5 h 55 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 55 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if flowers, stones and trees could speak—and ask you to look more kindly at the world?
In A Grandmother's Tales, George Sand gives flowers, trees, stones, animals and spirits a voice. Nature is not a backdrop here. It takes part in gentle fairy tales where magic meets a clear sense of right and wrong, and where even the weakest creature deserves care.
These stories bring the warmth of a storyteller sitting beside you, with clear images and sentences that move easily. Their heroes learn through goodness, patience, curiosity and courage. Rather than lecture, Sand invites you to look closely, feel honestly and notice the living world around you.
What you’ll discover
- A world with voices Meet plants, animals, rocks and spirits that take their place in the tales.
- Kindness without a lecture Explore a warm moral world where goodness matters and weaker creatures deserve respect.
- Courage beside curiosity Follow heroes whose patience, courage and honest feelings help them learn.
- Magic close to nature Find gentle wonder in flowers, trees and stones, rather than dark fantasy.
- A storyteller beside you Enjoy clear images and easy sentences that keep the intimate feel of speech.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy fairy tales with a gentle teacher's voice, animals that think and feel, and talking trees and flowers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A hunted orphan finds shelter in the oak
- Honest work is worth more than hidden gold
- Gentle teaching shapes a dog's good character
- A white elephant learns what loyalty means
- A strange night in the mountains makes a musician
- Even flowers quarrel over rank and fragrance
- One stone carries human history through the ages
- Everything on earth is made of dust
- A hungry traveller meets a fossil collector
- Small wonders belong to those who look
Who’s who
- EmmiA frightened orphan pig keeper who hides in a hollow oak and learns to live by his own skill and honest work.
- CaticheAn old beggar woman who pretends to be feeble minded while hoarding gold, and who tempts Emmi toward a dishonest life.
- Father VincentA kind woodcutter and foreman who gives Emmi work, teaches him to read and count, and guides him like a father.
- Mr. LechienA gentle neighbour who believes souls rise through many lives and who remembers his last life as a devoted bulldog.
- AorA young animal tamer who wins the trust of a grieving white elephant with a reed flute and stays his closest friend.
- Master JeanA vain, wine-loving cathedral organist who treats his orphan choirboy like a servant but hides a part in the boy's destiny.
- ElsieA curious twelve-year-old girl who longs to learn the secrets her governess keeps in a pavilion at night.
- Miss BarbaraA learned, nearsighted governess nicknamed the fairy with big eyes, who sees tiny wonders and fears bats.
Formats and delivery
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- Hardcover
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- Large print hardcover
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A Grandmother's Tales
by George Sand · 1873
An orphan pig keeper hides in the hollow of a lightning-struck oak, and the tree speaks to him.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
How does a ragged pig keeper end up living inside a tree? In the first tale, a frightened orphan named Emmi climbs an old oak to escape his own herd, and the oak speaks to him.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A hunted orphan finds shelter in the oak
Emmi is a small orphan who keeps pigs on a farm near the forest of Cernas. He is afraid of the animals, and they sense it. His aunt beats him, and the farm folk treat him as good for nothing.
One day Emmi strikes a young pig with his sharpened crook, and the whole herd turns on him. He scrambles into the great oak the village calls the Talking Oak. Villagers say a voice from it once warned a traveller to get away. Now Emmi hears a thin voice telling him to go. He begs the tree to be kind, since wolves roam at night, and the voice softens and says no more.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1873
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Sand, George. A Grandmother's Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-grandmothers-tales.
Sand, G. (2026). A grandmother's tales. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-grandmothers-tales (Original work published 1873)
Sand, George. A Grandmother's Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-grandmothers-tales.
@book{sand2026grandmothers,
author = {Sand, George},
title = {A Grandmother's Tales},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-grandmothers-tales},
note = {First published 1873}
}
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What is A Grandmother's Tales about?
It is a collection of eight fairy tales by George Sand. They include a talking oak, a man who remembers living as a dog, a white elephant, quarrelling flowers, a magic stone, a dust fairy, an oyster gnome and a governess who sees tiny moths.
Who is Emmi in The Talking Oak?
Emmi is a poor orphan pig keeper who runs from his herd and hides in the hollow of an old oak in the forest of Cernas. He learns to live alone, meets a beggar and a kind woodcutter, and grows into an honest man.
Is A Grandmother's Tales a true story or fairy tales?
These are invented fairy tales and fantasies, written by George Sand, who died in 1876. They mix dreams, legends and talking animals with real facts about geology, botany, music and insects, so the wonder rests on nature.
The author
George Sand
1804–1876 · French novelist and memoirist
George Sand was the pen name of Aurore Dupin, a French novelist and memoirist. She was born in Paris in 1804 and died at Nohant in 1876. She lived in Paris and Nohant. Her novels include Indiana (1832), Mauprat (1837), The Devil’s Pool (1846), and Little Fadette (1849).
More by George Sand
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