The white bear carried me to his castle which was very grand and made my father's castle look quite poor. I would live happily, the bear promised, and I would have nothing else to do but to tend the fire and see that it never went out. The bear went away by day, but...
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Shepherdess Who Marries the Lindworm
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...
Bee Who Knows How to Help
Prince Ivan, he comes to pieces so easily! He sat on a stone by the sea and wept while Baba Yaga's mares stood in water up to their necks. We herded them with our stingers. Ivan didn't see a thing, he was so lost in his own torment. After the sun set, I flew up to him...
Princess with an Enchanted Knife
A young man came to speak to my father, the emperor. He asked for my hand, and said that he would only marry a girl with royal blood running in her veins. I watched him from behind the curtain and I thought I had never seen any man more handsome. My father gave him a...
Fairy Godmother of Dotterine
A terrible war broke out, and the king and his army were beaten back until finally they retreated to the town and prepared for a siege. It lasted so long that food supplies ran out, and even at the palace there was nothing to eat. My goddaughter was weak and...
Childless Queen Who is Given an Egg
I hid my unhappiness from my husband, but when he was not with me, I often wept. I didn’t seem able to conceive. One day, when the king had gone to war, I couldn't bear being in the castle. The air was suffocating me. I went out, wandered in the garden, and came to a...
Old Speaking Horse
When the young man came into the stable, he passed rows and rows of fine horses with their names written in gold above their stalls. He stumbled by aimlessly, and I heard him talking to himself. "How can I find the princess Bella-Flor when I have never even seen her?...
Covan Who Receives His Mother’s Blessing
Before I went on my way, my mother made me a small cake and a large cake, and she gave me a choice. I could have the small cake with her blessing, or the large cake without it. It would appear that she would rather have her sons starve with her blessing than eat well...
Horse Who Flies Over the Sea
A giant kept me in me in his stable until a fellow named Ian came along and led me out. He rode me over the sea to the island of Big Women, where we were met by sixteen lads. They were all eager to take me to the stable, but Ian said, "I myself will put her in and see...
Ian, the Soldier’s Son
With the help of my friend the raven, I killed the three giants who had held the maidens hostage. Then the raven told me how to get the ladies down from the high rock where the giants lived. The raven only asked for tobacco by way of thanks. I wanted to give him all...
Wasp of Gopani-Kufa
I am Zengi-mizi, the wasp. I am not an ordinary wasp with an ordinary sting, for the father of Gopani-Kufa inhabits me. When Gopani-Kufa needs advice, he takes me out of my little rush basket and asks me a question. I fly around him and hum the answer into his ear....
Wounded Soldier
I was making my way toward the city when I met an old woman on the road. She noticed that I was badly wounded and asked me where I was going. “I really don’t know myself,” I said. I had heard about the kings’ twelve daughters, and how they had been wearing out their...
Gift Horse
If ever there was a gift horse, it's me. I'm waiting in a castle for Ferdinand, who has just celebrated his fourteenth birthday. Imagine his surprise when he sees a white horse standing in a castle, a castle to which he alone has the keys. Imagine his surprise when he...
Peasant Named Crabb
I just sold a load of wood to the town doctor, and after he'd counted his money, I noticed how well he ate and drank, sitting there at his table. I asked him how he got to be a doctor, and if I could be a doctor, too. He said, "Oh yes, that is soon managed. All you...
Hungry Giant
Oh, I was hungry. I stood outside my hut, howling with hunger. I was ready to eat anything, even my own child. Then who do I see coming towards me out of the forest but a man. Not much meat on him, but enough to quiet my groaning belly. "It is well that you have come,...
Not-So-Stupid Hans
My brothers think I'm stupid, but I know the difference between a good man and a bad one. That little elf who came to the door was nothing but trouble. He asked for bread, and when I gave it to him, he let the bread fall to the ground. Then he ordered me to pick it...
Silent Princess
I have heard many stories from many men. I have heard about their adventures. I have heard their complaints and accusations. For a long time, I have been sitting here listening beneath my seven veils. No man has ever engaged me. Then one day, an amusing young fellow...
Red Mountain
If you wonder why I am red, ask one of the villagers who live perched on my cliffs. Those good people will tell you that my color comes from the hue of the princess, whose beauty shines through seven veils and through my walls. No one has ever beheld her face. She...
Returning Husband
When I came home from my journey, I saw my wife out in the garden with another man. I was about to shoot him with my bow and arrow when I remembered something an old man had said to me when we were drawing water from a well: "Patience is the first step on the road to...
Old Man Set Free from a Pit
For a long time, I lived in the bottom of a pit, outside a palace that had no doors. I had only a lantern to my name. I was sleeping one night when a king came along and scrambled down into the pit. He put his hand on my shoulder and woke me. "Are you a bird or snake...
Queen Who Helps Her Son Escape
When our son returned from his long sea voyage, he told us that he had caught the Golden-Headed Fish whose blood would cure his father's blindness. However, there was no time left to bring the fish home. The physician who knew how to make the salve would be gone. So...
The Physician from Far Away
I was called to court to examine the king who had gone blind as a result of a bad illness. After carefully studying his case, I concluded that he had only one remaining hope. "Somewhere in the Great Sea there exists a Golden-Headed Fish," I told the king's son. "If...
Old Greybeard
The rajah arrived in our village with an army of servants, soldiers, muleteers, camel drivers, merchants, singers, musicians, elephants, camels, mules, ponies, donkeys, goats, and cartloads of food for men and beasts. They lacked only one thing—water—and we did not...
Princess Coming Out of Isolation
The green knight has stopped coming to the castle. What has happened? Surely his heart has not gone to another. Yet, what can I know, isolated here on this island? It's the only place where I can live safely, out of the reach of my envious stepmother. One day when I...
Samba
When all was said and done, I found my courage and I met my enemy head on. But do not commend me—were it not for a brave princess who showed me how to meet my fears, I would still be in a dark cellar cowering behind earthenware grain pots! Samba in Samba the Coward,...
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...
Magic Book
The queen wants to know what will destroy the power of the dark magician Ismenor. Can she understand the words that are written on my pages? She leans against the wall at the foot of Ismenor's tower, drained of all her powers. I must be explicit. "Get ahold of the...
Holy Man in the Desert
I sit in the desert, in the shadow of a great rock. From time to time, a person who is lost will find me in the wilderness. Just the other day, a young man approached me. A fine-looking man, but completely bald. He said he wanted to marry the sultan's daughter but...
Maiden Betrothed to a Lindworm
I did not want to marry the lindworm! He had eaten his two other brides! I did nothing to deserve being wed to such a monster. I ran to my mother's grave and I prayed earnestly for her help. Then I became very peaceful and fell asleep. When the sun woke me in the...
Troll’s Daughter
The young man swims down to me in my glass palace at the bottom of the sea. My father, who is a powerful troll, has trapped me here. He has made everybody dependent on him—all the kings in the country are in his debt, and all the creatures of the forest rely on him...
Old Man of the Mountain
I told the sister and her three brothers that they would complete their temple to Beauty if they went up the mountain and brought back three things: a pitcher filled with the Water of Life, a branch from the Tree of Eternal Beauty, and a talking bird. The eldest...
Queen Who Eats a Plant to Conceive
I cannot give my husband a child, and now he has gone away. If I have a child by the time he returns, he said, he will love me "beyond measure," but if I do not, he will part with me forever. I won't be having a child with him away, now, will I? Unless he wishes me to...
Grey Man in the Enchanted Castle
I am the only one alive in this enchanted castle. If you find me here in my locked room, I will show you how to break the spell. The tasks are inscribed on a stone table. Look here. There are three. No one has even completed the first task, let alone all three. Shall...
Shape-Changing Princess
I am the youngest of twelve sisters, and we are the daughters of King Kostiei, king of the Underworld. Our favorite thing to do is to go to the seashore at sunset, change our shapes into geese, swim in the water, and fly in the sky. When we leave our dresses on the...
Simpleton at the Threshold
My brothers left me at the crossroads and I continued on my own to search for the wonderful vine. It was stolen from my father, and he cannot stop weeping over its loss. When I stopped to have something to eat, a lame fox came along and said he was hungry. I had very...
Eldest of the Old Sisters
I live in a turf hut, far from land that any man knows. There are great distances between myself and my sisters, so, as you might imagine, I hardly ever greet anyone at my door. Today, though, a young man came to the house. He said he was looking for the Sister of the...
Far-Seeing Fairy Godmother
I watch the princess ride away into the star-lit desert on a snow-white donkey. She's looking for a four-leafed herb that grows on the point of a rocky ridge. It's the only thing that will save her husband's life. I told her where to find it, but she cannot know the...
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...
The Queen Who Loves the Fairies
I was very close to my son, and when I became ill, I brought him into my confidence. I advised him that if ever he were to undertake something large, he must consult his fairy godmother. Until then I had kept her whereabouts a secret, because my husband is a wizard,...
Daughter Who Follows a Spirit
I had been lost in the forest for nine days when I came upon an iron stove. I wondered how it came to be so far away from everything. Then a voice issued from it, and asked me, “From whence do you come, and whither do you you?” I said, “I have lost my father’s...
Shadows in the Land of Souls
If you are passing through the Land of Souls, then you will have laid your body down. As you fly along you will find that the earth has become sweeter. The flowers will nod to you, the animals will rub their noses against you, the birds will circle around you, and the...
Donkey Princess
My father wanted to marry me and I absolutely refused! I consulted my fairy godmother and she advised me to ask him for impossible things. But he gave me everything I asked for. The only way out of the awful predicament was to ask my father for a fur coat made from...
Militza in the Apple Tree
I fell into the arms of the king's son Iwanich. He was awake when I arrived, so I could not hold onto my swan shape. Oh, I did love him and I wanted to cling to him, but it was time to leave. I was under the power of a witch who had put me far out of the reach of any...
Prince with the Speaking Horse
I was lost my way the forest, and after five days of wandering, I came to a stately palace in a large open space. The atmosphere was silent, without a trace of human life, and the door was open. I went in and wandered through the deserted rooms without seeing a living...
Old Forest Guardian
I've seen a lot of winters come and go. Indeed, I am so old that you might easily mistake me for another tree in the forest. I am grey, gaunt, and crooked as my staff. But ignore me at your peril! The huge, wild forest you are entering is full of ravenous beasts. How...
Magic Horse
I may live underground, but I can fly high into the air if I am ridden into battle. I can scatter the enemy in every direction and soar into the sky, making my rider look like a god. My very dear friend is a prince who doesn't mind working as a servant when he has to....
Helpless White Horse
We cut a pretty picture when we left on our quest. My rider, dressed in shining armor with his golden hair flying behind him. Me, with my white mane blowing in the wind. My tail was braided with gold threads, and I wore bright new shoes. A picture is all it was, I'm...
Genie of the Lamp
I will obey everything Aladdin commands, but not this! What a sacrilege! How dare he order me to bring him a Roc's egg! The Roc is a sacred bird, and my true master. What would Aladdin, a tailor's son, know about the Roc or the buried secrets of Solomon? After...
Handless Maiden
When I came into the house and I saw our sudden wealth, I knew it must have come at a price. My father told me, right away, what had happened. He had promised me to the Devil, in writing. In three years, he said, the Devil would come to claim me. My father never stops...
Old Woodcutter
I’m an old man and my beard is long and white but I still have the strength to chop Yule logs. So far, the work has kept me outside the Hall of the Dead. One night a young man came by. He was holding an ham and heading into the Hall. He greeted me and I asked him...
White Dove on the Holy Man’s Shoulder
"That's him! That's him!" we cried when the young man stepped into the church. Me and my mate flew to him and sat on his shoulders. A great silence fell on the room, like the silence of snow. When the priests found their tongues, they asked the young man if he would...
Wind Wizard of Finland
Only a good wind can heal the heart that a bad wind has broken. That's what I told the king's messenger. A week later I flew on the winds to speak directly to the king. Respectfully, I told him that his son's illness was caused by an evil wind. A magic ball had...
Master of the Birds
The man asked me if I knew where to find the Blue Mountains. I didn't know where they were. I couldn't find them in any of my books. If the Blue Mountains existed, only the birds would know it. Since the man had traveled so far, and I had not seen a single man for...
Little Green Frog
He is SO irritating! I tell him what to do and he does more than he is instructed. I tell him, go to the stable, get the horse, and lead him out of there. What does he do? He goes to the stable, gets the horse, and decides to put on a saddle. Not what I said! He's...
Helpful Fox
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 warning not...
Lake
Listen to me. It's the Lake speaking. If you want to avoid being eaten by the Serpent King of this island, here's what you must do. Take off your clothes and spread them on the path that leads from the water to the lord's castle. It pleases the king to glide over...
Fisherman’s Blessed Wife
An old woman came to me and said that I would have children if my husband could catch a little goldfish. Then she told me to cut it up into six pieces. One for me, and one for my husband. One for the dog, and one for the mare. One was to be buried to the right of the...