1992 The Tortoise and the Hare. Children's Animated Classics Library. Goldstar Video. Freehold, NJ: Little Red Schoolhouse. $1 at "Every Thing's a $1," KC, May, '93.
Three sections. The two Aesopic sections handle their fables differently from their usual tellings. The first section is TH, produced in 1976 by ACI Media. It lasts about eight minutes. The boasting hare is laughed at when the elephant stops him in mid-leap. The hare suggests the race to the tortoise. Taunting questions "Afraid?" and "Lazy?" get the tortoise angry. The rabbit decides to take a nap. Helping the tortoise, the elephant sucks up dust and blows it out straight. The confused, sleepy tortoise runs back to the starting point. The middle tale is introduced as a "European Folk Tale" from Hungary: "The Enormous Lie." After the king believes all sorts of outrageous fibs from a farmer's son trying to win his daughter, the young man finally says "I came to ask you to be my dad's swineherd" and the king cannot believe him. The king gives him his daughter. The third is TMCM, about seven minutes in length, produced in 1976 by ACI Media. The town mouse drives a car; they have an accident on the way into town. The country mouse gets his tail caught in an electric socket. They watch TV while they eat. The country mouse runs from a cat on TV--all the way home. Simple animated cartoons throughout.
2010? The Tortoise and the Hare. Disney DVD. Buddha Video. Intercontinental Video Limited. Six Disney Silly Symphonies, including "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "Toby Tortoise Returns." $9.14 from David Deng, Singapore, through Ebay, Nov., '02.
This DVD offers six Silly Symphonies, including "Three Little Wolves"; "Peculiar Penguins"; "Water Babies"; and "Father Noah's Ark." Though both the disc and the packaging say that English is an option, I could not engage it. Several random subtitles appeared without my asking for them. The paper insert for a large jewel-case came with the disc, but without the jewel case.
1993 The Tortoise & the Hare CD-ROM. Production Manager George Fleischman. Produced in USA. Interactive Publishing Corporation. $10 at the Omaha Computer Swap Meet, May, '98.
This is a simple presentation of TH on cartoon slides with the text on the screen highlighted phrase by phrase while it is read. A listener can also click on any word to have it said or on any object to see and hear the word. The reading is enhanced with simple musical background and some sound effects. The speed of the presentation is so slow that it is burdensome to any but those who are learning to read. The text is copyrighted by National Textbook Company, the producers of Tina la Tortuga y Carlos el Conejo/Tina the Turtle and Carlos the Rabbit (1972/90). An audio cassette is included with the same sound track (listed separately under 1993) and so are crayons to color the printable black-and-white slides. To get the CD-ROM running, I followed the sequence Start/Run/D:/OK and double-clicked on the "go.bat" icon. Richie and Tina are very good friends, but Richie wakes up one day in a very bad mood and cannot stop taunting Tina with the things she cannot do while he can. Tina gets angry and demands a race. Throughout these interchanges there is a great little frog observer. There is also a wonderful expression on Richie's face after the lost race. Tina announces to him: "You go far little by little."
1993 The Tortoise & the Hare. Production Manager George Fleischman. Produced in USA. Interactive Publishing Corporation. $10 from Omaha Computer Swap Meet, May, '98.
This audio cassette reproduces the narrative of the CD-ROM of the same name, year, and manufacturer. See my notes there. The reading is enhanced with simple musical background and some sound effects. The text is copyrighted by National Textbook Company, the producers of Tina la Tortuga y Carlos el Conejo/Tina the Turtle and Carlos the Rabbit (1972/90). Richie and Tina are very good friends, but Richie wakes up one day in a very bad mood and cannot stop taunting Tina with the things she cannot do while he can. Tina gets angry and demands a race. Tina announces to him: "You go far little by little."
Written by Brian Gleeson. Told by Ben Kingsley. Music by Ravi Shankar and others. Drawings by Kurt Vargö. Boxed with an accompanying story poster. Rowayton, CT: Rabbit Ears Productions. $5.98 somewhere before May, '02.
A lively disk. The accompanying poster has the whole text on its back. As on the audio cassette tape from the same project, both the voice and the music are strong. Kingsley adopts various voices well, especially for the jackal. The sound track of some 25 minutes seems to be followed by an individual instrumental track of each episode without voices. Well done! The package was on sale, reduced from $12.95.
1991 The Tiger and the Brahmin. Written by Brian Gleeson. Told by Ben Kingsley. Music by Ravi Shankar. Boxed for use with an accompanying book of the same title published in 1992. Rowayton, CT: Rabbit Ears Productions. $20 by mail from Elaine Woodford, Haddonfield, NJ, Oct., '97.
A lively tape to go with a very lively book. Both the voice and the music are strong. Kingsley adopts various voices well, especially for the jackal. Both the book and the tape are very well done. See also the compact disk and poster from the same project.
2000? The Sunday Telegraph Bedtime Stories: Aesop's Fables. Read by Anton Lesser. With music from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and other concertos. Telegraph.co.uk. For promotional use only: not for sale. Naxos Audiobooks.
The Vivaldi background contributes, as do sound effects, and voice transformations from Lesser. Naxos used this same recording on an audio cassette in our collection from 2000, and they will release it again on a CD for sale. 66 tracks. The stories are kept brief, and they are both well fashioned and well narrated. Of course there is a British accent. Lesser creates contrasting voices well for the lamb and the crane in the first stories, which I enjoyed. This may be the best simple CD recording of Aesop to recommend to listeners.
The Sun and the Wind. Woodcut by David Schorr to advertise his show: "Illustrations for Norman Shapiro's The Fabulists French: Verse Fables of Nine Centuries" at the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, August 28-October 18, 1991.
1900? Small (⅝“ diameter) button, perhaps presenting “The Stag with Antlers Caught in a Tree.” $10 from Kara Strouss, Chillocothe, IL, through Ebay, Nov., ’10.
I am cataloguing this unusual button almost eleven years after we received it. One could say that I fell behind in cataloguing! The fable of the stag looking into the water and admiring his antlers but despising his legs, is frequently retold, but I think I have never before seen it on a button. Surprises keep coming!
