Oh, I’ve lived a long time, so I have developed quite a bit of magic skill. I like to prepare concoctions and I have acquired a good number of useful tools over the years. One of them is a magic mirror through which I can see anyone, and by which I can take...
My mistress Maleen, didn’t want to marry her father’s choice of a man. She loved a neighboring king’s son, and he loved her. His father was all for it, but not Maleen’s. He was too mighty. He had to have the last word. Maleen refused to marry...
I had been discharged from the army without a penny to my name, and I wandered into the forest. After I’d walked for a little while, I met a little man who asked me why I looked so sad. I told him I was hungry, and I had no money. He said, “If you will...
Catherine had come of age. She was sitting in her room in her father’s well-appointed house when I flew in with my wheel of fortune. “Catherine,” I said. “Which would you rather have? A happy youth or a happy old age?” After some...
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...
At the first light of dawn, I set out to see the princess Goldilocks. I am sure that I can persuade her to marry the king. I must not remember the king’s cruelty to me. Only good things, only good things…. I ride alone, thinking of nothing but what might...
My husband thinks that we should leave our little boys in the forest when they’re out tying fagots tomorrow. I can’t do it! Yet, we’re so desperately poor. Not one of them is old enough to earn a living. The youngest is puny, and he hardly ever...
My mother and father are very poor. They collect bundles of kindling to sell at the market, but they don’t make enough money to feed us boys. I’m the youngest and I’ve just turned seven. My eldest brother is ten, and there are seven of us in all. I...
I open my stall early today and get myself a prime spot near the gates of town. Then a beautiful young woman approaches me. A vision! She puts a piece of gold in my hand and tells me to take my needle and thread and follow her. I assume she has some stitchwork for me...
I live at the bottom of a glass hill. You can’t go around it. You have to go over it. I will make you a pair of iron shoes that will do the job. In exchange, however, I will ask you to serve me for seven years. I watched a young woman come to the hill. She was...
