First, the princess found me in a dream. She picked me up and examined me. I am made of gold in a pattern that is exquisitely unique to the crown that the princess is meant to wear. She felt my weight, my leaves so finely wrought. When she woke, she wanted to wear me...
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Father of an Exiled Princess
At first, it was my wife who was bound and determined to find my daughter. I had sent her away with a sack of salt on her back. She had humiliated me with her words. “I love you as much as salt.” After all I had given her, she loved me like salt? She could take all...
Young Fool Who Makes a Wise Wish
I begged my brothers to let me go with them when they set out to see the world, but they would have nothing of it. We’d all been given a wish, and we were told to make sure it was our best wish. My two elder brothers wished that every time they put their hands in...
Jose, the Returning Son
I left home many years ago, and my younger brother stayed with my father. He died at a ripe old age and left great riches behind. My brother spent our father's wealth freely and never imagined that I would return. One day, I walked into the hall of my father's house...
Kind Sister
I have learned that no matter what world you find yourself in, whether you are on earth or in the underworld, you must be kind. Not for your own sake, but for the sake of other creatures. Oh, do not think for a moment that one creature is lower than another. A cat is...
White Sword of Light
The giants are always fighting over me, but once they have me in hand, they just put me away. I have grown somewhat lackluster. I am currently in the custody of the Seven Big Women of Dhiurradh. A handsome youth has come into the castle. I can hear him saying that he...
Old Woman Who Keeps the Ring
Oh, if you must have a ring, look for the pretty ones, pretty girl! Look how they glisten and glimmer. Choose a ruby or a sapphire, but stay away from the plain ring, that's mine. Come on, now, choose! Any one of those rings will keep you comfortable for the rest of...
Penniless Woodcutter Father
I worked from dawn to dusk cutting wood, and I saved enough money to send my son to high school. He was a diligent student and his teachers praised him, but when he came home, he said, "Ah, father, I've learned a little, but in these hard times, I can't earn a...
Protected Prince
I wore a magic suit of mail armor, and I carried a sword of protection, so I went bravely into the wild forest. Right away, hordes of lions, tigers, bears, and wolves rushed at me all set to tear me to pieces. But when they saw the sword, they lay down on the ground...
Bald Suitor
My mother thinks that I will get nowhere in the world because I'm idle and we are penniless, and, worst of all, I'm bald. Well, I never had much passion for anything until I saw the princess riding by the other day. Her face was veiled but from the moment I caught a...
Old Toad Under the Castle
The king threw three feathers to the wind to determine which of his three sons will be king. The two older boys ran off to follow the feathers that flew to the east and the west. But the third son, the simpleton, went nowhere. His feather floated down to the ground in...
Snow White
When I discovered that the new queen wanted to kill me, I fled to the forest where I have found refuge living seven dwarves. They are miners who know the treasures of the mountain, but they say they treasure me more than all the treasure they mine. I cannot imagine...
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...
Lamp
Woe to me if I am found in my secret niche in the underworld! If my oil is poured out, I will be inhabited by a genie who will be forced to grant every worldly whim of the one who possesses the lamp! Needless to say, the evil magicians are looking for me. They have...
Scoffing Brother
My father draws back the curtain to show us my brother's wife, and I cannot contain my laughter when I see, not a woman, but a cat, primly sitting on a crystal chair. Haha! Then, with the softest paw, she touches the crystal and it shivers into a thousand splinters....
Fairy Truth
I am here to grant the good king a wish, and, true to character, he doesn't ask anything for himself. He wants something for his son. "Most certainly," I say. "I can give him riches, good looks, power, and so on. What will it be?" "None of those," says the king. "I...
Magic Carpet
I am only six feet square and made of rough stuff, so I don't look like I'm worth anything. But look again, or, better still, sit down on me and make a wish. Then you'll know why I am sold for such an exorbitant price! The Magic Carpet in The Story of Prince Ahmed and...
Magic Perspective Glass
Do you think that I am worthless? Observe that I am furnished with a glass at both ends of my pipe. Consider that by looking through one of them, you will see whatever you wish to behold. What, in the whole universe, would you wish to see? Your father the Sultan, you...
Dame Fortune
Fortunatus hardly remembers having fortune. His father squandered it before he was ten. At sixteen, he went off to find his own fortune. He found work as a page for the Earl of Flanders, and before you knew it, he had won the heart of the Earl's daughter. They were...
Shabby Inn
I stand on the roadside, facing a much more well-frequented inn than myself. The windows are brightly lit, and music and merriment pour from inside. The noise gets louder as the night goes on, and the people who stay there live in riot and revel. I do not deny that I...