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...
One night the sweet child O’Yoné stole into the bamboo grove behind the garden. Weeping, she told her story to the forest. Her mother had died and her father had remarried a beautiful woman with a jealous heart. O’Yoné knew she would to kill her at her first...
A girl came by the river, staggering under the weight of the load on her back. She stopped, dropped her firewood, and hastily stirred the fire that she alone had to keep burning. The day was hot and the river, inviting. She stripped, ran to the water, and jumped in,...
I am a beautiful place in the deep forest. Some people consider me a holy place. They bury their treasure in my caverns, and I keep their secrets. Bathe in my waters and you will emerge refreshed as a newborn. Come back to me again and again. A young woman has been...
I came out into the garden of my homestead and I noticed that something had been tramping down the corn. I went looking around, thinking a pig must have gotten in. Then I saw some dirty thing lying under the peach trees. “Here’s something! Here’s something! There’s a...
I walk the ocean floor,thin as a bone knife,slice throughthe sun’s fractured radiancetoward a narrow crevasse,glimpse a split second ofblue. Climbing out is easy Unweightedmy body is only a memory. Nimble as a crazy needleI weave in and outof piles of ice. The...
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...
He can’t take her from me! I don’t care if he’s Koschei the Deathless! He can cut me to pieces, I don’t care. I will come back for Marya Morevna. I can’t live without her! As it happened, he did chop me to pieces. He put the pieces of me...
It is almost impossible to find me. I am buried in the yolk of an egg, which is buried in the womb of a bird, which is buried in the belly of a bull. Who will cut through the bull to reach me? I break all spells and delusions. Hold me in the face of the wicked...
I am an egg that contains a palace, or rather, I am a palace that has been contained in an egg. I am a marvel made into a miniature so that I can travel between worlds. If you were to discover me in the underworld and take me to the upper world, you would find that I...
