Once there was a merchant who had three daughters. One day the merchant asked his daughters what they wanted him to gift them. The eldest demanded for a necklace while the second asked for a new dress. But the youngest asked for a silver saucer and a transparent apple. The merchant fulfilled their demands. The […]

Once there was a man who had a great grey-white bear, which he was going to take to the king. He came to the Dovrefell and saw a cottage where an old man lived. He asked the old man if he could get a room there for his bear and himself. The old man refused

Once there was a giant green lizard. She took a poor peasant’s daughter in exchange of a bag full of gold. The peasant was happy. The lizard, who was a fairy in disguise, made a beautiful palace for her new daughter and put a hundred maidens to her service. But her daughter was always ungrateful

Once there lived a painter and a wood-carver. They hated each other. Once the painter told the Badshah that his father had always wished to construct a pagoda in heaven, so the Badshah must send a skilled wood-carver up to heaven. The badshah called the wood-carver and told him the matter. The wood-carver knew that

The Queen of Calabar used to give big feasts to all the domestic animals but never invited the wild beasts. At one feast, there were three large tables and she told the cow to sit at the head of the table and share out the food. The first course was passed, which the cow shared

Once there lived Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar in a glass bottle. One day, when Mr. Vinegar was away from home, Mrs. Vinegar was busy sweeping her house, when an unlucky thump of the broom broke the vinegar bottle. In an agony of grief, she rushed to meet her husband and told him what had happened.

There was once an old couple. The husband owned a rooster while his wife owned a hen. The hen laid many eggs but the old woman never gave any egg to her husband saying that he should beat his rooster so that he might lay eggs for him. The old man gave his rooster a

Once during the noon of a mid-summer day, a young noble was hunting in a valley. He was tired after chasing his game and sat in the shadow of an old abandoned castle. He wished he could have some wine. Just then, a beautiful maiden appeared before him from the castle. She was bearing in

One day, Fin MacCumhail chose three boys named Black, Brown and Gray to guard his castle. All three of them did their jobs sincerely. When all had risen in the morning, Fin asked them if they had any wonderful incident to tell him after the night’s watching. Black told that he encountered some thieves and

Long ago, some beautiful mermaids were having a party. Just then, a young merman arrived and told the mermaids that humans had decided to turn the river into a canal and build a dyke that should keep out the ocean. All the mermaids were worried except the queen maid who doubted the merman and sent

Once upon a time, there was a man named Domingo who was so poor that he had to sell one thing after another to get food in order to keep from starving. Finally, there was nothing left except his cat whom he loved dearly. The cat promised that Domingo would never starve as long as

Aunt Greenleaf was a thin old ghostly woman. She lived in a hut surrounded by pines and sold herbal remedies to the folks in her town. People consulted her only when someone got sick because her home remedies worked too well to be natural. So, they called her a witch. The folks figured that she

Once there was a hen who used to peck herself with her beak to grow more beautiful each day. With every pecking, a loose feather fell from her body. One day, two hens were talking about this habit of the bird when an owl family heard it all. They went to the dove family and

Once a rich man and a poor man owned a common field. They sowed it at the same time. The poor man’s labour prospered and his seeds grew, but the rich man’s seed did not grow. Out of jealousy, the rich man claimed that part of the field where the grain had sprung up. The

One day a man with his faithful dog went to the mountains to hunt. He saw a deer. He threw his spear and pierced the deer’s body but he did not fall. Instead, he ran and plunged into a hole in the ground. The man and his dog followed. They entered into a large spacious