Welcome to Yak Yacker! Here is a wonderful fairy tale for you: The Adventures of Prince Achmed. This story comes from old Arabian Nights tales, full of magic and excitement. You will follow Prince Achmed as he rides a flying horse, meets a beautiful princess, and escapes from a scary demon. It's a classic adventure, retold just for English learners at the A2 elementary level.
In this interactive graded reader, you can read and listen at the same time with our story audio. Tap any word to see its meaning instantly. There are lesson notes after the story to help you learn new words and grammar. Best of all, it's a free reading experience designed to make learning English fun and easy. Let's begin the adventure!
Long ago, in a faraway land, there lived a young prince named Achmed. He loved . Every day, he something new and .
One day, Achmed found a strange old lamp in the palace garden. He rubbed it. Puff! A smiling genie appeared. "I can give you a flying horse," said the genie.
"A flying horse? Yes, please!" said Achmed. So the genie gave him a beautiful white horse with . Achmed . "Thank you!" he shouted, and up, up they into the blue sky.
They flew over mountains and seas. Then Achmed saw a castle on a mountain. "Let's go there," he said. The horse landed . A scary demon with red eyes . "Who are you?" the demon.
"I am Prince Achmed! I am ," said Achmed, though he felt a little . The demon laughed. "Then I will give you an adventure! You will be my !" The demon took Achmed inside the castle and a high tower.
But Achmed was . He saw a magic flute on the wall. He played a . Soon, a friendly princess appeared. "I am Princess Leila. I can help you," she . Together, they made a to escape.
That night, Achmed played the flute again. This time, the music made the demon until he . Then Achmed and Leila the flying horse. They flew far away from the dark castle. At last, they home. Everyone cheered. From that day, Prince Achmed and Princess Leila had many more adventures, but always together.
A long time ago, in a faraway country, Prince Achmed loved adventures and looked for new things daily.
One day, he found an old lamp in the garden, rubbed it, and a smiling genie appeared offering a flying horse.
Achmed accepted, so the genie gave him a white winged horse. He said thanks, got on, and they flew up into the sky.
They flew over mountains and seas. Achmed saw a dark castle on a hill, so they landed. A red-eyed demon came out and growled, 'Who are you?'
Achmed said he was Prince Achmed seeking adventure, though he was scared. The demon laughed, took him prisoner, and locked him in a high tower.
But Achmed was smart. He played a magic flute on the wall. A friendly princess named Leila appeared and whispered she could help. They planned to escape.
That night, Achmed played the flute again and made the demon dance until he fell asleep. They ran to the horse, flew away, and arrived home to cheers. From then on, they had many adventures together.
This story is full of exciting words for adventures. Let's look at some of the most useful ones. You can use these words to talk about magical journeys and brave heroes.
- lamp - a special object that can hold magical power (in the story, Achmed rubs it and a genie appears)
- genie - a magical spirit that grants wishes
- flying horse - a horse with wings that can fly
- castle - a large, strong building where kings, queens, or demons live
- demon - a scary, often evil, creature with magic powers
- prisoner - a person who is locked up and not free to leave
- tower - a tall, narrow part of a castle
- flute - a musical instrument that you blow into
- escape - to get away from a place where you are trapped
We use the past simple to tell stories about things that happened in the past. In this fairy tale, almost all actions are in the past simple. Regular verbs just add -ed, but many common verbs are irregular.
- Regular: rub → rubbed, appear → appeared, shout → shouted, play → played, whisper → whispered
- Irregular: find → found, give → gave, fly → flew, see → saw, take → took, run → ran, feel → felt
- Example: "He found a strange old lamp." (irregular) vs. "He played a soft tune." (regular)
When we tell a story, we often use time words to connect events and show the order they happened. This makes the story easier to follow and more exciting.
- "One day, Achmed found a strange old lamp." - a common way to begin a story
- "Then Achmed saw a dark castle." - shows what happens next
- "That night, Achmed played the flute again." - tells us when something happened
- "At last, they arrived home." - shows the happy ending after a long journey
Now it's your chance to be a storyteller! Try to retell Prince Achmed's adventure in your own words, or invent a new adventure story. Focus on using the past simple and the new vocabulary from this lesson.
- Start with "Long ago…" or "One day…"
- Use at least five different past simple verbs (rub, fly, take, see, escape…)
- Include a magical object, a friend, and an escape!
The Adventures of Prince Achmed comes from the American / public-domain screen or print culture tradition and is best known as a animated feature film. This Yak Yacker article is an original learner retelling based on 1926 film; public domain in U.S., so the wording here is simplified for modern learners rather than copied from one old edition.
Older printings, translations, and retellings of this story can vary quite a bit. The original audience was usually kids/general, but this version is adapted for A2 Elementary learners studying English. Shadow-puppet fantasy; Arabian Nights adjacent.
If you want to look into the source tradition, start with Project Gutenberg.
If you want to keep going, browse more in our English section and review the A2 English Vocabulary List. After that, try English Question Words for another useful next step.
