Enjoy Yabla's rendition of "The Little Mermaid" (or "La petite sirène"), originally written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. In part one, the little mermaid swims ashore to a handsome prince. But will she see him again?

Lionel reads part two of the Ugly Duckling story, which has, as you may already know, a very happy ending.

If you're familiar with the story of the Ugly Duckling, you may enjoy revisiting this classic fairy tale in French, as read by Lionel and Patricia.

In the second episode of "The Frog King," the princess follows the frog's instructions, albeit reluctantly. And as you might guess, he turns into a handsome prince!

Lionel reads us the fairy tale, "The Frog King" (also known as "The Princess and the Frog"). The princess loses her precious gold ball in a pond. A frog appears, recovers it for her, and asks for a small favor in return. Will the princess honor her promise?

This next part of the Il était une fois series on George Stephenson deals with the Rainhill Trials, a competition that determined what kind of trains (steam engines or locomotives) would be used on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

The future of the railroad depends on whether George Stephenson's locomotive, 38 cars long, will run or not. The local townspeople debate whether it will go full speed ahead or not budge at all due to its size.

George Stephenson tries out his invention, a steam locomotive. He allows his son, Robert, to ride on it as long as he stays on the edge of the carriage and gets ready to jump off if the rails buckle under the weight of the locomotive... which they do. Luckily his son followed his instructions!

Years of research and trial and error culminated in the invention of the first locomotive on rails. Not bad for a father-and-son experiment. That's what Murdoch and his son George achieved in 1797.

In part two of this series, "Once upon a Time... the Discoverers," Maestro talks about Cugnot, the inventor of the steam traction engine.

In the series "Once Upon a Time... the Discoverers," the Maestro lets off some steam. Some two thousand years ago, Heron invented the steam machine in Alexandria, but it took two millenia to perfect the invention and put it to practical use.

Cortés sets out to conquer Mexico with his four hundred men, sixteen horses, and seven cannons. He is joined later by native forces, the Totonac warriors.

Tension is building between the Aztecs and the Spaniards, not to mention within Cortés's own ranks. Despite this, the conquistador rallies his troops to conquer Mexico.

Cortés exchanges gifts with the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma. An excellent diplomatic move on both sides!

Cortés is negotiating with the friendly natives of Mexico with the help of his interpreter, who had been shipwrecked in a previous expedition and speaks Mayan. They are offered a young woman slave, Malintzin, who speaks Mayan and Aztec.