Imagine a warm, cozy room somewhere in Italy where family, friends, and neighbors gather to hear news, gossip-and stories. Listeners hear of an evil elf who tempts Donatella with sweets and toys in The Crimson Elf. A wise mother helps her daughter outwit a demanding king in The Golden Stone. A great city learns just how valuable books can be in Books of Wisdom. As these and other tales unfold, and owl call drifts in from the forest and young eyelids close as children pass from the world of stories to the land of dreams.