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KacheliTV

KacheliTV

KacheliTV — the world's stories, read aloud.

Looking for a story to fall asleep to, to ride with on a long drive, or to share at bedtime? Start here.

We read the folk tales and classics of every culture on Earth — complete and unabridged, never excerpts — in fresh English translations, performed by our cast of voices. The fairy tales of Ireland and Japan. The legends of India and Nigeria. Jamaica, the Netherlands, the Cherokee, the Norse — and the Russia of Pushkin and Krylov. The stories your grandmother knew, and stories from shores you've never heard — every culture in the spotlight, no one missed.

New tales arrive every week. Pick a shelf, press play, and let the world's grandmothers talk you to sleep.

Free always — here and on every podcast app. Prefer no commercials? Find us on Apple Podcasts.

From The Dog You Chose LLC, Gulfport, Florida. Public-domain sources, told with respect.

Find us:

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@KacheliTVFlorida

Telegram — https://t.me/kacheliTV

Website — https://dogyouchose.com

The Dog You Chose books — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FYSTBLQ3

Our cast is a company of AI-generated voices, performing fresh in-house translations of public-domain works from every culture.

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  • S147 · E7
    October 28 · 1 hr 35 min

    Russian Tsar Era Classics — The Tales of Belkin, Part 2, by Alexander Pushkin

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Russian Tsar Era Classics — The Tales of Belkin, Part 2, by Alexander Pushkin Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. The second part of the complete cycle, in a fresh in-house English translation, performed by the full KacheliTV cast: the five prose tales with which Pushkin, in one autumn at Boldino, invented modern Russian prose — framed as the posthumous papers of Ivan Petrovich Belkin, presented by his publisher. Part 2 of 2. Part 1 carried From the Publisher, The Shot and The Blizzard. In The Undertaker, Adrian Prokhorov, slighted at a neighbour's feast, invites his true clientele — his dead — to his housewarming, and they come. In The Stationmaster, Samson Vyrin's beloved daughter Dunya is carried off by a passing hussar, and the old man walks to Petersburg to bring her home. And in The Lady Peasant, Liza Muromskaya dresses as the blacksmith's daughter Akulina to meet the young man her father's feud forbids her to know — and teaches him his letters in a grove. The tales: 0:00 — The Undertaker 18:54 — The Stationmaster 46:47 — The Lady Peasant Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), «Повести покойного Ивана Петровича Белкина» — first published 1831. Public domain. Russian text via ru.wikisource.org (РВБ, 1959) and as-pushkin.net. Fresh in-house English translation made for this production; no existing translation was used or consulted. Nothing has been cut: across the two parts, the publisher's preface, all five tales and all their epigraphs are performed complete, in book order. Two period epithets in the Russian are rendered neutrally in translation; no fact, event or sentence is altered. No passage required exclusion under the shelf's content law — the famous duel of The Shot is postponed and averted within Pushkin's own plot; no one is killed. A dramatized performance by the KacheliTV cast: narrated by Magnolia, with Bruno as Silvio, Berestov and the dead Brigadier; Felix as the Count, Minsky and Alexei; Violetta as the Countess, Marya and Liza; Silas as the Lieutenant-Colonel, Schulz and the lackey; Amos as Burmin and the skeleton Kurilkin; Orson as Vladimir, Yurko and Muromsky; Benedetto as Gavrila, Samson Vyrin and the Baker; Madame de Pamplemousse as Praskovya, Aksinya and the brewer's wife; Scratch as Adrian Prokhorov; and Lulu as Vanka and Nastya. Music: "Forbidden Palace Cello" (KacheliTV instrumental library) — between the tales, and closing theme. No music under the narration. Season 147 — Russian Tsar Era Classics, Episode 6 (Part 2). The shelf so far: Lefty, by Nikolai Leskov · The Queen of Spades, by Alexander Pushkin · The Overcoat, by Nikolai Gogol · The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy · The Lady with the Dog, by Anton Chekhov · The Tales of Belkin, by Alexander Pushkin. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S147 · E9
    October 28 · 1 hr 44 min

    Russian Tsar Era Classics — The Government Inspector, Part 1, by Nikolai Gogol

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Russian Tsar Era Classics — The Government Inspector, Part 1, by Nikolai Gogol Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. A dramatized performance by the KacheliTV cast, in a fresh English translation made for this recording. Part 1 of 2. A small provincial town is thrown into panic by the news that a government inspector is coming — incognito. The Mayor and every official in town have something to hide, and when a penniless young traveller from the capital is mistaken for the dreaded inspector, they fall over themselves to bribe, flatter and feast him. Ivan Khlestakov, a nobody with a vivid imagination, rises to the occasion magnificently — until the real inspector is announced. Gogol's comedy of fear, vanity and corruption has been delighting and stinging audiences since 1836, and it has lost none of its bite. The Acts 00:00 Opening theme and the cast of characters 06:25 Act One — the Mayor's house: the dreaded news, and two gentlemen with a report from the inn 38:42 Act Two — at the inn: Osip's master, hungry and broke, meets the terrified Mayor 1:07:36 Act Three — the Mayor's house: Khlestakov holds court, and lies rise to poetry (Acts Four and Five are in Part 2.) Theme music: "Bandoneo_n_Street_Romance" (instrumental), heard at the opening and between the acts. No music plays under the narration. Source: Nikolai Gogol, «Ревизор» (The Government Inspector), first performed and published in 1836 — public domain. Russian text via ilibrary.ru. Translated fresh into English for KacheliTV; no existing translation was used. The cast: Lulu (narrator), Orson (the Mayor), Felix (Khlestakov), Scratch (Osip), Magnolia (Anna Andreyevna), Violetta (Marya Antonovna), and the KacheliTV company.

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  • S90 · E1
    October 27 · 23 min

    The Pagans of North Borneo — Part 1: Dusun and Murut Legends of Brunei Bay, with Four Fables from the Baram Country

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! The Pagans of North Borneo — Part 1: Dusun and Murut Legends of Brunei Bay, with Four Fables from the Baram Country Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. Folk Tales of Brunei and North Borneo — Season 90, Episode 1. Every story in this episode is told in our own fresh translation, made for KacheliTV from Ivor H. N. Evans's English versions (1922–23). From I. H. N. Evans, Studies in Religion, Folk-lore, & Custom in British North Borneo and the Malay Peninsula (Cambridge University Press, 1923), we hear the Dusun and Murut legendry of Brunei Bay — how the world and its peoples were made, and why things are as they are: 0:00 Opening theme 0:25 I. How the Dusun Got Their Rice — Kinorohingan creates men and rice, and Bisikan breaks the pot 3:07 II. How the Dusun Obtain Salt — Bisikan climbs to seek salt, and his companion is turned to a turtle 4:57 III. Notes on Dusun Religious Beliefs — gods, spirits, food avoidances, and the priestesses 8:58 IV. The First Road to the Nabalu — Kinorohingan and his black dog Bunsadam walk the mountain road 11:02 V. The Creator of the World and His Wife — Kinorohingan and Umunsumundup, and the misused gift of water-of-life 12:03 VI. The Story of Dayang Moginum — the baby's grave-double and the child who would not speak 13:48 VII. Tales of the Flood — the deluge story told at Kibabaig and at Babagon 14:57 VIII. The Origin of Ants — the Piambau woman and the war the birds declared on her tongue 16:23 IX. Notes on Dusun Beliefs with Regard to Various Animals — swallows, rats, tigers, and the snakes that warn of travel 18:04 X. A Dusun Fable — the mouse-deer finds the conspiracy of fishes and cleverly condemns it 19:34 XI. Note on Dusun Graves — rice, tobacco, and crocodile effigies for the dead And from "Some Baram Folktales" by I. H. N. Evans (Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society No. 86, 1922), told by Malay-speaking river peoples of the Baram country: 21:00 XII. The Goose and the Mousedeer — the goose walks his garden and the mousedeer plays inspector 23:28 XIII. The Mousedeer and the Tiger — the mousedeer talks his way out of the tiger's shadow 25:06 XIV. The Mousedeer and the Monkey — the mousedeer outwits the monkey 26:04 XV. The Mousedeer, the Mouse, the Lizard and the Pipit — the mousedeer hears the case and plants a tree Music: opening and closing theme from our instrumental library. Narration: Benedetto.

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  • S78 · E1
    October 27 · 26 min

    Antigua Tales — Part 1: Why Dog Has a Hollow Around His Belly · Tar Baby · Leaf Disguise: Mock Plea · Dancing to Mouse · The Escape · The False Fortune-Teller · The False Swimmer · The Lazy Boy · The Three Questions · Master Thief

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Antigua Tales — Part 1: Why Dog Has a Hollow Around His Belly · Tar Baby · Leaf Disguise: Mock Plea · Dancing to Mouse · The Escape · The False Fortune-Teller · The False Swimmer · The Lazy Boy · The Three Questions · Master Thief Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. Part One of a new shelf: the tales of Antigua, from "Folk-Lore from Antigua, British West Indies" by John H. Johnson, published in the Journal of American Folk-Lore in 1921. The tales were recited by George W. Edwards, a native of Green Bay, Antigua — a town about two miles outside St. John's — who had lived ten years in New York, and who told them there, over some twenty-five evening visits in 1920, to Johnson, who wrote them down; Elsie Clews Parsons added the comparative notes. Billed by teller, collector and paper, as the tales Edwards told; not a survey of all Antiguan tradition, and no completeness is claimed. The tales were screened in the order they stand in Johnson's paper under this shelf's standing rule, and a great many were set aside — every one stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. Why Dog Has a Hollow Around His Belly — Nancy squeezes the swallowed doukouna fruit out of Brother Dog. Tar Baby — Nancy steals water from the animals' well and sticks fast to the tar figure, head, hands and feet. Leaf Disguise: Mock Plea — Rabbit talks his captors out of burning, drowning and hanging, and into the one throw he wants. Dancing to Mouse — Mouse plays the drum he was too little to help make, and dances every watcher off his post. The Escape — the sprats talk Miss Pigeon into a walk and slip away into the sea, singing. The False Fortune-Teller — Maka counts the dishes aloud and frightens the thieving servants into returning the jewels. The False Swimmer — Maka, who cannot swim at all, wins the divers' race without getting wet. The Lazy Boy — Jack's college Latin: shoest, forkest, spoonest. The Three Questions — the professor's servant answers the Pasha in his master's cloak. Master Thief — Jack the shoemaker's apprentice steals the butcher's sheep twice over, on two bets, with one slipper and a voice in the cane. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:05 Why Dog Has a Hollow Around His Belly 3:34 Tar Baby 6:24 Leaf Disguise: Mock Plea 8:29 Dancing to Mouse 10:25 The Escape 13:22 The False Fortune-Teller 16:24 The False Swimmer 19:10 The Lazy Boy 20:51 The Three Questions 22:53 Master Thief John H. Johnson, "Folk-Lore from Antigua, British West Indies," The Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. 34 (1921) — public domain. Narrated by Benedetto. Music: opening, closing and between-story theme, "Desert Cello Rhapsody" — heard at the introduction, between the stories, and at the close only; the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Antigua folk tales · Nancy stories · Anansi stories · George W. Edwards · John H. Johnson · Caribbean folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook

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  • S72 · E1
    October 27 · 22 min

    Traditions of Niue-Fekai — Part 1 (The Five Tupua Prepare the Island · How the Flying Fox Stole the Rat's Wings · The Two Travellers and the Coconut · Folahau and the Waters · Puga and the First Fishing Net · Three Short Wonders of the Old Island)

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! KacheliTV opens a new shelf with the island of Niue, alone in the South Pacific — and with the oldest telling of its own beginnings ever printed: the traditions written down at Liku in October 1901 by Pulekula, a teacher at Tama-ha-le-leka, and translated by S. Percy Smith for the Journal of the Polynesian Society in 1903. This is a single-episode country: one honest episode is all the early record holds, and the shelf claims no more than that. Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. In "The Five Tupua Prepare the Island," five gods who were never given a portion at the feasts flee the Lost Land, rise from a pool in the reef, and make Niue ready for people. "How the Flying Fox Stole the Rat's Wings" tells why the creeping animal flies and the flying bird must creep, down to the cries they still exchange. "The Two Travellers and the Coconut" follows Vai-Matagi and Vai-Fualolo to Tutuila, to a king who never lifts his eyes, and home again with the first coconuts — and with the island's lasting name, Niue-fekai. "Folahau and the Waters" tells why Niue's sweetest waters run back down into the chasms and will not flow. "Puga and the First Fishing Net" is the trick by which Niue learned net-making from the gods. And "Three Short Wonders of the Old Island" gathers Maui thrusting up the low sky, Tau-fiti-pa escaping through a split rock, and the mirror spring at Tuo. Set aside at the gate, recorded plainly: the marriages of Lage-iki, in which the women died; Hina-hele-ki-fata, wronged and beaten; Gini-fale, swallowed by the whale; Mutalau and Matuku-hifi, a watchman beheaded; Popo-efu, caught in a net and made a wife; the sick girl Mele, who died and returned singing; the "Savage Island" naming anecdote, which rests on a feigned man-eating display; Fakahoko's storm signs, under which canoes were destroyed; the warrior Laufoli and the cannibal Toloa; and the kings and the later history, with their wars. Held for the owner's ruling: Matila-foafoa, the child cast away by his father — the abandonment is the tale itself, so it is neither built nor cut, but held by name. Edwin Loeb's great 1926 collection of Niue traditions could not be used at all: its author died in 1966, outside the public-domain gate. No completeness is claimed for this record. Teller, kept with honour: Pulekula of Liku, teacher at Tama-ha-le-leka, who wrote these traditions down in the Niuean language in October 1901. Chapters: 01:48 The Five Tupua Prepare the Island 06:30 How the Flying Fox Stole the Rat's Wings 09:03 The Two Travellers and the Coconut 13:33 Folahau and the Waters 15:20 Puga and the First Fishing Net 18:25 Three Short Wonders of the Old Island Source: Pulekula, "The Traditions of Niue-Fekai," Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 12 (1903), Appendix, pp. 22–31 and 85–118, translated by S. Percy Smith (1840–1922); public-domain 1903 edition (Internet Archive). Our telling is a fresh in-house rendering of the 1903 text. Music: opening and closing theme, "2-20". Thank you for listening. 🔊 The KacheliTV podcast carries a new world folk tale every day — follow the show so the next story finds you. Niue folk tales, Niuean legends, Polynesian folk tales, Pacific island folklore, S. Percy Smith, Journal of the Polynesian Society, world folk tales, free audiobook

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  • S147 · E6
    October 27 · 1 hr 17 min

    Russian Tsar Era Classics — The Tales of Belkin, Part 1, by Alexander Pushkin

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Russian Tsar Era Classics — The Tales of Belkin, Part 1, by Alexander Pushkin Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. The first part of the complete cycle, in a fresh in-house English translation, performed by the full KacheliTV cast: the five prose tales with which Pushkin, in one autumn at Boldino, invented modern Russian prose — framed as the posthumous papers of Ivan Petrovich Belkin, presented by his publisher. Part 1 of 2. In The Shot, the mysterious Silvio hoards his right to a return shot for years, waiting until his enemy has something to lose. In The Blizzard, a secret midnight wedding in a country church goes astray in the snow — and fate keeps its own ledger for four years. The Undertaker, The Stationmaster and The Lady Peasant follow in Part 2. The tales: 0:39 — From the Publisher 11:28 — The Shot 44:17 — The Blizzard Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), «Повести покойного Ивана Петровича Белкина» — first published 1831. Public domain. Russian text via ru.wikisource.org (РВБ, 1959) and as-pushkin.net. Fresh in-house English translation made for this production; no existing translation was used or consulted. Nothing has been cut: across the two parts, the publisher's preface, all five tales and all their epigraphs are performed complete, in book order. Two period epithets in the Russian are rendered neutrally in translation; no fact, event or sentence is altered. No passage required exclusion under the shelf's content law — the famous duel of The Shot is postponed and averted within Pushkin's own plot; no one is killed. A dramatized performance by the KacheliTV cast: narrated by Magnolia, with Bruno as Silvio, Berestov and the dead Brigadier; Felix as the Count, Minsky and Alexei; Violetta as the Countess, Marya and Liza; Silas as the Lieutenant-Colonel, Schulz and the lackey; Amos as Burmin and the skeleton Kurilkin; Orson as Vladimir, Yurko and Muromsky; Benedetto as Gavrila, Samson Vyrin and the Baker; Madame de Pamplemousse as Praskovya, Aksinya and the brewer's wife; Scratch as Adrian Prokhorov; and Lulu as Vanka and Nastya. Music: "Forbidden Palace Cello" (KacheliTV instrumental library) — opening theme and between the tales. No music under the narration. Season 147 — Russian Tsar Era Classics, Episode 6 (Part 1). The shelf so far: Lefty, by Nikolai Leskov · The Queen of Spades, by Alexander Pushkin · The Overcoat, by Nikolai Gogol · The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy · The Lady with the Dog, by Anton Chekhov · The Tales of Belkin, by Alexander Pushkin. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S103 · E4
    October 27 · 28 min

    The Musical Break — Part 2: World Lullaby

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Season 103 · Episode 4 — the fourth of the Musical Break specials on KacheliTV World Classics, and the second half of World Lullaby: six more lullabies from around the world, and nothing else — no tales, and no talk at all. Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. The cradle rocks on. The first World Lullaby episode sang in Portuguese, Russian, French and English; this second one opens counting stars in English, crosses a Spanish sky of a hundred stars and a midnight garden, rests in a German winter hush, rocks gently in Jamaican, and closes with Fuku Dyambote. Each song is played in full, each one fading slowly out as the next fades slowly in, the way one breath gives way to the next. There is no narration in this episode — only the songs, from the first note to the last. THE PROGRAMME 0:00 Counting Stars at Bedtime 5:01 Cien Estrellas 10:33 Jardín de Medianoche 16:00 Schhh, Schlaf Schön 21:20 Mek It Gwaan 25:57 Fuku Dyambote THE MUSIC Six lullabies from the house library, played here in full: Counting Stars at Bedtime (English) · Cien Estrellas (Spanish — "A Hundred Stars") · Jardín de Medianoche (Spanish — "Midnight Garden") · Schhh, Schlaf Schön (German — "Shhh, Sleep Well") · Mek It Gwaan (Jamaican — "Let It Go On") · Fuku Dyambote. With the first episode's six, that is the whole World Lullaby gathering — twelve lullabies in all. Music: the house composer's lullabies, played in full. No narration and no conversation — each song fades gently into the next, and the episode itself fades in at the start and away to silence at the end.

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  • S62 · E1
    October 27 · 17 min

    Folk Tales of Portugal — Part 1 (The Daughter of the Witch)

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of Portugal — Part 1 (The Daughter of the Witch) A new shelf opens with one tale told whole from "Portuguese Folk-Tales," collected by Consiglieri Pedroso and translated from the original manuscript by Miss Henriqueta Monteiro, published in London for the Folk-Lore Society in 1882. Pedroso gathered five hundred Portuguese tales; thirty of them, turned into English, make this book. The tale is read as printed, with only the printer's accidents mended. The Daughter of the Witch — Guiomar, a witch's daughter, loves a prince her mother will not let her marry. She hides him in the house as a beggar, answers her mother's impossible tasks for him — a potful of little birds' guano by morning, a basket of grapes from vines planted the same day — and when the two run away together she turns her lad into a road, a hermitage, and a river, and herself into the old man, the hermit, and the eel, to baffle the pursuit. Her mother's parting curse waits at the palace, and Guiomar must win back the prince's memory. Passage note, exactly as told: Guiomar's magic mishaps on the three chamberlains draw blood — hurt fingers at the flint, and the third man spits blood as the enchanted window beats him. Nothing is softened and nothing is added. Of the book's thirty tales, one is told in this part. Eight were read in full at this shelf's gate: the tale told here, one passed and held for Part 2 ("The Rabbit"), and six excluded by name under the house rule — "The Vain Queen," "The Maid and the Negress," "The Three Citrons of Love," "May You Vanish Like the Wind," "Pedro and the Prince," and "The Spell-Bound Giant," each set aside because its plot turns on depicted killing or cruelty. The remaining twenty-two tales stand unscreened for later parts. No more than that is claimed. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:55 The Daughter of the Witch Consiglieri Pedroso, Portuguese Folk-Tales (London: Elliot Stock, for the Folk-Lore Society, 1882), translated by Henriqueta Monteiro — public domain. Narrated by Violetta. Music: opening and closing theme, "Winterstille 2" — heard at the introduction and the close only; the tale itself is read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Portuguese folk tales · Portugal fairy tales · Consiglieri Pedroso · Folk-Lore Society 1882 · European folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook

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  • S147 · E11
    October 27 · 1 hr 59 min

    Russian Tsar Era Classics — White Nights, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Russian Tsar Era Classics — White Nights, by Fyodor Dostoevsky Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. The complete story, in a fresh in-house English translation, performed by the KacheliTV cast: Dostoevsky's luminous tale of four Petersburg nights — the most tender thing he ever wrote. A lonely young dreamer, who knows every house and face in Petersburg but has never spoken to a living soul, rescues a girl from a drunken stranger on a canal embankment — and falls, over four white nights, into the only real week of his life. She is Nastenka, seventeen, who lives pinned by a pin to her blind grandmother's dress, and who is waiting for the lodger who promised to return for her in a year. The year is up. He has come back to Petersburg. He has not come to her. What the dreamer does with another man's happiness — and what one minute of bliss is worth against a whole lifetime — is the story Dostoevsky tells here, complete and unabridged: all four nights and the morning after. The nights: 1:03 — Night One 26:18 — Night Two 58:58 — Nastenka's Story 1:20:00 — Night Three 1:33:47 — Night Four 1:53:59 — The Morning Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881), «Белые ночи» — first published 1848 in Otechestvennye Zapiski. Public domain. Russian text via ilibrary (24glo.com). Fresh in-house English translation made for this production; no existing translation was used or consulted. Nothing has been cut: all four nights, Nastenka's story and the morning are performed complete, in the author's order, with the epigraph from Turgenev. One period word for a peasant is rendered neutrally in translation; no fact, event or sentence is altered. No passage required exclusion under the shelf's content law — this is the gentle Dostoevsky: a story of love, loyalty and renunciation, without violence. A dramatized performance by the KacheliTV cast: narrated by Benedetto, who is also the Dreamer; with Violetta as Nastenka; Magnolia as her grandmother; Felix as the lodger; and Lulu as Matryona. Music: "Moonlit Garden Harp" (KacheliTV instrumental library) — opening theme, between the nights, and closing theme. No music under the narration. Season 147 — Russian Tsar Era Classics, Episode 9. The shelf so far: Lefty, by Nikolai Leskov · The Queen of Spades, by Alexander Pushkin · The Overcoat, by Nikolai Gogol · The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy · The Lady with the Dog, by Anton Chekhov · The Tales of Belkin, by Alexander Pushkin · Woe from Wit, by Alexander Griboyedov · The Government Inspector, by Nikolai Gogol · White Nights, by Fyodor Dostoevsky. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S157 · E1
    October 27 · 47 min

    Folk Tales of Cornwall — Part 1: The Small People's Cow · The Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor · Betty Stogs's Baby | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of Cornwall — Part 1 (The Small People's Cow · The Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor · Betty Stogs's Baby) Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Three folk tales of Cornwall from William Bottrell's Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series (Penzance, 1873), heard in Bottrell's English exactly as he printed it. In The Small People's Cow, Rosy, the Pendars' red cow of Baranhual, gives twice the milk of any ordinary cow, because the Small People milk her every night into buttercup cups; a four-leaved clover in the milkmaid's hat lets her see them at their work — but when greedy Dame Pendar takes a witch's counsel and salts the cow, Rosy runs wild, and the farm's luck runs out with her. In The Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor, Mr. Noy of Pendrea, riding home from the harvest, is piskey-led into the Small People's dwelling on a bog-island of the moor, and finds Grace Hutchens — his sweetheart, buried three years before — kept there as their housekeeper; she warns him to touch neither fruit nor flower, and though he scatters the sprites with an inside-out glove, he spends his remaining days wandering the moors in search of her. Read with it, as Bottrell printed it, is his second telling of the same story — Richard Vingoe, piskey-led in Treville Cliffs. And in Betty Stogs's Baby, a Towednack mother who leaves her baby alone and unwashed finds the cradle empty: the Small People have carried the child off, washed it clean, and left it sleeping in gay chintz among sweet herbs — and the fright makes Betty a careful mother. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Midnight Forbidden Saxophone, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:38 The Small People's Cow 12:55 The Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor 42:30 Betty Stogs's Baby Three more tales of the Second Series are not read in this part. Held for the owner's ruling by name: The Changeling of Brea Vean · The Fairy Master, or Bob o' the Carn. Excluded by name: Giants of Castle Treen — its climax is an enacted killing. Standing on the bench for later parts of this shelf: How a Morvah Man Bought Clothes for His Wife · How a Zennor Man Choked Himself, but Had His Will in His Pocket. Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England, a separate Cornish collection, is on file for a later episode and is not drawn on here. No claim of completeness for Bottrell's book is made. From Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series, by William Bottrell (1873), public domain — complete and in book order, in Bottrell's English as printed. Narrated by Magnolia. Theme: Midnight Forbidden Saxophone. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S151 · E1
    October 27 · 27 min

    Folk Tales of Frisia — Part 1: The Earth-Mannikins · The Clever Farmer's Daughter · Three Wishes · Uncle Bouwe and Aunt Antje | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of Frisia — Part 1 (The Earth-Mannikins · The Clever Farmer's Daughter · Three Wishes · Uncle Bouwe and Aunt Antje) Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Four folk tales of Frisia, the old coastal province of the northern Netherlands, collected by Waling Dykstra and published in the third section of the second volume of his Uit Friesland's volksleven van vroeger en later (Leeuwarden, 1892–96); heard here in a fresh translation from the Dutch. In The Earth-Mannikins, a stammering farmhand watches the little people of the earth dance and sing in a moonlit cornfield, and learns their threshing song. In The Clever Farmer's Daughter, a poor man's daughter answers every riddle her lord can set her — and outwits him at the very last. In Three Wishes, a husband and wife are granted three wishes, and spend them as carelessly as wishes are always spent. And in Uncle Bouwe and Aunt Antje, the old couple sit down to a weever fish by the fire — a small, warm tale of a Frisian household. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Crimson Peak, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:56 The Earth-Mannikins (De aardmannetjes) 12:08 The Clever Farmer's Daughter (De schrandere boerendochter) 20:33 Three Wishes (Drie wenschen) 24:09 Uncle Bouwe and Aunt Antje (Bouwe-oom en Antje-moei) Seven further items of the book's folk-tale section are held for a ruling and are not read: Asschepooster · Het wonderpaardje · De tooverflesch · De wereld wil vergaan · Het erwtje en het boontje · Waarom honden elkaar beruiken? · Dokter Faust te Leeuwarden. Three more tales passed the screen and stand on the bench for later parts of this shelf. No claim of completeness for the book is made. From Uit Friesland's volksleven van vroeger en later by Waling Dykstra (Leeuwarden, 1892–96), public domain — the four tales complete and in book order, in a fresh translation from the Dutch. Narrated by Madame de Pamplemousse. Theme: Crimson Peak. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S155 · E1
    October 27 · 36 min

    Folk Tales of the Blackfoot — Part 1: The Peace with the Snakes · The Dog and the Stick · The Theft from the Sun | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of the Blackfoot — Part 1 (The Peace with the Snakes · The Dog and the Stick · The Theft from the Sun) Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices. Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Three tales of the Blackfoot people — the Siksika, the Kainah (Blood) and the Piikani (Piegan), as the book names them — from Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People, collected and written by George Bird Grinnell and published in New York in 1892; heard here in Grinnell's own printed English, complete and in book order. In The Peace with the Snakes, the Piegan chief Owl Bear, abandoned by his war party, spends a night in a cave beside a stranger who proves to be the Snake chief — each offers the other his knife, neither will use it, and the two make the great peace between their peoples. In The Dog and the Stick, Old Man and a chief's son, changed into a little dog and a root-digger, are carried into the lodge of the one who has hidden all the game, and drive the buffalo and deer out of his cave back to the hungry people. And in The Theft from the Sun, Old Man steals the Sun's medicine hunting leggings twice, and learns that the whole world is the Sun's lodge. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Aqua Elegie, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:39 The Peace with the Snakes 23:55 The Dog and the Stick 32:04 The Theft from the Sun Most of the book is not read on this shelf. Excluded by name after a full reading, each for enacted killing, mutilation or revenge as its substance: Kút-o'-yis (Blood-Clot) · The Lost Children · The Bad Wife · The Lost Woman · Mik-a'pi — Red Old Man · Adventures of Bull Turns Round · Old Man Doctors · The Bears · Old Man and the Lynx · The Race · The Elk · The Rock · The Wonderful Bird · The Fast Runners · Two War Trails. Held for a ruling: Scarface · The Blackfoot Genesis · The Fox · The Wolf-Man · Heavy Collar and the Ghost Woman. The ceremonial origin tales — Origin of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi, Origin of the Medicine Pipe, The Beaver Medicine, Origin of the Worm Pipe — are held as a class and are not read. Three more tales passed the screen and stand on the bench for later parts of this shelf. No claim of completeness for the book is made. From Blackfoot Lodge Tales by George Bird Grinnell (New York, 1892), public domain — the three tales complete and in book order, in Grinnell's printed English. Narrated by Felix. Theme: Aqua Elegie. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S156 · E1
    October 27 · 24 min

    Tales of the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson River) — Part 1

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Tales of the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson River) — Part 1 Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Eight tales of the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson River) people of British Columbia, from Traditions of the Thompson River Indians (1898), the collection James Teit made and Franz Boas introduced — heard in Teit's English, read as printed. In The Dog and the Girl, a chief's daughter who refused every suitor takes a dog's children into the hills, and at dawn finds them throwing off their dogskins to play as children. In The Sun and his Daughter, a suitor wins the Sun's daughter, and when she comes home late and unbidden her father turns her into the travelling sun, and her children into sun-dogs. The Chipmunk keeps the great log burning against the Grizzly Bear and carries the stripes on his back for it — told twice over, as Teit prints both the Grizzly and the Black Bear versions. In the Ants' tale, a brother carried under the ground learns from a falling tear that his brother above is searching for him. The Beaver lets himself be shot for the Eagle's sake, and the clam-shell of fire falls into the lodge, and fire goes out over the whole country. A boy, an Elk, and two forbidden boxes — one of fire, one of water — give the world its lakes, rivers, and fire in every wood. The Mosquito's lie about sucking blood from the tree-tops is why the Thunder strikes trees to this day. And the deer once leapt from mountain-top to mountain-top, until a woman's thrown breech-clout brought them down to a moderate jump. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Love 2, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters: 0:41 — The Dog and the Girl 6:37 — The Sun and his Daughter 9:41 — Story of the Chipmunk and the Grizzly Bear — and The Black Bear and the Chipmunk 11:32 — Story of the Ants and the Two Brothers 16:36 — The Beaver and the Eagle; or, the Origin of Fire 19:00 — Story of Fire and Water 20:54 — The Mosquito and the Thunder 22:14 — Origin of the Deer Ten more of the book's tales stand excluded by name after a full reading: Story of the Bush-Tailed Rat · The Ball · The Coyote's Daughters and their Dogs · Origin of Fire, Another Version · Battle of the Birds · The Marten and the Fisher · The Hare and the Grizzly Bears · Story of Aq · The Raven · The Coyote and his Guests. Three stand held for a later ruling and are not read here: The Hot and the Cold Winds · Story of the Otter · The Skunk and the Badger. One clean tale stands on the bench for a later part: Story of the Lad who Caught the Wind. The two Lillooet tales Teit appends are a different people's and are not read on this shelf. No claim of completeness for the book is made. From Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia by James Teit, with an introduction by Franz Boas (Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. VI, 1898), public domain — Teit's English text, read as printed. Narrated by Silas. Theme: Love 2. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S149 · E1
    October 27 · 33 min

    Folk Tales of Costa Rica — Part 1: Juan, the Boy with the Little Load of Firewood · The Devil's Mother-in-Law · Uncle Rabbit's Trick on Aunt Whale and Uncle Elephant · How Uncle Rabbit Got Out of a Tight Corner | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of Costa Rica — Part 1 (Juan, the Boy with the Little Load of Firewood · The Devil's Mother-in-Law · How Uncle Rabbit Played a Dirty Trick on Aunt Whale and Uncle Elephant · How Uncle Rabbit Got Out of a Tight Corner) Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Four folk tales of Costa Rica from Carmen Lyra's Cuentos de mi tía Panchita (San José, 1920), the tales her aunt Panchita told her in San José, heard here in a fresh in-house English translation made from the Spanish. The tale-types are old ones from the wider world, carried in tía Panchita's Costa Rican voice — no claim is made that the types began in Costa Rica. In Juan, the Boy with the Little Load of Firewood, the "fool" of three brothers is rewarded for his obedience with a wishing wand, finds the youngest princess's lost ring in the pool, and rides his load of firewood to the palace to claim the king's promise. In The Devil's Mother-in-Law, a rich, gold-toothed bridegroom who walks on ceilings is recognised by his wife's mother for who he is, tricked into an iron jar and buried in the mountain — until a poor woodcutter lets him out, and only one name can frighten him free of the queen he refuses to leave. In How Uncle Rabbit Played a Dirty Trick on Aunt Whale and Uncle Elephant, Uncle Rabbit sets the two strongest creatures on Earth pulling against each other on one rope, to break their plan of governing the world between them. And in How Uncle Rabbit Got Out of a Tight Corner, cornered in a cave in Uncle Tiger's paw, Rabbit deepens his voice and bluffs his way free. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Gangster Piano Symphony, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:38 Juan, the Boy with the Little Load of Firewood 9:24 The Devil's Mother-in-Law 21:17 How Uncle Rabbit Played a Dirty Trick on Aunt Whale and Uncle Elephant 28:33 How Uncle Rabbit Got Out of a Tight Corner Ten further tales of the book are not read on this shelf, each excluded by name after a full reading: El tonto de las adivinanzas · Uvieta · Escomponte perinola · La Cucarachita Mandinga · La casita de las torrejas · La flor del olivar · El pájaro dulce encanto · Tío Conejo y Tío Coyote · Por qué Tío Conejo tiene las orejas tan largas · Tío Conejo comerciante. Four more tales stand benched for a ruling, and the book's last five Tío Conejo tales were not reachable in full in the copy of record and are held for a full-corpus pass. No claim of completeness for the book is made. From Cuentos de mi tía Panchita by Carmen Lyra (San José, 1920), public domain — tales III and VIII and two tales of the Cuentos de tío Conejo, complete and in book order, in a fresh in-house English translation from the Spanish. Narrated by Benedetto. Theme: Gangster Piano Symphony. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S150 · E1
    October 27 · 26 min

    Folk Tales of the San (ǀXam) — Part 1 (The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky · The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made Stars · The Son of the Wind)

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Three tales of the ǀXam people of the Kalahari from Specimens of Bushman Folklore (London, 1911), the record Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd made from ǀXam narrators in the 1870s — heard in the editors' own English translation, read as printed. In The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky, the Sun is a man whose light shines only from his armpit as he lies sleeping, and the children creep up, take hold of him all together, and throw him up into the sky, telling him to become altogether the Sun, so that the whole earth will be bright and the Bushman rice will dry. In The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made Stars, a girl of the first people throws wood ashes into the sky to make the Milky Way, and then the red huin roots that become the stars. And in The Son of the Wind, a boy rolling a ball to his playmate must never speak the other one's name aloud — until the day the hut stands sheltered, when he cries it out, and the Wind falls down and blows the people's huts away. The episode opens and closes with its theme, LOVE, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:38 The Children Are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky 10:45 The Girl of the Early Race, Who Made Stars 16:30 The Son of the Wind Thirteen more of the book's tales are not read on this shelf, each excluded by name after a full reading: !Gaunu-Tsaxau, the Baboons, and the Mantis · The Story of the Leopard Tortoise · The Origin of Death · #Kagára and !Haunu, Who Fought Each Other with Lightning · The Hyena's Revenge (both versions) · The Lion Jealous of the Voice of the Ostrich · The Mason Wasp and His Wife · The Young Man of the Ancient Race, Who Was Carried Off by a Lion · The Girl's Story; The Frogs' Story · The Man Who Ordered His Wife to Cut Off His Ears · The #Nerru and Her Husband · The Death of the Lizard. Three items stand held for a later ruling and are not read here: The Mantis Assumes the Form of a Hartebeest · !Ko-g!nuing-tara, Wife of the Dawn's-Heart Star · the Appendix tales. One item, What the Stars Say, and a Prayer to a Star, is a prayer and stands parked. Five clean tales are held on the bench for Part 2: The Resurrection of the Ostrich · The Vultures, Their Elder Sister, and Her Husband · Dai-Xerreten, the Lioness, and the Children · A Woman of the Early Race and the Rain Bull · The Great Star !Gaunu. The book's songs and its history and customs sections are not tales and are not read on this shelf. No claim of completeness for the book is made. From Specimens of Bushman Folklore by W. H. I. Bleek and Lucy C. Lloyd (London, 1911), public domain — the editors' English translation, read as printed. The tales were told by the ǀXam narrators ǁkabbo, Dia!kwain, ǀa!kunta, !Kweiten ta ǁken and ǀhan≠kasso; the third tale ǀhan≠kasso had from his mother, ǂabbi-an. The principal narrators were prisoners at the Breakwater Convict Station, released into the Bleek household's custody; it was there that they taught their language and told these stories. Narrated by Scratch. Theme: LOVE. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S153 · E1
    October 27 · 23 min

    Ojibwe and Algonquian Tales — Part 1 (Peboan and Seegwun · La Poudre, or The Storm-Fool · The Broken Wing · Shawondasee) | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Ojibwe and Algonquian Tales — Part 1 (Peboan and Seegwun · La Poudre, or The Storm-Fool · The Broken Wing · Shawondasee) Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Four tales from Algic Researches (New York, 1839), Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's landmark collection of Ojibwe and other Algonquian oral tradition — a record made with his wife, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (1800–1842), whose own Ojibwe family's stories stand behind many of its pages — read here in the English of the 1839 edition, as printed. In Peboan and Seegwun, Winter keeps his icy lodge while the birds fly south, until young Seegwun comes breathing spring, and the two spirits divide the year between them in peace. In La Poudre, or The Storm-Fool, Pauppukeewiss dances his strange petition before the ice castles of Gitchiguma, wins sacks of snow that turn to fish — and learns how quickly a gift can be read as an offence. In The Broken Wing, two brothers shoot at a falling mark until mercy stays the next arrow; the vulture they nurse back to strength repays them with a warning that saves their village. And in Shawondasee, the spirit of the south wind sighs for the golden-haired maiden of the northern prairie, and learns too late that he has loved the dandelion. The episode opens and closes with its theme, January Lament, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:39 Peboan and Seegwun 4:57 La Poudre, or The Storm-Fool 12:01 The Broken Wing 19:23 Shawondasee Five narratives of the collection are held for a ruling — the sacred and ceremonial tales Iadilla and Mon-Daw-Min, Leelinau, Git-Chee-Gau-Zinee and Paradise Opened to the Indians — and three more (Iosco, Wassamo and The Grave Light) were not cleared for this build; twenty-four further tales are not read on this shelf, each excluded by name after a full reading. Eight tales passed the screen and stand on the bench for later parts of this shelf. The shelf is billed as what it is — Ojibwe and Algonquian tales in Schoolcraft's literary retellings of 1839, crediting Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and Jane Johnston Schoolcraft — and no claim of completeness for the collection is made. From Algic Researches by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1839), public domain — Peboan and Seegwun and The Broken Wing from the first volume, La Poudre and Shawondasee from the second, complete and in the order read here, in the English of the original edition, not a new translation. Narrated by Morgana. Theme: January Lament. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S152 · E1
    October 27 · 23 min

    Folk Tales of Catalonia — Part 1 (The Ball of Golden Thread · The Cinder-Maid · The Little Box) | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of Catalonia — Part 1 (The Ball of Golden Thread · The Cinder-Maid · The Little Box) Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Three folk tales of Catalonia, collected by Francesc de Sales Maspons i Labrós and published in his Lo Rondallayre (Barcelona, 1871–1875); heard here in a fresh translation from the Catalan, made for this episode. In The Ball of Golden Thread (Lo capdell d'or), a king's daughter turned out of her home will not part with the little old woman's gift — not for good money, not for jewels and riches — except in a matter of marriage. In The Cinder-Maid (La ventafochs), a girl kept at the cinder-hearth cracks an almond, a hazelnut and a walnut, and goes to Mass, to the promenade and to the king's son's ball in dresses of gold, of silver and of little bells — until a little glass slipper is left behind on the stair. And in The Little Box (La capseta), a poor man finds an old, ugly box in a ruined castle, and everything his family wishes for comes out of it — until pride hides the box away in an attic, and the sons who were turned away at the door come home from the war. The episode opens and closes with its theme, LOVE 2, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:38 The Ball of Golden Thread 7:45 The Cinder-Maid 13:40 The Little Box Two further tales of the collection are held for a ruling: La gavia d'or (The Golden Cage) and Barba d'or (Golden Beard). Fourteen tales are not read on this shelf, each excluded by name after a full reading: Lo claveller · La flor del penical · La fustots · La rateta · La perera · Lo beneyt · Las tres taronjas del amor · La cirereta · Altafulla · La cabreta · Los dos geperuts · La noya dels cabells d'or · La coloma blanca · Lo espabilat. Five more tales passed the screen and stand on the bench for later parts of this shelf; the collection's second volume and twenty-eight further tales of the first and third volumes await screening. No claim of completeness for the collection is made. From Lo Rondallayre: Quentos populars catalans by Francesc de Sales Maspons i Labrós (Barcelona, 1871–1875), public domain — The Ball of Golden Thread and The Cinder-Maid from the first volume (1871), The Little Box from the third (1875), complete and in book order, in a fresh translation from the Catalan. Narrated by Bruno. Theme: LOVE 2. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S103 · E3
    October 27 · 32 min

    The Musical Break — World Lullaby

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Season 103 · Episode 3 — the third of the Musical Break specials on KacheliTV World Classics: six lullabies from around the world, and nothing else — no tales this time, and no talk at all. Tonight the musical break becomes a cradle. Twelve lullabies were gathered from the house library, sung in Portuguese, Russian, French, English, Spanish, German and Jamaican, and they are played in two episodes of six — each song in full, each one fading slowly out as the next fades slowly in, the way one breath gives way to the next. This first episode drifts from the Portuguese shore to a Russian fairy tale, across the magic land asleep, past the little sheep of France, and ends by counting sheep in English. There is no narration in this episode — only the songs, from the first note to the last. THE PROGRAMME 0:00 Shhh, O Mar Sabe 5:10 Spi, Skazka 10:32 Spit Volshebnaya Zemlya 15:54 Chut, Tout Doucement 21:23 Chut, Les Petits Moutons 26:48 One Hundred Little Sheep THE MUSIC Six lullabies from the house library, played here in full: Shhh, O Mar Sabe (sung in Portuguese) · Spi, Skazka (Russian — "Sleep, Little Tale") · Spit Volshebnaya Zemlya (Russian — "The Magic Land Sleeps") · Chut, Tout Doucement (French — "Hush, Very Gently") · Chut, Les Petits Moutons (French — "Hush, the Little Sheep") · One Hundred Little Sheep (English). The second episode of World Lullaby carries six more — in English, Spanish, German and Jamaican — twelve lullabies in all. Music: the house composer's lullabies, played in full. No narration and no conversation — each song fades gently into the next, and the episode itself fades in at the start and away to silence at the end.

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  • S137 · E2
    October 27 · 27 min

    Folk Tales of Cuba — Part 2: Ornoya · The Caiman · The Black Venus | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of Cuba — Part 2 (Ornoya · The Caiman · The Black Venus) Part two. Three more traditions and legends of Cienfuegos, on Cuba's south coast, collected by Pedro Modesto Hernández and published by Adrián del Valle in Tradiciones y leyendas de Cienfuegos (Havana, 1919); heard here in a fresh in-house English translation from the Spanish. In Ornoya, the people of Jagua honour their hero, the victor over the fierce Lucaya chief Ornocoy, in the great ceremonial ground — the aged chief's collar and massive war club, the ball game of batos, the dances and songs, and the mock battles with which the festival closes. In The Caiman, the neighbours of the new-born Fernandina de Jagua, plagued night after night by a great caiman carrying off their animals, lie in wait for it — and Monsieur Bonón, his gun raised, hears the beast cry out in a perfectly human voice: "Don't shoot, Monsieur, for I am your friend!" And in The Black Venus, the mute woman of Cayo Loco, who will not eat, work or be clothed rather than live captive, slips away at last into legend as the silent protest against slavery. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Bandoneon Street Romance, heard also briefly between the stories. Chapters 0:55 Ornoya 7:22 The Caiman 16:25 The Black Venus Four further tales of the book are not read on this shelf, each excluded by name after a full reading: Guanaroca · Marilope · El combate de las piraguas · El Cristo de la Vereda. No claim of completeness for the book is made. From Tradiciones y leyendas de Cienfuegos by Adrián del Valle with Pedro Modesto Hernández (1919), public domain — in a fresh in-house English translation from the Spanish. Narrated by Mira. Theme: Bandoneon Street Romance. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.

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  • S136 · E2
    October 27 · 22 min

    Folk Tales of the Congo — Part 2: The Two-Coloured Coat · The Crafty Woman Overreaches Herself · How the Fetish Sunga Punished Basa · The Fight between the Two Fetishes · The Fetish of Chilunga · and Five More Tales | KacheliTV World Classics

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of the Congo — Part 2 (The Two-Coloured Coat · The Crafty Woman Overreaches Herself · How the Fetish Sunga Punished Basa · The Fight between the Two Fetishes, Lifuma and Chimpukela · The Fetish of Chilunga · The Bird-Messengers · Nzambi Mpungu's Ambassador · Why the Crocodile Does Not Eat the Hen · The Three Brothers · The Story of a Partnership) | KacheliTV World Classics Ten more tales from the Fjort country of the French Congo, gathered by R. E. Dennett and first published in 1898, read here in a second complete sitting: a fisher's coat of two colours that speaks, tames the bush and knows his wife's thoughts; a wife who tries to tempt a fetish with plantains and is seen through at once; the sunken town of Boio beneath the river, where the fetish Sunga keeps his feast and punishes a greedy guest; two wonder-working fetishes, Lifuma and Chimpukela, at war over a stolen kite; the bush fetish Chilunga, whom no hangings of cloth can charm; the doves Nzambi Mpungu sent to learn why men live and why they die; his ambassador, sent across the seas for dolls that walk and speak; why the crocodile never eats the hen; three brothers who learn the speech of beasts and birds; and a trading partnership of three that greed divides. Narrated by Violetta. An instrumental theme — Midnight Forbidden Saxophone — opens and closes the program and is heard briefly between the stories. Chapters: 0:00 Opening theme — Midnight Forbidden Saxophone 0:37 1. The Two-Coloured Coat 2:42 2. The Crafty Woman Overreaches Herself 4:26 3. How the Fetish Sunga Punished Basa 6:57 4. The Fight between the Two Fetishes, Lifuma and Chimpukela 10:07 5. The Fetish of Chilunga 13:24 6. The Bird-Messengers 14:35 7. Nzambi Mpungu's Ambassador 15:37 8. Why the Crocodile Does Not Eat the Hen 17:37 9. The Three Brothers 19:54 10. The Story of a Partnership 21:45 Closing theme Register of the book's remaining matter: of the tales in Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort not heard in Part 1 or here, fifteen stand excluded under this shelf's standing exclusions (death staged for amusement, revenge killing played for satisfaction, scenes of maiming and torment, tales turning on combat or endurance ordeals, a duelling challenge, a child beaten to death, a terrorised child, a child endangered in the bush, an adultery accusation that endangers a wife, a grisly childbirth rite, a fumbling sorcerer tale whose obscenity lies in euphemism, and extended phallic trickster obscenity), and two — a fetish-driver's tale and a charm against a husband, both carrying bare period caste and race terms — stand on the bench awaiting the owner's sight; one tale of two brothers is held for a ruling. No claim of completeness for the book is made. From Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (French Congo) by R. E. Dennett (1898), public domain — the closing specimen tale of Chapter II, tales XXI, XXII, XXIV, XXV, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI and Appendix I complete and in book order. Narrated by Violetta. Theme: Midnight Forbidden Saxophone.

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Showing 161–180 of 489 episodes