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The Marvellous Musician

A fairy tale retold from The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

This story comes from The Red Fairy Book, published by Andrew Lang in 1890. Lang collected fairy tales from around the world; this tale comes from the Brothers Grimm. A musician who wants human company instead of animal company uses cleverness — and a little trickery — to get what he wants. In the end, he finds the friend he was looking for. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band
Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5
Length
short · about 349 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures
Source
The Red Fairy Book, Andrew Lang
First published
1890
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 (6 questions) with answer key
  • · Read-aloud script
  • · Colouring page
  • · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Lesson at a glance

Reading
about 8 minutes at this band
Pause questions
4
Words to Know
4
Quick Check
6 questions, with the answer key
Let’s Talk
3 questions for afterwards
Worksheet
questions, an activity and a drawing prompt

About 35 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

Other bands of this story

This story is ready now at the Purple band only. Other bands can be made to order for members after launch.