Category Archives: Unsolved

201A: Desert fable with two brothers

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I read a fascinating fable as a kid. This was probably 1974-1979. I do not remember the title or author (sorry).
I remember all the details of the plot as I was blown away (remember, I was an impressionable boy!) by the shocking conclusion. Here goes: Two brothers go into the desert to seek their fortune. They come upon a kingdom where everyone wails in grief. They discover the favorite princess is locked in a tall tower and everyone fears she will die there. The brothers are presented before the king and one brother asks, “Do you have a key to this tower.” The king says, “Yes, but I don’t see what good that will do.” The brother requests this key. The two brothers go to the tower, use the key, unlock the door, and the princess is freed! The kingdom rejoices! The king presents each brother with a chest of gold, which they carry into the desert, onward to seek their fortunes.

They arrive at the second kingdom. Terrible dehydration is killing everyone there. One of the brothers asks the king, “Do you have a well? A bucket? A rope?” The king answers, Yes, to all those questions but adds, “I don’t see what good that will do.” The brothers are tight-lipped as to their plan. As one might guess, they tie the rope to the bucket, lower it into the well, and bring up water for all in the kingdom. The kingdom is saved! The king gives each brother a chest of gold.

The story continues this way, the brothers solving what seem to be easily-solvable problems for each kingdom, each time acquiring another chest of gold. After they have each acquired seven or eight chest of gold, they stagger into the desert one more time. Soon, one of the brothers drops dead under the weight of his treasures. His brother is sad but collects all the treasure chests in addition to his own treasure chests and tries to stagger forward. He only gets a few paces before he too succumbs to the weight, has a heart attack, and dies.

A man with a camel finds them, dead in the desert and says something to the effect of, “These two are idiots. If they had only spent a piece or two of gold, they could have bought donkeys to carry all this gold. They wouldn’t have died.”

As a boy, I was stunned that the two main characters died. I was also stunned by the simplicity of the solution to their problem and how I hadn’t thought of it, while I was busy looking down on the idiots in each kingdom, unable to solve their own problems.

I’d really like to see this story again. Made a big impact on me.

200E: Lazy man with monkey who does what he asks

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I’m looking fora book that was written before 1989. This is the year I found it but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a new story.
The basic message is, don’t be so lazy to wish all your tasks off on someone/something else. It is very much a cautionary tail.
It’s told through a tale about a guy that comes across a magical creature (monkey-like I think). The creature is at the mans beck-and-call to do any task he asks of it. He ask more and more, gets lazier and lazier until one day the man asks the creature to breath for him. Essentially the man ceases to exist.
I believe the story takes place on an island. I know most of the illustrations of the man picture him in a hammock. I also think it won a literary medal. As far as the shape of the book it was longer than it was tall.

The school librarian read it to the class when I was in 2nd/3rd grade.The story was was impactful for me as a child but I cant remember the title. I’ve been looking for it for years. Please help me find it.

200D: Orphaned Girl Lives with Grumpy Grandpa

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This was a group of shorter chapter books about a young girl (maybe 12 or 13?) who goes to live with her Grandpa. He’s the classic crotchety but with a heart of gold character. She’s a typical growing-up girl, trying new things, dealing with friendships, etc.

The characters live in a small, quintessential American town. If I were guessing, I’d say they’re set in the 50s. I read them in the late 70s and they seemed “old-fashioned” to me then — but there was electricity, cars, etc.

I recall maybe 3 or 4 books in the series. I’m sure one was set at Christmas. Another was about her entering a Bake-Off.

I think she had a very ordinary name, and this may have been in the title — Margaret, or Elizabeth?

I also sort of think they were published by Scholastic, and I also think that the Christmas book was made into a made-for-TV movie, that perhaps aired in the early 80s?

200B: Time travel search to different Ages

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I read this book as a child likely in early 90s. I have a very vague recollection of time traveling to different “Ages,” back and forth, possibly searching for something. I have a vivid recollection of a description of moss covered stones in a forest, possibly in England during one time travel stint, though may have been set in another world entirely. Not much to go on unfortunately!

200A: Children’s collection driving me crazy.

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Children’s collection driving me crazy.

My brother and I have been looking for our favorite childhood fairy tale/folk/fables/story collection from when we were kids in the mid-1980s. What we remember: It was a mostly white cover, with big letters, hardbound. Simple color illustrations that went along with the short versions of the tales. Stories we remember:

– The Honest Woodcutter
– Rumpelstiltskin
– King Midas and his Golden Touch
– Rip Van Winkle
– The Princess and the Pea
– Gingerbread Man
– Twelve Dancing Princesses
– The Fox and the Grapes
– The Salt Merchant and the Donkey

That’s all we can remember.

199G: Too Tall Ballerina in Paris

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I read this in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s, in my public library back when books still had that distinctive library hardcover binding. It was green or blue and rather thick, probably 200 pages or so. I feel like it was probably written sometime between the 1950’s to 70’s, although I can’t remember the time frame of the story.The plot centered around a young American (I think) dancer, tall but talented, who goes to Paris to study ballet. She’s discouraged when her teacher tells her she has no “heart” in her dancing because she’s never fallen in love, and the girl eventually becomes an assistant or something to a properly tiny ballerina who loves that she’s so tall…I remember there’s a scene where she’s intentionally being goofy as she practices and someone comes in and is thrilled at her talent for comedic dance. Maybe she falls in love at the end? I’ve exhausted my skills at searching for this book. I’m curious if it was as good as I think it was.
Help appreciated!

199C: The Children and the Beached Galleon

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I can’t remember the name of the book or the author. A children’s book with plenty of line drawing illustrations, and featured some children who lived near the sea. One morning they go down to the beach to find that an ancient wrecked galleon has been washed up on shore, which I think they explore ( okay, this was before health and safety concerns! 🙁 Then when they go down to play the next day, there has been another storm and the ship has been washed away again.