It was arranged that I should marry the king’s son, and he was truly handsome. But I was no match for him. I felt so ugly and wretched, I hid in my room. Then I had an idea. I would get Maleen, the scullery maid, to dress up in my wedding gown. She could go to...
Oh, that pair! How furious they made me! I couldn’t grab them. They ran from me. They tangled me up in a forest. Then they threw a lake between us. They slowed me down, sure, but they didn’t stop me! I reached the castle, climbed up over the garden wall,...
Winter has come and I’ve stayed too long. I’m freezing to death in the cornfield, but I can’t leave the tiny maiden. I’m pleading with her. “Don’t stay underground with the mice and the moles. Fly with me to the flowers and the sun....
I’m waiting on the roof. Where is he? I’ve been waiting here for hours. He first appeared to me in my bedroom. I was sleeping. He kissed me and I woke. He told me that he was a Turkish god. He certainly looked the part! He told wonderful stories. He told...
Argggh! I want that child. Oh, I want her so bad. “Letiko, come down from the tree and see what beautiful shoes I’m wearing!” Ah, she’s not even curious. “Come down, I’m in a hurry! I have to go and sweep my house.” “Go...
Everything is messed up, absolutely everything. I never should have taken those young lovers to the island. I’d forgotten that the waters had been poisoned by that silly, blundering fairy Dindonette. I wasn’t thinking when I took them in my vessel. We just...
I help mortal men. I save them from misfortune. I come to them when they’re desperate. I only ask to have something for myself. It’s not enough to have a woman’s comb, or her flute, or even her golden spinning wheel. I want her man. I had him for a...
I waited three years for the fruit to ripen. Now I’ve come to pluck my little apple. The girl stands in the barn, in the center of a chalk circle. I can’t get at her. She’s too clean. “Don’t let her wash,” I tell her father....
The youngest son of the king has a good heart, and I am helping him, but he is so annoying! He won’t follow my instructions. He would not put the golden bird in a common cage. He would not put a common saddle on a golden horse, and he completely ignored my...
Good jam to sell! Good jam to sell! To hell with the jam. I’m too old for this. My knees hurt and my back hurts, and besides that, I’m furious. I just climbed three flights of stairs with my heavy basket to reach a tailor who called me from his window....
