Margaret Read MacDonald

When Little Boy is frightened by a squeaky bedroom door, his grandmother brings in various animals to help him feel secure enough to sleep. Includes notes on the story's origins.

Elephant was shouting and stomping. But could he stomp a hole deep enough to reach water for the thirsty animals? Maybe...maybe not. All the animals tried until tiny Gecko took a turn. He was small...but he was determined. And he was not going to give up!.

A magical boy grants a poor flower-seller's every wish until the greedy and ungrateful man grows tired of the boy's unpleasant behavior and sends him away.

A simplified retelling of the classic Aesop's fable about a ball game between the birds and the animals, and Bat, who wants to play on the winning team.

An old woman complains about all the housework she has to do, but when some fairies come to help her she finds that they are more trouble than they are worth.

In this Appalachian version of The Kind and the Unkind Girls, two sisters--Bess and Tess--are sent by their mother to draw water from the Well-at-the-End-of-the-World. Along the way they meet a bear, a mountain lion, a wild boar, and three little foxes. When Bess greets them with courtesy and respect, the foxes reward her kindness. Tess, greedy for her own bounty, can't be bothered with manners; she bonks the animals with her bucket, kicks them with...

In this British variant of a traditional tale, an ungrateful woman who complains constantly about her house is granted increasingly grandiose wishes by a fairy.

A bragging contest between Whale and Sandpiper turns into a battle over the beach and sea, until both parties realize that the beach and the sea, as well as sea creatures and shorebirds, are interdependent.

In this folktale from Panama, a little rabbit and his Tia Monica outwit a fox, a tiger, and a lion, all of whom want to eat him for lunch.