a brother who takes being a deer remarkably well, a daughter who cannot manage the thank-yous, a huntsman who notices everything -- with the witch exposed and shown the door (never harmed, all off-stage) and the brother turned back into a boy. Six scenes for a flexible class: seven named roles, three whispering brooks, optional narrators, and a whole forest and court for as many students as you have. It ends on the family coming home to each other, then hands your cast the last word.

Princess Rosette

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Princess Rosette from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Princess Rosette' (Madame d'Aulnoy, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): at her christening one gloomy fairy squints at the stars and foretells that the baby may bring trouble on her two brothers, so her frightened parents shut her in a tower to keep everyone safe. Grown, and somehow still merry, Rosette is let out by her two devoted brothers, falls at first sight for a portrait of the far-off King of the Peacocks, and sails to meet him -- until the treacherous Nurse and her bored daughter tip Rosette's bed into the sea to swap the daughter in her place. But the bed floats, her clever little dog Frisk stands guard, a kind old boatman pulls her ashore, and Frisk raids the palace kitchen for so many roast chickens that he leads the heartbroken Peacock King straight to his true bride. Warm and genuinely funny, with a dog who steals the whole show (and most of the poultry), a bird king who judges everyone by how they treat a peacock, and a villain who is exposed and sent away -- never harmed. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, and as many fairies, peacocks, sailors, and palace cooks as you have. It ends on the classic happy note, then hands your cast the last word.

The Enchanted Pig

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Enchanted Pig from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Enchanted Pig' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book: a king forbids one locked room, his three daughters peek anyway, and the Book of Fate says the youngest will marry a pig from the North. She does -- and her pig-husband turns out to be kind, funny, weirdly polite about the mud, and a handsome enchanted man by night. Warned to let the spell wear off on its own, she is talked into rushing it with a thread tied at night, and he vanishes -- so she sets out to wear through three pairs of iron shoes and a steel staff to find him, helped by the Moon, the Sun (who comes home in a truly terrible mood), and the Wind, gathering three golden gifts that build a ladder to his door. Love and plain stubbornness break the spell. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, a chorus of pigs, and three whole households to fill with as many students as you have. It ends the old warm way, then hands your cast the last word.

The Norka

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Norka from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Russian tale The Norka (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a great beast raids the King's park by night, and the King's three sons take turns to watch. The two elder princes sleep through it; only the youngest, Ivan -- the one everyone calls forgetful -- stays awake, drives the beast off the lawn, and tracks it to a great white stone with a whole world beneath. Lowered on a rope into the lower world, he passes three castles -- copper, silver, gold -- and frees three princesses, and with clever Princess Gold he beats the Norka not with a sword but by switching the barrels of the Water of Strength and the Water of Weakness, so the cheating beast is marched home to its own world and the stone is sealed, no blood, no rug. His brothers haul the princesses up and then cut the rope on him out of jealousy -- but Gold saw it coming and left him a golden egg. Stranded, he shelters a nest of eaglets in a hailstorm, and the Great Eagle carries him back up the long dark road, fed on the flight until he gives her his own last supper. He comes home in disguise, makes a golden gown no tailor could copy, the truth comes out, and the brothers -- who own up in front of the whole court -- are forgiven, not punished. Warm and genuinely funny, with the beast comic and bloodless and the youngest sister the cleverest person in either world. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: the Norka and the Great Eagle are whole-group parts, so a class can be the beast's body or the bird's wings and nobody sits out. It ends on forgiveness and a warm house, then hands your cast the last word.

The Wonderful Birch

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wonderful Birch from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Finnish tale 'The Wonderful Birch' (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a loving mother, a scheming witch who takes her place, and a birch tree that grows where the mother's love takes root and quietly helps her daughter -- fine clothes, a horse, and a way to the King's feast. A Cinderella arc from the far north, warm and genuinely funny, with a vain witch's daughter who is certain she is the most wonderful person in any room, a Herald with no volume control, and a little dog who cannot tell a lie to save his life (the truth just falls out of him, in rhyme). Handled gently for school: nobody is hurt -- the witch's magic only changes the mother (into a sheep, then into the wonderful birch), the birch is her love made visible and watching over her daughter, and by the end the enchantment lifts and mother and daughter are reunited. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open feast chorus, townspeople for as many students as you have. The witch is foiled and shown the road; it ends warm, then hands your cast the last word.

The Little Good Mouse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Little Good Mouse from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Little Good Mouse' (d'Aulnoy, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a loud bad king takes a small kingdom before lunch, shuts the good Queen in a tower, and demands she sign it all over -- and she just keeps saying no. Her one friend is a fairy who does her best work as a mouse: nibbling the king's crown, hiding in his wig, walking past fourteen mousetraps in a series of tiny disguises, and raising the baby princess safe until it's time to come home. The king is undone, at last, by his own big mouth -- a giant oath he swears in front of the whole kingdom, thinking it's safe. Warm and genuinely funny, with the mouse as the comic engine and the heart, a jailer who does a good soup, and an astrologer who is right exactly once. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open court and crowd for as many students as you have. Nobody is harmed; the bad king is simply held to his word and sent packing. It ends on a warm reunion, then hands your cast the last word.

Graciosa and Percinet

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Graciosa and Percinet from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Graciosa and Percinet' (d'Aulnoy, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): kind Princess Graciosa, her father's vain and ridiculous new wife the Duchess Grumbly, and Percinet -- a half-fairy prince who schedules his rescues and keeps every one. When Grumbly sets her impossible chores (a mountain of tangled thread, a heap of mixed feathers to sort and count, and a box she is told not to open), Percinet's wand and Graciosa's good heart beat every trap -- and the meanness is foiled without anyone being cruel back. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, a crowd, a hundred finger-sized box-people, and a crystal palace called Sweet-Delights. It ends the warm way, with Grumbly humbled and sent off quietly (no dungeon, no barrel down a hill), and then hands your cast the last word.

The Three Princesses of Whiteland

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Princesses of Whiteland from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

A fisherman is tricked into promising the sea 'the first thing that meets him at home' -- he is sure it is the dog; it is his baby son. Years later the boy, Finn, sets off to un-make the bargain himself, wins a hat, a cloak, and a pair of boots off three brothers who have quarreled over them for a hundred years, and reaches far Whiteland, where three princesses are held fast by an enchanter's spell -- rooted where they stand, able only to speak. He breaks the spell not with a sword but by being unfailingly kind and silent through three nights of frights, until the enchanter, who feeds only on anger, simply starves. Then a forgetting, a wasted wish, a land hidden east of the sun and west of the moon, four winds, and one long walk home to the girl who chose him. Warm and genuinely funny, bloodless throughout. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- three princesses, three quarreling brothers, four winds, a chorus of not-very-good Shadows, narrators optional.

The Voice of Death

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Voice of Death from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain tale 'The Voice of Death' (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book) -- gently reframed for school as a warm, funny fable about enjoying today and sharing it, NOT about dying. Barnaby Crimp is the richest man in town and the only one who never enjoys it: he saves everything for 'later' -- a best coat he has never worn, a jar of the good jam he has never opened, a whistle he has never blown, a party eleven years overdue -- because he cannot bear for any good thing to be used up. So he sets off to find the Land of Later, where nothing is ever spent because nobody ever uses anything at all. A kind, patient guide called the Quiet Voice (or Old Someday) -- calm, never scary, a bit like a crossing-guard of the seasons -- walks him there, and Barnaby learns that 'Later' is a trap: the good things are HERE, today, and a good day is a gift to spend and share, not to hoard. He goes home transformed, opens the jam, wears the coat, blows the whistle, and finally throws the feast. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open feast chorus, townsfolk and frozen 'people of Later' for as many students as you have. Handled gently for school: nobody dies, nobody is hurt, nothing is frightening; the Voice is kind from first line to last and takes no one anywhere. It ends bright and warm, then hands your cast the last word.

Kari Woodengown

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Kari Woodengown from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the Norse Cinderella tale 'Kari Woodengown,' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book: a King's daughter is sent to mind the cattle by a spiteful stepmother, and is saved by a great talking Blue Bull who keeps a whole feast folded up in his left ear. When the Queen plots against him, the girl and the Bull run away together -- through a copper wood, a silver wood, and a gold wood, each guarded by a many-headed Troll -- and the Bull's last, bravest gift sets her up in a castle kitchen in a clattering wooden gown, where nobody guesses that the clonking wash-up girl is the shining stranger the Prince keeps meeting at church. Softened all the way to bloodless -- the Troll fights happen off-stage, the Bull's parting is an enchantment quietly ending ('it's only a door'), and a truth-telling bird exposes the cheating stepsister without a drop of blood -- it keeps the real spine: the three gowns, the made-up homelands (Bathland, Towelland, Combland), the gold shoe stuck in the tar, and the wooden gown thrown off at last. Full-length in six scenes for grades 2-6, with a flexible cast (three many-headed Trolls, three optional narrators, and woods-full of ensemble), big sharable parts, and a warm ending that hands the last word to your class.

Drakestail

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Drakestail from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain French comic tale 'Drakestail,' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book: a duck the size of a teapot lends the King his whole life's savings of a hundred crowns, waits two years, and finally marches up to the palace to ask -- politely -- for his money back, singing the same little song the entire way. On the road he gathers four friends who tuck in single file behind him -- clever Friend Fox, sturdy Friend Ladder, sleepy Friend River, and Comrade Wasp's-nest with a whole squadron of wasps -- and every time the King tries to be rid of him (the poultry yard, the well, the furnace, the throne room), one friend pops out and saves the day. Softened for school so it lands all comedy and no harm: Fox scatters the turkeys with a single BOO, River floods the furnace and leaves everyone merely soaked, the wasps buzz-but-never-bite the court out a window into the palace duck pond, and the spendthrift King jumps out after them and simply runs away down the road. The town crowns the careful little duck who saved a hundred crowns one coin at a time, and Drakestail's first law is that everyone gets paid back -- especially if they're small. Six scenes built around a repeat-after-me refrain and two open choruses (the Wasps and the Poultry, as many as you have), with the four friends as big, showy parts a whole class can share. It ends warm and hopeful, then hands the last word to your cast.

The True History of Little Golden-Hood

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The True History of Little Golden-Hood from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The True History of Little Golden-Hood' (Ch. Marelles, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book) -- the OTHER Red Riding-Hood, the true one, where the story turns out completely differently. This girl does not wear red and is not called Red Riding-hood; she is Blanchette, Little Golden-hood, and her grandmother (a little bit a witch, the good kind) made her a gold-and-fire-coloured hood out of a real ray of sunshine. When Friend Wolf -- a wolf doing a bad impression of a friendly dog -- talks her into telling where Granny lives and races ahead to wait in the bed, the famous 'what big teeth you have' scene ends the way it should have all along: the wolf lunges, catches nothing but the magic hood, and gets a mouthful of sunshine that burns his tongue right down his throat. Then Grandmother walks in from town with an empty sack and catches HIM -- swallowed up like a letter in the post. Nobody is eaten. The only one who comes to a bad end is the wolf, and he earns every bit of it. Warm, genuinely funny, and built for a big flexible class: a whole Wood of birds, butterflies, and daisies for the ensemble, two wood-cutters who are always around at the wrong moment for a wolf, and narrators you can keep or cut. Six scenes, Grade 1-5, with Blanchette's closing 'a friendly wolf is still a wolf' speech ready to lift out as a monologue.

The Golden Branch

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden Branch from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Golden Branch' (Madame d'Aulnoy, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a kind, clever prince named Curlicue has spent his whole life being called ugly -- so when cross old King Grumpy tries to marry him off to a stranger for the sake of a bigger map, he says no, and gets locked in a two-hundred-year-old tower for his trouble. There he finds painted windows that move and are DESPERATE to tell him the story (they are not allowed), a golden key, a jeweled cabinet, and a sleeping fairy who has been grieving her lost Florimond since before the kingdom had a flag. Meanwhile the plain, lame Princess he refused makes a quiet, enormous choice of her own -- good over pretty -- and the two of them, unrecognizable to each other and to themselves, meet again as shepherds who don't know a single crown between them. With a petty Enchanter who keeps people as cats and mice, a vain Queen of the Comets who cannot bear to be refused, two escaped mouse-princesses who will tell you all about their poor feet, a grasshopper, a cricket, and one branch of gold that breaks every spell there is. Warm and genuinely funny, with the story's own delicious twist -- their fathers were right about the WHO and wrong about everything that matters. Six scenes for a big, flexible class, narrators optional, and one refrain the whole audience gets to learn. It ends on the classic happy note, then hands your cast the last word.

The Three Dwarfs

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Dwarfs from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Three Dwarfs' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book (the Grimm tale in the 'Three Little Men in the Wood' family): a kind girl in a cold house, an indecisive father who lets a boot decide the wedding, a stepmother who sends her out in a paper dress to fetch strawberries in the dead of winter, and three little dwarfs in a warm cottage who reward one shared crust with gold, growing beauty, and a King -- and pay the grabby stepsister back in the opposite coin. Warm and genuinely funny, with the stepsister silly more than wicked, three dwarfs named Crumb, Kindle, and Sweep, and a heroine who would rather build a warm house than guard a cold one. Six scenes for a flexible class -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of snow, wind, and courtiers for as many students as you have. It keeps the old spine and ends warm, then hands your cast the last word.

Dapplegrim

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Dapplegrim from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Norse tale Dapplegrim (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a poor lad, the youngest of twelve brothers, comes home to nothing but twelve tired old mares -- and one shining dapple-grey foal who can talk, and think, and (mostly) plan. Three years later that foal is Dapplegrim, the finest and cleverest horse in the world, and together they walk into a King's palace where an envious court keeps whispering the King into setting the lad one impossible task after another to win the Princess. So they climb a mountain of glass to free her from a comically sleepy troll; they hop a whole hill down into the earth to make the sun shine into the palace; they ride out past a chorus of wild birds and wild beasts to catch Dapplegrim's fire-breathing underground double for the Princess's wedding horse; and they win a hiding game with a duck, a loaf, a horse-fly, and a lad tucked between the hoof and the shoe. Warm and genuinely funny, with the troll bloodless and lonely rather than scary, a Princess who hides badly on purpose because she has already chosen, a King far too easy to talk into things until his daughter fixes that, and a magnificent magic horse who is, without question, the smartest character on stage. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: Dapplegrim is the showcase role and the court, brothers, birds, and beasts are open choruses, so a whole grade fits. It ends at the wedding, then hands your cast the last word.

The Enchanted Canary

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Enchanted Canary from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Enchanted Canary' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book (Charles Deulin's Flemish tale): my Lord Tubby is the fattest, jolliest lord in Flanders, and his one worry is his son, Prince Desire, who is thin as a cuckoo, talks to the moon, and will not marry a single pink-and-white girl in the land. A basket of oranges and a dream send him south, where a white-bearded old man hands him one small bottle and the best advice in the story: oil the rusty gate, feed the great dog, give the baker a brush, lay the well-rope in the sun -- then pick three oranges and do NOT open them until you reach water. He forgets, of course; two golden canaries fly off thirsty, and the third, given a palmful of water at a stream, turns into the golden-skinned Princess Zizi, who has been a bird for ten years and asks a thousand questions. Then he makes his one mistake -- he leaves her alone by a fountain -- and a vain water-carrier named Titty slips an enchanted pin into her hair, and Zizi is a canary again. It takes a burnt wedding goose, a very sleepy kitchen, and one sharp-eyed fat lord who feels a pin hidden in a bird's feathers to set everything right. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, a whole court and kitchen and a chorus of townsfolk to fill -- funny, warm, and kind to everyone by the end, even the one who wasn't. It closes the old way, then hands your cast the last word.

The Twelve Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Twelve Brothers from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain The Twelve Brothers (Grimm, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a king decides that if his thirteenth child is a girl, his twelve sons must give up the kingdom and go -- so the boys slip away into the wood before she is even born and make a home there, keeping one hurt rule, no girls allowed, against a sister none of them has ever met. Years later that sister, born with a gold star on her forehead, finds twelve small shirts on a washing line, learns she has twelve brothers, and walks across the whole world to find them; the youngest, Benjamin, melts the old grudge with one pot of soup and a very good argument, and for a while they are as happy as any family in any wood. Then, meaning only to give each brother a flower, she picks the twelve lilies in the garden -- and turns all twelve brothers into ravens. To free them she must go seven years without a single word and without one laugh, or the spell holds forever. A young king finds her sitting silent in a tree and marries her; his mother, certain that a girl who will not talk must be hiding something, whispers a lie against her until the whole court turns cold and the silent queen is condemned to be sent away -- and at the very last hour of the seven years, twelve ravens come sweeping in. Warm and genuinely funny -- twelve brothers who talk over each other, a cook who wins every argument, a hunting dog thrilled with itself, and a heroine who does the bravest thing in the story with her mouth shut -- with every dark beat softened and kept off-stage: the sons choose to flee rather than face any harm, no one is ever burned, the frame-up is a missing spoon and not a missing child, and the villain is simply shown the door. Six scenes for a flexible class: eight named roles, a scalable band of brothers, optional narrators who double as the silent sister's thoughts, and a whole court for as many students as you have. It ends on a family loud again after seven years of quiet, then hands your cast the last word.

Rapunzel

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Rapunzel from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Rapunzel (Grimm, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a longing wife spots a bed of rampion greens over a high wall, her husband climbs in to fetch them, and the enchantress who owns the garden strikes her famous bargain -- all the rampion he likes, in exchange for the child to come. She names the girl Rapunzel and shuts her up at twelve in a tower with no door and no stairs, only a window and a rope of golden hair that is the tower's one staircase. 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair.' A prince rides through the wood, cannot ride away from her singing, watches the enchantress climb, learns the call, and comes up to meet her; they plan a ladder of silk to bring her down -- until one happy, careless sentence gives the secret away. Warm and genuinely funny -- an opinionated horse who only wants a nap and a carrot, a girl who has narrated twelve years of clouds to the birds, and an enchantress who is not wicked but simply terrified of losing the one person she loves -- the tale's harshest turns are softened and kept off-stage: no one is harmed, the prince is lost and wandering (his sight dimmed by weeping, never gouged), and it is Rapunzel's own tears at the reunion that clear his eyes and bring the world back -- the source's true, lovely ending kept exactly. The enchantress is foiled by her own fear and, at the last, learns to open her hands. Six scenes for a flexible class: six named roles, an ensemble Wood of trees and birds, optional narrators, and a river worth walking years to see. It ends on a mended, unlikely family reaching the water, then hands your cast the last word.

The Nettle Spinner

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Nettle Spinner from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Nettle Spinner' (a Flemish tale from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a poor spinner named Renelde loves a woodcutter named Guilbert, but her cruel lord -- Burchard the Wolf, who makes his people plough his fields barefoot and cracks a whip in the air to hurry them -- decides he wants her for himself. When she refuses, he sets her a task that means never: gather the stinging nettles that grew fat on his own cruelty, and spin them into two fine shifts, one for her wedding and one for his own shroud. 'For you shall be married,' he laughs, 'the day the Wolf is laid in his grave.' But Renelde's ninety-year-old grandmother points out that 'never' and 'can't' are different words -- and the nettles, to everyone's astonishment, spin. As the shroud grows, the Wolf weakens, and every trick he tries to stop the wheel foils itself: the river floats it back, the broken wheel mends overnight, the ropes untie, and the nettles pop right back up faster than his soldiers can pull them. The clever, bloodless heart of it: the Wolf tied his own fate to his own boast, and the tale ends by BURYING THE WOLF, not the man -- his cruelty laid to rest under the finished cloth, the whip turned to an ordinary strip of leather, the fields handed back to the people, and Burchard himself walking out on foot to spend the rest of his life mending what he broke. Nobody is harmed and nobody dies. Warm, genuinely funny, and quietly fierce about keeping a hard promise, with a grandmother who sleeps through everything but the good parts, two soldiers who learn that good orders beat obeyed ones, and an ensemble of nettles with a serious attitude problem. Six scenes for a flexible class -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of nettles, wind, river, and villagers for as many students as you have -- and it hands your cast the last word.

Farmer Weatherbeard

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Farmer Weatherbeard from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Norse tale Farmer Weatherbeard (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a boy named Jack is sent off to be made "master of all masters," and is snatched up as apprentice by a booming wizard who drives a black horse straight into the air and gives his address as "north, south, east, and west." When Jack's father goes to fetch him, he crosses a great wood and wins lodging from three old sisters with noses long enough to draw water and rake fire -- rulers of the beasts, the fishes, and the birds -- until a very tired, very hungry eagle finally carries him to the wizard's house at midnight for a whisper-quiet magical escape. Then comes the tale's great engine: back home, Jack turns himself into a fine horse to be sold at the fair for good money, three days running, with one unbreakable rule for his father -- never, ever sell the halter. Twice the father remembers; the third day Farmer Weatherbeard himself comes buying, flatters him over supper, and the halter is forgotten -- until a kind girl at an inn frees the mistreated horse and the two wizards tumble into the famous shape-shifting duel: fish and pike, dove and hawk, a gold ring hidden on a clever princess's finger, and at last a hare in the ashes and the fox that ends the chase. Warm and genuinely funny, with the wizard's menace kept bloodless, the violence off-stage, a father you root for through one forgotten halter, a princess who out-thinks a wizard from her windowsill, and a kind girl whose single small kindness turns the whole story. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: Jack and Farmer Weatherbeard are the showcase transformation roles and the Beasts, Fishes, Birds, and Market Crowd are open choruses, so a whole grade fits. It ends warm at the win, then hands your cast the last word.

Mother Holle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Mother Holle from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Mother Holle' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book (the Grimm tale): a kind girl who does every chore in a cold house drops her spindle down a well, is ordered to fetch it, and jumps in -- landing in a sunlit meadow at the bottom, where a loaf of bread begs to be taken out of the oven, a ripe apple tree begs to be shaken, and an old woman with enormous teeth and a very warm heart turns out to be Mother Holle herself, who makes the winter by shaking out her feather bed. The girl who helps and works is sent home in a shower of gold; her grabby, work-dodging stepsister tries the exact same trip, shirks every job, and comes home under a comic kettle of tar. Warm and genuinely funny, with a heroine brave enough to jump down a well for a spindle, a bread and a tree and a hen who all have opinions, and the whole lovely secret that snow is somebody working hard so you can play. Six scenes for a flexible class -- narrators optional, and an open ensemble of the well, the flowers, the feathers, and the falling snow for as many students as you have. It keeps the old spine and the gold-girl and tar-girl ending, then hands your cast the last word.

Minnikin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Minnikin from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Norse tale Minnikin (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): twin brothers, born the same morning and alike to the last freckle, walk out into the world before lunch and christen each other Minnikin and King Pippin -- swearing that each will come if the other calls his name three times, but only in his utmost need. On the road Minnikin outwits the same one-eyed old hag three times and wins a sword that can beat a whole army, a ship that fits in his pocket, and the art of brewing a hundred lasts of malt in one go. He sails to a palace hung in black, where Princess Astri is promised to three sea-trolls (five heads, then ten, then fifteen), and the palace's blowhard 'hero' Ritter Red hides up a tree while a ragged kitchen boy quietly saves the day three Thursdays running. The trolls are comic and bloodless -- their many heads can never agree, so Minnikin's blazing sword sends each one tumbling harmlessly back into the sea, still arguing. A wedding-feast cup-bearer trick reveals the true hero under three layers of gold, silver, and brass; then Minnikin dives to a hall at the bottom of the sea to free Astri's captured sister, putting a whole hall of trolls to SLEEP with the strongest ale ever brewed. And when both princesses want to marry him, he calls his identical twin so no heart is broken -- the stronger sister reaches King Pippin first, exactly as Minnikin knew she would. Warm, very funny, and built for a big flexible class: the three trolls are five, ten, and fifteen students each, so a whole grade can be a troll. Six scenes. It ends on two joyful weddings, then hands your cast the last word.

Bushy Bride

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Bushy Bride from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book.

A funny, warm, kid-performable Norse fairy tale for Grades 3-6. Kind Marit is rewarded by three grumpy heads in the river -- gold falls when she speaks -- while her rude stepsister earns a nose four ells long and a fir tree on her forehead. A stepmother's borrowed voice tricks Marit over the side of a boat, a loyal little dog named Little Snow swims an entire sea, and three Thursday nights and one tiny pin set everything right. Flexible cast, optional narrators, and an ending your class gets to finish.

Snowdrop

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Snowdrop from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Snowdrop' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book -- this is the Brothers Grimm tale that later became the famous cartoon, but we adapted the old fairy tale itself, not the film. A first queen wishes for a daughter as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony; her wish comes true, and years later a proud new queen with a truthful magic mirror cannot bear to hear that little Snowdrop has grown fairer than she is. A huntsman who cannot go through with a cruel order sets her free; she runs over seven hills to a small warm house and seven miners who take her in and make her family; and the jealous queen comes three times in disguise -- with a too-tight lace, a poisoned comb, and at last a beautiful apple, white on one cheek and red on the other. Warm and genuinely funny -- a mirror that hates its own job, seven grumbling dwarfs with real names and real hearts, three watchful birds, and a prince with a good heart and absolutely no plan -- the story keeps its true fairy-tale spine: the mirror, the seven dwarfs, the poisoned apple, and Snowdrop waking when the bit of apple is jolted from her throat (no kiss -- that is the film's idea, not the tale's). The old ending's cruel punishment is set aside: the queen is undone by her own vanity and flees the warm hall she can never bear, and no one is harmed. Six scenes for a flexible class: twelve named roles (five leads and the seven dwarfs), three birds and a first queen that double freely, optional narrators, and an open ensemble of Wood, Court, and Wedding Guests for as many students as you have. It ends warm, on an open door, then hands your cast the last word.

The Golden Goose

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden Goose from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Golden Goose' (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book, after Grimm): the youngest of three brothers, jeered at his whole life and called Dullhead, is the only one kind enough to share his poor cinder-cake lunch with a hungry little grey man in the forest -- and that one kindness turns his whole life to gold. The grey man sends him to an old tree, where he finds a goose of pure gold that nobody can keep their hands off of: a greedy innkeeper's daughter grabs a feather and sticks fast, her two sisters stick to her, and one by one a scolding parson, a hurrying clerk, and two helpful farmers all get stuck in a great comic chain that runs after Dullhead down the road while he cheerfully never once looks back. The ridiculous parade is exactly what finally makes a solemn Princess -- who has not laughed in eighteen years -- laugh so hard she can't stop. When her father the King keeps inventing impossible tasks to wriggle out of his promise (drink a whole cellar, eat a mountain of bread, sail a ship over dry land), the grey man quietly solves every one, because a shared crust is never forgotten. Pure warm K-4 comedy: nobody is hurt, the kind one wins, and the sticking-chain is a whole-class parade that grows as big as your cast, with an audience call-and-response ('STUCK!') built right in. Six scenes. It lands warm and funny, then hands the last word to your cast.

The Seven Foals

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Seven Foals from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Norse tale The Seven Foals (from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book): a couple of poor folk in a wood have three sons, and the youngest, Cinderlad, does nothing all day but poke about in the ashes -- so of course everyone is certain he is useless. A King has set an impossible test: watch his seven foals for one whole day and, at nightfall, say what they eat and drink, and you win the Princess and half the kingdom. The two proud elder brothers each try, each let an old woman in a cleft of the rock comb their hair the day away, each come back with a scrap of moss and a bottle of water -- and each get chased home with three red stripes painted down their good coat. Then the ash-boy tries. He does the one thing his brothers never did: when the foals bolt, he grabs tight hold of the youngest foal's tail and holds ON, straight past the old woman, into a room hidden inside a white birch tree, where a great rusty sword and a small pitcher wait. There the youngest foal tells him the truth -- the seven foals are the Princess's own seven brothers, bound by a mighty Troll, and only kindness, attention, and one rusty blade can bring them home. Warm and genuinely funny -- a hero whose superpower is sitting still and paying attention, a deadpan Master of the Horse, an old woman with a very relaxing knee, a Princess who wanted her brothers back more than any half a kingdom, and seven foals with strong opinions -- with every harsh beat softened and kept off-stage and bloodless: no one is ever cut or salted (the failed watchers only get three red stripes painted on a coat), and the spell is broken by cutting the Troll's black bridle off each foal, in order, entirely off-stage. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: eight fixed named roles around a scalable band of the Seven Foals, a whole court, optional narrators, and room for your entire grade at the wedding. It ends with seven princes home and a feast, then hands your cast the last word.

The Marvellous Musician

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Marvellous Musician from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Marvellous Musician' from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book (the Grimm tale, sometimes called 'The Wonderful Musician'): a lonely fiddler wanders the wood, sighs that time hangs heavy when you are all alone, and plays his fiddle to summon a friend -- but the music brings a hungry Wolf, a show-off Fox, and a can't-sit-still Hare, one after another, and none of them is the companion he wanted. So the clever fiddler tricks each one loose with a straight face and a made-up 'secret of the fiddle' -- the Grip, the Balance, the Warm-Up -- until a poor Woodcutter sets down his axe and walks half the wood simply because the music is the best thing he ever heard. That, the musician learns, is the friend he was after all along: not one you catch, but one who turns up to listen and stands in front of you when the wolves come back. Warm and genuinely funny, gentle enough for Grade 2-6, with every trap softened to bloodless comedy -- nobody is harmed, the beasts wriggle loose good-naturedly, and the axe is only ever held up, never swung. Six scenes for a flexible class -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of Trees, Echoes, and Birds for as many students as you have. It keeps the old spine and the human-friend ending, then hands your cast the last word.

The Story of Sigurd

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Sigurd from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Norse hero-tale The Story of Sigurd, from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book (retold from the Volsung saga): a brave, warm, genuinely thrilling adventure for a big class. Sigurd is the son of a great warrior who fell before he was born, leaving him nothing but the broken pieces of a sword and an enormous name to live up to -- and Sigurd wants, more than anything, to earn a name of his OWN. So a one-eyed stranger (the oldest listeners will know him) helps him choose Grani, the one horse brave enough to swim a cold river; the master smith Regin forges the broken blade whole again into Gram, so keen that fire seems to run along its edge; and Sigurd rides out to free a whole frightened land from the dragon Fafnir -- a monster who is really just the loneliest, greediest creature there ever was, since the cursed gold he guards slowly ate everything friendly out of him. Sigurd beats the dragon with brains, not muscle (he digs a pit and outwaits it), and the dragon is undone BLOODLESS -- it is the wicked magic that breaks, not the body. A spark of that broken magic teaches Sigurd the language of the birds, who warn him that the same greed has now caught kind Regin; so Sigurd does the bravest thing in the play and simply WALKS AWAY from all the cursed gold, then rides south to Hindfell, where his horse who never turns back carries him straight through a ring of fire to wake the fearless shield-maiden Brynhild. IMPORTANT: this is the heroic FIRST HALF only. The old saga's tragic second half -- the potion of forgetfulness, the betrayal, and the deaths of Sigurd and Brynhild -- is SET ASIDE, and the play ends on a hopeful, brave morning with the danger past. Six scenes for a flexible class: Grani and Fafnir are big ensemble showcases and the Birds are an open chorus, so a whole grade fits. It ends at the ring of fire, then hands your cast the last word.

A Tale of the Tontlawald

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'A Tale of the Tontlawald' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Everyone in the village agrees on one thing: you do not go into the Tontlawald, the wood where the trees cry out and strange folk swarm the grass like bees. So when quiet, overworked Elsa gets left behind at the strawberry patch, walking IN is the bravest -- and best -- thing she ever does. Inside waits a fairy Lady, a girl named Kisika who has been nine years old for a suspiciously long time, an old man with a beard longer than he is tall, and a dinner table with thirteen dishes, one of which nobody is allowed to touch. A warm, funny, faintly spooky play about a home worth finding and the good sense to stay for the last strawberry.

The Finest Liar in the World

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Finest Liar in the World' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A father hands his kid a sack of corn and one strange rule: never grind at a mill where the miller has no beard. Naturally, every mill from here to the sea has a beardless miller in it -- the same one, taking shortcuts -- and he wants to settle who keeps the cake with a lying contest. He should not have. What follows is one child, one straight face, and the single most enormous true story ever told, involving a saddled rooster, a bee the size of an ox, and a head left at the bottom of a well.

The Three Wonderful Beggars

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Mark the Rich keeps a ledger for everything, including who deserves a bowl of soup, and the answer is usually 'nobody.' Then three dusty beggars sleep in his loft and quietly decide that a poor baby named Vassili will inherit every last crown Mark owns. Mark spends the whole play trying to send that fate far, far away, and fate keeps mailing it back with a smile. A comedy about greed, kindness, one very tired ferryman, and a Serpent King who mostly just wants his head scratched.

Schippeitaro

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Schippeitaro' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A young warrior looking for one good adventure gets more than he ordered: a moonlit chapel full of phantom cats chanting the one name they are sworn to keep secret. When he learns a mountain spirit carries off a villager every year, he does the only sensible thing -- borrows the bravest dog in the province, hides him in a basket, and lets the goblin-cat open the lid himself. Courage plus a very good dog versus a bully who has forgotten the word 'no.'

The Three Princes and Their Beasts

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Three Princes and Their Beasts' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Three princes go hunting and come home with an entire zoo. Every wild beast they meet -- a wolf, a lioness, a fox -- begs for its life and pays the ransom in loyalty, handing over a cub that will never once leave their side. That turns out to matter, because the eldest prince, Vilas, is about to be betrayed roughly every third scene: a talked-into-it step-sister, a robber who plays hurt, two coachmen with a bottle of sleep-water, and a witch by a fire who is very afraid of dogs and lying about it. Humans keep letting Vilas down. The animals never do. A fox with a plan, a wolf whose big ideas are 40 percent disaster and 60 percent genius, a lion who considers conversation a waste of a good door, and one extremely reluctant crow drag him back from a hundred-year sleep and a field of stone -- and when three identical princes with three identical beast-followings finally stand in a row, only one person alive can tell which is which. A comedy about loyalty that outlasts every betrayal thrown at it. 16 named roles plus a beast-following you can grow to hold the whole class.

The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Emperor Trojan has goat's ears under the largest hat in the kingdom, and he would like to keep it that way. Every barber who spots them gets a lifetime job in a very distant province -- until a nervous apprentice named Milo says the only smart thing anyone has ever said to the emperor: 'No, nothing at all.' But a secret is a terrible houseguest, and when Milo finally whispers it into a hole in a meadow, an elder tree grows there, the shepherds cut flutes from it, and the flutes flatly refuse to play anything except the truth. A dry, warm comedy about how a secret always finds a way out -- and how honesty, in the end, beats being embarrassed.

The Nine Pea-hens and the Golden Apples

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Nine Pea-hens and the Golden Apples' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

An emperor owns a golden-apple tree that blooms and fruits every single night -- and is stripped bare every single morning by a thief nobody can catch. His two eldest sons swear they will stay awake to guard it, and fall asleep so fast it becomes a competition. Only the youngest prince is still blinking at midnight when nine golden pea-hens come flashing down out of the dark, and the ninth touches the ground and turns into a girl named Zlata. Then a hired witch snips a single lock of Zlata's hair, she vanishes back into feathers, and the prince sets off to search the whole world for her. He finds her, marries her, loses her to a very thirsty dragon he frees entirely by accident -- because he is a boy who physically cannot say no to anyone who begs him for help -- and then has to win her back the patient way: by helping a fish, a fox, and a wolf, guarding an escape-artist mare for a witch on a mountain, and choosing the scrawniest horse in the stable, who turns out to fly. A comedy about a soft heart getting a boy into and then out of the deepest trouble in the world. 18 named roles plus a flock of pea-hens.

The Lute Player

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Lute Player' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A king goes off hunting glory and comes home three years late -- as somebody else's prisoner, with a letter begging his wife to sell the castle and rescue him. So the queen cuts her hair, borrows a pair of boots and a lute, and walks into the enemy's court as a wandering boy musician nobody looks at twice. She charms a joyless captor-king with a song, asks for exactly one prisoner as her reward, and walks her own husband home without ever telling him it's her. The best part comes after: when the king insults the wife he thinks abandoned him, and the 'boy' turns up to collect one last heart's desire.

The Grateful Prince

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Grateful Prince' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A king gets lost in the woods and makes the kind of promise you only make when the wolves are close. To wriggle out of it, he hands a wizard the wrong girl -- and spends the rest of his life regretting it. Eighteen years later his son goes looking for her, talks his way into the strangest house in the world (where nobody speaks, the horse is the wizard's grandmother, and dinner is enormous), and survives one impossible chore after another because the captive maiden keeps whispering him the answers. Then the two of them run for it, and the woods light up with a shape-changing chase. Gratitude, it turns out, is faster than goblins.

The Child who came from an Egg

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Child who came from an Egg' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A queen with no children is handed an egg by an old woman who will not give her name and keeps turning into other people. The egg becomes a girl called Dotterine -- a name that means 'yolk,' though only the queen knows why -- and the child's whole safety is tied to a birch-bark basket and two eggshells she must never, ever lose. Cold new queens come and long sieges pass, but a godmother who travels by cloud always turns up to sort out who Dotterine truly is. Spoiler: it is not who the young king thinks she is.

Stan Bolovan

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Stan Bolovan' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Stan and his wife wished for children and got a hundred of them -- all noisy, all hungry, all his. With the cupboard bare, Stan marches off to feed his family and runs straight into a dragon who steals sheep for his mother to bathe in. Lucky for Stan, this dragon is a coward, and Stan has a lump of cheese, a talent for lying with a straight face, and a hundred reasons to win. Watch a farmer squeeze 'water from a stone,' threaten to hurl a club into the moon, and out-bluff a monster twice his size, because in this house wit beats brawn and a big loving family beats everything.

The Two Frogs

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Two Frogs' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

One frog from Osaka wants to see the great palace at Kioto. One frog from Kioto wants to see the wide sea at Osaka. They set out on the very same spring morning, meet on the very same mountain in the middle, and hit on a brilliant plan: stand up tall, hold on tight, and each look at the town he is walking toward. There is only one problem, and it is sitting right on top of their heads. A tiny two-hander about how you only ever see the world from exactly where you are standing.

The Story of a Gazelle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Story of a Gazelle' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A man so poor he eats corn he scratches from a dust-heap spends his very last coin -- an eighth of a silver piece -- on a small gazelle. Which turns out to talk. Which turns out to find diamonds. Which turns out to be the best friend, sharpest schemer, and truest heart in the whole kingdom -- and which asks its master for exactly one thing in return: don't forget who did all this. A warm, funny Swahili tale about being carried up in the world, and remembering the one who carried you.

How a Fish swam in the Air and a Hare in the Water

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'How a Fish swam in the Air and a Hare in the Water' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Old Grisha digs up a pot of gold and hits one snag: his wife Dunya could not keep a secret if you sewed it into her pocket. So before he tells her, he hangs a live pike at the top of a tree and ties a hare in a fishing net by the stream. Now if Dunya ever blabs about the treasure, she will have to explain the fish in the branches and the hare in the river too -- and who would believe a word of THAT? Narrated, with feeling, by the pike and the hare in question.

Two in a Sack

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Two in a Sack' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Osip has a kind heart, a sharp-tongued wife, and a broom that follows him around the house. When he sets a crane loose instead of taking it home for the stewpot, the crane pays him back with a magic sack that shouts up a feast. Then a sweet-talking cousin swaps it for a fake, and Osip has to go back for the OTHER sack -- the one that produces two enormous, unfailingly polite helpers who will chase, spin, and tickle a wrongdoer until they hand things back. Nobody gets hurt. Several people get very dizzy.

The Envious Neighbour

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Envious Neighbour' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A kind old couple own the best dog in the village -- so good he digs up a box of gold. Their neighbour, who wants exactly what other people have, borrows the dog and is enraged to find it only ever digs up the truth. But you cannot borrow a good heart, and every time the neighbour copies the old man's luck he gets the smell, the ashes, and the consequences instead. A play about how kindness blossoms and envy just blows back in your eyes, told with a loyal dog, a gold-making mortar, and a road full of cherry trees that bloom out of season.

The Fairy of the Dawn

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Fairy of the Dawn' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

An emperor's right eye laughs and his left eye weeps, and only one person in the palace is stubborn enough to keep asking why: his youngest, Petru, who sings more than he speaks and will not let a good question go. The answer sends him past a bridge no one crosses, through woods of copper and silver and gold, into the kingdoms of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, all the way to the sleeping garden of the Fairy of the Dawn -- to fetch one flask of water that will heal a father's eyes. He has a rejuvenated old war-horse who talks, gives excellent advice, and is visibly tired of being ignored. This is the longest tale in the book, and the horse would like that on the record.

The Enchanted Knife

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Enchanted Knife' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A young man walks into a palace with one plan -- marry a princess -- and no plan for anything after that. The emperor, who is much too polite to say no, instead says: tame three wild horses that have never felt a master, and bring me all the gold they can carry, in eight days. Good news for the young man: the princess was listening behind the curtain, she has already decided she likes him, and she happens to know exactly where her father keeps his enchanted knife. Its blinding sun-glare brings wild horses to their knees and lights up buried treasure -- and a herd of extremely deadpan horses would like it on the record that kneeling was the only reasonable response.

Jesper who herded the Hares

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Jesper who herded the Hares' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A poor fisher's clever youngest son sets out to win a princess with a basket of pearls and a truly bad plan. Along the way he helps an army of ants, shares his lunch with a nosy old woman, and comes home with a whistle that fetches back anything you have lost -- which turns out to be exactly the thing you need when a king orders you to herd a hundred hares and not lose one. Then three very dignified strangers show up asking for just one little hare, and Jesper, being polite, writes down absolutely everything.

The Underground Workers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Underground Workers' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A peasant named Hans gets lost in a Christmas snowstorm and is rescued by a very tall stranger who leads him to a fire summer forgot -- and then to an underground forge where little blacksmiths hammer gold, seven to an anvil. The lord of the underworld feeds Hans, shows him treasure no man alive can lift, and explains, quite cheerfully, that he hides all the gold on purpose so people won't get lazy. Hans wakes up in June convinced it was a dream, until he pokes the old ashes and they turn out to be silver. Funniest cosmic middle-manager you'll ever meet, and the best argument for honest work this side of the ground.

The History of Dwarf Long Nose

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The History of Dwarf Long Nose' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Jem, a cobbler's boy with a big mouth and a bright future, makes the one mistake you must never make at a market stall: he insults a customer's nose. The customer is a fairy. One enchanted soup later, Jem wakes as a long-nosed dwarf his own parents don't recognize -- but he can now cook like a genius, which turns out to be handy when a grand duke, a picky prince, and a very rare pasty are involved. Also there is a goose named Mimi who talks, gives excellent recipe advice, and would rather not be dinner. A comic kitchen tale about not judging by looks, and how kindness to one small guest pays a boy back his whole self.

The Story of Hassebu

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Story of Hassebu' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Hassebu is the laziest boy in town, which everyone agrees on, including Hassebu. Then he opens the one book his late father the doctor left behind, falls down a pit full of honey, and wakes up in the palace of the wise, weary King of the Snakes -- who trusts him with one small promise and foresees exactly how it will break. A play about how a kind promise, once cracked, is a hard thing to mend, and how the thing that finally heals a kingdom is not a knife but a book. Seven scenes, two guilty honey-gatherers who narrate badly, and one donkey who is smarter than most of the cast.

The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A once-rich family moves to a rice farm with nothing left but a very beautiful daughter and a very ugly wooden hat. On her deathbed the girl's mother makes her promise to wear the helmet low over her face -- so of course the whole village spends the rest of the play trying to find out what is underneath. Two deadpan crows narrate, three nosy young men keep leaving with farm chores they never meant to do, and a stubborn young man from the city insists on marrying a girl he has technically never seen. Then, at the wedding, the helmet does something no one expects. A comedy about how worth is not painted on the outside -- and how the surest way to get rid of a pest is to hand him a rake.

The Monkey and the Jelly-fish

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Monkey and the Jelly-fish' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

The sea-queen has stopped laughing, and her doctors agree there is only one cure: a real monkey's laugh, sun-dried and crisp. So the sensible old turtle is sent up to dry land to fetch a monkey by any polite means necessary. It nearly works -- until a jelly-fish who has never once in his life kept a secret tells the monkey the whole plan out of sheer kindness. What follows is a chase, a very convenient lie about laundry, and the true, slightly embarrassing reason jelly-fishes have no shells.

The Headless Dwarfs

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Headless Dwarfs' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A minister has a bell that must be rung at midnight and a long, embarrassing list of ringers who took one look at the tower and sprinted for the hills. Enter Clever Hans -- hungry, cheeky, and allergic to working one minute past sundown -- who strolls into a church full of ghostly card-players, boots a whole staircase of headless dwarfs out of his way, and then, for no reason he can explain, lets the last little one live. It is the single kindest thing he does all week, and it turns out to be the only thing that saves him.

The Young Man who would have his Eyes opened

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Young Man who would have his Eyes opened' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

Jaan can already understand every bird and beast alive -- which you would think was enough marvels for one young man, but no. He wants to see what the NIGHT hides. The wizard Mana warns him plainly: some doors, once opened, do not shut, and knowledge has a way of eating joy for breakfast. Jaan opens the door anyway. What follows is a hissing serpent-king, a bowl of goats' milk, one glorious glimpse of the dancing wood-nymphs -- and a lesson about the ordinary daylight world he had the whole time and never once looked at. Narrated, with great feeling and constant disagreement, by a lark and a toad.

The Boys with the Golden Stars

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Boys with the Golden Stars' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A shepherd's daughter promises the emperor twin boys with real golden stars on their brows -- and then, annoyingly for everyone who lies for a living, delivers. While the emperor is off winning a war in three days flat, his careful, bookkeeping stepmother swaps the newborns for two puppies and hides the babies down the river, where a fisherman who is never surprised by anything quietly raises them. The truth refuses to stay hidden: it grows into two golden trees, whispers as two beds, swims as two golden fish, and finally walks into the throne room in lambskin caps to sing the emperor a story he already knows. Features the greatest slow-motion prop gag in school theater -- twelve cushions that fall out from under a guilty conscience one at a time.

The Frog

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Frog' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A mother wants her three sons to marry, so she sets three tests -- spin the flax, raise the puppy, sew the shirts -- to find out who has chosen the best. Two sons have sweethearts. The youngest has never so much as spoken to a girl, but he does have one friend: a talking frog at the pond who says 'Flop!' and fixes everything. This is the BRIDE-test frog who spins and sews and out-does everyone -- not the golden-ball, kiss-me prince from the well -- and the day three tired witches laugh so hard they get better, the frog gets the reward she never asked for.

The Princess who was hidden Underground

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Princess who was hidden Underground' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A king hides his daughter in a silver palace deep underground and tells the world: find her, or go home for good and never come courting again. Suitor after suitor goes home. Then a clever youth has a shepherd sew him into a golden sheepskin, and the king -- charmed by the darling little lamb -- carries the danger down into his own secret hideout, humming the whole way. Now the youth just has to learn the password, survive being a pet, and, when the princess and her maidens are all turned into ducks, pick the right duck out of the flock. Good news: the princess is bored, brilliant, and has a plan. The ducks would like it noted that none of this was their idea.

The Girl who pretended to be a Boy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Girl who pretended to be a Boy' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

An old emperor with three daughters and no son owes his over-lord a soldier, and is loudly, publicly sad about it -- until his youngest cuts her hair, borrows a name, and rides off as the young warrior Fet-Fruners. Her two sisters already tried the road and bolted at the first wolf; she takes the only mount nobody wanted -- her father's ancient, arthritic, extremely opinionated war-horse -- and passes the tests anyway. What follows is a service full of impossible errands (fetch a golden-haired lady, fetch her stolen horses, fetch holy water past a church of nuns who never sleep) handed down by a cruel over-lord who keeps betting her head on the outcome. Iliane, the lady in question, has spent the whole tale refusing to marry anyone she did not choose, and she is not about to start now. The spine of the thing: a brave heart, not a change of clothes, wins the day.

The Prince who wanted to see the World

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Prince who wanted to see the World' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

A prince who begs his father to let him 'see the world' sees the inside of a card game first, and loses so badly he owes a stranger three years and then some. The stranger turns out to be a neighbor king who hates the prince's father and would dearly love to watch the boy fail at three impossible chores -- bake loaves from bare seed by morning, fish one ring out of the entire ocean, and tame a colt that is secretly the royal family in a very bad mood. Happily, the king's youngest daughter can turn into a dove, and she has opinions. The two flee by turning into a chapel, a windmill, and a pottery stall while her henpecked father gallops back and forth getting scolded by her witch mother. Then a curse wipes the prince's memory clean -- and it takes three talking doves, a ring, a collar, and one feather with a name on it to hand it back.

Virgilius the Sorcerer

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Virgilius the Sorcerer' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

An orphaned bookworm named Virgilius outsmarts a spirit three times his size, comes home to Rome to find his relatives have run off with his lands, and settles the whole matter without once raising his voice -- by freezing an entire army in place and then inviting it to lunch. What follows is a working magician's to-do list: a tower that overhears the entire city, statues that ring a bell the instant anyone plots treason, a copper horse and two copper dogs that collar night-thieves and hold them (very politely) for the watch, and a bridge made of nothing but air, strung all the way to a faraway princess. Cleverness rights every wrong, and a wise magician keeps a city safe -- mostly from itself.

Mogarzea and his Son

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Mogarzea and his Son' from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book

An orphan boy with nothing but a flute walks until he finds a giant asleep by a fire, lies down at his feet, and announces in the morning that he is the giant's son, born in the night. The giant, Mogarzea, is the saddest creature in the world -- three wicked elves stole his soul and keep it in a bottle, and a man with no soul cannot laugh, cannot hope, and cannot even remember why he is standing in a field. So the boy sets out to steal it back the only way he knows how: by playing a tune so good the elves cannot stop dancing, and by being a great deal cleverer than three magic maidens expect a small boy to be. A warm, funny story about music, mischief, and a child who gives a lonely giant a reason to laugh again.

Lovely Ilonka

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Lovely Ilonka from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

A prince in far too much of a hurry crosses seven kingdoms, asks every bird in the world for directions, and jumps a wall the size of a church -- all to find the three bulrushes. Out of the third one springs Ilonka, brave and funny and impossible to forget, if only he can stay awake long enough to remember her. A warm, silly, big-hearted fairy tale about slowing down, fetching the water first, and the loyal friend who saves the whole story just by paying attention.

Lucky Luck

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Lucky Luck from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

A prince keeps one baffling promise, a servant loves him past all sense (and past being turned to stone), and the wisest gardener in the world answers four questions that turn out not to be riddles at all. A funny, warm Hungarian fairy tale about loyalty that goes both ways -- and about a poor miller, three lonely sisters, and one very sulky stream who all get the same good advice.

The Hairy Man

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Hairy Man from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Hairy Man' from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book: a king's hay keeps burning, and where ninety-nine grown watchmen fail, a cheerful swineherd and his two impossibly fast dogs, Psst and Hush, catch the culprit -- a shy, hairy wild-man of the woods. When the king locks the hairy man up as a 'wonder', it is the king's ten-year-old son who sees a sad person instead, and quietly opens the door -- a kindness that costs the boy his home, and, years later, gives him back a great deal more. Warm and genuinely funny, with two dogs who each insist they are the good one, a hairy man who keeps his promises, three magic apples that pour out a golden army, and a princess who guesses the whole truth from a plain copper apple. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open army chorus, and parts for as many students as you have. It ends on the tale's own grand wedding, then hands your cast the last word.

To Your Good Health!

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on To Your Good Health! from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Russian comic tale 'To Your Good Health!' (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a King so mighty that whenever he sneezes the whole kingdom must cry 'To your good health!' -- and he has never once wished a single soul well back. Every one obeys except a calm, staring-eyed shepherd who simply will not say it. Hauled before the throne, the shepherd turns the King's own command into a running joke (every time the King roars 'say to MINE,' the shepherd cheerfully wishes good health to himself), makes the Princess laugh out loud, and announces he'll say the words the day she is his wife -- and not a moment sooner. So the furious King throws every trap he has at him, and the unbothered shepherd out-wits each one all comedy and no harm: he out-stares a hungry white bear until it hides in a corner and uses him for a pillow; he pipes a pen of fierce wild boars into a dizzy minuet until they flop over in a heap; and he tricks two soft-hearted guards at the deep well with a dummy made of his own cloak, hat, and staff. Beaten, the King tries bribery instead -- a wood of silver, a castle of gold, a pond of diamonds -- and still the shepherd says only 'not till the Princess is my wife.' At the wedding feast the roast boar's head tickles the royal nose, the King sneezes his biggest sneeze, and the shepherd is first to sing out 'To your very good health!' -- and means it. Six scenes built around a repeat-after-me refrain and three open choruses a whole class can share. It ends warm and hopeful, then hands the last word to your cast.

The Story of the Seven Simons

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of the Seven Simons from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the Russian wonder-tale from Andrew Lang's public-domain Crimson Fairy Book: a king who owns sixteen hundred cities and cannot find one person to say good morning to, and seven peasant brothers who are all -- confusingly, on purpose -- named Simon. Each Simon learned a different marvellous trade from their father: one builds a white pillar up past the clouds, one climbs it and sees the whole world at once, one claps a wonder-ship together that sails a ten-year voyage in a week, one grabs a ship by the nose and dives it to the sea-bottom and back, one forges a bow whose soft-tipped bolt flies wherever the eye looks (and never hurts a soul), one catches anything the moment it falls, and the youngest -- the quiet one -- can slip into any locked place on earth and out again, and told the king so to his face and got a tower for it. When the king loses his heart to the far-off Princess Helena -- who can out-riddle any greybeard, turn herself into a swan, a fish, or a mouse, and is extremely tired of being kept like a jewel in a locked box -- it takes all seven trades, one very fast boat, and the Court Fool's obvious idea to bring her home. Seven distinct skill-roles make a terrific ensemble engine; six scenes; narrators optional. We keep the seven trades and the famous shape-shifting chase exactly, soften every scrap of peril bloodless, and turn the old 'steal the princess' into an honest rescue that ends on a real, freely-given choice and an open gate. Grade 3-6. It ends warm, then hands your cast the last word.

The Language of Beasts

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Language of Beasts from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book.

A faithful shepherd rescues a snake from a forest fire and is granted the power to understand every animal alive -- on one condition: if he ever tells a single soul, he dies. Buried gold, gossiping ravens, midnight wolves, a two-toothed old dog, and one insufferable rooster later, his secret runs headlong into his wife's unstoppable curiosity. A warm, funny full-length fairy-tale for Grades 2-6, narrators optional, with room for your whole class to be an animal.

The Boy Who Could Keep A Secret

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Boy Who Could Keep A Secret from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

A poor widow's son finds a sword growing in the garden and, the same night, a dream he vows to tell no one until it comes true. That one kept secret carries him from a cottage to a king's palace, out a kingdom's front gate, into a tower he grows fat and rosy inside, through a Sultan's impossible riddles about canes and foals, past a witch with eyes in the back of her head, and all the way to a crown -- with a small, brave, clanking sword doing the fighting and never saying a word. A warm, funny, big-hearted fairy tale about holding your own until it's true, the friend who saves the whole story by paying attention, and the surprising truth that the worst morning of your life can be the first page of the best one.

The Prince And The Dragon

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Prince And The Dragon from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Serbian tale 'The Prince and the Dragon' (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): an emperor's three hunting-mad sons keep chasing a plump little hare -- and one by one the two eldest chase it straight into an old mill, where it turns into a fire-breathing dragon and sweeps them away. The youngest son, the careful one, refuses to chase it in ('there are as good hares in the forest as any that have come out of it'), and instead makes friends with the dragon's chained prisoner, a sharp old woman he calls little mother, who beats the monster with the cleverest weapon in the play: a flattering question. She coaxes the vain dragon into blurting out where he hides his strength -- far away, in a lake, inside a dragon, inside a wild boar, inside a pigeon, inside one small sparrow. So the prince pulls on a shepherd's coat, hires himself out to a distant emperor whose lake hides that very dragon, buys two fast greyhounds, a hawk, and a set of pipes, and wades in to call the monster out. Three noon-day wrestling matches, one brave princess called Heart of Gold who runs into the lake to kiss his forehead at the crucial moment, and a chase where the hounds take the ground and the hawk takes the sky -- and the dragon's whole enchantment comes undone, bloodlessly, in bursts of light. The polite little sparrow gives up the secret of an iron cellar door, and the prince frees not only his brothers but a whole kingdom of people who were never eaten at all, only enchanted. Warm and genuinely funny, with a show-off dragon who talks himself out of his own strength, an old woman who wins by looking impressed, and a hero who stops to think instead of charging in. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- the sheep, the townsfolk, and the freed prisoners are open choruses, so a whole grade fits. It ends at the joyful reunion, then hands your cast the last word.

Little Wildrose

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Little Wildrose from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Romanian tale Little Wildrose (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a hundred-year-old couple who long for a child, a hermit's apple eaten a half too far, a baby found among the wild roses and carried off by an eagle, and a girl who grows up fearless in a treetop with the birds and butterflies for company. A prince chases a very smug deer into the deepest wood, drops his bow at the sight of her, and cannot forget her face -- until one clever old woman wins the whole kingdom with a wobbly kettle. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: narrators optional, fluffy eaglets and forest birds for as many students as you have, and a warm, genuinely funny house voice. The scary lindworm stays off-stage and bloodless. It ends on the classic wedding, then hands your cast the last word.

Tiidu The Piper

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Tiidu The Piper from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Tiidu The Piper,' the Estonian tale from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book: a boy who will not lift a single finger, an old stranger who tells him the one real gift he has is the music in his own two hands, and the long, funny, salt-sprayed road that carries him from a warm stove at home to the silver-and-gold kingdom of Kungla and all the way back again. Tiidu talks his way onto a ship with a rope and a whopper about swimming, scrubs pots for two years while a fortune walks right past him, gets shipwrecked onto an island of very strange fruit -- red apples that grow your nose down to your knees, and brown nuts that shrink it straight back -- and turns that discovery into the boldest, silliest caper in the whole Crimson book, right up to the palace door. Built for a whole class, Grade 3-6: ten named roles around open choruses (royal children, baffled magicians, and the whole gossiping city), so nobody has to sit out. Softened kind for school -- every scrape is bloodless, every nose is cured, and the sea washes the greed clean out of a boy who finally learns what his gift was worth the entire time. Six scenes. It lands warm, and hands the last word to your cast.

Paperarello

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Paperarello from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Italian tale Paperarello (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a boy king whose vain mother would rather have the throne, an over-polite ogre, and a horse who turns out to be the best magician in the story. Rescued by a houseful of fairies and married to the wisest of them, our hero sets off to see the world with one curl of her hair in his pocket -- and promptly disguises himself as the muddiest goose-boy any palace has ever hired. He bakes seven ovens of bread in his sleep, wins a princess who cannot stand him, and rides three times as a shining knight to save a great king, asking each time for one very strange reward. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: narrators optional, a flock of geese and a court full of soldiers and feast guests for as many students as you have, a two-student horse with the driest lines in the show, and a warm, genuinely funny house voice. The ogre and the battles stay off-stage and bloodless, and the king's odd rewards are handled behind a cloak and set right by magic. It ends exactly where the old tale does -- home, with his fairy wife -- then hands your cast the last word.

The Gifts Of The Magician

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Gifts Of The Magician from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book.

A boy breaks his father's one rule, chases a bird deep into the forest, and ends up saving a magician from a pack of wolves -- which turns out to be the luckiest mistake of his life. His reward is a talking horse with a plan for everything, three magic instruments, and a secret worth a whole kingdom. Soon he is at the King's court, where a jealous groom tells lie after lie to get him in trouble: find the lost war horse, bring back the vanished Queen, and finally the biggest lie of all. When it lands him on the scaffold, all he has left are a zither, a fiddle, a flute -- and the strange advice of the old man who gave them to him. A warm, funny, whole-class full-length fairy-tale for Grades 3-6. Six scenes, narrators optional, with a talking horse, a huge hungry raven, and a King who really should have listened.

The Strong Prince

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Strong Prince from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Hungarian tale 'The Strong Prince' (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a sleepy king who loves his nightly cup far more than his crown dozes his whole kingdom into ruin, and when a low branch sweeps him off his horse for good, his widowed queen and his careful, thoughtful son walk out the palace gates to begin again. In the forest the prince follows a brook to its source, spots the reflection of a sword hanging in a tree, climbs up and cuts it down -- and its golden handle promises that whoever buckles it on will grow stronger than other men. One test (an uprooted oak) later, the two stumble in the dark over a great rock into a den of robbers, and the play's best running gag arrives: in pitch dark the whole robber band jumps a ditch one at a time, each singing out 'Hop! I am here!' -- while the Strong Prince gently launches every one of them off into the night and calls the line for them. Only the sly captain survives, saved by his late wife's lucky shawl, and plays dead. Overnight the cave turns into a splendid castle; the prince locks every door and hands his mother the keys -- and, because a locked door is an invitation, she opens the forbidden one and finds the captain very much awake. Meanwhile the prince breaks the ice (and nearly the door) with an enormous grumpy giant next door, and falls for the giant's sharp, funny daughter, who wants a suitor who is INTERESTING, not just strong. Then the story turns: the lonely queen, flattered by the smooth-talking captain, agrees to steal the sword while the prince bathes -- and, disarmed, the boy loses the very light from his eyes to the captain's cruel magic. But the giant heals him, three animal servants (a walking-averse monkey riding a fox and a squirrel) pull off a beautiful second-story sword heist, and the prince returns to settle who is master of the house -- the robber tastes his own medicine and tumbles down a deep hole, bloodlessly and offstage. The prince sends his mother back to her own father, marries the giant's daughter at a feast the whole world hears about, and never once goes back for the crown. Warm, genuinely funny, and unafraid of its one sad note -- a parent who does a wrong thing out of loneliness -- with a talkative sword, a giant who cries at weddings, and a hero who thinks twice before he swings once. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: the robber band, the wolves, and the forest are open choruses, so a whole grade fits. It ends at the wedding in the woods, then hands your cast the last word.

The Treasure Seeker

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Treasure Seeker from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Treasure Seeker' from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book: a shepherd's fireside ghost story, a magic spring-root guarded by a black woodpecker, the only red cloak in town (borrowed from a surprisingly lonely hangman who is thrilled to be asked), a treasure hidden deep beneath a mountain, and a poor old cook who hides a whole fortune in a barrel of nails so he can live out his days in peace beside his daughter. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, a pack of prank-playing boys, and an open crowd of shepherds and wedding guests. Warm and genuinely funny, faithful to Lang's spine and names and its famous closing joke -- 'as rich as Peter Bloch's son-in-law' -- with the darker edges softened for younger performers. Best for grades 3-6. It ends on the classic secret-kept note, then hands your cast the last word.

The Cottager And His Cat

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Cottager And His Cat from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Icelandic tale The Cottager and His Cat (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- a warm, funny Dick-Whittington cousin. A miser freezes beside his own gold, and his good-hearted son obeys a strange dream: give half the fortune back to the poor, throw the other half into the sea, and keep whatever floats. What floats is a scrap of paper holding six shillings -- all the money the young man has left. He spends every penny of it on the first cat he has ever seen, a small grey creature that sings by a forest fire. Then he carries his one friend to a king whose palace has been overrun by bold, cheese-stealing rats for years, and the cat clears the whole plague in a single magnificent pounce. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: narrators optional, a huge shameless rat ensemble, a silent scene-stealing Cat for a student who would rather move than talk, and a sharp princess who makes up her own mind. Deaths are quiet and off-stage; the rats are chased out bloodless and unharmed. It ends on the classic reward -- the princess and the kingdom -- then hands your cast the last word.

The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Hungarian tale 'The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality' (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a clever young prince comes home from his travels changed -- quiet, gloomy, stuck on one enormous thought he cannot put down, that everyone must die, even kings, even the people he loves. His baffled father is sure it's a broken heart and unveils a whole gallery of marriage portraits (who have OPINIONS about which of them is most beautiful), but the prince wants only one thing: to find the Land of Immortality, a kingdom where death is unknown. So he buckles on his sword -- here a proud, chatty travel companion with exactly one job -- and walks out past the edge of everything. Along the way he is taken in by three warm, funny households, each with an impossible thousand-year task and a kind heart: an Eagle King condemned to shake a great tree until he uproots it (six hundred years to go), a Bald King digging an entire mountain into baskets (eight hundred), and the Mist-Veiled Queen of the Blue Kingdom, who cannot die until she has worn out a whole floor of needles with her sewing (a thousand). Each one says 'you've found it already -- stay, marry, live six hundred, eight hundred, a thousand years,' and each time the prince gently answers the line that is the spine of the play: yes, but at the end of it I would STILL have to die -- so, thank you, truly, no. Each parting gift is more wonderful than the last -- a picture-box that flies him like the wind, a ring that wishes him anywhere, a golden rod that becomes whatever he needs -- and the rod, at the literal end of the world, turns into a golden ladder up to a city floating in the air, where the Queen of the Immortals, queen over life and over death, finally says the true words: you have found it; here no one dies. He is happy for a thousand years that feel like six months -- until he dreams of his mother and father and is hit by homesickness so hard he has to go back, even though the queen warns him they died eight hundred years ago. She sends him with two flasks, a silver that brings the deepest sleep and a gold that wakes anyone who has fallen still, and on the long road home he uses the gold to wake each thousand-year friend whose task has finally run out -- and every one of them vows to come running if he ever calls. Then home itself: where the palace stood there is only a still blue lake, and his parents are further away than any magic can reach -- the play's one true, quiet ache. And there, at last, Death catches up: 'I have been seeking you for a thousand years.' The prince twists off his ring, the eagle and the bald king and the veiled queen rush in and seize Death, and there is a breathless race to the border -- one foot across, one foot caught -- settled by a wager the Queen of the Immortals proposes: she throws the prince up to the back of the morning star, and if he falls inside the walls he is hers forever. A little wind nearly loses him; she catches him out of the air; Death is swept out the gate for good. The prince stays among the immortals over the edge of the world -- and, having gone looking for a place with no goodbyes, finds instead the four friends who come running when you call, and decides that may have been the thing all along. Warm, genuinely funny, and unafraid of its one sad note, with a talking sword, a gallery of vain portraits, a many-headed gate-monster who has too many heads and not enough information, and a hero who keeps saying a very polite no to eternity. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: the portraits, the eagle court, the townsfolk, the monster's heads, and the narrators are open choruses, so a whole grade fits. It ends safe inside the floating city, then hands your cast the last word.

The Stone-Cutter

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Stone-Cutter from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Japanese tale The Stone-Cutter (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- a warm, funny fable about a good worker who cannot stop wishing he were something bigger. A contented stone-cutter delivers a gravestone to a rich man's house, envies the silken bed, and a spirit in the mountain grants his wish -- and every wish after it. He is rich, then a prince under a golden umbrella, then the scorching sun, then a flooding cloud, then an immovable rock -- and each time, the moment he has it, something mightier comes along, until a young apprentice with a hammer chips a block off the rock and he wishes, at last, to be a plain man again. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: a single Stone-Cutter carries the show while the ensemble becomes servants, sun-beams, rain-drops, a flooding town, and the weather itself. Nobody is hurt -- the flood is played as a calm, funny, everybody-to-high-ground rescue, and the rock is chipped bloodless. It keeps the old tale's exact spine and its exact ending -- the return to being a happy, wanting-nothing stone-cutter -- then hands your cast the last word.

The Gold-Bearded Man

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Gold-Bearded Man from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Gold-Bearded Man' (a Hungarian tale) from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book: a good king dies, a promise is broken, and a spiteful stepfather fences off the one brook in the kingdom that runs with milk instead of water. When a mysterious wild man with a beard of gold is caught filling his pail and locked in a golden cage, it falls to a tender-hearted prince to guard him -- and the boy does the one thing that changes everything: he opens the door. Chased into the wide world, the prince spares three hungry birds who each have two little sons at home, falls in with two envious soldiers, and lands in a far kingdom where he is set three impossible tasks on pain of banishment. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, a whole flock of pigeons and a raft of ducks and a court full of feast guests for as many students as you have, a princess who refuses to be handed off without being asked, and a warm, genuinely funny house voice. All the peril is threat-only and bloodless, the wild man is caught with a grandmother's sleepy-herb and never harmed, and the tale ends exactly where the old one does -- with the boy who had no magic at all, only the habit of being kind when it cost him. Best for grades 3-7. It ends on the classic never-forget-a-kindness note, then hands your cast the last word.

Tritill, Litill, And The Birds

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Tritill, Litill, And The Birds from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain tale Tritill, Litill, and the Birds (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a beloved princess vanishes, a king promises her hand to whoever brings her home, and an old man's three sons set out one by one. The two proud brothers throw stones at hungry birds and turn away two ragged old travelers -- and come to grief in an ogress's cave. But the youngest son, the one nobody at home ever made much of, shares his last crust with the same strangers, whose names turn out to be Tritill and Litill, and scatters his crumbs to the very birds his brothers chased off. When the ogress sets him three impossible chores -- a floor that will not sweep, a blizzard of pillow feathers, and the right ox out of fifty -- his small friends and every bird in the sky turn up the instant he calls. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: narrators optional, a whole flock of birds for as many students as you have, a wonderfully calm Great Ox, and a warm, genuinely funny house voice. The ogress is outwitted and driven off with no gore -- the proud brothers are simply turned out into the dark, all violence off-stage and bloodless. It ends on the classic homecoming and wedding, then hands your cast the last word.

The Three Robes

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Robes from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Icelandic tale The Three Robes (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a dying queen's two small promises, a king who believes whatever he is last told, and a smiling lady found on an empty island who is not a lady at all. When she drives the true prince and princess from their home, they hide inside two magical trees -- one red, one green -- and are carried, all unknowing, straight into the palace of the prince who has come to marry a girl wearing the princess's name. Then come the three robes -- blue, red, and green -- and the secret weaver in the tree who cannot quite stay hidden. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: narrators optional, sailors and courtiers and townsfolk for as many students as you have, a genuinely funny and warm house voice, and a strong, forgiving girl at the center of it. All danger stays off-stage and bloodless. It ends on three weddings, then hands your cast the last word.

The Six Hungry Beasts

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Six Hungry Beasts from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Finnish tale The Six Hungry Beasts (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- a fast, funny woodland comedy about six creatures, one lucky sledge of food, and a fox named Michael who can talk his way into anything and out of everything. A marten finds a loaded sledge, and one by one a squirrel, a hare, a fox, a wolf, and a great soft-hearted bear join in to pull it and share the feast. But when the food runs out and somebody says the dreaded words -- 'we'll have to eat the smallest of us' -- the cleverest creature wins every time: the squirrel bolts up a tree, the hare vanishes into the wood, and the fox flips the whole plan with one quiet question. From there it's the fox against a proud magpie, a blunt truth-telling crow who catches him out twice, and finally a grieving bear, a storehouse full of honey-cakes, and one flung wooden ladle that explains, once and for all, why every fox has a white tip on his tail. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: narrators optional, a nest of young magpies and a woods full of creatures for as many students as you have, and a warm, genuinely funny house voice. IMPORTANT AND HONEST: nobody is eaten in this play. Every 'eating' is a loud threat that the clever one escapes; the feast is food, not a person; and the bear's 'lost' wife is only away visiting her mother and comes home to sort everyone out. It keeps the old tale's exact spine, its source names (Michael the fox, Peter the wolf), and its exact ending mechanism -- then hands your cast the last word.

How The Beggar Boy Turned Into Count Piro

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How The Beggar Boy Turned Into Count Piro from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Italian tale How the Beggar Boy Turned into Count Piro (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- a warm, fast, funny Puss-in-Boots cousin where the clever helper is a fox and the hero is too lazy to lift a finger. A poor boy inherits nothing but a cottage and a pear tree that fruits in the dead of winter. A passing fox begs a basket of those impossible pears, promises it will bring luck, and then talks -- and talks, and talks -- until a whole kingdom believes the boy is the fabulously rich Count Piro. Borrowed coat, borrowed horse, a wedding to a princess, and a grand castle conjured out of a bluff and one very good oven trick. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: narrators optional, a fox who carries the show, a proud talking pear tree for a student who loves a scene-stealer, spooked shepherds, and two enormous ogres who out-scare themselves. The ogre owners of the castle are outwitted and sent running unharmed -- nothing is burned, nobody is hurt. It keeps the tale's real ending intact: the fox's quiet test of whether Count Piro remembers who made him, and the silver coffin promised and kept. Then it hands your cast the last word.

The Rogue And The Herdsman

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Rogue And The Herdsman from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

A lazy boy who won't mind one cow gets sent out to seek his fortune -- and turns out to be the biggest teller of tall tales in the kingdom. Handed the king's chief herdsman's pigs, sheep, and gold-horned oxen, he fools his kind master three impossible ways: pigs that sank in a swamp, a whole flock that sailed off to heaven on the wind, and cattle swallowed by a ring of fire. But the one task he can't lie his way out of finally grows him up. A warm, very funny trickster tale about a clever mind learning what it's actually for.

Eisenkopf

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Eisenkopf from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Hungarian tale Eisenkopf (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a poor boy named Peter who works a whole year for one small nut, discovers the nut is somehow full of four hundred cows, and makes a hasty promise to an iron-headed stranger he will spend the rest of the play trying to outrun. There's a grey horse saddled night and day, three grandmothers at the end of the world with more cake than sense, a wall of fire that opens to three napkins, three enormous dogs who come out of three cakes -- and one very good ending trick with a magic diamond ring. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: optional narrators, a whole herd of nut-beasts for as many students as you have, and a warm, genuinely funny house voice. Eisenkopf is outwitted and banished bloodlessly, sealed out of every world by the fire, with no gore on stage. It keeps the tale's classic ring-and-wedding ending, then hands your cast the last word.

The Death Of Abu Nowas And Of His Wife

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Death Of Abu Nowas And Of His Wife from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Arabic tale The Death of Abu Nowas and of His Wife (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- and do not let the grim title fool you: nobody dies. It is a comedy from the first line to the last bow. Abu Nowas, the Sultan's favorite jester, is wonderful at making money and even better at losing it, and when he and his clever wife have spent a wedding-gift of a thousand gold pieces down to one shared blanket, they hatch a gloriously bad plan: each will pretend the OTHER has died, and collect funeral money from the heartbroken Sultan and Sultana. Two funerals, they figure, and not one single actual funeral. It works -- until the royal couple compare stories and cannot agree on who is dead, and start sending servants to check. Cue a frantic afternoon of taking turns playing dead under one blanket, a porter and a chamberlain who each swear on their lives they saw a corpse, and a final showdown where BOTH tricksters have to be dead at once. Six scenes for a flexible class: optional narrators, a big reactive court, a scene-stealing pepper-tears gag, a coin-counting Vizir who dies a little inside every payday, and a wife who is the best actor onstage. Warm, silly, and kind; the con is forgiven with a laugh and a pension, and the jester promises (unconvincingly) to be careful next time.

Motiratika

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Motiratika from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain African tale 'Motiratika' (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book, an adaptation of a Ba-Ronga story): in a country so hot the flowers fan themselves, a sick wife sends her husband on four maddening trips for wild honey (dead bees, ants, earth, and at last a pan that will do), then drinks water sweet as sugar and springs up perfectly well -- at which point the husband flops onto the mat, declares it is now HIS turn to be ill, and packs her off to fetch water instead. Four lakes later (frogs and willows, rushes, water-lilies, and finally one golden as honey), a horrible ogre-head rises out of the water and roars at her for stealing it. Terrified, she blurts out a promise she would give anything to unsay -- the ogre may have her baby, whom she will mark with a shaved head and white beads so that he need only call 'Motikatika!' and the child will come running. What nobody knows is that the baby is a secret magician who overheard every word. With a set of magic telling-bones, Motikatika turns every one of the ogre's three attempts into a game he cannot win: he shaves and beads every child in the village so a whole crowd answers to his name and the baffled ogre dares not touch children who did him no wrong; he slips past as a mouse when called, and as a bird when sent to pick beans; and at last, warned by the bones, he quietly swaps the white coverlet onto his father's bed -- so the ogre, groping in the dark, carries off the picky father instead. Motikatika's cool closing verdict is the tale's exact ending: it is only just that it should be his father, and not himself, for it was his father, not he, who sent the family out to fetch that water. Six scenes built for a whole class, with an open children's chorus, a repeat-after-me 'Here we are!' gag, three quick shape-changes to stage, and a choose-your-ending coda that lets your cast decide how it all comes right in the end.

Niels And The Giants

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Niels And The Giants from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book.

Everyone on the moor agrees that Niels, the younger son, is good at exactly one thing -- shooting -- and not much else. Then his mother decides the whole family will walk to Rome to see the Pope, and on the very first forest night Niels takes the midnight watch and spots three enormous giants at supper. He can't resist shooting the forks right out of their hands -- which is tremendous fun, right up until the cleverest giant catches him. To save himself he's marched off to a sleeping castle to silence the one thing still awake: a little black dog. What Niels does instead -- and the magic horn, the great sword, the half a handkerchief and the single gold slipper he leaves behind -- turns a boy 'good for nothing but shooting' into the hero of the kingdom. A warm, funny, whole-class full-length fairy-tale for Grades 3-7. Six scenes, narrators optional, three giants to play BIG, a dog who changes sides for a good piece of beef, and a Princess who catches her hero by building a house and waiting.

Shepherd Paul

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Shepherd Paul from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Hungarian tale 'Shepherd Paul' (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a baby is left in a meadow and found by an old shepherd who decides that bother is his whole job, keeps the child, feeds him on sheep's milk, and raises a boy so strong he can pull up a two-hundred-year-old oak like a weed -- and who apologizes to the tree afterward. Grown and curious about what a person is actually for, Paul walks into the world with a packed lunch and one rule from his father: be strong, which you can't help, and be kind, which you can, and when the kind thing is the hard thing, do it anyway. On the road he out-wrestles three enormous, hilariously bad cooks -- Tree Comber, who grooms whole forests; Stone Crusher, who grinds rocks to powder for relaxation; and Iron Kneader, who folds solid iron like bread dough -- and the four become friends. But a little dwarf with a pointed beard keeps flipping whichever giant is left to cook and slurping the whole pot dry, until Paul stays behind, ties the dwarf's beard to a tree, and the furious dwarf uproots the whole tree and drags it down a deep hole. Paul goes down after him in a basket and finds not a dungeon but a beautiful underground kingdom, where three stolen sisters are kept by three boastful dragons with six, twelve, and eighteen heads -- the heads all bickering with each other, none of them with a good idea. Instead of a bloody battle, our Paul does the funniest and strongest thing of all: he simply picks each dragon up, the way he picked up the oak, holds it in the air while its heads pedal helplessly, and offers it a fair choice -- let the sister go, leave for good, steal no one ever again, or down the hole you go. The eighteen-headed one turns out to be the beard-dwarf himself, and the sharp-witted youngest sister has already poured out his cask of magic wine and swiped his shirt of strength before Paul even arrives, because she does not sit around waiting to be rescued -- she makes a PLAN. A golden rod folds each freed castle into a golden apple for his pocket. Then comes the story's real sting: the basket only holds three, so Paul sends the sisters up first -- and his three strong friends, dazzled, forget their promise and carry the girls off, leaving the boy who freed them alone at the bottom of the world. Months later Paul shields a nest of griffin chicks from a cloud of falling fire with his own cloak, and the grateful griffin -- who never forgets a kindness -- carries him up over three days, fed from a basket on the right and a cup on the left. Reunited above, Paul does not crush his faithless friends though everyone knows he could; he sends them away unharmed ('Off with you -- you shall never see me again'), because being sent from good people is its own weight. He taps the three apples back into three castles, gives two to the elder sisters, and keeps the last for himself and the youngest, who took his arm three castles ago. Warm, genuinely funny, and quietly wise about what strength is really for -- knowing you CAN put someone in the ground up to the neck, and choosing to set the dragon down gently instead. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: the sheep, the forest, the underground valley, the griffin chicks, and the dragons' many arguing heads are all open choruses, so a whole grade fits. It ends at the wedding, then hands your cast the last word.

How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Japanese tale How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- a fast, funny, warm-hearted comedy about the cleverest animal in the wood and the small son who out-clevers him without wearing a single disguise. In a forest hunted so empty that only three magical shape-shifters remain -- proud Papa Tanuki, quick-witted Mama Fox, and their patient Little Tanuki -- hunger drives the family to a wonderful trick: one plays dead, one turns into a person, and they sell the 'treasure' at the village market for a mountain of food. It works beautifully -- until Papa grows greedy, and on Mama's turn he lets a mean little thought talk him into leaving her locked in a market shed so he can keep all the food for himself. But Little Tanuki, who was watching all along and who learned every scrap of magic his mother knew, sets a wager on the bridge that leads Papa to out-fox himself in front of the whole kingdom -- one grand carriage, one very real King, and one cold, muddy, entirely comic splash into the river. Papa climbs out dripping, humiliated, and genuinely sorry; the family frees Mama from the shed and goes home together, on new terms. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: two leads carry the show while the ensemble becomes a fleeing forest, a busy market, a royal procession, a truth-telling Crow, and one squeaky Shed Door. IMPORTANT AND HONEST: nobody dies and nobody is harmed in this play. The mother is frightened and shut in a shed but comes home safe and sound; the greedy father gets a bloodless, comic dunking and a soggy dose of the truth, then reforms -- he is never killed or hurt. It keeps the old tale's exact spine -- the play-dead selling trick, the father's greedy betrayal, the son's magic, the wager, the bridge, the King, and the river -- softened where the source is dark, then hands your cast the last word.

The Crab And The Monkey

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Crab And The Monkey from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Japanese tale The Crab and the Monkey (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- a warm, funny fable about patience beating greed, and about what comes back to you when you throw the good things down. A tidy, clever crab trades her whole rice-ball to a sly monkey for a single persimmon seed, then grows it into a fruit-heavy tree while the monkey's dinner is long gone. When the monkey climbs up to 'share,' eats the ripe fruit, and throws down only the hard green scraps, the crab out-tricks him with a somersault dare -- and the furious monkey knocks her flat and runs. Her friends -- a fierce wasp, a proud exploding egg, and a very heavy mortar of few words -- nurse her and set a trap, and the monkey's return earns him the sootiest, stingiest, most flattening afternoon of his life. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: six named parts (Crab, Monkey, Kaki Tree, Wasp, Mortar, Egg) carry the show while the ensemble becomes baby crabs, persimmons, villagers, and the tree itself. Nobody is truly hurt -- the crab is knocked out and recovers, and the monkey's comeuppance is a bloodless cartoon pile-up (a puff of soot, a stung nose, a squash under the mortar) after which he sincerely apologizes, returns every stolen persimmon, and promises fair halves forever. It keeps the old tale's exact spine -- the seed-for-rice cheat, the fruit thrown down, the somersault trick, and the friends' ambush with egg, wasp, and mortar -- and lands it warm, then hands your cast the last word.

The Horse Gullfaxi And The Sword Gunnfoder

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Horse Gullfaxi And The Sword Gunnfoder from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book.

A prince who would much rather stay home, a stepmother with a very large and very giant family, a magic drinking horn, a girl who keeps him safe by turning him into a bundle of wool, and the fastest horse in Iceland. An Icelandic tale about stubbornness, cleverness, and one small dog with one very important job.

The Story Of The Sham Prince, Or The Ambitious Tailor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story Of The Sham Prince, Or The Ambitious Tailor from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor' from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book: a comic tale of one very confident tailor and the crown he almost got away with. Labakan is a tailor's apprentice in Alexandria who is absolutely, positively certain he was born to be a prince -- so when a sultan's brother's gold robe lands on his workbench and fits him perfectly, he takes it, buys a slow old horse named Murva, and rides off to find his kingdom. On the road he meets cheerful Omar, the REAL lost prince, who tells him the whole secret: a dagger, a great pillar four days east, and the password that will lead him home to a father he has never met. Labakan swaps horses in the night, reaches the pillar first, and is welcomed as the prince -- until a queen who has dreamed her son's face, a lady-in-waiting with a pair of scissors, a good fairy in a cedar tree, and two little ivory boxes marked 'Honour and Glory' and 'Wealth and Happiness' sort out exactly who is who. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- optional narrators, a workshop of fellow tailors, six attendants at the pillar, a whole cheering court, and a wonderfully patient horse who steals every scene by doing almost nothing. Warm and genuinely funny, with every threat kept bloodless: the theft is a sneaked dagger and a borrowed horse (no harm to the sleeping prince), the real prince is only ever gently restrained (never struck), and the tailor's homecoming beating becomes a comic shooing out the door. It ends exactly where the old tale does -- with the magic needle that sews by itself, the thread that never runs out, and a tailor who finally decides he is better off being good at the one thing he was always good at. Best for grades 3-7. Then it hands your cast the last word.

The Colony Of Cats

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Colony Of Cats from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Kind, overlooked Lizina leaves a cold house to cook and clean for a whole colony of talking cats -- and because she is gentle with the kittens and the lame old tabby when nobody is watching, the wise Father Gatto rewards her: offered a jar of plain oil and a jar of liquid gold, she is too modest to ask for the gold, so he gives it to her anyway, and she comes home shining with a golden star on her brow. When her greedy sister Peppina marches off to grab some gold of her own, she earns exactly what she gave -- a coat of oil, a dusting of ashes, and a donkey's tail. A funny, warm six-scene fairy tale about being kind when there is nothing in it for you, ending with the cats themselves singing the truth to a prince. Nobody is harmed; the sister's comeuppance is played bloodless and gentle.

How To Find Out A True Friend

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How To Find Out A True Friend from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Sicilian tale 'How To Find Out A True Friend' (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book): a queen who cannot stop crying, a prince who counts her handkerchiefs, and the strangest travel advice a mother ever gave -- three apples and one simple test. Cut an apple into a big half and a little half, offer both to whoever you meet on the road, and watch which piece they take. A true friend reaches for the small one. Armed with that and a very long road, the prince meets two cheerful strangers who grab the big half without blinking, and a third who quietly leaves him the bigger piece -- and that one becomes a brother. Then the real test begins: a smiling king with a lovely daughter and an ugly scheme, a death-like sleep that isn't death, a shrine that gives a friend back, a run through the mud with no horse, and a tired old traveler at the gate who asks the hardest question in the world -- what would you GIVE for your friend? Warm, funny, and genuinely moving, with an innkeeper who has seen everything, a princess quicker than her scheming father, a parade of useless doctors, and a hero who never once breaks his word. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: optional narrators, a road full of travelers and townsfolk, and a whole ward of doctors. Every drop of danger is softened off-stage and bloodless -- the poison becomes a sleeping-draught the narrator promises you was only sleep, and the tale's fierce old cure becomes a willing heart tested in the dark, with the child safe and smiling by dawn. It keeps the tale's true ending -- Saint James himself, and the real answer to how you find out a true friend -- then hands your cast the last word.

Clever Maria

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Clever Maria from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Portuguese tale Clever Maria (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book) -- a fast, funny battle of wits for grades 3-7. When a merchant is sent away by the king, he leaves his three daughters with three pots of basil that will tattle on anyone who misbehaves. The moment he's gone, the king comes knocking, and Maria, the youngest and quickest, gets him politely out of the house without ever letting him in or throwing him out. So begins a five-round contest between a merchant's daughter and a king who is not used to losing: a vanished bottle of wine, a rope over the garden wall, a gardener toppled harmlessly into a bush, a basket of flowers hiding two borrowed babies, an impossible coat of stone answered with a stick of chalk, and at last a life-sized doll on a string that tricks the king into confessing his own heart. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: narrators optional, three scene-stealing talking basil pots, two babies who ride in a flower basket, and a gardener who ends up living in a lemon bush. Nothing is cruel and nobody is harmed -- the source's sharpest edges are softened bloodless while the wit, the tricks, and the exact ending mechanism are kept. It ends on the classic turn -- the king stops trying to WIN and starts trying to keep UP -- then hands your cast the last word.

The Magic Kettle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Magic Kettle from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Japanese tale The Magic Kettle (from Andrew Lang's Crimson Fairy Book). High in the mountains, an old man who wants nothing but a quiet life finds a rusty kettle in the corner of his house -- and the moment he sets it on the fire, the handle turns into a head, the spout into a tail, four paws spring out, and his kettle is suddenly a somersaulting raccoon-dog running across the ceiling. He sells the trouble to an honest travelling tradesman named Jimmu, who discovers that a kettle that dances the fan dance, the shadow dance, and the umbrella dance can make a man rich -- and that giving the luck back is what makes him happy. Six scenes for a large, flexible class: optional narrators, a huge scene-stealing non-verbal Tanuki for a student who would rather move than talk, a whole crowd who cannot stop dancing, and a gentle, funny ending about honesty. No violence and no scary business -- the kettle simply hops off the fire, entirely unhurt, and complains about the service. It ends on the classic beat -- Jimmu returns the kettle with a hundred gold pieces 'as the price of its hire,' and the luck is shared -- then hands your cast the last word.

Madschun

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Madschun from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Turkish tale 'Madschun' from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book: a lazy, bald young man sees the Sultan's daughter ride by, decides on the spot that he will marry her and nobody else, and sends his long-suffering mother to ask the Sultan for her hand. The Sultan keeps inventing impossible tasks -- bring me every bird in the world, now grow a head of hair -- but a wise traveler in the desert gives the young man one magic word, Madschun, that stops every bird in its place, and later stops an entire wedding cold. Warm and genuinely funny, with a mother who drives a hard bargain, a Princess who is paying attention the whole time, a Sultan who cannot stop moving the finish line, and a hero who wins as himself, shiny head and all. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, and a whole-sky bird chorus with room for every student. It ends on the source's own magic words and a very mysteriously vanishing rival, then hands your cast the last word.

The Blue Parrot

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Blue Parrot from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain "The Blue Parrot" from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book: a young king who falls for a portrait, a jealous magician who swaps him for a grumpy groom, a fairy queen who turns into a swallow, a magic stone that backfires, and a king enchanted into a blue parrot -- one bird among thousands -- who can only be freed when a princess-turned-tree comes crashing down. Warm and genuinely funny, with a groom who insists he is the King and demands to eat the horses, a truth-telling Mirror, and a princess who out-thinks a magician while she is a tree. Six scenes for a large, flexible class (grades 3-6) -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of courtiers, trees, and blue parrots -- then it hands your cast the last word.

Geirlaug the King's Daughter

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Geirlaug the King's Daughter from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book.

An Icelandic tale for grades 3-7, in six scenes for a big, flexible class. A dragon steals the wrong baby and drops him in the wrong garden, so a princess named Geirlaug grows up beside a foster-brother, Grethari -- brave, warm, and hopeless with instructions. When a jealous witch marries their father and comes hunting, Geirlaug turns them into foals, then birds, then a whale and its fin to save them both. But at the last step home Grethari drinks from an enchanted cup and forgets her completely, and Geirlaug must become a servant girl named Lauphertha and wait years for one perfect chance -- a wedding, a birch wand, a basket, and a talking hen -- to win him back. Funny and genuinely warm, bloodless throughout, with narrators optional and ensemble roles that scale to a whole grade.

The Story of Little King Loc

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Little King Loc from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain French fairy tale 'The Story of Little King Loc' from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book (Mrs. Lang's retelling of Anatole France's 'L'Abeille'). Abeille and her foster-brother Youri slip away to a forbidden blue lake -- and the water-spirits carry Youri off while the gnomes carry Abeille down into their mountain, to their tiny, diamond-crowned Little King Loc. King Loc grows to love her; she can only love him as a friend and she aches for home and for Youri. So when King Loc learns where Youri is held, he faces the one choice that decides everything -- and gives the one gift that costs him the girl he loves. Six scenes for grades 3-6, warm and genuinely funny, with a big flexible gnome ensemble, an Undine chorus, and optional narrators. It ends on the tale's own note of generous, self-sacrificing kindness, then hands your cast the last word.

A Long-bow Story

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'A Long-bow Story' from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Indian tall-tale 'A Long-bow Story' (from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book) -- a fast, funny, completely bloodless contest of whoppers in which a money-loving banker and a mild, patient farmer bet one hundred rupees on who can tell the wildest tale: whoever first says 'I don't believe you' loses. The banker swaggers first, with one hundred and one camels tied nose to tail, snatched into the sky by a giant kite and dropped -- plop -- into a princess's eye, then fished right back out by a maid with excellent pockets. The farmer answers, all innocence, with a mare who grows a whole hundred-acre wheat crop on her back after some grains blow into a sore spot in a June dust-storm... and then he springs the trap: the humble fellow who once borrowed sixteen sacks of that very wheat and never paid it back turns out to be the banker's OWN father. Now the banker is cornered -- call the tale a lie and lose the hundred-rupee bet, or call it true and owe the wheat. He runs the sums on his fingers, sighs, and pays the cheaper debt. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: two lead roles (the Banker and the Farmer) carry the wager while the whole ensemble acts out both tall tales as the men tell them -- counting camels, a booming kite, a pocket-proud maid, a boastful mare, sprouting wheat, and twenty reapers. Nobody is hurt in this one -- there is no violence to soften to begin with; it is a battle of words, won by the better listener. It keeps the old tale's exact spine -- the storytelling wager, the camels-in-the-eye whopper, the wheat-on-the-mare whopper, the borrowed-and-never-repaid trap, and the closing 'give me at least the wheat' proverb -- lands it warm, with the two men walking on down the road together, laughing, and then hands your cast the last word.

Jackal or Tiger?

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Jackal or Tiger? from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A King and Queen argue at midnight -- was that howl a tiger, or a jackal? -- the King makes a rash bet and loses his temper, and a banished Queen ends up raising a hero in the forest who will one day walk back into the palace and win a crown with a riddle. A full-length fairy-tale comedy of loyal farmers, cranky talking parrots, a fairy who makes jewels out of thin air, and one King who will never win an argument again.

The Comb and the Collar

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Comb and the Collar from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Two magic objects -- a comb that only one man can draw and a collar that only one lady can open -- go from court to court looking for the two people who can work them. They turn out to be a brother and sister of Lombardy, who promptly get whirled apart by an earthquake and dropped into two very strange adventures: one befriends a snow-white fox who is clearly hiding something, the other trusts a lady in a sea-shell straight through a mouthful of crocodile teeth. A warm, funny, big-cast fairy tale about courage over vanity, keeping a promise you can't explain, and the two enchanted friends waiting to be combed and collared back into themselves.

The Thanksgiving of the Wazir

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Thanksgiving of the Wazir from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain "The Thanksgiving of the Wazir" from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book: two rival kings, a wise old prime minister who says "thank you" for absolutely everything, and one very sharp little pen-knife. When the Badshah nicks the tip of his finger and his Wazir calls it "good hearing," the furious king throws his oldest friend in prison -- then rides off in a temper, strays across the border, and lands in his rival's cell himself. What saves his head at the last second is the very fingertip he lost. Warm, genuinely funny, and quietly wise, this is the classic "everything happens for the best" lesson made for the stage: six flexible scenes for grades 3-7, with optional narrators, a scene-stealing court astrologer, a border you can draw in chalk, and a big noisy temple crowd -- then it hands your class the last word.

Samba the Coward

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Samba the Coward from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain West African tale "Samba the Coward" from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book: a king's son so tall his chin clears every head in the land -- and so frightened of everything that his whole village nicknames him Samba the Coward. He runs away north to a country at peace, charms a princess, and marries her -- then makes her promise never to mention raiders, because at the first sign of a fight he fully intends to hide. What he does not count on is a wife who is cleverer than a whole army: she puts on his armor, rides out in his place, wins battle after battle in his name, and finally sets a trap that backfires him straight into being brave. Warm, very funny, and quietly wise about fear and courage, with a sharp-eyed little brother who is the only one who notices the truth. Six scenes for a big, flexible class (grades 3-7) -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of warriors, townspeople, and raiders -- then it hands your cast the last word.

Kupti and Imani

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Kupti and Imani from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Punjabi tale "Kupti and Imani" from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book: a king asks his two daughters if they are content to leave their whole fortune in his hands. The elder, Kupti, says of course. The younger, Imani, says no, thank you -- if she had the chance, she would make her own fortune. So her father gives her the chance, and sends her off to a leaking hut to serve a lame old holy man with one penny to his name. What Imani does with that one penny -- oil for the old man's sore leg, flax for a borrowed loom, and one very long night of spinning and weaving -- turns a hut into the second-finest house in the city. Then comes a knot in the loom, a one-word answer ('Patience!') that a messenger takes far too literally, a distant king named Subbar Khan whose name happens to mean patience, a magic fan, a jealous sister, and a rescue in which Imani cuts off her hair, disguises herself, overhears the cure from two smug monkeys, and saves a dying king with her own two hands -- taking nothing for it but a ring and a handkerchief. Warm and genuinely funny, with a fakir who cannot believe his luck, a servant shouting for patience in a marketplace, and a small proud magic box that opens only for the right person. Six scenes for a large, flexible class (grades 3-6) -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of townsfolk, attendants, and builders -- then it hands your cast the last word.

The Strange Adventures of Little Maia

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Strange Adventures of Little Maia from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A girl no bigger than your thumb keeps getting carried off by everyone who wants to keep her -- a frog, a beetle, a blind mole in a velvet coat -- until a half-frozen swallow she once nursed back to life comes back to let her choose for herself. Andrew Lang's warm, funny cousin to Thumbelina, in six scenes with a big flexible cast.

Diamond cut Diamond

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Diamond cut Diamond from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A merchant comes home rich after twelve hard years -- and one day short of his village, he makes the honest mistake of trusting his whole fortune in jewels to the smiling Beeka Mull, the cleverest thief in the bazaar. Robbed, mocked, and left in the dust, he's rescued by Kooshy Ram, a merry young spendthrift with a gift for the perfect trick. What follows is a glorious battle of wits: a grand veiled traveler, a palanquin, a box of dazzling jewels, and a signal from behind a curtain that turns a thief's own greed against him. A warm, very funny trickster tale from India with a knockout punchline -- and not a drop of blood in it.

The Green Knight

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Green Knight from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Danish tale 'The Green Knight' from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book -- and no, not the sword-and-Gawain poem; this is the folk tale, and the hero of it is the princess. A dying queen makes the king promise he will do whatever their daughter asks, and that one kind promise nearly wrecks everything: a smiling countess talks her way onto the throne, turns cold the moment she is crowned, and the lonely princess is moved to a little castle on an island in a lake. Then, out of nowhere, she asks her traveling father to 'greet the Green Knight' -- a knight neither of them has ever heard of -- and he gets gloriously lost in the forest and finds exactly that: a young man all in green who has been dreaming of her face for a year. They fall in love, keep it secret, and the jealous stepmother strikes with a poisoned nail hidden in the oar. But when the Green Knight falls deathly ill, the princess does not sit in her tower and weep. She takes a tip from a little bird, gathers a basket of nine snakes, trades her silk gown for a goose girl's rags, hires on as a kitchen-maid, and cures him with a soup that absolutely should not have worked -- three bowls, three days -- then reveals herself and marries him in a gown that shines like the sun. Warm, funny, and genuinely suspenseful, with a princess who rescues herself, a father redeemed, a stepmother clever in all the wrong ways, and a bird who knows everything and explains nothing. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional, ensemble peacocks, goldfish, geese, and snakes with room for everyone -- pitched for grades 3 through 7. It ends on the source's own wedding, keeps the tale's true finish, then hands your cast three ways to land the last beat and the pen to write a fourth.

The Five Wise Words of the Guru

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Five Wise Words of the Guru from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A young man named Ram Singh leaves home to escape a stepmother who can scold an empty room, and stops to say goodbye to his old teacher -- who hands him five wise words so dull that Ram Singh nearly doesn't listen. Do what you're told. Never speak unkindly. Never lie. Know your place. Stop and listen. Then the world tests him one word at a time: a haunted well guarded by a lonely giant carrying a great sadness, a king who trades for an honest boy, a smiling prince with a throne-sized plan, and a trap that ends up catching the one person too impatient to sit still. A warm, funny, genuinely clever fairy tale from the Punjab about how the most boring advice in the world turns out -- five times over -- to be exactly the advice that saves your life, and why the kindest thing you ever say might be one gentle word to a stranger in the dark.

The Golden-headed Fish

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Golden-headed Fish from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book.

The King of Egypt has gone blind, and the only cure is a single fish with a golden head, swimming somewhere in the whole wide sea. His son the Prince sails for a hundred days to catch it -- and then, holding the impossible prize in his two hands, looks into its sad eyes and throws it back. That one kindness, done when it cost him everything and gained him nothing, sets the whole story spinning: a furious king, a wise mother with one strange rule, a servant who wants no wages, a monster with surprisingly good manners, a princess trapped inside a curse, and a helper who always seems to know what is about to go wrong. Who is he? Why does he keep saving a boy he only just met? The answer is the warmest ending in the Olive Fairy Book. A funny, big-hearted, whole-class full-length fairy-tale for Grades 3-6. Six scenes, narrators optional, a build-a-monster-from-the-whole-class centerpiece, and a good deed with a very long memory.

Dorani

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Dorani from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A girl with hair like spun gold cuts off one heavy tress, drops it in the river -- and a lovesick prince fishes it out. She agrees to marry him on one strange condition, and then will not say a single word. Every night she vanishes to a fairy court where she sings for a rajah and a lute that plays itself, arriving by flying stool. To win her, the prince has to learn the hardest magic of all: how to let someone choose him. A funny, warm, full-length fairy tale for Grades 3-6, with a flying stool that has feelings and a heroine who is three steps ahead of everyone the entire time.

The Satin Surgeon

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Satin Surgeon from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A young emperor comes in disguise to a ball to choose a bride for himself -- and falls for the kind younger princess instead of the loud elder one everybody expected. That single honest choice sets off a spectacular chain of trouble: a jealous sister, a lonely tower guarded by a nurse whose eyes never sleep, secret letters hauled up on a string, and one dreadful night in the brambles that leaves the emperor gravely hurt. But this princess doesn't wait to be rescued. She locks up her own jailer, escapes in a gentleman's disguise, meets a barefoot boy in a green valley who hands her a magical healing salve, and rides into the emperor's dying city as a mysterious doctor in head-to-toe pale blue satin -- the Satin Surgeon -- to heal the very man who has come to believe she betrayed him. A clever, warm, genuinely funny tale of disguise, healing, and leaving the door open a crack, with a knockout reveal at the end and every bit of the old story's danger kept gentle and off-stage.

The Billy Goat and the King

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Billy Goat and the King from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Punjabi tale "The Billy Goat and the King" (from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book) -- a warm, funny puzzle-box of a play for grades 2-6. A good-hearted king was given a strange gift as a baby: he can understand every bird, beast, and bug alive. The catch? The day he repeats a single secret he learns that way, he turns to solid stone. For years he manages -- until one dinner, he overhears two ants squabbling over a grain of rice, laughs out loud, and cannot tell his sharp, curious Queen why. She asks. And asks. And asks. Worn to a thread, the King decides he would rather turn to stone at the cool bottom of a river than fight forever, and rides out to say a quiet goodbye -- until, at a well by the road, he overhears the wisest goat in the field teach his own wife the very lesson the King needed: when something is silly, just say no, mean it kindly, and go find better grass. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- optional narrators, two scene-stealing ants, a whole kingdom of talking animals, a fairy godmother in a flashback, and a billy goat who steals the show. Nothing is cruel and nobody is harmed: the source's harsh beats are softened bloodless while the spine, the two laughs, the stone-secret, the goat's lesson, and the exact ending -- the King never tells, the Queen stops asking, both happier and wiser -- are kept. Then it hands your cast the last word.

The Story of Zoulvisia

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of Zoulvisia from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book.

An Armenian tale for grades 3-7, in six scenes for a big, flexible class. In a desert stands a green mountain no one comes back from -- and one by one, six brother-kings ride up it and vanish. When the seventh and youngest finally goes, he finds a golden warrior on a white horse who guards the whole mountain from a crystal tower: Zoulvisia, whose triple cry drops any stranger into a sleep cold as stone. He breaks her power by standing his ground, they marry, and she hands him her steed of flame and a case of pearls holding one of her hairs -- which he promptly loses down a river. Downstream a scheming witch on a raft of serpents talks her way into the house, coaxes out the secret of his strength, and steals both his sabre and his wife. Now it falls to a clever horse who tried to warn him, three little sworn brothers with a mirror and magic slippers, and Zoulvisia's own fierce wits to set it right. Funny, warm, and genuinely brave, bloodless throughout, with a heroic girl at its center, narrators optional, and ensemble roles that scale to a whole grade.

Grasp all, Lose all

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Grasp all, Lose all from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A poor oil-seller named Dena, worn out by a banker who comes to shout at him every single suppertime, wanders off one night and falls asleep in an enormous, extremely grumpy peepul tree -- which promptly flies him clear across the world to a seashore glowing with rubies. He takes four. Just four. And four is exactly enough to change his luck. But four rubies climb a long ladder of greedy hands -- a banker, a wazir, a rajah, a queen who wants a necklace or she'll simply DIE -- until all four men crowd back into that flying tree to grab as much as their arms can hold. A warm, very funny, bloodless cautionary comedy from India, with a talking tree who told everyone the answer and got ignored every time.

The Fate of the Turtle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Fate of the Turtle from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A wise old turtle, two loyal ducks, one dried-up lake, and a daring plan to fly to safety on a stick -- if only the turtle can do the one thing he has never once managed in his life: keep his mouth shut. A funny, warm fable about friendship, pride, and knowing when to hold on and hush. Grades 2-6. Full-length, flexible cast, gender-neutral, stageable in an auditorium or a classroom corner.

The Snake Prince

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Snake Prince from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A penniless old woman carries a snake home from the river -- and it turns into a necklace of jewels. She sells it to the king, who locks it away, only to open the chest and find a baby boy where the necklace had been. That boy grows up to be a prince with a secret: he was once, by enchantment, a snake. When his bride is talked into demanding the secret he begged her not to ask, she loses him to the river -- and must stand alone in a doorway before the terrible Queen of Snakes to win him back. A Punjabi tale of a careless question and the long, brave work of setting it right. Grades 3-6.

The Prince and Princess in the Forest

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Prince and Princess in the Forest from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

When the old King of Denmark dies, a young prince takes his grieving mother on a journey across a dark forest -- and stumbles into two strange houses, a hidden magic sword, and a band of robbers. What follows is a whirlwind: a trap-door villain, a mother's terrible bargain, a forest of wild beasts that lie down like puppies, a little black dog who saves the day without a single word, and a Princess of Arabia who has been chained in a cave for twenty years and is STILL the most sensible person in the story. There are ravens who gossip, a troll who can't keep a secret, a cup of magic dew, and a finale won with a basketful of solid-gold saucepans. A big, warm, funny full-length fairy tale about kindness, stubbornness, and the three things worth holding onto -- a true friend, a kept promise, and hope at the darkest hour.

The Clever Weaver

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Clever Weaver from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Armenian tale The Clever Weaver (from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book) -- a fast, funny battle of wits for grades 3-6. A silent envoy from a feared Emperor of the East marches into the throne room, draws a black circle around the King's throne, sits down, and says absolutely nothing. Solve the riddle by sunset, the panicking King tells his ministers, or you are all on stable duty. While the ministers knock on doors, the quiet one wanders into the cleverest house in the kingdom -- a workshop where swings swing by themselves and a willow waves with no wind, all run by a Weaver who would rather build a wheel than do a thing twice. The Weaver answers the envoy the same way he asked: without a single word, using two little bones, a handful of scattered seed, and one supremely confident hen. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: optional narrators, a townsperson whose goat ate a hat, three ministers (only one of whom actually looks at things), an Envoy who never speaks -- a tremendous silent part -- and a Hen who is quite sure she carries armies inside her. Nothing is cruel and nobody is harmed; the source's one sharp edge is softened bloodless while the wordless duel, the exact meaning of every symbol, and the ending -- the Weaver asking only for a small farm for his daughter -- are kept just as the tale tells them. Then it hands your cast the last word.

The Boy who found Fear at last

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Boy who found Fear at last from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Turkish tale (from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book): Yusuf is the one boy in the world who has never felt afraid. He has never once had the shiver -- the cold prickle up the back that everyone else seems to know all about -- and he wants it so badly he leaves his mother's cottage to go looking for fear on purpose. His hunt turns into a warm, spooky-fun comedy of not-actually-scary places: a campfire of robbers who are not remotely as fierce as they claim, a haunted orchard where a spooky hand reaches for his cake (he taps it politely with a spoon and asks if it is all right), a magic swing over a dark pool where a sprite tries to dunk him, and the bottom of the whole sea, where a sea-sprite is dragging a ship down. He is kind to every single one of them and frightened by none -- and that turns out to be the exact combination that breaks a hundred-year spell on three enchanted sisters, who were forced to do all the haunting in the first place. A grumpy peddler, a rule-loving judge, a lost bracelet and its matching twin tie the middle together. And in the end, the boy who could not be scared of monsters finally gets his shiver in the last place he would ever think to look: a sacred pigeon lands on his head and makes him king, and the sudden weight of a whole kingdom to look after gives him fear at last -- which he discovers is not being scared of monsters at all, but caring about something so much you are afraid to let it down. A genuinely funny, genuinely gentle full-length play for a class -- thirteen named roles around an open ensemble, narrators optional, and a closing lesson that fearless is easy but brave is the good one. Nobody is hurt and nothing is truly scary; every villain turns out to be a friend. It ends warm, and hands your cast the last word.

He Wins who Waits

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on He Wins who Waits from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

A princess who is thoroughly done being told who to marry announces she will choose her own husband -- and hands her golden apple, three times over, to a poor widow's son who did nothing but smile back at her. Banished by her furious father, she marries him anyway, and when poverty drives him across the desert with a camel caravan, she sends him off with one instruction: greet the old man at the well, and remember whatever he tells you. What the old man gives him are three plain sentences -- 'She whom the heart loves is ever the most beautiful,' 'Patience is the first step on the road to happiness,' and 'He wins who waits' -- and this warm, funny Armenian tale is built like a machine to make each one save his life at the exact moment he needs it: once at the bottom of an enchanted well, answering the riddle of a spell-bound Guardian who loves both his children the same; and twice, twenty years later, in a tree outside a golden palace, with a drawn bow and a terrible mistake one breath away. A tale of patience, loyalty, and looking with your heart instead of your eyes, with a king who spends the whole play trying to finish a single sentence, a mule who will never stop mentioning the jewels, and every bit of the old story's danger kept gentle and off-stage.

The Steel Cane

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Steel Cane from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain tale "The Steel Cane" from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book: a wise old woman at the edge of the forest takes in a lonely orphan boy and raises him as her own -- only to watch him grow up lazy, rude, and impossible to please. When kindness and even marriage to a good, clever wife fail to shake his selfishness, the old woman reaches for the plain steel walking-cane in the corner -- and one touch turns him into a donkey for seven years, then a hunted wolf for seven more, and at last, when he STILL will not learn, into a cawing black crow for good. Warm, wickedly funny, and quietly wise about kindness and second chances (and third ones), with a grandmother who has run clean out of patience, a wife far too good for the whole business, a gang of no-good Rowdies who pick exactly the wrong side, and three narrators who would really like the hero to think about somebody other than himself for ONCE. Six scenes for a big, flexible class (grades 3-6) -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of villagers, dogs, and crows -- then it hands your cast the last word.

The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain French fairy tale (from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book): a proud fairy named Gangana has held a grudge for twenty-five years, ever since King Petaldo forgot he was promised to her not-yet-existent niece and married Gillette the farmer's daughter for love instead. In revenge she shrinks his whole realm to a pocket-sized kingdom -- which suits Petaldo perfectly, since all he ever wanted was his fruit trees, and his father-in-law Caboche cheerfully runs the government for him. But Gillette has been quietly feeding a fairy she has never met: every day a little barley cake left under the rose-tree. That fairy -- the Fairy of the Fields, who turns up as a blue mouse, a linnet, and a foot-high ragged old woman -- becomes the family's secret guardian when Gangana's spite finally boils over. A vain old grandmother who is magicked into a tall little girl (and drags her entire court into playing dolls to cover for it), a King of the Green Isles with the worst manners in seven kingdoms, six rude children turned into puppets on strings until they learn some manners, a ring of twenty-four fire-breathing dragons, a phial of invisibility, and one very dignified winged lizard all tumble through the middle. It builds to the tale's real trick: Gangana, disguised as a black ostrich, tries to use the oldest law in fairyland to claim the good little prince Cadichon forever -- and the Fairy of the Fields out-waits and out-wits her by a hair, so that the Queen of the Fairies can hand down Gangana's famous sentence. A genuinely funny, genuinely warm full-length play for a class -- thirteen named roles around an open ensemble, narrators optional. Nobody is hurt: the wicked fairy is beaten by patience and cleverness, not by force, and the play says so out loud. It ends on the six words the whole story turns on -- everything comes to the one who knows how to wait -- and hands your cast the last word.

The Silent Princess

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Silent Princess from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain "The Silent Princess" from Andrew Lang's Olive Fairy Book, a tale from Turkey: a spoiled prince breaks an old woman's water-pitcher three times, and she wishes on him the strangest punishment there is -- to fall in love with a princess who has not spoken a single word in years. He walks a whole year across forests and shining mountains to reach her, only to learn that everyone who fails to make her speak is sent away forever. His secret weapon? A cheerful talking nightingale who cannot keep a secret to save its life. Three nights, three riddle-stories, and one brilliant trick -- the prince gives the WRONG answer on purpose, three times, and the furious princess cannot stop herself from leaping up to set him right. Warm, genuinely funny, and building to the moment the seven veils fall away. Six scenes for a large, flexible class (grades 3-6) -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of travelers, villagers, and story-players -- then it hands your cast the last word.

The Hero Makoma

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Story of the Hero Makoma' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A boy is born on the banks of the Zambesi already tall as a doorway, already carrying an iron hammer named Nu-endo, and already, frankly, a little tired of being asked his name. So he goes and earns one. Down the great river and out across the veldt he walks, meeting five enormous, boastful giants -- a mountain-maker, a river-bed digger, a tree-planter who dotes on his elephants, a giant with a moustache you can trip over from two miles off, and a committee of five heads that cannot agree on lunch. One tap of the hammer and each one shrinks to a grumbling little man and joins the walk. By the time Makoma reaches the fire-monster at the edge of the world, he has learned the thing the fire-monster never will: the strongest person in the story is the one who arrives with friends.

The Magic Mirror

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Magic Mirror' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Gopani-Kufa, a hunter of old Senna, finds a python and an antelope hopelessly tangled together and -- against his own good sense -- frees them both. The python turns out to be a river-king with a wishing mirror to give away, which is wonderful, right up until a greedy foreign king shows up disguised as a starving stranger and walks off with it. Featuring a wasp who is smarter than everybody, an antelope with an unfortunate habit of being right, and a narrating Go-Away Bird who finally, gloriously, gets to tell someone to go away and mean it. A tale about being kind to strangers, and the whole living world remembering that you were.

The King Who Would See Paradise

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Story of the King Who Would See Paradise' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A king who owns everything wants one more thing: proof of Paradise, and he wants it before lunch. A patient old fakir keeps telling him 'not yet' -- until the day the king dips his head into a plain basin of water and lives an entire other life, poor and ordinary and full of people who love him. He comes up dripping after what he swears was a single moment, and spends the rest of the play trying to explain that the moment was the longest and best of his reign. Two deadpan narrators argue the whole time about exactly how long any of this took.

How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

The rains quit, the river shrinks to a damp idea, and every animal in the valley picks up a shovel -- every animal except Isuro the rabbit, who has a very long list of reasons why the digging would go better without him. Then the well fills, the water starts vanishing in the night, and a certain rabbit meets a very rude, very sticky stranger who will not answer a single one of his questions. A talky, tumbly trickster comedy about the fastest mouth in a dry valley -- and the one trap even quick wits can't hop out of, unless you finally agree to do your share.

Ian, the Soldier's Son

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Ian, the Soldier's Son' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A soldier's youngest son picks a ball game he should not have picked, makes a promise he cannot possibly keep, and sails off the edge of the map to bring home three stolen daughters. The good news: he meets a raven -- a dry, deeply reasonable raven who happens to be the best friend a hero ever had and who keeps handing Ian excellent advice for the price of one small piece of shortbread. The bad news: Ian keeps not taking the advice. He out-thinks three giants, then forgets the one warning that mattered, gets left behind by the very people he rescued, and has to earn his way home the long hard way -- learning, at last, the difference between being brave and being wise. Three princesses, one loyal friend, and a boy who finally learns to listen.

The Fox and the Wolf

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Fox and the Wolf' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A very hungry wolf who loves a proverb almost as much as he loves supper corners a very hungry fox at a crossroads. The fox, being a mother with mouths to feed and a brain that never stops working, promises him a cheese the size of a mill wheel -- one that just happens to live at the bottom of a well. There are two buckets. There is one moon. Only one of them is going to end up dripping wet, and it is not the clever one.

How Ian Direach Got the Blue Falcon

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'How Ian Direach Got the Blue Falcon' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Ian brings home one blue feather and gets one very unfair errand: fetch the whole falcon or don't come home at all. Luckily he meets Gille Mairtean, a fox who can turn himself into a boat, a ship, a fine lady, a horse, or a sword whenever the plot requires it -- and who has a saying for every occasion and a snack for none. To win the falcon Ian must trade up a ridiculous chain of magic swaps, dodge three doorposts that shriek at the worst possible moment, and learn that the fox's most-repeated piece of advice really was worth listening to. Warm, silly, and quietly wise about loyalty being stronger than any spell.

The Ugly Duckling

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Ugly Duckling' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A big grey egg hatches last and hatches wrong -- or so the whole duckyard decides, loudly, in chorus. One gawky bird gets teased off the farm, tries on a wild marsh, a crooked cottage, and a very cold winter for size, and keeps hearing the same question everywhere he goes: what are you actually GOOD for? Turns out the answer was in the water the whole time. A warm K-3 ensemble showcase with a barnyard that scales to your whole class and two deadpan sparrows who cannot, for the life of them, count.

The Two Caskets

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Two Caskets' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A kind stepdaughter is treated coldly at home and, one unfair afternoon at the well, ends up in a bright under-world where the fences ask to be stepped over gently, the ovens hand out bread, and a farm full of cats and sparrows will help you do the impossible if you were ever nice to them. She serves a year, comes home with a plain little black casket, and opens up a room full of light. Her spoiled stepsister sees the treasure, does the math, and marches down the same well to copy it -- rudely, at top speed, skipping every kindness. She grabs the biggest, reddest casket she can find. It does not contain what she is hoping for. Narrated by the Well, who has watched a great many people go down and has opinions about which ones come back up better.

The Goldsmith's Fortune

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Goldsmith's Fortune' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Ratan the goldsmith is the best-loved man in a very greedy village -- for exactly as long as his luck holds. A jumpy traveller, a straw scarecrow, and a bag of gold send Ratan's fortune upside down, then right-side up, then upside down again, and his neighbours cheer, sulk, and cheer him in perfect time with the Wheel of Fortune. It is a wry Punjabi tale about fair-weather friends, about the one grumbling cowherd who never flattered anybody in his life, and about how to tell a real friend from a fan. Comes with a spinnable wheel and one free buffalo.

The Foolish Weaver

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Foolish Weaver' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Dinu the weaver is the kindest, most agreeable fellow in the village, and he will do EXACTLY what you tell him -- word for word, and not one word more. Hired to guard sheep, he runs home to fetch the very stones his master pointed at while a leopard helps itself to the flock. Fired to a gentler post, he manages to lose a fight with some flies. Then he falls in with six traveling weavers who swim across a bone-dry river and become absolutely convinced one of them has drowned -- because not a single one of them ever remembers to count himself. A noodlehead comedy about the two things worth more than being clever: being kind, and remembering that you count too.

The Story of Manus

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Story of Manus' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Manus is the strongest boy in the Kingdom of Lochlann, which is exactly why nobody believes his best weapon is his nerve. His aunt the Queen is a schemer of cold arithmetic who never lifts a hand -- she just arranges -- and she has been arranging Manus out of a crown since a game of shinny went sideways. Armed with an old sword, a keen-eyed lion cub, and a bit of cloth that makes enemies bow instead of fight, Manus has to free his twelve captive foster brothers and out-cool a whole castle without spilling a drop of anything but sea water. A Highland rescue-by-wits where the hero wins by keeping his head -- literally and otherwise.

Pinkel the Thief

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Pinkel the Thief' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Pinkel is the smallest brother, the youngest brother, and the only brother who has ever finished a chore -- which is exactly why nobody takes him seriously. So when a treasure-mad king needs someone to talk a golden lantern, a bell-horned goat, and a glowing cloak out from under a very grumpy witch, Pinkel volunteers. Three times he rows to the island. Three times the witch swears he will not escape her. Three times she is wrong, and the two frogs on the lake keep score. A comedy about being underestimated, out-thinking someone twice your size, and never, ever being rude about it.

The Jackal Family: Three Adventures

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Adventures of a Jackal', 'The Adventures of the Jackal's Eldest Son', and 'The Adventures of the Younger Son of the Jackal' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Three generations of one very clever, very slippery jackal family, and the three times each of them met somebody a little bit cleverer. The old Jackal sells a vain panther a pair of shoes that do not fit. His handsome eldest son wins a fine cloak, a lion's friendship, and a hedgehog's very personal revenge. And his youngest son cheats a plump sheep out of the harvest -- right up until she opens a certain sack. Narrated by the two smallest creatures in the whole book, who would like it noted that they are the ones still standing.

The Three Treasures of the Giants

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Three Treasures of the Giants' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Jack is the youngest of three brothers -- the one everybody calls slow, mostly because nobody ever bothered to watch him closely. But Jack pays attention. While his greedy brothers stuff their bags with a giant's gold, Jack quietly walks off with something far better: a table that lays a feast on command, a horn that calls up an army, and a bag that builds a castle out of thin air. It is a comedy about the quiet kid who was paying attention the whole time -- and what he decides to do when it is finally his turn to set the table.

The Rover of the Plain

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Rover of the Plain' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Naledi is leaving home for a village across the mountains, and she refuses every single helper her family offers her. She wants only Rover -- the enormous, endlessly hungry, aggressively honest magic buffalo who hauls the water, breaks the wood, and would never, ever take more than a few beans (he took more than a few beans). When a hunter's good aim and two scheming relatives put Rover in danger, Naledi finds out exactly what a loyal friend and a well-packed healing horn are worth.

The White Doe

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The White Doe' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A princess named Desiree is wished-for so hard that a slighted fairy curses her: one ray of daylight before her fifteenth birthday and it all goes wrong. So she is raised by candlelight, courted by portrait, and shipped to her wedding in a windowless carriage -- until a jealous lady cuts a hole in the wall and the sun turns Desiree into a white doe by day. Now her own true love is out hunting her, an imposter is wearing her crown, and the only person who can fix any of it is a suspicious old woman with a lot of doves. Funny, tender, and a little bit magic, with a spoilt prince who learns the hardest word in any language: wait.

The Girl-Fish

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Girl-Fish' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A spoiled girl who has never once washed a plate catches a talking fish, is rude to it, and promptly becomes a fish herself. Down in the sea she meets a queen who is half a woman and one crown short -- stolen by a giant with a slow brain and a bad habit of changing the deal. To win back her own two feet, the girl must win back that crown, turning herself into a deer, an ant, a monkey, a parrot, an eagle, and a toad along the way. The kindness she never showed on land turns out to be the exact thing that saves her at sea.

The Owl and the Eagle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Owl and the Eagle' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

An owl who works nights and an eagle who works days share one house, never clean it, and never once see each other. When two footsore sisters walk in looking for water and a nap, the four of them accidentally become a family -- with two children: a boy, and a frog who lives in the stream and complains about everything. Then the birds go hunting and do not come home, and it turns out the sensible sisters, one very long piece of string, and one dramatic frog are exactly what a rescue requires.

The Frog and the Lion Fairy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Frog and the Lion Fairy' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A homesick young queen takes one wrong turn in the forest and lands at the bottom of the world, in the front yard of the Lion Fairy -- a giantess who collects prisoners the way other people collect teacups and is never once satisfied with the pepper. Her only friend is a fat, half-fairy frog who travels strictly by procession, keeps her magic in a cap made of rose leaves, and will abandon all of her dignity in one second for a good puddle. It takes six thousand frogs, one enormous errand, a wedding stopped at the last possible moment, and a very lonely dragon -- but loyalty and wit are slower than cruelty and they always, always outlast it. Narrated by the only two plants that will grow in a fairy's yard, who cannot agree on how many years any of this took.

Covan the Brown-Haired

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A goatherd's family loses a daughter to the sea-mist, then two proud brothers to their own bad manners. Youngest Covan sets out with the small cake and his mother's blessing, and does the one thing his brothers never bothered with -- he is kind to every hungry creature on the road. A raven, a great dog, and an otter remember. When an old man sets three impossible tasks, kindness comes back around threefold. Dry, warm, and full of Highland weather.

The Princess Bella-Flor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Princess Bella-Flor' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Jose cannot hold onto a coin to save his life -- he keeps giving it to people who need it more -- which is exactly how he ends up broke, employed by a lovesick king, and ordered to fetch a princess who has no intention of being fetched. Luckily an old white horse in the royal stable happens to talk, happens to have a plan, and happens to owe Jose a very large favor. Featuring three good deeds that pay themselves back with interest, a princess who drops things on purpose, and a cauldron of cold blue moonfire that only frightens people who deserve to be frightened.

The Bird of Truth

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Bird of Truth' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Two babies come floating down a river in a crystal cradle, get fished out by a man who already has eight children, and grow up able to talk to birds -- which turns out to be extremely useful, because the birds know a secret the whole kingdom forgot. To set it right, the twins must fetch the one creature who physically cannot lie: a small white bird the size of a fist, guarded by a giant who sleeps fifteen minutes a day and an aviary of gorgeous liars who ALL insist they are the real one. A quest play about the plainest kind of magic -- saying the true thing out loud where the right person can hear it.

The Mink and the Wolf

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Mink and the Wolf' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A small, calm mink and a big, hungry wolf pack share one stretch of northern shore -- and only one of them ever gets flustered. When a greedy young wolf begs his way into the mink's canoe and eats every last sea-urchin egg, the wolves decide to get even, and throw a feast that is mostly a trap. But the mink has a mouse who is very good with her teeth, and a dance nobody should have let him finish. Cool head beats big teeth, every time.

The Land of the Sun

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Adventures of an Indian Brave' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Tay is the finest hunter his people have ever seen, and the first to tell you so -- which is how he ends up leaving his own pack of meat at the river and asking someone else to carry it. When the river carries off more than the pack, Tay is sent on the strangest errand of his life: up an enchanted tree, into a country of corn and salmon where the sun never sets, past two blind grandmothers who are certain someone is stealing their dinner (someone is), and home again in a basket he is absolutely not allowed to peek out of. A funny, warm folk tale about the one thing a gift can't give you: the patience to carry a thing all the way through.

Andras Baive

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Andras Baive' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

The town of Vadso is absolutely certain it owns the strongest man alive -- right up until a quiet reindeer-herder named Andras strolls in from the mountains and clears an eight-oared boat in a single jump. Sore about losing by the width of one heel, the town champion disguises himself as a Stalo (a mountain ogre) and chases Andras across the frozen tundra, playing a pipe that somehow gets closer no matter how fast you run. But Andras has spent a great many long dark nights reading, and he knows the one thing an ogre cannot stand is being told there is a jump he cannot make. Nerve and a cool head beat brute strength, a captured boy goes free, and nobody -- for once -- gets hurt.

The White Slipper

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The White Slipper' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

A king ruins his foot on a hunting trip, and the only thing that eases it is a dazzling white slipper made by a doctor with a secret. Then the slipper goes for a swim in the river and does not come back. With the king laid low and every proud suitor in the land fishing pebbles out of the water, the one person who reads the problem instead of splashing at it is a shy shoemaker's boy who sings when he is frightened. Kindness and homework beat pride and forty servants; nobody is punished, several people are gently embarrassed, and there is dancing.

The Magic Book

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Magic Book' from Andrew Lang's Orange Fairy Book

Hans is sixteen, penniless, and rude to exactly the wrong stranger -- an old hill-man who hires him to dust an underground palace and NEVER open one locked door. Naturally he opens it, pockets a book that teaches you to turn into anything, and launches a get-rich scheme that involves being sold to a duke as a dog. It goes sideways, a ring lands on a princess's finger, and it all builds to a shape-shifting duel where the trick is not out-magicking your old master but out-lasting him. Clever, kind, and full of a father and mother who both insist they knew best all along.

The Shifty Lad

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Shifty Lad from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

In the land of Erin, a clever boy who will learn no trade but thievery apprentices himself to the most cunning rogue in the country and outwits his master, a king's Wise Man, and a princess in a dazzling battle of tricks -- only to find that his mother's prophecy follows him all the way to the bridge of Dublin.

The False Prince and the True

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The False Prince and the True from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A young nobleman faces execution for striking a cowardly prince, but a mysterious old woman offers to save him -- if he agrees to marry her -- and what she knows about the king's secret past will change everything.

The Jogi's Punishment

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Jogi's Punishment from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A self-important wandering hermit worms his way into a rajah's court, abuses that trust terribly, and sets in motion a chain of events that snap right back on him -- while the princess he wronged finds a prince, a palace, and the last word.

The Heart of a Monkey

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Heart of a Monkey from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A monkey and a shark strike up an unlikely friendship over shared fruit -- until the shark lets slip why he really made friends in the first place. Quick thinking is the only way out, and the monkey has plenty of it.

How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

Six-year-old Walter has told everyone he can handle four wolves at once -- so when a real wolf is spotted near the mill, Jonas takes him at his word and sends him in alone.

The King of the Waterfalls

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The King of the Waterfalls from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A young king trades riddle-bargains with the Gruagach -- a sharp-tongued fairy who wins the third round and sends the king on an impossible errand: steal the Sword of Light from the king of the oak windows or forfeit his head. The king succeeds, but comes home to find a giant has carried off his queen. To get her back he must follow a chain of animal friends through a forest and unravel where a giant has hidden his own soul -- a task that requires cleverness from the queen as much as courage from the king.

A French Puck

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on A French Puck from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A mischievous mountain spirit who can become anything -- anything except a needle with a hole -- has been making life miserable for every farmer, cowherd, and shepherd in the valley, and now he has set his sights on a village wedding.

The Three Crowns

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Crowns from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When a tiny magical man spirits three princesses away underground, only the youngest prince -- the one who stopped to help a beggar -- proves polite enough to win them back, brave enough to outwit two giants, and clever enough to survive his own treacherous companions.

The Brown Bear of Norway

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Brown Bear of Norway from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A princess who once declared she would marry the Brown Bear of Norway gets exactly what she wished for -- and then, by burning his enchanted skin too soon, loses everything and must walk to the ends of the earth to win him back.

Little Lasse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Little Lasse from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

Little Lars -- small enough to be called Little Lasse -- sneaks peas from the garden to make a twelve-ship fleet and sets them sailing round a pretend world. Then he climbs into his father's boat, which has no oars, and drifts out to sea. A prayer brings the sandman Nukku Matti, who carries him to the Land of Nod, where a dream-boy takes him on a pea-shell voyage to every continent -- each one too big, too cold, or too dangerous -- until the smell of pancakes frying calls him back to the one place that is just right: home.

Moti

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Moti from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

Moti is the biggest, strongest, and clumsiest young man in his village -- sent out into the world with fifty silver pieces and absolutely no plan. What follows is a chain of pure accidents: a stolen purse, a borrowed horse, a pomegranate in a box, a tiger on a halter, and one very small pony that wins a war.

The Wonderful Tune

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wonderful Tune from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

Blind Maurice Connor can play any tune in Munster, but one note of his secret melody sets every living thing dancing -- which causes considerable trouble the afternoon he drinks a full bottle of whisky and plays it by accident on the strand at Trafraska.

The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When a greedy sister-in-law drags a family quarrel all the way to the judge in Evora, her poor brother-in-law keeps landing in fresh trouble at every mile of the road -- until the judge turns every accusation into a reward.

The One-Handed Girl

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The One-Handed Girl from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A girl who chooses her parents' blessing over their property loses nearly everything to her greedy brother -- until her own honesty, courage, and a grateful snake set the world right again.

The Bones of Djulung

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Bones of Djulung from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

The youngest of seven sisters secretly befriends a beautiful rainbow fish named Djulung-djulung, giving up her own rice to keep it fed -- until her jealous sisters find it and take it away. When she calls on what remains of Djulung, a miraculous tree grows from the earth, its trunk of iron and its fruit of diamonds, and a king crossing the sea finds that only one person in all the world can make the tree bow.

The Sea King's Gift

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sea King's Gift from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

Maie, a fisherman's wife on a rocky Finnish island, sweet-talks the Sea King Ahti into giving her one red cow -- and then keeps asking for more until the sea itself has had enough.

The Raspberry Worm

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Raspberry Worm from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When a worm turns up on a raspberry at breakfast, Lisa and Aina carry it safely to the wood -- and a thousand-year-old king, who spends one day each century as a helpless worm, repays their small act of kindness with a night of magic and gifts that teach even the scornful Otto that the helpless are worth protecting.

The Stones of Plouhinec

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Stones of Plouhinec from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

On New Year's Eve in Brittany, the ancient standing stones of Plouhinec leave their places and walk down to the river -- and a poor young man who carved a cross on the tallest stone discovers that honesty and faithfulness are worth more than all the gold beneath them.

The Castle of Kerglas

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Castle of Kerglas from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

Peronnik, a poor boy everyone calls a fool, sets out alone into an enchanted forest to claim the golden basin and the diamond lance from the most feared magician in Brittany -- armed with nothing but a net, a bag of feathers, a whistle, and more cleverness than anyone gave him credit for.

The Battle of the Birds

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Battle of the Birds from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A king's son saves a raven's life at the great battle of the birds, earns a magic bundle, makes a rash bargain with a giant, and years later must rely on the giant's clever daughter to survive three perilous tasks and a breakneck chase across the moor before memory itself becomes his final enemy.

The Lady of the Fountain

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Lady of the Fountain from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When the knight Owain wins the Lady of the Fountain in fair combat, then breaks his promise and forgets her, only a loyal lion, a faithful friend in chains, and the long road back to honor can set things right.

The Four Gifts

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Four Gifts from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A hardworking farm girl in old Brittany receives four magical gifts one by one -- a pin, a feather, a necklace, and a box of ointment -- and discovers that none of them bring what she truly needs until she learns to want the right thing.

The Groac'h of the Isle of Lok

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Groac'h of the Isle of Lok from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When Houarn goes off to seek treasure from the enchantress of the sea and vanishes into her fish-pond, his cousin Bellah disguises herself as a young gentleman, outsmarts the Groac'h at her own game, and brings every one of her captives home.

The Escape of the Mouse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Escape of the Mouse from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When a prince catches the one slow mouse in a field of enchanted thieves, he discovers that a single small creature -- held fast and refused every ransom -- is the only key that can unlock a curse, free two captive friends, and restore a whole kingdom to life.

The Believing Husbands

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Believing Husbands from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When a young man discovers his wife, her mother, and her father all crying in the stable over a disaster that never happened, he sets off to find three people just as silly -- and discovers the town nearby is full of them.

The Hoodie-Crow

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Hoodie-Crow from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

A farmer's youngest daughter marries a crow who becomes a man each day, loses him when she forgets a comb and speaks a careless word, and then crosses a hill of poison on iron-shod hands and feet to win him back before a forced wedding takes him forever.

The Brownie of the Lake

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Brownie of the Lake from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When a green-clad brownie secretly does all the farmwork to help an ugly farmhand win the prettiest girl in the parish, she marries the man -- only to discover, too late, that the brownie was the one doing everything, and that tricks played on grateful helpers tend to come back around.

The Winning of Olwen

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Winning of Olwen from Andrew Lang's Lilac Fairy Book

When young Kilweh learns he is fated to win the hand of Olwen, daughter of the fearsome giant Yspaddaden, he rides to King Arthur's court and assembles the finest company in Britain -- then faces a string of impossible tasks that will test every friendship, every skill, and every ounce of courage he has.

Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

In a forest where animals settle every argument with a wager, a quick-witted tortoise outsmarts an elephant and a whale with one rope, outlasts a fox at his own buried-alive contest, and outruns a stag by placing his identical brothers along the track -- but the real show starts when a mischievous monkey, armed with a stolen razor and an eye for opportunity, turns the tables on the same puma who has terrorized the forest for years.

Asmund and Signy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Asmund and Signy from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When a shape-shifting witch tricks a prince into carrying them across the sea inside hollow oak trees, Asmund and his sister Signy must outwit her from inside the garden -- and trust a stranger to believe the truth in time.

Father Grumbler

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Father Grumbler from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A man who grumbles at everything visits a Holy Man and receives three magical gifts -- a food-producing basket, a gold-dropping cock, and a switch that does the arguing for him -- but keeps losing them to the cunning innkeeper and wife who swap fakes while he naps. A warm, funny fairy tale about what happens when you are given every chance and still manage to waste it.

Fortune and the Wood-Cutter

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Fortune and the Wood-Cutter from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A wood-cutter who has worked hard for twenty years without getting ahead decides one morning to stay in bed and let Fortune come to him -- and, to his wife's amazement, something extraordinary does.

Habogi

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Habogi from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When a mysterious whispered voice tells youngest daughter Helga she must marry someone named Habogi -- a name no one has ever heard -- she cannot say otherwise, and on her sisters' wedding morning a rough old peasant arrives to claim her; only when she trusts the voice all the way to the end does she discover who Habogi really is.

How Ball-carrier Finished His Task

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How Ball-carrier Finished His Task from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

After outwitting the Bad One, Ball-carrier settles at home with his family -- but a shape-shifting race against a dangerous witch, an untimely death, and a loyal robin put his spirit and his family's courage to the test before he can finally go home to his parents and rest.

How Geirald the Coward Was Punished

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How Geirald the Coward Was Punished from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

Rosald, a poor knight's son, agrees to let his wealthy companion Geirald take credit for every brave deed they do together -- but a perceptive queen who has been watching all along knows exactly who did what.

How Some Wild Animals Became Tame Ones

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How Some Wild Animals Became Tame Ones from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A rich miller invites the chiefs of the wild animals to his wedding -- and a sharp-eyed boy on the road tries to warn each one what human hospitality really costs.

How the Little Brother Set Free His Big Brothers

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How the Little Brother Set Free His Big Brothers from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When their father's endless greed for bears draws the two eldest brothers into the Bear Chief's mountain prison -- half-boy, half-beast -- the youngest must arm himself with special arrows, call up his dog Redmouth, and face a magic mountain alone to set them free.

Kisa the Cat

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Kisa the Cat from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A smoke-colored cat named Kisa calls herself the princess's sister -- and when a giant leaves Ingibjorg helpless in the forest, Kisa proves it.

Pivi and Kabo

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Pivi and Kabo from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A New Caledonian origin legend in which two companions -- one generous, one envious -- each face the same test of patience and obedience, with very different results: Pivi listens and is transformed, while Kabo rushes and makes himself worse, setting in motion a rivalry that ends in the deep sea.

Rubezahl

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Rubezahl from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When a mountain spirit snatches a princess into his underground palace and fills it with turnip-maidens to keep her company, she sends a magpie to her beloved Prince Ratibor, outwits the spirit with a counting trick, and gallops home on a horse made from a turnip.

The Bunyip

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Bunyip from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When a young hunter refuses to release a creature he has caught from a sacred pool, the waters of the land rise to reclaim it -- and every person who stood by and said nothing is changed forever. A grave and wondrous Australian legend about respect for the natural world, the weight of a single choice, and what we carry home when we take what does not belong to us.

The Cunning Hare

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Cunning Hare from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A young hare must feed his hungry grandmother, so he catches a net full of fish -- but they have no fire to cook them. To get fire he must cross a wide river, talk fifteen whales into forming a bridge, and then talk himself out of a cooking pot. A comic adventure about quick thinking, a grandmother's faith, and one very resourceful hare.

The Elf Maiden

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Elf Maiden from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When one fisherman tricks another into being left behind on a winter island, the stranded man meets an elf maiden who claims him by a drop of blood -- and what follows teaches him that loyalty kept, even in the dark, is the one bond nothing can break.

The Enchanted Head

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Enchanted Head from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A poor woman finds a talking head on a bridge and brings it home -- and the Head turns out to have a great deal to offer, including an impossible wedding proposal for the Sultan's daughter, three miraculous tasks, and one remarkable secret.

The Fox and the Lapp

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Fox and the Lapp from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A restless fox plays dead to steal fish from a Sami sledge-driver, then tricks a bear, a new Lapp, a whole mob of forest animals, a boatman, a salmon, and finally a near-sighted asp -- each scheme more outrageous than the last, every loss somebody else's fault.

The Husband of the Rat's Daughter

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Husband of the Rat's Daughter from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A proud rat mother drags her family from the Sun to the Cloud to the Wind to the Wall in search of the greatest husband in the world -- only to learn that the greatest power of all belongs to the one suitor she started out dismissing.

Story of the King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Story of the King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A king who hears a prophecy he despises spends years trying to outwit it -- arranging imprisonments, poisoned meals, collapsing bridges, and worse -- only to find that the brave and quick-witted young man he fears most keeps surviving everything, and that his own daughter has already solved the whole problem while he was looking the other way.

The Knights of the Fish

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Knights of the Fish from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

Twin brothers born from a magical fish set off in opposite directions, and when one vanishes inside an enchanted black castle, the other must use courage, quick thinking, and a remedy of living flowers to bring his brother -- and every other prisoner -- back to the light.

The Mermaid and the Boy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Mermaid and the Boy from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A prince sent into the world to escape a mermaid's claim earns shape-shifting gifts from a lion, a bear, and a bee -- and must use every one of them to win a princess, outwit a treacherous knight, and find his way home from the bottom of the sea.

The Prince and the Three Fates

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Prince and the Three Fates from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When three fates declare at his birth that a prince must die by crocodile, serpent, or dog, his father locks him in a tower -- but the prince grows up, claims his freedom, and finds a princess clever enough to outwit every fate one by one.

The Sacred Milk of Koumongoe

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sacred Milk of Koumongoe from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When her brother Koane bullies her into tapping the forbidden milk tree Koumongoe, brave Thakane faces the harsh consequences alone -- but her courage and love carry her through the ogre's village, a secret lake, and a daughter hidden beneath the water, until the truth finally brings a family back together.

The Story of the Yara

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Story of the Yara from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

When Alonzo hears strange singing by the river pools at night, his bride-to-be Julia knows the voice at once -- it belongs to the Yara, a spirit of the deep water who enchants young men. Julia gives Alonzo a sea-shell holding her own voice as a counter-charm, but love alone may not be enough if he keeps walking back into the dark.

The Turtle and His Bride

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Turtle and His Bride from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A very slow and very stubborn turtle proposes marriage, leads a hapless army four miles to be stopped by a fallen tree, seizes a bride who never wanted him -- and discovers that a sharp mind is always faster than a shell.

The Wicked Wolverine

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wicked Wolverine from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A wolverine picks a fight with a rock, calls in every favor he has to get free, treats his two sisters badly, and then talks a bear out of a sackful of cranberries -- all without ever admitting that any of it was his own fault.

Story of Wali Dad the Simple-Hearted

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Story of Wali Dad the Simple-Hearted from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A humble grass-cutter with a jar full of saved halfpennies starts a chain of gift-giving between a princess and a prince that grows completely out of hand -- until two Peris from Paradise have to rescue him from the consequences of his own generosity.

What the Rose did to the Cypress

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on What the Rose did to the Cypress from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

A young prince sets out to answer a deadly riddle that has already claimed his two brothers, and discovers that the riddle is not a puzzle to be solved but a secret to be uncovered -- one that takes him across impossible deserts, through the lands of lions and giant birds, and into the farthest city in the world.

Which was the Foolishest?

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Which was the Foolishest? from Andrew Lang's Brown Fairy Book

Two neighbors each insist her own husband is the greater fool, so they set out to prove it -- one convinces her husband he is wearing a magnificent invisible coat, the other convinces hers that he is gravely ill and very nearly dead -- until both schemes collide at the graveyard in a scene nobody in the village will ever forget.

Tom Tit Tot

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Tom Tit Tot from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain English Rumpelstiltskin, Tom Tit Tot: a girl who eats all five pies, a mother who cannot carry a tune or a secret, a king who hears what he wants to hear, and a small black impet with a very long tail and a very short temper. It is warm and genuinely funny -- the stakes are the loss of a fine gown rather than anything dire, and the whole thing turns on guessing one ridiculous little name. A large, flexible-cast piece for a whole class: narrators optional, a chorus of five walking Skeins, and courtiers for as many students as you have. Six scenes, and the last word belongs to your cast.

The Three Sillies

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Sillies from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain The Three Sillies (Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales): a farmer's daughter goes down to the cellar, spots a mallet stuck in a beam, and imagines it falling on a son she does not yet have -- and soon the whole family is weeping in a puddle of spilled beer. Her polite suitor pulls the mallet out, laughs, and vows to marry her only after he finds three people sillier than her family. He finds them at once -- a woman sending her cow up a ladder to graze on the roof, a man taking a running jump at his trousers, and a whole village raking the pond to fish out the Moon. Six warm, genuinely funny scenes for a big flexible class -- Villagers and Narrators for as many students as you have, and a Cow Woman, a Trouser Traveller, and a pond crowd that split and double easily. It ends with the wedding and Jacobs's own wink, then hands your cast the last word.

Mr. Vinegar

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Mr. Vinegar from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain noodlehead comedy 'Mr. Vinegar' (Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales): a house made from a giant vinegar bottle, swept clean right off its feet; a door carried on one man's back; a tree, a band of not-very-scary robbers, and forty gold guineas that fall out of pure dumb luck; and then the great chain of terrible trades -- forty guineas for a cow, the cow for bagpipes he cannot play, the bagpipes for gloves, the gloves for a stick, and the stick lost to a laughing parrot. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open fair full of townsfolk and children, extra robbers if you have them. Warm and genuinely funny, with Mr. Vinegar the sunniest fool alive and Mrs. Vinegar's scolding turned to one enormous, world-weary sigh. It ends on a penniless, cheerful walk into tomorrow, then hands your cast the last word.

Cap o' Rushes

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Cap o' Rushes from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain English tale Cap o' Rushes (Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales): a father asks his three daughters how much they love him, and the youngest answers 'as fresh meat loves salt' -- so he shuts the door on her. She weaves a cloak of rushes, scrubs pots in a great house under the name Cap o' Rushes, slips away to three dances in her fine clothes, and drops a ring into a bowl of gruel to mend a heartsick young man. It ends at a wedding feast cooked without a single grain of salt, where a father finally tastes what his daughter meant and takes her back. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- seven named roles around an open ensemble of maids, servants, and dancers, narrators optional. Warm and gently funny, it keeps the classic reconciliation, then hands your cast the last word.

Master of All Masters

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Master of All Masters from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain nonsense tale 'Master of All Masters' from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales: a hard-working girl hires on with a funny old gentleman who keeps his own private names for everything -- he is 'master of all masters,' his bed is a 'barnacle,' his trousers are 'squibs and crackers,' the cat is 'white-faced simminy,' the fire is 'hot cockalorum,' the water is 'pondalorum,' and the whole house is a 'high topper mountain.' Your class learns every silly word right along with her -- and a good thing too, because when a spark lands on the cat's tail she has to shout the whole ridiculous string in one enormous breath. Four short scenes built for a big, flexible class: a narrator or two, three named parts, a scene-stealing cat, and an open chorus that becomes the whole learning class. It ends the moment the day is saved, then hands your cast the last word.

Johnny-Cake

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Johnny-Cake from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain runaway-cake tale 'Johnny-Cake' from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales -- England's cousin to the Gingerbread Man. A fresh-baked Johnny-cake pops out of the oven and rolls off down the road, outracing an old man, an old woman, a little boy, two well-diggers, two ditch-diggers, a bear, and a wolf, crowing 'I can outrun you too-o-o!' at every one of them -- until a lazy old fox by the fence pretends he is far too deaf to hear, coaxes the boastful cake closer and closer, and settles the whole race with one clever question. We keep the chase and the boast exactly, and land the ending as pure comedy: the fox never runs a step, he just outsmarts a cake that talked too much. Four fast scenes for a big, flexible class -- a narrator, seven named parts, and unison digger-teams you can fill with as many students as you have. It ends on the fox's grin, then hands your cast the last word.

The Old Woman and Her Pig

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Old Woman and Her Pig from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

The best-loved cumulative chant on the whole shelf, staged for a big, flexible class: an old woman finds a crooked sixpence, buys a little pig, and the pig plants its feet and will NOT go over the stile. So she asks a dog, a stick, a fire, some water, an ox, a butcher, a rope, and a rat for help -- and every single one says a flat, comic 'But it wouldn't' and joins a growing line of stubborn Refusers. Then a cat strikes a bargain (one saucer of milk), a cow strikes a bargain (one handful of hay), and the whole line topples over like happy dominoes and the pig finally hops home. Every 'bite' and 'hang' is a threat that never, ever happens -- the joke is that nobody will do the mean thing until a saucer of milk changes everybody's mind at once. Five scenes, a chant that grows one link longer every round, and a whole-room call-and-response your audience can chant along with. Roles double freely, so it runs lean or as big as a whole grade.

Henny-Penny

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Henny-Penny from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Henny-Penny (the sky-is-falling / Chicken-Little tale from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales): one acorn bonks one excitable hen on the head, and off the whole barnyard marches to warn the king that the sky is falling. Warm and genuinely funny, with the classic cumulative names and refrain kept intact -- Henny-Penny, Cocky-Locky, Ducky-Daddles, Goosey-Poosey, and Turkey-Lurkey, gathering one by one, plus the sly Foxy-Woxy and his cozy little shortcut. Five short scenes for a big, flexible class -- narrators optional and a whole flock of extra birds if you have them. In our version the fox's trick is FOILED: a loud rooster's crow warns everyone in time, all five scramble out of the cave safe, and the flock learns not to panic over an acorn and not to follow a stranger into the dark. Nobody is harmed. Then it hands your cast the last word.

Molly Whuppie

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Molly Whuppie from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Molly Whuppie' (Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales): three lost sisters, a giant who says 'Fee, fie, fo, fum' and means it, a clever youngest girl who swaps straw for gold in the dark, and the famous Bridge of One Hair that a giant is far too big and heavy to cross. Molly outwits the bumbling giant three times over -- carrying off his sword, his purse, and his ring -- and wins a husband for each of her sisters and, at last, for herself. Six scenes for a large, flexible class, with the giant played big and loud and never truly scary, nobody hurt, and every threat turned to comedy. It ends on Molly's triumphant last dash across the bridge, then hands your cast the final word.

Lazy Jack

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Lazy Jack from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain noodlehead comedy Lazy Jack (Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales): a warm, do-nothing boy takes a new odd job every day, and every day carries his wages home exactly the wrong way -- a penny lost in a brook, milk poured into his pocket, a cream cheese melted in his hair, a cat that will not be cuddled, a mutton dragged through the mud, and at last a whole donkey hoisted onto his shoulders with its legs kicking at the sky. Six short scenes built on an escalating carry-it-wrong gag chain and a running 'you should have...' joke, paying off when a girl who has never once laughed sees Jack and his backwards donkey and finally bursts out laughing. Flexible cast -- five named roles around an open crowd of Employers, so every student gets a job.

Kate Crackernuts

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Kate Crackernuts from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Scottish tale Kate Crackernuts (Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales): two step-sisters who love each other more than any castle, a jealous queen and her henwife, a prince who vanishes each midnight to dance himself sick inside a green fairy hill, a pocketful of magic nuts, a stolen silver wand, and a little birdie -- and one brave sister who cures them both. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open fairy dance chorus, and a birdie any student can play. The loyalty of sisters is the beating heart of it; it ends on the double wedding, then hands your cast the last word.

The Well of the World's End

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Well of the World's End from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain English folktale 'The Well of the World's End' (Joseph Jacobs): a cruel stepmother hands a kind girl a sieve full of holes and sends her to fetch water from the end of the world; a bent old woman shows the road, a goggle-eyed frog trades the secret -- moss and clay -- for one honest promise, and that night the frog comes tap-tapping at the door, singing 'Open the door, my hinny, my heart.' Warm and genuinely funny, with a girl who keeps her word even when it is hard, a stepmother who cannot find a foothold for her own bad temper, and a frog with beautiful manners. Five scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, a crowd of travelers on the road, and the soft Voices of the Well for as many students as you have. The spell breaks through kindness, not a blade, and it hands your cast the last word.

The Three Heads of the Well

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Three Heads of the Well from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own warm stage version of the old English kind-and-unkind tale: a gentle princess, driven from home by a chilly stepmother, shares her one bag of bread with a hungry stranger on the road, cuts through a thorny hedge with a borrowed wand, and finds a well where three golden heads rise up singing 'Wash me, and comb me, and lay me down softly.' She treats them tenderly, and they wish her a glad face, a sweet voice, and a king to marry -- while her rude stepsister makes the very same journey with a hamper of cakes and a closed hand, and earns a gentler, funnier comeuppance instead. Six scenes for a large, flexible class, with singing well-heads, open narrator parts, and a fair full of dancers -- ending on the tale's real lesson (kindness runs downhill and pools where it started) before handing your cast the last word.

The Field of Boliauns

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Field of Boliauns from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Irish comedy: young Tom Fitzpatrick catches a tiny leprechaun shoemaker at his workbench and will not let go, because everybody knows a leprechaun who is caught must show you his gold. The little fellow tries every trick to make Tom look away -- a beer brewed from heath, a warning that the cows are in the oats, a bee on the hat -- but Tom keeps his eyes locked and marches his prize to a field of ragwort weeds. There is a crock of gold under one weed, so Tom ties his red garter around it, makes the leprechaun swear not to touch it, and runs home for a spade -- and comes back to a whole field wearing red garters and a leprechaun long gone. Five short scenes for a big flexible class, with an open field of weeds who get the last laugh and narrators for as many students as you have. It ends on the classic outfoxed grumble, then hands your cast the last word.

Munachar and Manachar

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Munachar and Manachar from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Irish chain tale (Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales): Munachar picks the raspberries, Manachar eats them -- every one -- and Munachar sets off comically cross to find a switch for a Good Talking-To. But the switch sends him to an axe, the axe to a stone, the stone to a brook, and on and on through a deer, a hound, some butter, a cat, a cow, the threshers, and the miller, until a two-word crow saves the day. Then the whole chain comes roaring home as a growing whole-class chant -- and the talking-to that started it all never actually happens, because the two are friends by the last raspberry. Five short scenes built for a big, flexible class: narrators optional, threshers for as many students as you have, and a Chain that grows every round so everyone chants together. It ends warm and silly, then hands your cast the last word.

King O'Toole and His Goose

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on King O'Toole and his Goose from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Irish legend King O'Toole and His Goose (from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales): a fine old king, too stiff now to hunt, is kept company by a beloved pet goose who fishes his lake and flies loops just to cheer him -- until the goose grows old too and can fly no more. A kind young stranger named Kevin offers to make the goose good as new, for the price of all the ground she flies over, and the king gives his word 'honor bright.' Warm and genuinely funny, told by a folksy Storyteller who has heard it a hundred times and loves it still, with a goose who talks back, a king who forgets nothing but his own aches, and a stranger who turns out to be testing one thing only: whether an honest man keeps a hard promise. Five short scenes for a big, flexible class -- Storytellers optional and split as many ways as you like, plus Townsfolk, Lake Birds, and Fish for as many students as you have. It ends on the warm note of a kept word and a renewed friendship, then hands your cast the last word.

Jack and his Comrades

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Jack and his Comrades from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Irish tale (Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales) -- the Emerald-Isle cousin of the Bremen Town Musicians. Kind-hearted Jack sets off to seek his fortune with his mother's blessing and gathers a band of down-on-their-luck animals he rescues along the road: a bog-stuck ass, a kettle-chased dog, a starving cat, and a rooster snatched from a fox. Footsore and homeless at nightfall, they stack themselves into a swaying tower at a robbers' window, let loose one glorious four-part racket, and send the whole gang bolting into the wood -- then, when the boldest robber sneaks back in the dark, each comrade frightens him off in turn. Six comic, bloodless scenes for a big, flexible class -- robbers, village children, and townsfolk for as many students as you have -- ending with the stolen gold carried honestly home. Then it hands your cast the last word.

The Sprightly Tailor

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Sprightly Tailor from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Scottish tale: a cheerful tailor named Angus takes a dare from the Laird Macdonald to sew a pair of trews all night, alone, in a spooky old church -- for a bag of gold. As he stitches, a big grumbly creature rises up out of the stone floor one piece at a time (a head, a neck, a chest, two arms, a stomping leg), booming its questions -- but Angus never stops sewing, and the whole audience helps him answer: "I see that, but I'll sew this!" He finishes just in time, races the Grumbler down the glen, slams the castle gate, and wins his reward. Four scenes, mild-spooky and comic (never frightening), built around a chant the whole room can shout. Four named roles plus an open, flexible ensemble of castle folk, owls, and glen echoes -- from a handful of students to a whole grade. It ends on the classic reward, then hands your cast the last word.

The Lad with the Goat-Skin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Lad with the Goat-Skin from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our warm and funny stage version of the public-domain Irish tale (Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales): good-hearted Tom, raised in the woods in a goat-skin, wins a magic oak club from a giant, then heads to Dublin to make the Princess who has not laughed in seven years laugh three times. He tips teasing guards in the canal without a scratch, sends swaggering swordsmen tumbling into a harmless heap, plays a fife that sets a whole yard -- wolf and all -- dancing, and finally cures a sour rival's scorched fingers to earn the third and biggest laugh. Six scenes for a big, flexible class: giants can be one actor in different hats or three students, and guards, swordsmen, courtiers, and imps stretch to as many players as you have. A lovable-lug comedy that stays completely bloodless, and hands your cast the last word.

The Lambikin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Lambikin from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Indian folk tale 'The Lambikin' (Joseph Jacobs): a wee, wee lamb skips off to Granny's to fatten up, and every hungry animal on the forest road -- a clever Jackal, a dignified Vulture, a vain Tiger, a shivering Wolf, a far-sighted Eagle -- means to eat him, until he begs off with a cheeky little song and a very large plan. Warm and genuinely funny, with the hungry animals foolish more than fierce (nobody is ever eaten), a Granny with exactly the right little drum, and a lamb who rolls home singing. Four scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open forest chorus of trees and birds, and one curious beetle who never says a word. It ends safe at Granny's, then hands your cast the last 'Tum-pa, tum-too.'

The Broken Pot

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Broken Pot from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Indian folktale 'The Broken Pot' (Joseph Jacobs, Indian Fairy Tales): Ramesh, a poor but good-hearted Brahman, saves a pot of leftover rice, hangs it on a peg above his sleeping mat, and lies awake spinning it into a fortune -- sell the rice for a hundred rupees, buy goats, then cows, then buffaloes, then horses, grow rich, build a house with four wings, marry, and dance his little son Somasarman on his knee -- until he gets so carried away that one big triumphant sweep of his arms knocks the whole daydream down and buries him in rice. Warm and genuinely funny, with a worried talking Pot, a neighbor who keeps both feet on the ground, and a daydream parade the whole class can join as goats, cows, horses, and wedding guests. Flexible cast, four named roles, and a gentle lesson about counting your chickens too soon -- then it hands your cast the last word.

The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own warm and funny stage version of the public-domain Indian tale: a kind-hearted Brahman is talked into freeing a caged tiger, who promptly announces it is lunchtime. They agree to ask the first three things they meet whether that is fair -- and a grumpy Pipal Tree, a weary Buffalo, and a much-trampled Road all grumble that no good deed is ever repaid. Just when it looks hopeless, along trots a Jackal who simply cannot seem to understand the story, no matter how many times it is explained, until the exasperated Tiger climbs back into the cage to show exactly how it happened -- and CLICK. Six short scenes for a flexible class, with three scene-stealing witness parts made for the ensemble. Bloodless and comic: the Tiger is never harmed, only out-argued. It ends with a wink, then hands your cast the last word.

The Charmed Ring

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Charmed Ring from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain tale The Charmed Ring, from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales: a merchant's kind-hearted son spends every last rupee to buy the freedom of a mistreated dog, cat, and snake -- and the grateful snake, a hidden prince, rewards him with a wish-granting ring that raises a house and a golden-haired princess out of thin air. When a trickster steals the ring and carries the whole household away, it is the loyal Cat and Dog who set out to win it back, outwitting a burrow of rats and learning, midstream, that they get farther together than apart. Six warm scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, and herders, villagers, and a whole wedding of rats for as many students as you have. It ends on the classic note that a kindness given comes home again, then hands your cast the last word.

The Talkative Tortoise

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Talkative Tortoise from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our warm, funny stage version of the public-domain Jataka fable from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales: a good-hearted tortoise who truly cannot stop talking, the two wild geese who befriend him, and their clever plan to fly him home to their golden mountain cave -- he bites the middle of a stick, they carry the ends, and there is just one rule, which is that he must not say a single word. You can guess how that goes. As they sail over a busy market town, the crowd below points and marvels and teases, and the tortoise simply must answer back -- so he opens his mouth, lets go, and tumbles down into a giant haystack with a comical POOF, unhurt but deeply embarrassed. Four short scenes for a large, flexible class, with narrators optional and a wide-open crowd of townsfolk who all get to look up and gasp. The moral of the old tale is intact -- there is a time to speak and a time to be quiet -- and the ending is handed to your cast.

A Lesson for Kings

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on A Lesson for Kings from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Jataka tale from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales: two good kings, ruling so fairly that their courtrooms empty out, each set off in disguise to hunt for their own faults -- and meet head-on in a cart-track so narrow that neither chariot can pass. Their charioteers weigh the two kings against each other (same age, same army, same gold, right down the line) until only one question is left: not which king is bigger, but which is kinder. One king's herald boasts that his master answers rudeness with rudeness; the other answers anger with calm, meanness with gifts, and lies with the truth -- and the proud king, hearing it, humbly gives way and drives home wiser. Five short scenes for a big, flexible class, with two royal retinues, judges, guards, and townsfolk as an open crowd. It ends on the gentle 'answer harshness with kindness' note, then hands your cast the last word.

Fair, Brown, and Trembling

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Fair, Brown, and Trembling from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our stage version of the public-domain Irish Cinderella, "Fair, Brown, and Trembling," from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales: three sisters, a youngest kept home from church, and an old henwife with a cloak of darkness who wishes up a white dress, then black satin, then rose-and-snow -- over three Sundays, with a milk-white, a coal-black, and a diamond-spotted mare to match, a singing honey-bird, a lost shoe, and a prince flat on his back holding it. Then a comic, lonely sea-monster who gulps people only to have someone to talk to, a small cowboy who witnesses everything, and a rescue that runs on a silver whistle and one very ticklish spot. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- eight named roles around an open crowd of churchgoers, princes, horses, and rolling waves. It ends warm and forgiving, then hands your cast the last word.

The Tale of Ivan

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Tale of Ivan from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Welsh tale 'The Tale of Ivan' (Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales): Ivan works three years for a farmer and, each year, trades his wages for a single piece of advice -- keep to the old road, do not lodge in an unhappy house, and honesty is the best policy. On the long walk home, every counsel he was tempted to laugh off turns out to save the day, and a plain little cake from the farmer's wife holds a surprise he is told not to open until he is home and happy. Warm and a touch funny, with a stubborn-but-good-hearted Ivan, a wife who keeps her promises, three merchants who learn to listen, and dangers kept light and off-stage. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, robbers heard but never seen -- ending on Ivan's own 'Honesty is the best policy,' then handing your cast the last word.

The Brewery of Eggshells

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Brewery of Eggshells from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our warm and comic stage version of the Welsh changeling tale from Joseph Jacobs's public-domain Celtic Fairy Tales: a mother's two fat, happy babies are secretly swapped by the Blue Petticoat fairies for two changelings -- tiny fairy grumps in baby bonnets who talk like old men and never grow an inch. When the great household strife gets too loud, the Wise Man of Llanidloes hands the mother the silliest test in the world: pretend to brew a whole harvest dinner inside one empty eggshell, and listen. The proud little changelings cannot bear the nonsense -- they blurt out the giveaway rhyme, the fairies gladly bring the real babies home, and the strife ends. Five scenes for a flexible class, narrators optional, with reapers and a whirl of fairies for as many students as you have. No baby ever comes to harm. It ends on the happy homecoming, then hands your cast the last word.

The Magpie's Nest

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Magpie's Nest from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Every bird in the sky comes to Madge Magpie -- the cleverest nest-builder of all -- to learn how it's really done. She teaches it step by step: mud, twigs, more mud, twigs round the outside, a cozy lining. But one by one each bird decides it already knows enough and flaps off early -- the thrush after the mud, the blackbird after the twigs, the owl after 'that's obvious,' the sparrow forever crowing 'that's exactly what I thought' -- until only a dreamy turtle-dove is left, cooing 'Take two, Taffy, take two-o-o-o.' A warm, very funny pourquoi tale about why every bird builds a different nest, and only the magpie's is truly finished. Big flexible flock: as many bird students as you have.

Why the Fish Laughed

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Why the Fish Laughed from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the clever-girl riddle tale 'Why the Fish Laughed' (from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales): a fisherwoman's big silver fish laughs out loud at the Queen's simple question, the King demands to know why, and his worried minister has no idea at all. The answer is found not by any wise man but by an old farmer's sharp-witted daughter, who unravels a whole chain of riddles -- a field that is 'eaten,' a little knife worth two horses, a busy town that is really a graveyard -- and then solves the laughing fish itself. Six scenes for a large, flexible class, set with respect in an Indian court long ago -- ten speaking parts and open room for as much court and village as you have. It ends on the girl's quiet cleverness winning the day, then hands your cast the last word.

How the Wicked Sons Were Duped

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How the Wicked Sons were Duped from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our warm and gently funny stage version of the public-domain Indian folktale from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales: a wealthy old merchant named Ramdas gives his whole fortune to his three sons, who promptly forget him -- no blanket, no warm rice, no kind word. Then his oldest friend, Uncle Bihari, arrives with a wonderfully wicked plan and a very heavy locked box that rattles like a hoard of gold (it is really stones, gravel, and a few coins on top). The old man counts it aloud, lets slip that it will go to whichever son treats him best, and locks it tight -- and suddenly he is the most fussed-over grandfather in town. Five scenes for a flexible class, comic and kind, with a tender off-stage passing years later and a note in the box that turns the joke into a real lesson: the ones who cared for us first should never be cared for last. It ends on that note, then hands your cast the last word.

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the Irish tale Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree (Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales) -- a Snow-White cousin with an honest trout, a jealous queen, and a sea between them. When a truth-telling fish keeps saying that Princess Gold-Tree is fairer than her mother Queen Silver-Tree, the queen's jealousy sends the princess off to marry a prince far across the water. A sleeping-thorn, a locked tower room, and the Prince's sharp-eyed sister Rowan carry the story to a warm ending where the queen is caught in her own trick and Gold-Tree still leaves a place at the table. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open ensemble of sailors, servants, reeds and frogs, and a scene-stealing trout who always gets the last word. It ends on a forgiving note, then hands your cast the final scene.

The Magic Fiddle

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Magic Fiddle from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our stage version of "The Magic Fiddle," a Santal tale from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales, told with care and a warm heart. Amala keeps her family's home so well that her two sisters-in-law grow envious and lead her deep into the forest, then slip away and leave her lost. A kindly river-spirit hides her safe inside the tall bamboo as a sleeping reed -- an enchantment, not an ending -- until a wandering fiddler cuts the reed and finds it can only sing the truth. When the fiddle sings her story in the village square, her brother knows her voice, the sisters-in-law are gently shamed, and the whole family goes to the river to open the door in the reeds and call Amala home. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- a reed chorus and as many villagers as you have, narrators welcome. It ends on reunion and forgiveness, then hands your cast the last word.

The Son of Seven Queens

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Son of Seven Queens from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain tale from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales: a good king with seven queens is dazzled by a newcomer who arrives as a white hind, and under her spell he lets her shut the seven queens away in an old tower behind an enchantment of darkness. But the youngest queen's little son is born in that tower, works a stone loose, and grows up slipping in and out to feed his seven mothers -- until the day a jealous magic starts sending him off on one impossible errand after another. Lucky for him, the cleverest princess in the land can read the sly notes he cannot, and quietly turns every trap into a gift. Six scenes for a large, flexible class, with seven queens, a court, townsfolk, and a crowd of shy guardians -- narrators optional, ensemble as big as your grade. Nobody is harmed and nobody is lost: the spell of darkness breaks, the queens see the daylight and their boy again, the newcomer's illusions melt away, and the king wakes as if from a long dream. It ends on the family made whole, then hands your cast the last word.

How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Jacobs tale: a boy named Jack sets off to seek his fortune and picks up a whole parade of loud friends on the road -- a cat, a dog, a goat, a bull, and a very vain rooster -- each one asking 'May I go with you?' and getting the same answer: the more the merrier. When night falls they find a house full of robbers, scare them off by making every noise at once, and then, in the dark, each animal gives the returning robber a welcome he will never forget. Warm and genuinely funny, with a bickering rooster, a goat who keeps stealing the whistle, and a fortune Jack didn't know he was building the whole way. Four scenes that scale from a small group to a whole class -- narrators optional, extra robbers welcome -- and it ends on the classic keep-the-house note, then hands your cast the last word.

The Ass, the Table, and the Stick

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Ass, the Table, and the Stick from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain magic-gifts comedy The Ass, the Table, and the Stick (Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales): warm-hearted Jack sets off to earn enough to marry his best friend Rose, and works a year and a day at a time for the oddest wages -- a donkey named Neddy who brays gold coins, and a plain little table that lays a whole feast the moment you say, "Table, be covered!" Twice a sneaky innkeeper swaps the real magic gift for a fake while Jack sleeps, and twice Jack trudges home with a dud. Then Jack earns one last wonder -- a comic stick that bounces after any rascal on the command "Up stick -- and after him!" -- and herds the ticklish innkeeper in circles until every stolen treasure is handed back. Six short scenes on an escalating swap-the-gift gag chain, ending rich, married, and merry. Flexible cast -- nine named roles (Neddy the gold-braying ass included) around an open crowd of Inn Guests and Townsfolk, so every student gets a spot.

Connla and the Fairy Maiden

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Connla and the Fairy Maiden from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own gentle stage version of the old Irish wonder-tale. Connla of the Fiery Hair, a young prince, is visited on a hilltop by a maiden from the Land of the Ever-Living -- a bright stranger only he can see or hear. She invites him to a land with no sorrow in it; the king's druid chants her away, but not before she rolls Connla an apple that stays whole no matter how much he eats. A month later she returns with a little crystal boat, and Connla must choose. It is a quiet, wondering piece with no villain and no violence, and the parting is played as hope, not grief. A flexible one-act for a whole class: two or three narrators, courtiers for as many students as you have, and one lovely unseen role for a voice from offstage or on. The last word belongs to your cast.

A Legend of Knockmany

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on A Legend of Knockmany from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain Irish giant tale: the great Fin M'Coul is building the Giant's Causeway when he hears that the mighty Cucullin -- who flattens thunderbolts with his fist and has beaten every giant but Fin -- is coming to fight him. Fin does the bravest thing he can think of: he runs home to his clever wife Oonagh, who dresses him up as their own enormous baby, tucks him in a giant cradle, and out-thinks Cucullin without a single punch. She bakes iron griddles into the bread so the boastful giant breaks his teeth, feeds the soft loaf to 'the baby,' and sets up the finger-bite that fizzles Cucullin's magic strength clean away. Four scenes, all comedy -- nobody fights, wit wins. Four named roles (Fin, Oonagh, Cucullin, and a Narrator you can split or skip) around an open, flexible ensemble of Causeway workers, neighbours, and the wind on the hill -- from a handful of students to a whole grade. It ends on the classic clever-wife victory, then hands your cast the last word.

Harisarman

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Harisarman from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our stage version of the public-domain comedy "Harisarman," from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales: a poor, forgotten man who never gets fed at the big feast decides, one hungry night, to tell everyone he is a mighty magician -- and then has to keep it up. His wife, the actual genius of the household, hides the son-in-law's wedding horse so her husband can grandly "divine" it back; and when the king's treasure vanishes and Harisarman is locked in a room to find it or else, he saves himself twice by pure dumb luck -- once by scolding his own tongue just as a thief named Tongue is listening at the door, and once by mourning his childhood nickname, "Froggie," over a covered pitcher that happens to hold a frog. Six scenes for a big, flexible class -- seven named roles around an open crowd of feasters, searchers, guards, and townsfolk, with a booming king whose threats are all thunder and a minister who is SO close to catching on. It ends warm and honest at the supper table, then hands your cast the last word.

The Soothsayer's Son

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Soothsayer's Son from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales

Our own stage version of the public-domain tale The Soothsayer's Son, from Joseph Jacobs's Indian Fairy Tales: a soothsayer leaves his younger son no gold at all -- only a written horoscope promising poverty, ten shut-away years, a fall by the sea, and happiness after. Setting out for Benares, Gangazara lowers his water pot into a ruined well and lifts out a grateful Tiger King, Serpent King, and Rat King -- and, against every warning, a goldsmith too, because he will not leave anyone in the dark. When the goldsmith's cold heart lands him in a ten-year cell, it is those animal friends who keep him alive and win his freedom, and it is his own stubborn kindness -- pardoning the man who wronged him -- that turns the last line of the prophecy true. Six warm scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, and villagers, guards, rats, and sleepers for as many students as you have. It ends on the classic note that a kindness let down into the dark climbs back up to you, then hands your cast the last word.

Sadko and the Tzar of the Sea

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Sadko' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

Sadko is the poorest gusli-player in Novgorod, and everybody knows it, and everybody says so. But he loves the little river Volkhov more than any girl in town, and the little river, it turns out, has a father -- the enormous, blue-haired Tzar of the Sea, who would very much like Sadko to come and play a tune. A wager over a fish with golden fins, a coffer of jewels, a voyage that stops dead in the middle of the ocean, and a whole undersea court that dances until the waves roll as big as houses. A big-cast movement piece with a warm, dry heart.

The Three Men of Power -- Evening, Midnight, and Sunrise

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Three Men of Power--Evening, Midnight, and Sunrise' from Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome (1916)

Three brothers born in a single night -- Evening at dusk, Midnight on the stroke of twelve, and Sunrise at the first gray light -- ride out to bring home three princesses a whirlwind snatched from the King's garden. There is a hut in the forest, a man one yard high with a beard seven yards long and a very short temper, and three underground palaces of copper, silver, and gold. It comes with a proverb about fording rivers, a stove that gets blamed for everything, and a rescue that nearly goes wrong at the top of a rope. Bring a long false beard and a great deal of nerve.

True and Untrue

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'True and Untrue' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

Two brothers set out to earn their bread: True, who is exactly what he sounds like, and Untrue, who eats his brother's lunch and then some. Left lost in the dark wood, True climbs into a great lime-tree and overhears four woodland animals trading the best gossip in the kingdom -- which turns out to be worth rather a lot. A play about a spring hidden under a stone, a gold chain buried round an orchard, a princess who lost her voice, and the plain fact that good luck sticks to the folk who earn it.

The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A king has seven sons and cannot bear to lose track of a single one, so naturally six of them ride off to find brides and forget to bring one home for the youngest. When a giant turns all six brothers and their brides to stone, it is up to Boots -- armed with a broken-down horse and a suspicious amount of leftover lunch -- to save them. He shares his food with a starving raven, a stranded salmon, and a wolf who eats his horse, and every single one of them turns out to be worth it. A big, warm quest with a giant who keeps his heart in an egg, a princess who is very good at lying about magpies, and three animals nobody thought would come in handy.

Shortshanks

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Shortshanks' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A boy who can talk before he can walk packs a lunch and leaves home the same morning he is born. Armed with a sword he haggled off a one-eyed hag and a ship that folds up in his pocket, Shortshanks saves a princess from three enormous ogres at the shore -- while a knight named Ritter Red watches safely from a tree and takes all the credit. It takes one spilled cup of wine, three robes falling off at dinner, and a batch of ale far too strong to drink to set the record straight.

The Widow's Son and the Grateful Horse

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Widow's Son' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A poor widow's son takes what sounds like the easiest job in the world -- keep a strange master company, touch nothing, open none of the four locked rooms -- and of course opens all four. Behind the last door waits a black horse with very firm opinions about where the hay ought to go, and a plan to get them both out alive. What follows: a golden secret hidden under a wig of moss, a three-legged horse stuck fast in a bog, and the worst-dressed hero ever to win a war.

Katie Woodencloak

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Katie Woodencloak' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

A starved princess, a magnificent talking bull, and three whole woods made of copper, silver, and gold -- what could possibly go wrong? (She touches a leaf. In every single wood.) This is the Norse Cinderella: a girl who hides inside a wooden cloak, scrubs pots for a rude prince who keeps throwing bathwater at her, and then turns up at three grand feasts in gowns that outshine the chandeliers. There is a lost golden shoe, a tattletale bird, and a stepsister who really should not have stuffed that shoe with wool.

The Big Bird Dan

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Big Bird Dan' from Popular Tales from the Norse (Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent)

Twelve princesses walk out at noon and simply do not come home. Twelve princes sail off to find them under a captain named Ritter Red, who is astonishingly brave the moment a storm ends. It falls to the youngest prince -- the only one who can never sleep -- to do the actual rescuing, with help from a kindly troll, an iron boat that sails itself, and one enormous bird who will not lift a feather until he has had four barrels of rye for breakfast.

My Lord Bag of Rice

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'My Lord Bag of Rice' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

A warrior who cannot sit still steps right over a fire-breathing serpent because walking around it seemed rude. The serpent turns out to be the Dragon King of Lake Biwa, who has a monster problem and exactly three arrows worth of hope. Dancing goldfish, a herald who announces everything, and a bag of rice that refuses to run out.

The South-Pointing Carriage

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The 'Shinansha,' or the South Pointing Carriage' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

Emperor Kotei can invent his way out of almost anything -- a stuck door, a leaky roof, a rebel magician who hides the entire battlefield inside a fog. When the iron-headed Shiyu keeps vanishing into the mist, Kotei builds a small wooden figure whose arm always, always points south, and a war of swords becomes a contest of patience. A comedy of tinkering, two scribes who keep running out of scroll, and one extremely well-timed spider.

Kintaro, the Golden Boy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

A boy raised alone on Mount Ashigara is so strong he can pull a tree out of the ground with three tugs -- and his best friends are a bear, a deer, a monkey, and a very sensitive hare. When Kintaro stages a wrestling tournament on a grassy hilltop, a disguised general watches from a rock and decides this Golden Boy belongs in the wide world. Warm, gentle, and built for a whole class of forest animals to wrestle, cheer, and take a bow.

The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Story of the Man who did not Wish to Die' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

Sentaro is thirty-two, comfortable, and one morning is struck by the appalling news that everyone eventually dies -- including him. So he goes looking for the secret of living forever, which lands him (by paper crane) in a country where nobody CAN die and everybody desperately wishes they could, eating poison for supper and putting their names on the waiting list for gray hair. Three hundred very long years later, Sentaro finally works out what an ordinary human life is worth. A gentle, funny tale about wanting the wrong thing until you have it.

The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

An old man who cuts bamboo for a living splits open a glowing stalk and finds a three-inch girl inside, which is a lot to happen before breakfast. She grows into Princess Kaguya, so lovely that five lords and the Emperor himself come courting -- so she sends each suitor after an impossible treasure and waits, politely, to see who lies about it. A warm, dry, wistful comedy that ends with a chariot from the moon and nobody quite ready to say good-by.

The Mirror of Matsuyama

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Mirror of Matsuyama. A Story of Old Japan' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

A mirror comes home from the capital, and the mother who has never seen one is quite certain a polite stranger is living inside it. Two figures carved on the BACK of that mirror -- an old pine and a fussy stork, both alive for roughly a thousand years and planning to keep going -- narrate the gentlest story in the whole book: a daughter, a promise, and a face in the glass that a jealous stepmother mistakes for a curse. Warm, dry, and low-stakes. No villain stays a villain, and everyone ends the play loved.

The Sagacious Monkey and the Boar

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Sagacious Monkey and the Boar' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

An old performing monkey has forgotten his best tricks and his showman-master has run out of patience. Overhearing that he is about to be sent away, the monkey goes to the wisest animal in the forest -- a wild boar who is dangerously easy to flatter -- and together they cook up a rescue so daring, so heroic, and so completely staged that the whole village falls for it. A warm, dry comedy about worth, old age, and one baby who thinks the whole plan is the best morning of his life.

The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

Two brothers trade jobs for a single day, which goes exactly as well as you would expect: the mountain hunter loses his brother the fisher his one precious fish-hook somewhere at the bottom of the sea. To get it back, the hunter rides a wicker basket down to the Dragon King of the Sea, marries a sea-princess, and comes home three years later with two jewels that can call the tide in and send it out again -- which turns out to be a very persuasive way to end an argument.

The Old Man Who Made Withered Trees Bloom

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Story of the Old Man who made Withered Trees to Flower' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

A kind old couple own nothing much except a small white dog named Shiro and the good sense to love him. Shiro digs up a fortune, a magic rice-cake mortar turns up, and a jar of plain gray ashes makes dead cherry trees explode into spring -- while the envious neighbor next door borrows every single blessing and ruins it on the spot. A gentle, funny tale about kindness that keeps blooming, and a greedy man who finally learns to say please.

The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

A sly monkey talks a trusting crab into trading her fat rice-ball for a single hard seed -- then, when that seed grows into a tree heavy with persimmons, he eats every good one himself and pelts the crab with the green ones. Bad idea. The crab has a family, and the family has friends: a chestnut with a very short fuse, a bee with a long memory, a mortar who has been waiting his whole life for exactly one moment, and a lump of cow-dung nobody thought to invite. A dry, warm comedy about fairness -- and about what happens when the small and the overlooked decide to stand together.

The White Hare of Inaba

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The White Hare and the Crocodiles' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

A hare who cannot cross the sea and cannot stop counting talks a whole line of crocodiles into holding still and being a bridge. It works perfectly, right up until he brags one leap too soon. Then come the eighty grand brothers with terrible advice, and one plain fellow at the back carrying an enormous bag -- who turns out to be the kindest god in the province.

Momotaro, the Peach Boy

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

An old couple who wanted a child fish a peach the size of a wheelbarrow out of the river -- and it says wait a bit. The boy inside grows up in a hurry, packs a bag of millet dumplings, and sets off for Ogre Island with a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant who cannot stop arguing about the seating order. The ogres are enormous; the dumplings are excellent; the math works out.

The Ogre of Rashomon

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Ogre of Rashomon' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

Kyoto has an ogre problem at the Rashomon gate, and the knight Watanabe has a pride problem at the dinner table -- so of course he rides out alone into a thunderstorm to prove there is nothing to be afraid of. There is, in fact, something to be afraid of. He brings home a very large souvenir, locks it in an iron-banded box, and swears never to open it for anyone -- which is precisely when a sweet gray-haired old woman knocks at the door. A spooky Heian-Kyoto adventure played for suspense, with the worst house call in the history of Japan.

The Empress Jokwa and the Stones of Five Colors

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on 'The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa. An Old Chinese Story' from Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

When a beaten rebel spirit knocks a pillar out from under the sky, one whole corner of Heaven drops onto the fields and the Sun and Moon lock their doors and refuse to come out. It falls to the Empress Jokwa -- ruler, engineer, and the only person tall enough to reach the ceiling -- to boil five colored stones into a paste, patch the sky, and talk a very patient tortoise into holding it up. A creation myth staged as a big, bright, all-hands repair job.

Aesop's Fables on Stage: Classic Morals

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on nine fables from Aesop's Fables

A warm, funny one-act stage revue for a big, flexible class: a Host opens the show and introduces nine short scenes, one for each of nine classic Aesop fables -- the hare and the tortoise, the fox and the grapes, the lion and the mouse, the crow and the pitcher, the north wind and the sun, the oak and the reeds, the boy who cried wolf, the grasshopper and the ants, and the bundle of sticks. Each scene runs a minute or two, ends with its own moral landed naturally instead of preached, and gets a warm word from the Host before the next one begins. Small casts inside each fable, but the ensembles -- hunters, villagers, reeds, ants, and sons -- open wide so the whole class can be onstage, and the Host can be split among several narrators. Grades 2 to 6. Faithful to the source: every fable keeps its real events and its true moral.

Aesop's Fables on Stage: Tricksters and Fools

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on eight fables from Aesop's Fables

A warm, funny one-act stage revue that turns eight of Aesop's shortest, sharpest fables into eight quick scenes, all held together by a Host who loves these stories and hands the audience each moral personally. In one sitting your class meets the smooth-talking Fox and the flattered Crow, the greedy Dog who loses his dinner to his own reflection, the daydreaming Milkmaid, the farmer and wife who ruin the goose that laid golden eggs, the donkey whose lion costume is undone by one loud bray, the wolf in sheep's clothing caught by a sharp-eyed shepherd, a whole pond of frogs who wish for a king and get more than they bargained for, and two mouse cousins who can't agree on the good life. Built for grades 2-6 with a huge, flexible, gender-neutral cast: the Host can be one student or a whole row, and the frogs, the flock, the forest birds, and the market crowd can each be four kids or forty. Genuinely funny, completely bloodless, and every scene lands a real Aesop moral you can take home.

Aesop's Fables on Stage: Clever Creatures

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on eight fables from Aesop's Fables

Our own one-act stage revue of eight short public-domain fables from Aesop (V. S. Vernon Jones's translation), all strung together by a warm, funny Host who cannot resist adding comments. A cat plays dead on a peg and still can't fool a wise mouse; a mouse committee cheers a brilliant plan to bell the cat until one old mouse asks who's actually going to do it; a fox and a stork serve each other dinners the other one can't eat; a satyr walks out on a man who blows hot and cold with the same breath; two pots learn that equals make the best friends; a crane pulls a bone from a wolf's throat and gets paid in nothing but her own head back; a scrawny dog talks a wolf out of eating him and never naps in the same spot twice; and a bragging monkey talks himself right off a rescuing dolphin. Eight scenes, eight morals landed plainly and kindly, with a huge flexible cast -- narrators optional, whole crowds of mice, a river, and a shipful of sailors and waves for as many students as you have. Grades 2-6. Genuinely funny, bloodless, and true to the old book.

The Dog in the Manger

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the Aesop translation of V. S. Vernon Jones

A one-act classroom play for a big, flexible cast: a farm dog climbs into the cattle's manger, lies down on hay he cannot eat, and growls at every animal who tries to reach it. The whole barn -- a sparrow in the rafters, a plain-spoken cow, an old ox, two hens, two goats, a plough horse, a chorus of mice and the barn cat -- tries to reason him out of it, and the cattle's own quiet verdict lands as the fable's four sentences run out. Then the play says so out loud, tells the audience the rest is invented, and goes on to ask why the dog was guarding something he did not want. 15 speaking parts plus a chorus of 7 to 14, with scaling notes for classes of 20, 25 and 30 and generous doubling. Grades 2 to 6, about 12 minutes. Adapted from the V. S. Vernon Jones translation (1912), Project Gutenberg #11339; the departures from the source are listed in the script.

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair

Father Anansi holds all the wisdom in the world, and the whole village queues at his stool for it -- the farmer with the small yams, the fisher with the torn net, the girl who has lost her goat. Then they stop asking and start shouting, and Anansi, stung, gathers every answer he ever gave into a clay pot and sets off to hang it at the top of the tallest tree in the forest where no one can ever reach it. The pot swings in front of him. He cannot climb. Three times he tries. And then his son Kweku Tsin, who has followed him, says the obvious thing -- put it on your back -- and the man carrying all the world's wisdom on his chest discovers that he does not have that particular piece of it. One act, roughly ten to fifteen minutes, 20 to 30 flexible parts, Grades 3 to 6. Anansi is played with dignity, not as a fool: the story is funny because he is certain, not because he is stupid. The script uses no invented vocabulary and lists every place it departs from the 1917 text.

The Squirrel and the Spider

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair

Squirrel clears the ground, digs it, sows it, and waits -- and because he is a splendid climber, he never builds a road to his farm. Spider notices. A farm with no road, Spider reasons out loud, is a farm with no owner: so he and his children lay a road overnight, scatter broken pot along it so the work will look old, cut the corn, and take Squirrel to court. The Elder is not corrupt and is not being funny. He applies a rule that has always worked before -- a farm has a road, that is what a farm is -- and the rule hands Spider the fields. Then a storm comes down on the stolen harvest, Spider sets the bundles by the roadside to run for cover, and Father Crow asks him the very question he asked Squirrel. Five short scenes, about twelve minutes, 20 to 30 performers and it scales down to 12, Grades 3 to 6. Squirrel does not get his harvest back, because the source does not give it back.

King Chameleon and the Animals

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair

The animals have no one to rule them and no one to judge them, and the wicked deeds are piling up because nobody has anything to fear. So they meet to choose a king. Lion accepts before he is offered and is too fierce. Wolf is charming and fools nobody. Elephant refuses outright. They will never choose a king by agreeing, so they agree instead on a race: whoever reaches the great stool under the very ancient tree and sits down on it first is king, and every animal is bound by it. Hare is the fastest creature alive and says so at length. What Hare never notices -- what nobody has ever noticed -- is Chameleon, the colour of his tail, holding on to it for the whole two miles. One act, ten to fifteen minutes, flexible cast of 20 to 30, Grades 3 to 6. It ends where the source ends: with a king nobody wanted, calling into the dark, alone. Antelope's question -- name the rule he broke -- is the argument to have afterward.

How Mushrooms First Grew

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair

Two brothers owe more than they can pay, so they run -- and the debt goes with them, a bundle so heavy it takes two to lift and so persistent that everyone who touches it hands it straight on. The brothers give it to the bushfowl that ate their seed corn. The bushfowl gives it to the silk-cotton tree whose branch came down on its nest. The tree gives it to the elephant that stripped a whole year's cotton, the elephant to the hunter, the hunter to the tree-stump that broke his leg in the dark, and the stump to the white ants that ate it to the ground. Every single one of them is handed something they did not ask for, and every single one of them says the same thing and passes it along. Then the smallest creatures in the story do what nobody else thought to do: they sit down in a ring together, pool what almost-nothing each of them has, and buy thread. One act, ten to fifteen minutes, 30 parts as written and it compresses to 20, Grades 4 to 6. The hunter shoots the elephant; as in the source it is stated and never described, and this script keeps it offstage.

Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair

Mybrow finds a fine piece of ground beside a great forest and swings his knife at the first bush. A voice out of nowhere asks, all on one breath, who is there cutting down the bushes. He answers politely -- and the fairies, who are the forest's own people and are genuinely delighted to have been asked, clear his entire field in about fifteen seconds. They burn the bush, chop the stumps, dig, sow, and plant, and Mybrow, who now has the finest crop anyone in the town will bring in, tells nobody where his field is. Not the neighbours. Not his wife. When she finally gets the directions out of him he attaches one condition: whatever you are asked out there, do not answer it. She promises easily, having not been told who does the asking. Six short scenes, about twelve minutes, 18 to 32 performers, Grades 3 to 6. The fairies do exactly the same generous thing in Scene Five that they did in Scene One -- nothing about them changes, only who answered -- and the crop is ruined and stays ruined.

Riquet with the Tuft

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Riquet with the Tuft from Perrault's Tales of Mother Goose

Our own stage version of the public-domain 'Riquet with the Tuft' (from Charles Perrault's Tales of Mother Goose): a warm, funny fairy tale about the two things nobody thinks they can change -- a face and a mind -- and the one thing that changes both. Prince Riquet is the homeliest fellow in three kingdoms and, thanks to a fairy at his cradle, the cleverest and kindest; better still, he can hand as much of his cleverness as he likes to the one person he truly loves. In the next kingdom, twin princesses get the opposite christening: Rosalind, beautiful as a summer morning and never once in her life able to finish a clever thought, and her plain, quick-witted sister Wren, who is the best conversation in any room. When the crowd keeps drifting away from beautiful, lonely Rosalind to hear witty Wren, Rosalind runs off to a wood to cry -- and meets Riquet, who fell in love with her portrait and offers her a deal: marry him in a year and a day, and the cleverness she has always wanted is hers this very afternoon. She says yes, her mind opens like a window -- and then, a year later, so busy being brilliant that she has forgotten the promise entirely, she stumbles on a whole royal kitchen cooking under the forest floor for Riquet's wedding tomorrow. What follows is the gentlest showdown in fairy tales: a clever argument about whether being smart is a reason to break a promise or keep one, and the discovery that Rosalind got a fairy gift of her own -- the power to make the person she loves handsome. He gave her a mind; she can give him a face -- but only if she truly loves him. Six scenes for a big, flexible class, gender-neutral wherever you like, with an underground singing kitchen, a fairy who hands out gifts and never explains them, and an ending that leaves the best question open: was it magic that made him handsome, or was it just love, all along?

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A cyclone drops a Kansas farm girl and her small black dog squarely on top of a wicked witch, and just like that Dorothy is the most talked-about person in Munchkin Country. She is given a pair of the dead witch's SILVER shoes (no, not ruby -- read the book), a kiss for protection, and a long yellow road to a Wizard who might send her home. Along the way she collects a Scarecrow who thinks too much for a man with no brains, a Tin Woodman who cries so easily he rusts himself shut, and a Lion who is very, very loud about being a coward. They face a deadly poppy field, a bucket of water with a witch on the wrong end of it, and a Great and Terrible Wizard who turns out to be a nice old humbug from Omaha. A big, warm, funny whole-class adaptation of the whole novel, with Munchkins, Winkies, field mice, and comically overworked Winged Monkeys enough for everyone.

The Marvelous Land of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A Gillikin farm boy named Tip builds a Pumpkinhead to scare his guardian, the sorceress Mombi -- and then her Powder of Life makes the fellow stand up and start asking questions. On the run with a walking pumpkin man and a sawhorse he accidentally brings to life, Tip tumbles into an all-girl revolution, a flying sofa, and a secret about who he really is that not even Glinda the Good can see coming. Baum second Oz book: deadpan sawhorses, pompous puns, a cheeky coup fought with knitting needles, and the gentlest plot twist in the whole Land of Oz.

Ozma of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Dorothy Gale is washed overboard on her way to Australia and fetches up on the shore of the fairy Land of Ev with nobody for company but a yellow hen named Billina, who lays a fresh egg every morning and has an opinion about everything. Between roaring-but-harmless Wheelers, a clockwork copper man who keeps running down in the middle of a sentence, and a princess who changes her head to match her mood, Dorothy falls in with Ozma of Oz and marches underground to out-guess the Nome King -- a jolly little tyrant who looks like Santa Claus in gray and has turned a whole royal family into knick-knacks. It takes courage, a borrowed magic belt, and one perfectly ordinary egg to win. A rescue that runs on wits instead of swords.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum

An earthquake drops Dorothy, her cousin Zeb, a grumbling cab-horse named Jim, and one entirely unrepentant kitten straight through the floor of the world, where they land in a glass city of vegetable people and promptly bump into the Wizard -- still a humbug, still arriving by balloon. Together they bluff, climb, and flap their way up past invisible bears, silent wooden Gargoyles, and a den of very insulted baby dragons, until Ozma's Magic Belt lifts them home to Oz. There the real trouble starts: Eureka the kitten goes on trial for eating a royal piglet, and she is in no hurry to say whether she did it.

The Emerald City of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Dorothy brings Uncle Henry and Aunt Em to live in Oz forever, just as the wicked Nome King finishes digging a secret tunnel to conquer it. While the grown-ups get used to palaces and talking hens, Dorothy tours the strangest towns in all fairyland: a village of living paper dolls, a people who fall to pieces when you startle them, a court of quarreling kitchen tools, and a marble city of rabbits ruled by a King who would give anything to go back to his muddy hole in the ground. Meanwhile an army of monsters marches under the desert -- and Ozma, who will not fight even to save her own kingdom, must find a way to win without hurting a single soul. A big, funny, whole-class adaptation that ends the way the book really ends: with the cleverest and kindest trick in the history of Oz.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum

One tipped-over bottle in the Crooked Magician's workshop, and Ojo's beloved Unc Nunkie and kind Margolotte are turned to solid marble -- with the only cure calling for six impossible ingredients, from three unpullable hairs of a square blue beast called the Woozy to the left wing of a living butterfly. So Ojo the Unlucky sets out to gather them, tagged along by a rhyming Patchwork Girl who flatly refuses to be dignified, a glass cat unbearably proud of the pink brains you can see working, and half the warm-hearted crew of Oz. It's a fetch-quest that turns, at the very last minute, on a single act of mercy -- and on a boy discovering that his luck was never really the problem.

Tik-Tok of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A shipwreck, a mule, and a one-soldier army all wash up in the same fairyland -- and somehow end by tunneling clean through the center of the world to depose a Nome King. Betsy Bobbin only wanted breakfast; the Shaggy Man only wanted his lost brother; Queen Ann of Oogaboo wanted to conquer everything and settled for less. With a wind-up copper man, a dancing Rainbow, and a talkative young dragon of only three thousand years, this is Baum at his most cheerfully ridiculous -- and, underneath, one of his warmest.

The Scarecrow of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A sea whirlpool drops the girl Trot and her one-legged Cap'n Bill straight through the bottom of the world and out into Jinxland, a stolen little kingdom where a usurper king has hired a witch to freeze a princess's heart so she can no longer love the gardener's boy. Help arrives in the unlikely shape of the Scarecrow of Oz, who conquers tyrants by out-thinking them, and an Ork -- a bird who flies by a whirling propeller-tail and is quite sure he is handsome. Nobody is harmed who cannot be un-harmed: the frozen heart is thawed, and the worst king in Oz ends up watering the roses.

Rinkitink in Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Rinkitink in Oz by L. Frank Baum

When raiders carry off the whole island of Pingaree -- king, queen, and every last pearl-fisher -- one small prince is left behind with a fat, laughing runaway king, a goat who insults everyone on principle, and three magic pearls hidden in the toes of his shoes. What follows is the least likely rescue army in fairyland: Inga, who is brave; Rinkitink, who is round; and Bilbil, who is furious. They topple two warrior kingdoms without landing a punch, out-argue a Nome King, and only lose the whole adventure once -- when somebody throws a shoe at a cat in the dark. Dorothy turns up near the end with a basket of eggs, which, if you are a nome, is the most terrifying thing in the world.

The Tin Woodman of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A wandering boy asks the Tin Woodman a simple, awkward question: whatever happened to the girl you were going to marry, back when you were made of meat? So the Emperor of the Winkies, his best friend the Scarecrow, and Woot the Wanderer set out to find Nimmie Amee and do the decent thing -- and run headfirst into balloon-people, a cheerful giantess who turns them into an owl, a bear, and a green monkey, and, at the far end of the forest, a second tin man who loved the very same girl. It ends in a tinsmith's workshop, where the Tin Woodman meets his own old head in a cupboard (it is not glad to see him), and with the gentlest surprise in all of Oz: Nimmie Amee made her own life long ago, and she is perfectly happy in it.

The Magic of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A cross Munchkin boy finds one word that can turn anyone into anything -- if only he could pronounce it, which almost nobody can -- and promptly falls in with the deposed Nome King, who wants revenge on Oz and is afraid of exactly one thing: eggs. While those two try to raise an army of beasts, Dorothy and the Wizard go hunting a dozen tiny monkeys for a surprise birthday cake, and Trot and Cap'n Bill sail off to fetch a Magic Flower and get their feet rooted to a very lonely island. The two plots crash together in the Forest of Gugu, where everybody gets transformed into something, and the day is saved by pink brains, good sense, and a drink of water that makes a villain forget he ever wanted to be one.

Glinda of Oz

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Two peoples at the far edge of Oz are about to go to war -- the Flatheads, who keep their brains in labeled tin cans, and the Skeezers, whose whole glass-domed city can sink to the bottom of a lake at a word. Ozma and Dorothy travel out to make peace, and get themselves sealed inside the city just as it goes under -- with the one vain sorceress who knew how to raise it turned into a swan who now cares about nothing but her own reflection. It falls to Glinda the Good, and every clever magic-worker in Oz, to solve the puzzle: how do you lift a sunken island when the only person who knew the magic word has forgotten she ever had a name? Baum's last Oz book, and a proper finish -- the whole fairyland pulling together to bring two friends home.

Jack and the Beanstalk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Chris's own retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, told in rhyme, with a mouse, a cow named Bessie, a Bean Lady, and a Giant. It is open-ended on purpose: the script runs into Scene 7 and hands the ending to your cast to finish however they like. An optional written ending is now included too -- one way to finish it, with a removable Improv Island dream sequence and four honest endings to choose from -- so a class can use it or still write its own.

The Bronze Ring

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of Andrew Lang

Chris's script version of 'The Bronze Ring' from Andrew Lang's public-domain Blue Fairy Book: a king with a barren garden, a gardener's son, a magic ring, and a journey that sorts the kind from the cruel. A large-ensemble piece -- 17 roles with narrators -- that scales up or down.

Cinderella

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on Cinderella from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

Our own stage version of the public-domain Cinderella (Perrault, from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book): the chimney corner, the fairy godmother, the pumpkin coach, the glass slipper, and the stroke of midnight -- warm and genuinely funny, with the stepsisters silly more than wicked, a godmother on a schedule, a pumpkin who never gets over being gilded, and a Cinderella who forgives because she would rather build a warm house than guard a cold one. Six scenes for a large, flexible class -- narrators optional, an open ball chorus, mice and lizards for as many students as you have. It ends on the classic forgiving note, then hands your cast the last word.

The Goldilocks Dialogue of The Three Bears

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A rhyming opening between Goldilocks and her mother, written as a starting point for your class to finish. Chris plays Baby Bear for thousands of kids; this is the script starter that hands the rest of the story to your students.

Jill and the Beanstalk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

The Jack story, told sideways: while Jack climbs his beanstalk, a girl named Jill climbs one of her own -- and she is not the least bit impressed by the giant. Mother Goose and Father Time narrate (and bicker) their way through six scenes, a house in the clouds, and a couple of ways down. Open-ended by design, with a removable Rhyme-Homeland dream module.

Joan and the Beanstalk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

The next generation: Jack is forty-seven, retired to a very tidy lawn, and his daughter Joan is the one who ends up climbing. She meets a giant of her own and faces the old story with new eyes. Mother Goose and Father Time narrate; a removable module even brings young Jack back live from the house. Open-ended by design.

Jim and the Beanstalk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Jack's younger brother Jim is tired of being a footnote -- he fed that cow too, thank you -- so he sets out to settle the score with a plan, a very small and very confident terrier named Champ, and the Bean Lady's stall. What he learns about winning is not what he expected. Narrated by Mother Goose and Father Time; open-ended by design.

Jean and Joe and the Beanstalk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

A story about love and money, at the same time: Jean and Joe, married twenty-three years and flat broke, climb the beanstalk together -- and the thing that gets them through the giant's kitchen is that one of them can finish the other's sentence. A warm two-hander at the center of a full company. Narrated by Mother Goose and Father Time; open-ended by design, with a removable Rhyme-Homeland module.

Ben and the Beanstalk

by FreeSchoolPlays.com

Where do magic beans actually come from? This one is told from the bean farm at the edge of the story, where the Bean Lady's word of the day is BEAN and nobody -- not even the hen -- can quite agree whether the hero's name is Ben or bean. A pun-forward take that runs the whole joke to its final beat and then hands the choice to you: boy or bean, you decide. Narrated by Mother Goose and Father Time; open-ended by design.

Hansel and Gretel

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of the Brothers Grimm

Two children are left in the forest, follow a trail of pebbles home once and breadcrumbs the second time (the birds have opinions about the breadcrumbs), and find a house made of gingerbread with a half-blind witch inside. Gretel is the one who gets them out. A warm, funny three-scene play for a class -- ten roles, narrators, and two guilty forest birds who never quite make up for the breadcrumbs.

Little Red Riding Hood

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of Charles Perrault or the Brothers Grimm

Red sets off through the forest to her grandmother's with a basket, gets talked into picking flowers by a very well-dressed wolf, and arrives to find him doing a poor impression of Grandmother -- who is, it turns out, perfectly fine and quietly running rings around him from inside the wardrobe. Nobody is eaten, the woodcutter earns his soup, and the wolf leaves with his dignity in tatters. A funny three-scene play for younger and middle-grade casts.

Beauty and the Beast

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont

A merchant picks one rose from an enchanted garden and owes the Beast a daughter for it. Beauty goes willingly, finds a library instead of a monster, and turns down the same dinner-table question every night -- until the night she means to say yes. Told the old way: an invisible palace that serves her with unseen hands, a mirror and a ring, and a Beast whose kindness, not his face, is the point. No enchanted teapots.

Jack and the Beanstalk (The Classic Tale)

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of Andrew Lang

The traditional tale, staged: Jack trades the cow for five beans, a beanstalk grows to the clouds, and there is a giant, a bag of gold, a golden hen, and a self-playing harp above it. The twist this version leans into is the Giant's Wife, who was helping Jack get away all along. A living beanstalk of student dancers grows and topples; the harp is very put out about being carried. Nine roles plus an ensemble beanstalk.

Puss in Boots

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of Charles Perrault

A miller's youngest son inherits nothing but a cat -- a cat in boots with a plan and no patience for being asked why. Puss talks a king into believing his master is the Marquis of Carabas, out-flatters an ogre into turning himself into a mouse, and lands the whole thing before lunch. Fast, funny, and full of asides to the audience, who are in on the trick from the first scene. The princess is sharper than her father by half.

Rumpelstiltskin

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of the Brothers Grimm

A miller brags that his daughter can spin straw into gold, and a strange little man turns up three nights running to do it for her -- for a price that ends up being her first child. The bargain comes due, he offers a way out (guess my name in three days), and a messenger overhears him singing his own name in the forest. He is not a villain and he is not reformed; he simply loses fairly, and the foot-through-the-floor exit is played for every laugh it is worth.

Snow-White and Rose-Red

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of the Brothers Grimm

Two sisters take in a talking bear for the winter and spend the summer rescuing the same rude little dwarf over and over -- his beard caught in a log, then a fish, then an eagle -- while he complains the entire time. When the bear turns out to be a cursed prince and the dwarf turns out to be the one who cursed him, the story sorts itself out. The dwarf even manages, once, under great duress, to say thank you. A warm, escalating comedy.

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of Charles Perrault

The christening, the uninvited fairy, the curse softened from death into a hundred-year sleep, and every spinning wheel in the kingdom burned -- which is exactly why the princess has no idea what one is when she finds it. The whole court sleeps mid-sentence (the Chamberlain especially), a hedge of thorns grows up, and a hundred years later the thorns part on their own because it is simply time. A large, flexible cast: any student can join the court that falls asleep and wakes hilariously.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

by FreeSchoolPlays.com, based on the work of the Brothers Grimm