On the happiest day of my life, I was riding through the falling snow on a sleigh that was lit by the setting sun. Rushing along through the fir trees in the steaming breath of the horses, I felt like a great white swan, feather-light and wing-borne. “Oh joy and...
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Queen Who Plays the Lute
"Why not enjoy the happiness and stability we have?” I asked my husband. “Can you not find a way to live in peace?" He could not. He was restless. He wanted to try his strength in battle against some enemy and win honor and glory. He went out, called his army...
Spinning Maiden with a Golden Thread
I glanced up from my spinning and I saw the prince sitting on his horse, looking at me through the window. The setting sun blazed on his face, and when he turned away, the room had become so warm! I went to the window and opened it. I watched him ride away for as long...
Count in Hiding
Under the light of a full moon, I could see the old woman coming down to the well. The light from the orb of the moon over the mountain was so bright that you could have found a needle in the grass. I watched from the tree as the old woman knelt before the well. She...
Red Shoes
Who cares what "good Christian people" say? We know what we mean to Karen. Did you know that in the beginning, the poor girl had no shoes at all? That’s right. She went barefoot or wore old wooden clumpers that chafed her instep until her feet bled. The old...
Hall of Prisoners
What I contain in my spacious vault has not been seen for a long time. My floors are covered in polished stones and inscribed with symbols that are known only to magicians. Hollow niches are cut into my walls, and they hold glass vases where people’s spirits are...
Fisherman’s Son Who Finds Three Black Princesses
After I escaped the enemy, I came to a great forest on a high mountain. As I approached the cliff, the mountain wall opened before me. I entered a great enchanted castle. The tables, chairs, and benches were hung in black. Then three princesses appeared who were...
Princess Who Serves a Soldier
I kept having the same dream that a little black dwarf came into my room and carried me to the house of a soldier. He was angry with my father for dismissing him after years of faithful service. He made me do everything he commanded, and then at dawn, when the cock...
Raven Princess
My mother has turned me into a raven, and though I have told a young man how to set me free, he can't resist the temptation to eat and drink. For three days, he has failed to stay awake. He has lost his chances now, and so I have left him with several gifts. I have...
Queen Mother of the Raven
My baby daughter was fidgety and noisy and I could not quiet her. She wanted to be in my arms, and every time I put her down, she cried. Finally, I became impatient with her. I went to the window, and when I saw the ravens flying around the palace, I said, "I wish you...
Mirror of Understanding
The Snow Queen calls me the Mirror of Understanding, but I am cracked in a thousand pieces. She has recruited an intelligent little boy named Kay to fit my pieces together, but he has gone quite black and blue with cold. His heart has become a lump of ice, and yet he...
Jorinda
I was walking in the forest with Joringel when he said, "Take care not to go too close to the enchanted castle." I think perhaps we had already come too close, for though the evening sun shone brightly between the tree trunks, the dark green forest and the...
Bird Witch
I am what you might call a collector of birds. Yes, that's it. I have seven thousand cages in my castle, each containing a single bird—rare birds, all of them, rarer than you can possibly imagine. I eat them sometimes, and I keep them if they sing pretty songs. The...
Fed-Up Mother
Enough is enough! I adopted the shepherd's son after his parents died. I thought it would be nice to have someone around the house, especially after my bad illness. Not that I needed a child. I have always enjoyed my own company. I have never felt the least bit lonely...
Dorani Who Goes Home at Night
The weight of my hair had become unbearable, and so one day, I cut off a lock, wrapped it in a leaf, and threw it into the river. It was found by a prince who asked me to marry him. I consented but I made him promise to allow me to go home every night. He did, and we...
Mother of Sheaths
I am a well-known enchantress in this region of the world. I live in a cave that is lined with sheaths. Bring me your knife and I will put it in its sheath. One day, a messenger of the Archduke of Placenza came to me. His master had lost his reason and the doctors...
Grethari the Orphaned Prince
After we fought the shark, Geirlaug sprinkled some white powder over us, and the next thing I knew we were outside the palace of my parents. I hadn't been there since I was a tiny child, but I remembered the surroundings. Geirlaug told me not to drink anything until I...
Evil Magician Ismenor
When the queen came to the tower, I turned her into a marble statue. Ha! I must say, I'm inspired by the pretty ornament. It will serve to mark the place where her precious king is imprisoned. I think I'll go to the Isle of Swans and turn all the queen's people into...
Airy Fairy Girouette
Yes, well you can call me Airy Fairy if you wish. Some people call me Inconstancy, but my formal name is Girouette. Yes, I think that's it. I like to change my name. I'm never sure about anything. I have one idea, and then it is replaced by another, and I simply...
Esben the Fool
I'm not a big fellow like my eleven brothers. I'm just a little guy. My brothers work in the fields and the forest with my father, while I stay home with my mother. My father is getting old and weak now, and my brothers are biting at the bit to go and seek their...
Fish Man
The troll turned me into a fish and I sprang into the river. No use fighting against the stream. I let it carry me out to sea. At the end of the current, I found myself at the bottom of the ocean, outside a palace made of glass. I peered into the rooms and halls. The...
Prince Enslaved by a Witch
I could never have done the witch's tasks without the help of the white dove. When she lit on my shoulder, I caressed her white feathers and kissed her little red beak. In that moment, a beautiful young woman stood before me. My kiss had freed her from the witch's...
Witch with Powerful Hair
I live in a fine castle. Light blazes from every window. I sit in the hall on a golden chair, and when young adventurers find me, I turn them to stone. How do I do that? Ha. You wonder, do you? I will tell you this: the power is in my hair. It only takes a single hair...
Kay
Nothing looked beautiful to me anymore. Everything I looked at was flawed! I only liked snowflakes. They were perfect and regular. Then one day I got caught in a snow storm, and a great lady drove up to me in her sled. Her fur and cap were made of ice, and she shone...
Sea Turtle
When I was very little, the fisherman saved my life, and put me back in the sea. Now I am large enough to carry him on my back, into my world. Behold, Urashimataro, the palace of the sea god! If you are astonished by the beauty of the glittering walls, wait until you...
Nurse of the Confined Princess
The king is so terrified that something will happen to his daughter that he refuses to let her leave the palace. He keeps her shut in her rooms like she's some kind of prisoner. Of course I understand how bitterly she hates her confinement. I've listened to her...
Goat King
Yesterday, my page and I were hunting in the forest when we became lost. After night fell, we noticed a distant light and followed it to the door of a cave. We knocked, and the door was opened by a stately woman who was pleased to give us lodging. The cave was truly a...
A Village Storyteller
I love to tell the story of the gnome Rubezahl. He did everything he could to win the affection of a princess, but he could not force her to stay with him. With all his power and magic, the king of the gnomes could not change the heart of a woman. He was left in the...
Princess Who Marries a Head
After all the miraculous acts that the old woman's son performed, my father and I agreed to meet him. Perhaps I would marry him after all. The old woman came into the palace, and what do you think she carried with her? Her son's head on a silver platter! I laughed,...
Prince Rainbow
The princess who is passing by the fountain is well-named "Fairer-than-a-Fairy." A fairy could never surpass her tender mortal beauty. She is surprised when I speak to her. I tell her that I am the son of a powerful king, and that the wicked old fairy Lagree...
Tiny Bell
Ring me once and you'll summon the king of the eagles. Ring me twice and the king of foxes will come to you. Ring me three times and the king of fishes will appear. I belong to the fairies, and if you have me in your possession, then you have distinguished yourself as...
Roland Fiddling
We fled the village, me and my sweetheart, but first I said, "Take the witch's magic wand!" It's a good thing she did, because the witch soon came after us in her seven league boots. I turned myself into a lake, and my sweetheart turned into a duck. The witch went...
Shepherd with a Flower
I never saw anything so beautiful as that delicate flower growing in the field. I could not help myself. I picked it, carried it home, and laid it with great care inside my chest. Ever since then, when I come home at the end of the day, the inside work is done. The...
Roebuck Brother Who Must Be Hunted
I can't resist the bugle-horn. When the hunters call, I feel as if I'm jumping out of my skin. My sister must let me out of the house, and I must run. The king chases me through the wood, all day long, and I try to escape him. Yesterday, however, the game changed. The...
Overtaken Queen
I was playing with my two-year-old son on the boat deck while my husband and the crew napped below. We were having a lovely afternoon when I noticed something black coming toward us from the sea. As it approached, I saw that the figure was a fearfully ugly witch...
Glass Slipper
I have been taken into the custody of a young prince who has put me on the table beside his bed. He stares at me, day and night, trying to figure out how my mistress could have danced in glass, and whether or not she was real. Yet I am the evidence that she was real,...
Pitchfork
Evening was drawing near and the giant would be back soon. The princess had told the young man how to use me to clean the stables.Turn me upside down! Use the handle, not the fork! But when he got to work, he picked me up in the ordinary way. What was he trying to...
A Drop of Princely Blood
I'm one drop of a prince's blood. He left three of us on a stool that stood beside a sleeping giant. Our job was to speak to the giant and keep him from waking so the prince could get away. Every time the giant woke, we reassured him that everything was okay. The pot...
Hands
We were once lords and ladies but now we're just hands. That's all you see. Our bodies have been invisible ever since our dear mistress was turned into a cat. Still, we do our best to serve, here in the castle, hidden in the Forest of Gloom. Someone has sounded the...
Well-Bred Prince
My father isn't ready to give the throne to any of his three sons. Instead he sends us away on quests for things that are impossible to find. I don't protest. It's a waste of breath. And besides, I'm far too well-bred. The funny thing is, I enjoyed the quests. My...
Well of the Witch-Maiden
Every month when the moon is full, the witch-maiden comes to me. She looks up to the moon, then kneels before me and dips her hands in my water. She bathes her face nine times, then looks up to the moon once more. After that, she walks around me nine times, singing...