The Flying Ship
A fairy tale retold from The Yellow Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang
This tale comes from the Russian fairy-tale tradition and was collected by Andrew Lang in The Yellow Fairy Book, first published in 1894. Like many folk tales, it teaches that kindness and generosity—not cleverness alone—win the day. The Simpleton shares his small meal, and magic follows. His friends, each with a wondrous gift, show that we accomplish together what we cannot do alone. This story 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 350 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures
- Source
- The Yellow 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 (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
- 5
- 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.