Funny fairy tales

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is funny mostly in its voices. Use a deep growl for the Great Big Bear and a squeak for the Little Wee Bear, and three-year-olds will soon join in with “Somebody has been sitting in my chair!”

The Emperor’s New Clothes lets children laugh at grown-ups, which they rarely get to do. Ministers praise cloth that is not there, chamberlains carry a train that does not exist, and only a child in the crowd says what everyone can see.

The Frog and the Ox takes a minute: a frog puffs herself up to match an ox and asks her children twice if she is big enough yet. The ending is sudden, so some children laugh and some go quiet, and both reactions are worth talking about.

Rip Van Winkle is gentler comedy for older children. He falls asleep in the mountains, comes down with a beard a foot long and is called a spy for praising the King, because he has no idea there has been a war while he slept.