I heard the people on Earth whispering that Things that Dwell in Darkness go about doing harm on the three days when I do not shine. It troubled me. So instead of taking my natural rest, I decided to come down to Earth and see for myself. I wrapped my shining hair in...
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King of Snakes with Healing Power
When I came into my palace with my retinue, we were shocked to find a man lying on my bed. He had fallen fast asleep. My soldiers were ready to kill him right away, but he was hardly older than a boy. "Leave him alone," I told my men, and I slid onto my seat. "Wake...
Flute of O’Yoné
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 cruel, jealous heart. O’Yoné knew she would to kill her at her first...
Fish Named Djulung-Djulung
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,...
Crystal Fountain
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...
Owner who Finds Something in His Garden
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...
Skeleton Woman Walks the Ocean Floor
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...
Queen Trapped in a Mountain
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 did he...
Ivan Who is Cut to Pieces
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 in a barrel, smeared it with...
Crystal Ball
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...
Magic Egg
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...
Queen Who Plays the Lute
"Why not enjoy the happiness and stability we have?” I asked my husband. “Can you not find a way to live in peace?" He could not. He was restless. He wanted to try his strength in battle against some enemy and win honor and glory. He went out, called his army...
Crow Who Saves a Prince
When I was flying over the forest I saw a freshly killed ox lying in the clearing. What good fortune! I swooped down, landed on the carcass, and began to peck at the flesh. Just then a fox caught me in his mouth and ran with me to a lion who was sitting at the...
Blind Tailor
When I woke beneath the gallows I did not know where I was. The shoemaker had taken out my eyes in exchange for a bit of bread. He had left me there to die, and that is exactly what would have happened had I not heard two hanged men speaking to one another. "Brother,"...
Circle
A twelve-year-old boy is drawing me around himself. We will not allow any evil to cross the line. When the dwarf comes to take him, the boy says, "What do you want here?" The dwarf ignores him. He wants to speak to the father who is quaking in his boots. They haggle...
Sparrow-Princess
He found me in the bamboo forest, in a spic-and-span house surrounded by a beautiful garden. I saw him emerge from the forest, and I went out to the gate, unlatched it, and welcomed him. "Oh my dear friend!" I cried. "How glad I am that you have found your little...
Murderer Who Revives His Dead Brother
I killed my younger brother thinking that he had slept with my wife. Now I discover that while he did lie with my wife, he did not allow her to touch him. I acted too quickly! I am tormented by remorse. Then I remember the ointment I had from the witch. It heals...
Prince Grip
It was not easy for me to catch that bird named Grip. I underwent many ordeals to bring him to my father so that the bird's song might heal his blindness. When the bird began to sing, my father's eyes opened and he saw again. I saw, too. I saw that I had done a lot of...
Little Match Girl
I make my living selling matches on the street. They burn so prettily, why won't anyone buy them? I know, because they already have light in their homes, and so much warmth. Oh, what warmth! I don't have any of that. I'm freezing cold but I don't want to go home...
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...
Stranger
On my way through the desert to Damascus, I had grown too hot and tired to carry on. I came to a castle, and I sat down to rest in its shadow. Then I heard a voice call to me softly from the window above me. "Are you a man or a ghost?" I answered, "I am a man, and a...
Dame Carp
I am leaping after flies when I land hard on the earth. I lie in the grass, gasping for air. Then two hands slide underneath me, and I am raised up. I prepare myself to be killed and eaten. But no, I am gently lowered into the cool, refreshing water. I sink to the...
Fountain of Health and Beauty
To find me you must go to the Gloomy Cavern. It will make you very sad. In the acrid smoke, you must meet and defeat two dragons with fiery eyes. If you succeed, you will find a hole crawling with toads and snakes. Go down into it, and at the bottom of the hole, you...
All-Healing Apple
On the surface, I appear like any other ordinary apple, but in fact I am an artificial apple made by a celebrated philosopher. I am able to cure all sick persons of mortal diseases—indeed, if the patient is dying, I will immediately restore said person to vigorous...
Fountain of Lions
I stand in the middle of the court of a great castle. The entrance is guarded by four fierce lions. Two are asleep, and two are awake. People believe that the water that flows from me is a sovereign medicine, healing all fevers, even the most dangerous, in less than...
Sorrowful, Dying King
I cannot recover from the death of my wife. I lie in bed, laboring for breath, wheezing under the great weight on my chest. What is this? A bird with brilliant plumage is fluttering at my window. She's lighting on the lintel. Her feathers are sky-blue and gold, and...
Starving Cobbler
I couldn't make a living as a cobbler, for all my hard work. My wife and I went without eating, but that couldn't go on forever. Finally I borrowed a neighbor's fishing rod and went out to fish in the stream. I was there for days and didn't hook anything, and then one...
Owl at the Abyss
The old man had no means to entertain the royal party that was making its way to his camp, and, in his shame, he went to a gorge in the middle of the night. I could see from my post that the good man intended to kill himself. It would be a great loss. His goodness...
Starvation Tower
Until Martin was imprisoned in me, I was known as Starvation Tower. Martin, however, was a different sort of prisoner. He had good friends, a cat and a dog. They stole biscuits for him and then they brought him a magic ring. He could do anything he wanted with that...
Healing Serpent
The king has been locked in the burial vault with his dead wife. He tries to stretch out his days. He eats his provisions slowly. Every day, a bite of bread, a sip of wine. We serpents hear him moaning in grief and pain as death draws near. Then we devise a plan. My...
Shepherd Who Survived the Flood
How did we survive being overwhelmed by the flood? The good witch turned me into a frog, and my wife into a toad. We were carried on the water, but it tore us apart and carried us far away from one another. When the flood ended, we resumed our natural shapes, but we...