One winter evening, I put my seven children to bed and tucked them in warmly. Then I went to join my husband in the next room. The charcoal glowed in the hibachi and all the doors of the house were tightly shut, for it was bitterly cold outside, and the first big...
I asked my father to allow me to go to the port so I could see the ship of Ivan the merchant’s son. To be honest, I was just as interested in Ivan as I was in his ship. I took my nurses, governesses and maidservants with me, and they lingered on deck while Ivan...
I received a message that a young man had come to the gate. The gatekeeper wouldn’t let him enter the town. I went down to see who had arrived, and, to my amazement, there stood the only man I have ever loved! I took his hand, drew him to the palace, and in a...
I have fallen in love with a pea-hen! I met her when I was keeping watch because every night my father’s golden apple trees were getting stripped of their fruit. I woke at midnight and saw nine golden pea-hens land in the tree. The ninth hen fluttered to the ground...
I was led to the shore in a great procession and tied to a stake. Soon the dragon arrived, skimming swiftly along the waters. I prepared myself for death but then a fox came trotting along the shore. He drew the brush of his tail along the surf and scattered salt...
I am the Spirit of the Mountain. This is MY mountain. I leave the villagers in peace so long as they supply me with my annual meal of one young maiden. This year, they have fastened her to a large cask that stands in a forest temple. I have been eagerly awaiting this...
It was me who brought the queen to the fairy palace. Me! I introduced her to the fairies who granted her wish to have a child. They gave her a posy of jeweled flowers and told her that she could invoke the fairies at any time by speaking the flowers’ names. When...
I was walking along the road one day when I met a jackal. He seemed to me to be a very distinguished fellow in his fine shoes. “Excuse me,” I said politely. “But I cannot help admiring your shoes. Do you mind telling me who made them?”...
My father became wealthy overnight. How? That’s what I wanted to know. How did stone buildings with golden rooftops spring up along the Zambesi River while the people slept? Where did the herds of cattle come from? How did the river become crowded with fish? My father...
I am Zengi-mizi, the wasp. I am not an ordinary wasp with an ordinary sting, for the father of Gopani-Kufa inhabits me. When Gopani-Kufa needs advice, he takes me out of my little rush basket and asks me a question. I fly around him and hum the answer into his ear....
