Bruce Lansky - Girls To The Rescue 1: Folk Tales From Around The World

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Girls to the rescue: tales of clever, courageous girls from around the world/selected by Bruce Lansky.
p. cm.
Contents: The fairy godmothers assistantGrandma Rosas bowlFor love
of SunnyCarla and the greedy merchantSavannahs pigletsKimi meets the ogreThe innkeepers wise daughterThe royal joustChardaes thousand and one nightsLian and the unicorn.
Summary: A collection of ten stories featuring admirable girls in both familiar and exotic settings.
ISBN: 0-88166-215-1 (pbk.)
1. Childrens stories. [1. Short stories] I. Lansky, Bruce.
PZ5.G447 1995
[Fic]dc20 95-17733

Simon & Schuster Ordering # 0-671-89979-1

1995 by Meadowbrook Creations All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All the stories are copyrighted and published with the permission of the authors.

Chardaes Thousand and One Nights 1995 by Craig Hansen.

Published by Meadowbrook Press, 18318 Minnetonka Boulevard,
Deephaven, MN 55391

BOOK TRADE DISTRIBUTION by Simon & Schuster, a division of
Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.simonschuster.com

Editor: Bruce Lansky
Editorial Coordinator: Liya Lev Oertel
Production Manager: Amy Unger Desktop Publishing Manager: Patrick Gross
Graphic Designer: Linda Norton Art Coordinator: Erik Broberg
Cover Illustration: Gay Holland

99 98 97 96 95 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Printed in the United States of America

eISBN: 978-1-4424-1861-5

ISBN: 978-0-6718-9979-0

I dedicate this book to my daughter, Dana, and to all daughters.

When Dana was a child I used to make up bedtime stories in which she was the hero. You see, Lady Dana was one of the smartest and bravest of all of the knights of the Round Table in Camelot. King Arthur would ask her advice and help when problems arose. She could always come up with a way to rescue the kingdom from whatever peril threatenedusually with a creative approach that never would have occurred to knights whose favorite solution is fighting. (Id usually ask her, And what do you think Lady Dana did? and incorporate her suggestion into the story.)

I was hoping that these stories would give Dana the confidence to set ambitious goals, and then accomplish them. Im happy to say that, so far, shes well on her way toward making her dreams come true. Im very proud of her.

My hope is that these stories will have the same effect on all daughters that my bedtime stories had on Dana.

We would like to thank the young women

who served on a reading panel for this project:

Dana Almer, Michelle Barnes, Heidi Behruns, Lynsey Bergeron,

Laura Bohen, Connie Bottenberg, Kelly Bottenberg,
Natasha Bruggeman, Anna Burk, Elissa Burk, Kelsey Campbell,

Cara Chamberlain, Chelsea Cohr, Katie Comstock,

Megan Djerf, Stephanie Djerf, Kalena Ferdig, Lizzie Flannigan,
Annie Fredrickson, Liza Getsinger, Kathryn Gilbertson,
Carla Granger, Jennifer Lynn Gruenhagen, Sydney Hanson,
Catherine Henderson, Kimberly Hicks, Katy Hinton,

Kamalar Howard, Sarah Johns, Jessie Johnson, Melissa Jones,
Kayla Koep, Kashena Jade Konecki, Angelina Kostreba,

Diana Kruppstadt, Christine Lamb, Leah Lehmkuhl,
Kristi Lund, Kari Melchert, Lauren Mueller, Nancy Muldor,
Gina Patterson, Bobbie Peterson, Sarah Popkin, Lauren Rath,

Stephanie Reichel, Claire Reuning, Kim Ricci, Michelle Roers,

Julie Rogers, Samantha Schwartz, Mindy Spencer,
Leah Steinberg, Betsy Steiner, Sharon Swearington,

Alexa Textor, Natasha Uspensky, Michelle Verant,

Angela Wagner, Betsy Waalen, Catherine Wicks, Sarah Wiita,
Amy Xiong, Hanna Zipes

If youre curious about why I decided to collect and write stories about clever, courageous girls, I can rattle off five good reasons: Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and The Princess and the Pea.

These fairy tales were written one hundred and fifty to two hundred years agobefore most princes had joined the ranks of the unemployed, and before women had landed jobs as rocket scientists, brain surgeons, and VJs on MTV.

But some people just dont get that the whole premise of these stories is as obsolete as the horse-drawn carriage. Think about it:

Cinderella cant figure out how to get to the ball without magical help from her fairy godmother. And she cant get back home without losing one of her shoes. A handsome prince returns the shoe and marries her. They live happily ever after.

Snow White keeps falling for her stepmothers dumb dirty tricks. She eats a poisoned apple and falls into a coma. Then Prince Charming wakes her up with a kiss and rides off with her on the back of his horse. They marry and live happily ever after.

Sleeping Beauty doesnt do much but sleep for a hundred years. Then a handsome prince, who must have read Snow White, wakes her with a kiss and marries her. They live happily ever after.

Rapunzel lives in a tower, where she does nothing but mope and grow long hair. A handsome prince climbs the tower and rescues her. They marry and live happily ever after.

A persnickety princess complains that she couldnt sleep a wink on a bed with twenty mattresses because the bed was too lumpy. A pea had been put under all the mattresses to test whether she was a true princess. A handsome prince proposes to Princess Grumpy on the spot. They marry and live happily every after.

But you understand that theres more to life than waiting around for a handsome prince, that singing Someday my prince will come in the shower is a big waste of water, and that life doesnt always turn out happily ever after. Princess Di and Princess Fergy learned this lesson the hard way!

Because you understand what these fairy tales are all about, you are ready for something new. The stories Ive collected in Girls to the Rescue are very different from traditional fairy tales in a number of ways:

First, the heroes of these stories are girls and young womennot princes or fairy godmothers.

Second, the heroes succeed because they are clever, courageous, and kind. They dont rely on their beauty. They dont rely on magic. They dont resort to violence.

Third, most of the stories are about helping families, friends, and countrynot about getting married. Two stories that do deal with marriage dont treat it as the ultimate goal. Instead, they focus mainly on love and respect within marriage.

Fourth, many of the stories feature surprising twists on traditional themes. They were written by a number of different writers, so the styles vary: some are humorous, some are adventurous, some are romantic, and some are noble.

Fifth, the stories are set in countries all around the world. Youll meet characters from Mexico, Ireland, Russia, Japan, China, Persia, and the American frontier as well as from England and Germany.

I hope that you enjoy them so much youll want to share them. I also hope you are motivated to think about how you, like the heroes in this book, can help your family, friends, and country.