The way the people tell it, a hunter once saw three swans descend upon a lake, and as soon as they touched the earth, they cast off their feathers and swam in the water. The hunter was so smitten by the beauty of the maidens that he stole one pair of wings. When the...
Oh, we had the run of the town before the ratcatcher came. Day and night we swarmed through the houses of Hamel, and ate everything we found. We are great friends of the ratcatcher. You might say he’s one of us! A great, tall, gawky fellow, he’s got two yellow mocking...
We set off into the world together, myself and my friend the bull. I rejoiced that we were out of danger at last. No fear of the evil queen finding us! But then we came to a forest. All the trees and plants and flowers were made of copper. We could not go around it....
I was the father she didn’t have. Her human father, the king, thought of nothing but war and put his daughter at the mercy of an evil queen. She left the princess to starve, and so I provided for her. When the queen found out about me, she became determined to put me...
I have good reason to grumble. I am old, for one thing, and I have aches and pains. But nothing pains me more than having to put up with the little princess that the king and queen have named Graciosa. “Oh, Graciosa, here’s a new frock to go with the new day! Are you...
We travelled a long way to come to a land where there is no death. Now that we are here, I understand why there are not great numbers of people in the land. From time to time people will hear a voice calling them. They can’t resist leaping up and shouting, “I’m...
