After my husband died, I was very poor, and I had only one child, my little boy Hassebu. When it was time for him to learn to read, I sent him to school. He did not learn to read in school, and so he was put into a shop to learn how to make clothes. But he did not...
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Youngest Son With a Feather
I am the youngest of seven sons of the sultan. My father was proud of my older brothers because they were manly and strong, but he didn't like me because I preferred the company of women. He called me "Sit-in-the-Kitchen" and told me to toughen up. He beat me. He tied...
Shepherdess Who Marries the Lindworm
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...
Catskin
My father had a great deal of land, and he had wanted a son to take possession of it. Instead, my mother gave him a girl. Me. My mother would say, "Oh, look, she's so bonny, bonny as can be!" But he wouldn't even look at me. He said, "Let me never see her face." When...
Armless African Maiden
After my mother died, every time my father looked at me, he wept. He said he looked so much like my mother. I hoped that his grief would pass, but it made me anxious. I became thin. I asked him why he cried, and he told me again how much I looked like my mother. He...
Fairy Godmother of Dotterine
A terrible war broke out, and the king and his army were beaten back until finally they retreated to the town and prepared for a siege. It lasted so long that food supplies ran out, and even at the palace there was nothing to eat. My goddaughter was weak and...
Honest Little Jack
I left home with a sore heart. I would have stayed with my mother after my father died, but she didn't want me. She said there wasn't enough work for me to do in the house. My brothers Martin and Michael took everything she had in her larder, but they didn't want me...
Maiden in the Dark
The drummer has taken my linen shift! My sisters have flown from the lake, and I am stranded here. I have to follow him. But I’m naked! I’ll keep myself hidden, but what else can I do? Without my linen I have no wings to fly back to the castle. I follow him home and...
Allerleirauh
I slept in the hollow of an old tree in the wild forest. I was warm because I was covered from head to foot in every living animal's fur. I never wanted to come out of the safety of those furs. I never wanted to shine again. I would happily live the rest of my days,...
Man Made of Gold
My twin brother and I are both made of gold. When we decided to travel the world, and we arrived in town, we were so jeered by the villagers that my brother turned back home. I went forth to a great forest, and the people who lived near it said, "Don't go in there...
Subjugated Queen
Oh, I was so afraid, don't you see? Once my husband died, I had no protection at all, and so, when I was caught by the robber chief, what could I do but obey his commands? "Make me king and kill your son or I will kill you," he said. "How can I kill my son?" I cried....
Maiden About to Be Eaten
I am chained to a rock in the middle of a torrent, waiting for a seven-headed serpent to get hungry. When he does, he'll eat me. Who could possibly save me? No one from my country. The serpent has already eaten all the men and most of the women in this land. My...
Briar Rose in the Tower
On my fifteenth birthday, the king and the queen were not at home. They had left me in the castle, quite alone! I ran round to look into all sorts of places that had been forbidden to me. I looked into bed-chambers and rooms. I peered into closets and under...
Tiny in the Big World
The marsh, the river, the meadow, the whole world was too big for me! When winter came I wandered into a cornfield that had been harvested. Only the dry, bare stubble stuck out of the frozen ground, and the stalks were like a forest to me. I was so cold I thought for...
Footless Princess
When I became lost in the forest, I was seized by a giant. He cut off my feet and then he left me to bleed to death. I would have died there, but then my sister Kisa the Cat came along, and she returned my feet to me. In so doing, she performed an act of kindness that...
Donkey
The king has put me in a wonderful stall and people are always coming along to admire it. When they see me, they wonder why he keeps such an ordinary-looking donkey in such a fine place. My long, drooping ears are my only unique feature. Do you want to know why the...
Captured Unicorn
I meant to skewer the little man to a tree but instead I skewered myself. When he cut off my horn, I lost my power, and now am I being led, by a cord, to the king. The Captured Unicorn in The Brave Little Tailor, Blue Fairy Book. Illustration by Kay Nielsen.
Lost Hunting King
I had forgotten everything in the chase. By the time I came to my senses I realized that I was alone in the woods. I'd lost the whole hunting party. I had no food, no supplies, and no knowledge of how to fend for myself. Evening approached and I looked around but...
Maiden Hiding in a Pot
The ogre has smelled me hiding in the pot that stands before his castle. He's telling me to come out. He will do me no harm. How can that be? He's a man-eating ogre! I stay silent. Then he says, "Come out, I tell you. Your life is quite safe. If you are an old man,...
Child Left to the Wolves
My sister went into the woods and she never came back. Something must have eaten her. Where am I going to get more food? Now I've gone into the woods and I've eaten all the nuts I can find. The snow is coming, and, oh, I'm so cold! The wolves are howling, and I'm...
Mother of the Hazelnut Child
Oh, we tried so hard to have children! Every day I was down on my knees, begging Heaven to hear my prayer. "Please give me a child to care for, even a tiny child. I would be happy with a child the size of a hazelnut!" Heaven granted my wish. My little son slept in the...
Hazelnut Child
My mother is a worrier. She doesn't think that anything could possibly become of me. I am so little. But I know what I'm meant to be. And I know how to get around. Of course I don't use my own feet. I use the horse's feet. I get up under the saddle and prick the horse...
Handless Maiden
When I came into the house and I saw our sudden wealth, I knew it must have come at a price. My father told me, right away, what had happened. He had promised me to the Devil, in writing. In three years, he said, the Devil would come to claim me. My father never stops...