Fifty Famous Fables

A tortoise longs to see the world, and two ducks have a way to take him there: he must grip a twig and keep absolutely silent. Then the haymakers look up—and start laughing.

In Lida B. McMurry’s collection, ponds, pastures, bridges, and barnyards become stages for small creatures facing big tests. The tortoise’s journey is only the beginning: elsewhere, a mouse trusts a grinning frog, two goats meet on a narrow bridge, and a shepherd boy learns what happens when no one believes a cry for help. These brisk tales turn pride, mischief, and kindness into lively adventures, with consequences that even the smallest reader can see coming—if the characters can’t. Which of them will learn in time?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.