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    Altered Tales
    Altered Tales
    Altered Tales
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    Altered Tales

    By Alexei Cohen

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    About this ebook

    Altered Tales is a collection of ten classic childhood stories with a difference. Each tale provides a new perspective on an age old story and gives familiar characters a chance to experience a different ending.

    It's a bedtime or anytime book parents can read to younger children or older children can read on their own.
    Suggested ages: 5+

    'Original and entertaining stories kids will love.'
    -Fairy Tale Times

    'Altered Tales transforms ten classic tales and provides new meaning to the happy ending.'
    -Fairy Tale Today

    'If you thought wolves and stepmothers had to be bad you haven't read altered tales.'
    -The Fairy Tale Review

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlexei Cohen
    Release dateNov 10, 2013
    ISBN9781310864216
    Altered Tales
    Author

    Alexei Cohen

    I fell in love with Italy while watching the movie La Strada in the basement of my university library. Since then I have met and married an Italian, written and edited several guides and enjoyed a lot of pasta, wine and gelato. I live with my family on the outskirts of Rome and cultivate my passion for Italy a little more everyday. Moon Rome, Florence & Venice is my latest book and a result of months of exploration. I look forward to sharing what I have discovered and meeting travelers in Rome to swap stories over a cappuccino.

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      Book preview

      Altered Tales - Alexei Cohen

      Altered Tales

      Volume 1

      Alexei Cohen

      Copyright 2014 all rights reserved

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you.

      To contact the author write to Altered Tales.

      For

      Sacha & Emma

      Preface

      Dear Readers & Listeners,

      The following stories may sound both familiar and unfamiliar. They were inspired by the classic tales my father read to me and which I grew to love. Over the course of my childhood they came to form the backbone of my imagination and influenced what I expected from a story. A part of me however was always attracted to the antagonists and couldn’t help rooting for underdogs. I wondered why wolves had to be bad and whether stepmothers could be good. This collection of stories explores those alternatives and provides an opportunity for some familiar characters to experience a different ending.

      I hope you enjoy reading and listening to them and that you will be inspired to imagine your own altered tales.

      Alexei Cohen

      Rome 2014

      Altered Tales

      The Fisherman’s Radio

      The Emperor and the Boy

      The Shepherd and the Wolf

      The Kind Stepmother

      The Uninvited Guest

      The Ray of Light

      The Delicious Dilemma

      The Improbable Love

      The Return Visit

      The Gift

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      The Fisherman’s Radio

      The fisherman sat in his kitchen early one morning listening to the radio. He imagined each word he heard and transformed them into magical images in his mind. When his wife entered he sat up in his chair, hurriedly finished his coffee and before she could say ‘what are you still doing here?’ was out the door. Along the path that led to his little wooden boat he recreated the match the announcers had been describing and imagined the goal that had won the game from the day before.

      When he arrived in the tiny port he prepared his boat and set off towards the horizon. A gentle wind carried him away from the shore and as he steered a course to his favorite fishing spot he ate the bread and cheese his wife had prepared for him. While he chewed a wave of fatigue came over him so after carefully casting his net overboard he settled cozily into a corner of the boat and drifted off to sleep. When he awoke there was a dim light and for a moment he was unsure whether it was day or night. He consulted his wristwatch to be sure and was amazed to discover that an entire day had passed.

      He hastily pulled his net out of the sea hoping for a catch that would justify his absence but instead found nothing or nearly nothing. The tangled rope laid dripping at his feet filled with bits of seaweed and no fish except for a very small specimen no bigger than a sardine. It was a meager catch even by the fisherman’s standards but at least it was something to put on their plates. Then as the fisherman grabbed the strange fish’s tail and was about to place it in his bucket the fish spoke.

      ‘Please, kind fisherman do not eat me. I am small and would only leave you hungry.’

      The fisherman looked about the boat and beyond searching for the speaker. There were no other boats about and the water was still and silent. In the distance he could see the first lights from the village and imagined his wife waiting for him. Once again he moved the fish towards his bucket and once again he heard these words.

      ‘Please, kind fisherman do not eat me. I am small and would only leave you hungry.’

      He brought the fish near his face and inspected it closely. He had seen many fish in his time but had never come across anything like this one. Neither had he ever heard of a talking fish and to make sure he wasn’t dreaming he splashed cold seawater onto his cheeks and blinked repeatedly. But each time he opened his eyes the fish was still anxiously staring at him.

      ‘What are you?’ the fisherman asked incredulously.

      ‘I am a magic fish,’ the fish answered with pride. ‘If you release me I will grant you a wish.’

      The fisherman considered the offer. It was true the fish was small and eating it would probably not be very filling.

      ‘Very well,’ the fisherman said not entirely convinced he would ever see his wish but willing to take the risk. ‘I will set you free,’ and he dropped the fish back into the sea.

      For a moment the magic fish vanished into the water then his face reappeared above the surface.

      ‘Return home,’ the fish said ‘once you have chosen your wish come to the shore, call me and I will grant it to you.’

      Then he was gone and the fisherman was alone. The first stars glimmered in the sky above and the fisherman rowed himself home as quickly as he could.

      The fisherman and his wife sat

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