One fine summer morning when I was sixteen, I left my old parents and set off to make my fortune. I had nothing but the clothes I wore on my back. After I had been walking for some time, I met an old, white-bearded man coming along the footpath. Neither I nor the old...
He did the impossible for me. He built me a palace of ice, which was kept warm by fires in every room. The whole palace was filled with a rosy, pink glow, and the rarest singing birds in the world. Surely that should have been enough for me! But then a peddler came to...
My five older brothers could not help themselves. When they took the throne, they were compelled to hunt in the forests of the forbidden mountain. Nobody who goes there ever returns. Now I am king, I have that same compulsion, in spite of all the reasonable arguments...
I live in a fine castle. Light blazes from every window. I sit in the hall on a golden chair, and when young adventurers find me, I turn them to stone. How do I do that? Ha. You wonder, do you? I will tell you this: the power is in my hair. It only takes a single hair...
I am a fine estate built of gold and precious stones, and only the richest, most fashionably dressed people may enter me. They dance to the music in my hall, and eat from my feasting tables. If you look through my brightly lit windows, you will see how happy they are....
I’m a high, high, glass mountain, slippery as ice, standing close to the king’s palace. On my peak sits a princess with three golden apples on her lap. The man who can ride up and take those apples will win her hand in marriage, and half the kingdom too....
With the help of King Solomon’s magic ring, I can do all sorts of things. I don’t understand all the secret signs engraved on the ring. But I do know that if I put it on the little finger of my left hand, I can fly like a bird. If I put it on my ring...
Mine is the castle of Albatroz. Woe to the one who disturbs the echoes who sleep here! We do not encourage guests. There’s a commotion outside. Someone is blowing a horn and knocking on the door. He’s shouting, “Is there anyone home? Anyone who will...
My beloved thinks he is stronger than the river siren, Yara. He thinks that he can withstand her powerful pull, and that the danger is over. It is far from over! He won’t be able to resist going into the forest when she calls him tonight. I’m certain he...
I used to have more money than I knew what to do with. But sorrow comes like a thief in the night, and all of a sudden, I lost everything. I couldn’t even call the mill my own. One morning when I went down to the pond, a nixy rose out of water. She called me by...
