How could I marry the monstrous lindworm? He had already eaten his first two brides on their wedding nights! But the king had given his orders. I ran into the woods, tearing myself apart on the thorns, desperate to avoid my fate. Why was I chosen? For my kindness and...
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Baba Yaga Waits for a Guest
Ha! Where will you find me? Beyond thrice times three lands, in the thirteenth kingdom, on the other side of the fiery river! You wonder where Koschei the Deathless got his magic steed? I've got mares who fly so fast I can fly round the earth in a single day. A mere...
Princess Martha Who Changes the Life a Stable Boy
There is something different about that stable boy. All he seems to want to do is sleep. The stable master beats him for his indolence but then he goes to sleep again! I'll rouse him. Better still, I'll raise him up. I'll give him a better life now that I’m in charge....
Petru Who Meets a Dragon
I had set off to get water to heal my father's eyes. He had one laughing eye and one weeping eye, and the only way to heal the weeping eye laugh was to bathe it in water from the spring of the Fairy of the Dawn. My two older brothers had gone on the adventure, but...
Bullied Husband
I'm thinner than my wife, and not as strong, and she used to beat me black and blue. But the day came when I could no longer endure the abuse. On that day, I was out in the fields, and I caught a crane in my net. The crane spoke and said, “If you let me go free, I...
Dragon Who Raids the Sheepfold
I was dashing down the road with my booty one night when I heard the word, “Stop.” I turned around and saw a little man who said, “I am Stan Bolovan, who eats rocks all night and feeds on flowers all day. If you meddle with those sheep, I will carve a cross on your...
King Lost in the Woods
I had lost myself in the forest. I couldn’t find my way home. Three times, a stranger came along and offered to show me the way out if I would give him the first thing that came out to greet me when I returned. The first couple of times he made his offer, I thought,...
Makoma the Hero
The head of the giant rose out of the river. His long moustaches trailed up and down the channel as far as the eye could see. He said his name was Chin-debou-Mau-giri. He told me that he is the one who makes the fever-mist that hangs over the water. With it, he binds...
Drummer Lad
I know how I'll get through the forest where the man-eating giants live. I'll beat my drum until I've woken them all. Then I'll tell the giants that I'm just the first. There are thousands of men coming after me, bound and determined to put an end to giants. We'll...
Mother Who Escapes With Her Son
My son Hans and I had been held by robbers from the time he was small, and I was so proud of Hans when he stood up to them. He was only ten years old, but he had a strong club and the robbers were drunk. The captain punched him so hard he fell to the floor, but then...
Boy Who Wants to Know His Father
When I was only two years old, my mother took me with her into the woods to gather branches for the fire. It was spring-time and I can still remember the delight I took in the flowers that carpeted the forest. Then all of sudden, two men sprang out of the thicket, and...
Discharged Soldier Who Faces Peacetime
When I received my dismissal, my captain said I might go where I liked. I had no money, so I went to my brothers and asked them to take me in until war broke out again. "What can we do with you?" they said. "You are no use to us. Go make your own living." I slung my...
King Who Rides to the Forbidden Mountain
My five older brothers could not help themselves. When they took the throne, they were compelled to hunt in the forests of the forbidden mountain. Nobody who goes there ever returns. Now I am king, I have that same compulsion, in spite of all the reasonable arguments...
Ram Singh
I found the entrance to the old well, and I went down a flight of stairs that descended into darkness. They were broad, white slabs of alabaster, gleaming in the shadows. Even the sound of my bare feet on the stone echoed in that lonely place, and when one of my water...
Hide-and-Seek King
I put up a sign proclaiming that if any man can find my daughter within eight days, he will have her for his wife. If he fails, I will have his head. Needless to say, I have quite a collection of heads. No one will ever find my daughter. I've hidden her in my palace,...
Catherine Reconsidering Her Destiny
No matter where I go or how hard I try to please my employers, Destiny always finds me. Just when I've put everything in order, she flies in, tears up the house, and leaves everything in pieces. I run away in shame. Now I work for a lady who has asked me to climb a...
Destiny
Catherine had come of age. She was sitting in her room in her father's well-appointed house when I flew in with my wheel of fortune. "Catherine," I said. "Which would you rather have? A happy youth or a happy old age?" After some consideration she said, "Give me a...
Feather King
My two elder sons are clever and self-assured, but my third is a different sort of chap altogether. Very good-hearted, but simple. I'm not sure which of my sons is meant to be king. I'll throw three feathers to the wind and let the wind decide. See which way the wind...
Princess Hadvor Killing the Giant
The stone floor is heaving. The giant is coming up from below, shaking the house and raging like a thunderstorm. I run to my maids. "Come with your cauldron of pitch! Make haste!" The earth splits and we pour the pitch into the widening crack. I can see the three...
Jousting Queen
I am quite prepared to rule my own country, but my uncle insists that the people do not like being ruled by a woman, and that I must find a husband to help me manage my affairs. So be it. I have not made a choice yet. Now something interesting has happened. A young...
Princess Who Challenges the Red Knight
The Red Knight was a complete imposter! He stole the right to marry me. But I decided I wouldn't get mad. I would get even! I marched into the hall where the king and his nobles were feasting, and I presented the youth who had fairly and truly won my heart. I said,...
Gardener’s Son
The prince and I are good friends, and we often compete to see whose arrow can fly the highest. When one of our arrows pinned the feather of a golden bird, I claimed the arrow as my own. The prince said it was his, and when we couldn't settle the dispute, we took it...
Ball-Carrier
My people say that a witch lives on the other side of the wood, near the great river. She steals children. She flings her ball in the direction of a child's home, and when the child starts to chase it, she reels in her prey. The child is never seen again. It is all...
Forest Witch
I have tried to teach many boys how to acquire the gifts of the good spirits, but none of them will fast long enough to do any great good in the world. This boy, however, is different! He fasted thirty days, and then he told me that he still had not fasted long...
Corva the Witch
Men. Don't have much use for 'em. They don't listen to the earth. They don't hear the cries of the fish in the stream, or the eagle in the air. Naw, I've tested men and found them wanting. I put their skulls on spikes to decorate my fences. Other than that, they're...
Swan Sister
When my six brothers shake off their swan feathers, I am so glad to see them! But there isn't much time. They will only be in their human forms for a quarter of an hour. "If you wish to free us, you must sew us six shirts from starwort," they say. "For seven years you...
Mother Dragon
Does my appearance SHOCK you? Come now, approach my diamond throne. Which of my heads is more of a shock? One, two, or three? Is it our breath? Hah! Arr! Arr! Arr! Come on now, it can't be our VOICE. Don't you like the sound of cawing ravens? Approach, I say! What's...
Vizier
What burns me is not that the upstart has built a castle more splendid than the Sultan's. It's that he has left a window for the Sultan to finish. He mocks my master! He will never match the splendor! Where did he get such magic? There's a demon at work underneath...
Guest at the Fiery Feast
The king married a snow-daughter who could not stand the heat. She had a fire-brother who could not stand the cold. The king made an underground house of ice for his queen, and he had a huge oven built for the fire-brother so he could live comfortably. One day, the...
Nasty Giant
I'm a kind master. Really. Just do what I tell you. If you don't, I'll wring your neck. I like putting people in their place, especially young fellows like that prince who came to my house a few days ago. He was willing to be hired, so I brought him on as a servant....
King Who Doesn’t Like the Prophecy
I like to travel around the kingdom in disguise so I can see what is really going on. I just learned that a village boy has been born with a caul. The villagers believe that such a child is special, and that anything he undertakes will turn out well. They also say...
Dragon of the Gloomy Cavern
I am yellow and green, my claws are scarlet, and my tail is so long that it lies in a hundred coils. My brother and I guard the entrance to the Gloomy Cavern that leads to the Fountain of Health and Beauty. If you were to pass us and get into the cavern you would find...
Red, the Jealous Counselor
So this fellow comes into the castle with his massive, slobbering dog. They pass the guards and march straight into the hall to speak to the king. The fellow demands that the king give him a room for the winter, where he and his dog can stay. For some unknown reason,...
Fairy Truth
I am here to grant the good king a wish, and, true to character, he doesn't ask anything for himself. He wants something for his son. "Most certainly," I say. "I can give him riches, good looks, power, and so on. What will it be?" "None of those," says the king. "I...
Rat in the Tunnel
Who comes through my tunnel? A one-legged soldier in a paper boat! I get into his face. "Have you got a passport? Out with it!" He grips his gun and stares ahead. No fear? I'll show him my teeth. Then he'll pay the toll. A strong current pushes him through. "Hold...
Glass Hill
I'm a high, high, glass mountain, slippery as ice, standing close to the king's palace. On my peak sits a princess with three golden apples on her lap. The man who can ride up and take those apples will win her hand in marriage, and half the kingdom too. The Princess...
Three-Headed Giant
If I catch a man hiding in my castle, he won't live unless he can answer my questions. My heads want to know: What country was first inhabited, Scotland or Ireland? Was man made before woman, or woman before man? Who came first, men or brutes? If you can't answer our...
Widow Among Widows
Before our sons go off in the world, we make them cakes. They can have half a cake with their mother's blessing, or a whole cake with our curse. It's up to them. The size of the cake is determined by the quantity of water our sons can bring back from the well, in a...
Prudent King
The old fisherman's wife has come to me with a preposterous request. She wants me to give the hand of my daughter to her friend, a "golden crab." Ha! Yet I suspect there is more to this "crab" than meets the eye. So I say, "Tell your crab friend to build a wall in...
Knight Who Uses a Mirror to Meet a Dragon
The princess, bound to a tree, was waiting for the dragon to come and destroy her. I borrowed a horse and rode in with a huge mirror. I put it against the trunk of a tree, took the maiden's veil, and covered the mirror with it. I told her to hide behind the mirror,...