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 fellow and gave him a...
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Princess Who Gives Away the Magic Stone
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...
Heart of a Rich Farmer
The door between myself and the farmer had been closed for a long time. Then one day I heard a knock. The farmer had come to the door of his heart, and I spoke to him. I said: "You are a rich man. What have you done with your wealth? Have you used it to do good things...
Generous Tailor
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 gold. The old...
Little Grey Man
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, "If I give you my...
Cormoran the Giant
I live in a gloomy cavern on the top of Saint Michael's Mount, off Cornwall. I'm eighteen feet high and nine feet round. My fierce and savage appearance terrifies everyone around me. When I go to the mainland for meat, I throw half a dozen oxen on my back and tie...
Wild Ogress
What does Prince Ring mean, bringing me all this fancy stuff? Does he truly expect me to make my own wedding dress? I don't want to sew! I want meat, raw meat! I'm starving to death! Where is that good-for-nothing brother of mine? He's supposed to be here by now, and...
Frog in the Well
Somebody's crying. What a racket! Wah, wah, wah, waaaaaaah! I swim to the surface and I see the king's daughter sitting by the well. I try to be courteous about it. "What ails you?" I ask. "You're weeping so hard that a stone would show pity." "It's my ball," she...
Fisherman’s Wife
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 us?" "It was a Flounder," he says....
Rumpelstiltskin
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 good...
Beauty’s Eldest Sister
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 fell...
Doorkeeper
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. If you...
Hand-Mill
I can grind out anything you want: a light, a table cloth, a feast with beer, and all kinds of good things. I come from the Hall of the Dead, and the water that turns me will never freeze. A word of caution, though. Don't get me going if you don't know how to make me...
Ali Baba’s Wife
When my husband came home, his asses were not just carrying fagots. They were laden down with bags of gold! Ali Baba came in and he poured the gold all over the floor. "Let me be the first to measure it!" I cried. I ran to my brother's wife for a scale. What a fool I...
Ali Baba’s Trapped Brother
I can't believe how much treasure there is in the cave! Bales of silk, stuff-brocades, all piled together, gold and silver in heaps, and loads of money in leather purses. There is more here than my ten mules can carry! I gather up as much as I can take, and then I go...