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East of the Sun and West of the Moon

A fairy tale from The Blue Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang

This fairy tale comes from Norwegian folklore, collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and included by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book (1889). The story blends a quest for lost love with trials of cleverness and courage, and has echoes of the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. It remains one of the most beloved of all European fairy tales because it shows a heroine who makes a mistake, loses everything, and then wins it back through her own bravery and persistence. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band
Green · Independent readers, earlyTypical starting range: ages 9–11
Length
long · about 865 words in 6 sections · 3 pictures
Source
The Blue Fairy Book, Andrew Lang
First published
see the About page in the reader
Regions
Canada · United States

Included formats

  • · Web reader and PDF
  • · EPUB for e-readers
  • · Home-print sheet
  • · Folded booklet
  • · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
  • · Worksheet
  • · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
  • · Read-aloud script
  • · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Lesson at a glance

Reading
about 10 minutes at this band
Pause questions
2
Words to Know
10
Quick Check
10 questions, with the answer key
Let’s Talk
2 questions for afterwards
Worksheet
questions, an activity and a drawing prompt

About 40 minutes with one story, all of it.

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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The same story

East of the Sun and West of the Moon at other bands