The Brementown Musicians

The story, "The Bremen Town Musicians," was told by the brothers Grimm in Germany, in the early 1800s. Read or listen to a version told by the Grimm brothers on the National Geographic website. The version in this session comes from Gail Forsyth-Vail's book, Stories In Faith: Exploring Our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources Through Wisdom Tales (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2007).

The Platypus

A U.K. website, The Complete Platypus, includes a story called "Why the Platypus is Unique," which begins like this:

Many years ago there was a group of Australian animals arguing about who was the most unique. The magpie started by saying that [they were] the most unique because [they] had the best colours, which were black and white, and that [they] could fly to the moon and back. The emu had a different opinion. [They] believed [they were] the most unique animal ...

On the same website find a variety of news and information about the platypus, including three recommendations for children's books: The Adventures of Softbill the Strong by E. Stodart (Sydney: Envirobook Publishing, 1997), Platypus by D. Fanning (Wantirna South, Victoria: Houghton Mifflin, 1991), and The Platypus by P. Reilly (Kenthurst, NSW: Kangaroo Press, 1991).

Find information about the platypus and a simple, annotated line-drawing on the Enchanted Learning website.