I was walking along the road when I passed a beggar asking for alms. He had become quite frustrated. “For Christ’s sake, pious man, give me something!” he shouted as I passed him by. Then a poor peasant who was walking behind me took pity on the...
An audacious fellow came in today and presented me with something he called “Russian salt.” He wanted to trade it in the city. I’d never heard of such a thing as salt. It looked like nothing more than a pile of white sand. I sent him away but later...
He did the impossible for me. He built me a palace of ice, which was kept warm by fires in every room. The whole palace was filled with a rosy, pink glow, and the rarest singing birds in the world. Surely that should have been enough for me! But then a peddler came to...
My door had been closed for a long time. Then one day I heard a knock, and a voice spoke to me. It said: “You are the heart of a rich man. What have you done with your wealth? Have you used it to do good things for your family? Have you considered the...
I told the goldsmith he shouldn’t do it! But he wouldn’t listen to me. He insisted on going back to the place where the little folk were dancing. We had found them once, and they sent us away with coal in our pockets. By morning, the coal had turned to...
The lad who came to chop wood in the forest was very well equipped with food and drink. I could smell the sweet cake in his pocket, and I asked him if he would share a bit of it with me. And maybe a few swigs of his wine. “Ah,” said the clever boy,...
So here we are, livin’ in a pig-stye, and my husband comes home and tells me he caught a fish. Well, it’s about time! Where is it? “Oh, I let him go,” says he. “You did what? You haven’t caught any fish for days! You mean to starve...
I live in a house on a hill in a corner of the wood where the foxes and the hares say goodnight to one another. Nobody knows my name and I intend to keep it that way! I can spin. No one can spin like me. I can spin straw into gold. The miller’s daughter is a...
Our family has gone from riches to rags. First, our mansion in town burned to the ground. We lost everything. Then my father, who was a prosperous merchant, lost all his ships at sea. You can’t imagine the calamities! Shipwrecks, pirates, fires, and storms. We...
You will find me behind a rock door under the ridge of the giant’s mountain. If you knock on my rocky wall, I will come out with sparks flying from my eyes and nose. I guard the tax the giant collects from the little people. Ask for no more than you can carry....
