Storytime: The Beaver’s Tale of Greed narrated by Iran Martin
In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” by Iran Martin, from his book Grand’s Fairy Tales. This is an adapted version of a Grimm’s fairy tale called the “Fisherman and his Wife.”
In the older version of the tale, which was first written in Germany in the 1800s, a poor fisherman and his wife are blessed with wishes by a magical fish in exchange for releasing it. However, the wife becomes greedy and the husband, who wants to please her, goes along with her ever-more selfish demands to the fish.
In this version, adapted and narrated by Iran Martin along with his wife Henryell, the main character is a trapper who saves the life of a magical beaver, and the story takes place in a forest.
“I plead with you. Let me live.”
The old trapper stared in disbelief. Never had he trapped a talking beaver before!
Iran and Henryell live in Bossier City, in north Louisiana. They are native New Orleanians who moved to north Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” and all of the tales and fables in Grand’s Fairy Tales are steeped in Louisiana folklore and imagery of the forests, bayous and other water ways of our beautiful state. And many of them offer a moral for the reader to take away.
You can look forward to more stories from Iran and Henryell Martin on Confetti Park!
Buy Grand’s Fairy Tales on Amazon.