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Cover of The King with the Three-Pointed Fork, The Story of Poseidon

The Little Myths Library

The King with the Three-Pointed Fork

The Story of Poseidon

Poseidon was king of the sea. He loved giving presents. BIG presents. WET presents.

Ages 4–6 · 32 pages · 8.5 × 8.5 in · Paperback and Kindle

Paperback on AmazonKindle edition

The story

What happens in this one.

This warm and funny picture book introduces children to Poseidon, god of the sea in Greek mythology — a king with a beard as blue as the sea, a voice as loud as a storm and a fork with three points, who loved giving presents but never once asked what anybody wanted.

In short, rhythmic sentences made for reading aloud, Orson Vale, creator of The Little Myths Library, retells the famous contest for Athens: a brand-new town on top of a steep hill has no water, the people need a god to look after them, and two gods arrive with presents — Poseidon and Athena. The best present wins.

There are no frightening storms and no angry god here: the only wave that crashes lands on Poseidon himself, the sulking is the funny kind, and the ending is pure joy — so The King with the Three-Pointed Fork can be read to the smallest listeners without a single bad dream.

Read a sample

The first five pages, as they are printed.

Page 1 of The King with the Three-Pointed Fork
Page 2 of The King with the Three-Pointed Fork
Page 3 of The King with the Three-Pointed Fork
Page 4 of The King with the Three-Pointed Fork
Page 5 of The King with the Three-Pointed Fork

The opening of the story — 5 of the 26 story pages. Tap a page to start reading, then turn the pages with the arrows. The rest is in the book.

For the grown-up reading aloud

“About the Real Poseidon” is the last page.

Every book in the library closes with the original legend retold in plain words — so when the question comes after the last page, there is an answer on it. Nothing is watered down; what changes is the gentleness of the telling.

Reading age
4–6
Read-aloud time
About five minutes
Format
8.5 × 8.5 in paperback
Also on
Kindle, tap to enlarge

The rest of the library

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