Koschei the Deathless is not mortal and I doubt that he can be killed. But Prince Ivan is stronger than any mortal I have ever met. He came to my house in the mountain where I was trapped and he picked up Koschei’s sword. It weighs two thousand pounds! Not only...
I am hundreds of years old, and so gnarled and twisted that you will think I am monstrous. I am not a monster, but there is a demon under my tree roots. He is trapped in a bottle, and whenever someone approaches, he starts crying, “Let me out! Let me out!”...
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...
“Here comes the Satin Surgeon! Look at the Satin Surgeon! Long live the Satin Surgeon!” You would think it was Christ coming into town on his mule for all the fuss the people made when he arrived. This “Satin Surgeon” claims to be able to heal...
I do not know what came over me, but when the emperor appeared at court, I loved him instantly. He was my eldest sister’s suitor, so of course, I hid my feelings. But the emperor did not. He made it very clear that he preferred me. My father (who has an...
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...
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...
The queen found me in my forest hut. She and her two little sons came to live with me, and, before long, she found my blood-stained shirts. I knew she would. She scrubbed them until they were white again and hung them out to dry. Now she wants to know why I come home...
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...
I watched the old wizard wave his wand and turn my sisters and their lovers into stone statues. He spared me because I didn’t have a partner. He took me into his cottage and made me his wife. He explained that he was terribly lonely in the deep wood. I asked...
