Audiobook27 minutes
The Magic Fishbone
Written by Charles Dickens
Narrated by Cathy Dobson
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Written in 1867, The Magic Fishbone is one of Charles Dickens' best loved fairy tales for children. It tells the story of an impoverished King who can barely manage to keep his nineteen children, and it is a long time until pay day. One day he meets a Fairy Godmother who tells him to give his eldest daughter, Princess Alicia, a piece of salmon, and after she has eaten everything but the bone, she is to dry and polish the bone carefully because it has magic powers. The magic fishbone will grant one wish - but only if it is used at the exact right time. Various catastrophes befall the family, but Princess Alicia does not call upon the powers of the magic fishbone, much to her father's annoyance. Until finally one day, something happens which leaves her in no doubt that this really is the right time...
Author
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens (1812-70) was an English writer, generally considered to be the greatest novelist of the Victorian period and responsible for some of English literature's most iconic novels and characters. He continues to be one of the best-known and most read of English authors, with multiple adaptations of his work frequently being produced.
Related to The Magic Fishbone
Related audiobooks
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fairy Tales From England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fairy Book Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Frog Prince and Other Stories (version 2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerrault's Fairy Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Mermaid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cockerel, the Mouse and the Little Red Hen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rainbabies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sea Fairies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Garden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Emperor’s New Clothes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wind in the Willows (version 2) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Racketty-Packetty House: Alcazar AudioWorks Presents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Days of Grace: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jack and the Beanstalk Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCinderella Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chimes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPollyanna Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Jungle Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story Of The Amulet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Zixi of Ix Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lost World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJust So Stories (version 6 Dramatic Reading) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - with Lectures for Use as a Study Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFanciful Stories for Kids Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of the Snowy Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magic of Oz Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Children's Classics For You
From the Mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bridge to Terabithia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Garden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alice in Wonderland: Alice in Wonderland, Book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little House in the Big Woods Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Winnie-the-Pooh - Unabridged Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Baron Trump's Marvelous Underground Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Bear Called Paddington Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little House on the Prairie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winnie-the-Pooh Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne of Green Gables Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Green Ember: The Green Ember Book I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wind in the Willows: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peter Pan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wind in the Willows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aesop's Fables - 284 Fables Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Wizard of Oz Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Corduroy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frindle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gulliver's Travels - Retold for Younger Listeners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Farmer Boy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Johnny Tremain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On the Banks of Plum Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beezus and Ramona Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Town on the Prairie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Magic Fishbone
Rating: 3.659090909090909 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
22 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just a short story, but it's listed on Goodreads as its own thing, so I'll happily review it.
Delightful! The conceit (it helps to know it) is that when this was originally published, Dickens pretended it was written by a child. So, like Daisy Ashford's The Young Visiters, it's rife with intentional silliness. It's young author has very little idea of what life in a palace is like, so the Royal Family behaves much like a typical Victorian middle-class household, with a couple of servants, Father going off to work (and perhaps stopping at the fishmonger on the way back), and the princess improvising bandages from the Royal rag bag. All of this is absolutely charming, and would be enjoyable even if you weren't sure why Dickens had chosen the approach.
I lapped it up, and like an excellent Sangria on a hot August day, it was gone before I knew it.
P.S. I have no idea what the illustrations in the edition I read were supposed to be, but I reckon they're for some other story, having no resemblance to the events that unfolded in the prose side of things. I ignored them.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A tale about knowing when to ask for help. Cute.