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value | date_obtained stringdate 2021-03-10 00:00:00 2022-05-16 00:00:00 |
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910B | The Highlander Takes Three Advices from the English Farmer | Scotland | null | Cuthbert Bede [pseudonym for Edward Bradley], The White Wife: With Other Stories, Supernatural, Romantic, and Legendary (London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1865), pp. 141-46. | In one of the glens of Cantire there lived a young and loving pair who were blessed with one child, a fine healthy lad. They strove hard to provide themselves with the necessaries of life; but their croft was sterile and their crops scanty: and, after many bitter and serious consultations, it was agreed that they shoul... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
910B | The Prince Who Acquired Wisdom | India | null | Cecil Henry Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas (London: David Nutt, 1909), no. 14, pp. 53-56. | There was once a raja who had an only son and the raja was always urging his son to learn to read and write in order that when he came to his kingdom he might manage well and be able to decide disputes that were brought to him for judgment; but the boy paid no heed to his father's advice and continued to neglect his le... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
910B | The Three Admonitions | Italy | null | Thomas Frederick Crane, Italian Popular Tales, (London: Macmillan and Company, 1885), no. 41, pp. 157-59. | A man once left his country to go to foreign parts, and there entered the service of an abbot. After he had spent some time in faithful service, he desired to see his wife and native land. He said to the abbot, 'Sir, I have served you thus long, but now I wish to return to my country.' 'Yes, my son,' said the abbot, ' ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
910B | The Three Advices | Ireland | The same story is found in The Rural Repository, vol. 12-13, new series (Hudson, New York: William B. Stoddard, 1835-36), pp. 107-108. | T. Crofton Croker, 'The Three Advices: An Irish Moral Tale,' Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, vol. 4, no. 173 (May 23, 1835), pp. 131-32. | The stories current among the Irish peasantry are not very remarkable for the inculcation of any moral lesson, although numberless are the legends related of pious and 'good people,' the saints and fairies. The following tale of the Three Advices is the only one of a moral character which I remember to have heard. It w... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
910B | The Three Advices Which the King with the Red Soles Gave to His Son | Ireland | null | Patrick Kennedy, Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts (London: Macmillan and Company, 1866), pp. 73-77. | The name of the young chief was Illan, called Don, from his brown hair, and the first thing he set about doing after the funeral, was to test the wisdom of his father's counsels. So he went to the fair of Tailtean [now Telltown in Meath] with a fine mare of his, and rode up and down. He asked twenty gold rings for his ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | Buttermilk Jack | null | According to the narrator, this song was sung at a country fair 'by a queer little man, with a twisted face, and a lurcher dog between his knees.' Thomas Hughes, best known for his novel Tom Brown's School Days (1857), was born in 1822 and died in 1896. | Thomas Hughes The Scouring of the White Horse; or, The Long Vacation Ramble of a London Clerk (Cambridge and London: Macmillan and Company, 1859), pp. 171-72. | Oh mother, my buttermilk I will sell, And all for a penny as you med zee; And with my penny then I will buy eggs, Vor I shall have seven for my penney. Oh mother, I'll set them all under our hen, And seven cock chickens might chance for to be; But seven cock chickens or seven cap hens, There'll be seven half-crownds fo... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | Day-Dreaming | The 1001 Nights | Note by Jacobs: I have given the story of the barber's fifth brother from the Arabian Nights as another example of the rare instances of tales that have become current among the folk, but which can be definitely traced to literary sources, though possibly, in the far-off past, it was a folk tale arising in the East. Th... | Joseph Jacobs, Europa's Fairy Book (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916), no. 15, pp. 110-14. | Now there was once a man at Bagdad who had seven sons, and when he died he left to each of them one hundred dirhams; and his fifth son, called Alnaschar the Babbler, invested all this money in some glassware, and, putting it in a big tray, from which to show and sell it, he sat down on a raised bench, at the foot of a ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | Lazy Heinz | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm | I have followed the Grimms' seventh and final edition (1857). This tale was added to their collection in the third edition (1837). Link to a separate file containing only the tale Lazy Heinz. | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, 'Der faule Heinz,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen, vol. 2 (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857), no. 164, pp. 313-15. | Heinz was lazy, and although he had nothing else to do but to drive his goat out to the pasture every day, he nevertheless groaned every evening when he returned home after finishing his day's work. 'It is in truth a heavy burden,' he said, 'and a tiresome job, to drive such a goat out to the field year in and year out... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | Lean Lisa | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm | I have followed the Grimms' seventh and final edition (1857). This tale was added to their collection in the fourth edition (1840). Link to a separate file containing only the tale Lean Lisa. | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, 'Die hagere Liese,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen, vol. 2 (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857), no. 168, pp. 332-33. | Lean Lisa was not at all like Lazy Heinz and Fat Trina, who would not allow anything to disturb their rest. She burned herself out from morning until evening and loaded so much work on her husband, Lanky Lenz, that it was harder for him than for a donkey loaded with three sacks. But it was all for naught. They had noth... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | Sheik Chilli | India, Alice Elizabeth Dracott | null | Alice Elizabeth Dracott, Simla Village Tales; or, Folk Tales from the Himalayas (London: John Murray, 1906), pp. 68-69. | The hero of this story was one day walking along with a vessel of oil upon his head. As he walked he kept thinking of the future: I will sell the oil, and with the money I shall buy a goat, and then I shall sell the kids, and then I shall buy a cow, and sell the milk, till I get a large sum of money; then I shall buy a... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | Story of an Old Woman, Carrying Milk to Market in an Earthen Vessel. | Jacques de Vitry | Crane considers the above tale to be 'the oldest European version of this famous fable.' Jacques de Vitry was born in central France between about 1160 and 1170, and died in Rome in 1240. | Jacques de Vitry The Exempla; Or, Illustrative Stories from the Sermones Vulgares, edited by Thomas Frederick Crane (London: Folk-Lore Society, 1890), no. 51, pp. 154-55. | An old woman, while carrying milk to market in an earthen vessel, began to consider in what way she could become rich. Reflecting that she might sell her milk for three pence (obolos), she thought she would buy with them a young hen, from whose eggs she would get many chickens, which she would sell and buy a pig. This ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Barber's Tale of His Fifth Brother | 1001 Nights | null | The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, translated from the Arabic by Richard F. Burton, reprinted from the original edition and edited by Leonard C. Smithers, vol. 1 (London: H. S. Nichols and Company , 1894), pp. 309-312. | When our father died, he left each of us one hundred dirhams. My fifth brother invested his inheritance in glassware, hoping to resell it at a handsome profit. He exhibited the glassware on a large tray, then fell to musing: These pieces will bring me two hundred dirhams, which I can use to buy more glass, which I will... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Broken Pot | The Panchatantra | One of India's most influential contributions to world literature, The Panchatantra (also spelled Pañcatantra or Pañca-tantra) consists of five books of animal fables and magic tales (some 87 stories in all) that were compiled, in their current form, between the third and fifth centuries AD. The German Sanskrit schol... | Pantschatantra: Fünf Bücher indischer Fabeln, Märchen und Erzählungen, translated from the Sanskrit into German by Theodor Benfey, vol. 2 (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1859), book 5, story 9, pp. 345-46. | In a certain place there lived a Brahman by the name of Svabhâvakripana, which means 'luckless by his very nature.' By begging he acquired a quantity of rice gruel, and after he had eaten what he wanted, there was still a potful left. He hung this pot on a nail in the wall above his bed. As night progressed, he could ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Dairywoman and the Pot of Milk | France, Jean de La Fontaine | Jean de La Fontaine, The Fables of La Fontaine, translated from the French by Elizur Wright (London: George Bell and Sons, 1888), book 7, fable 10, pp. 159-60. Link to this fable in French: La laitière et le pot au lait. Jean de La Fontaine was born in 1621 and died in 1695. His Fables were first published in several ... | null | A pot of milk upon her cushion'd crown, Good Peggy hasten'd to the market town; Short clad and light, with speed she went, Not fearing any accident; Indeed, to be the nimbler tripper, Her dress that day, The truth to say, Was simple petticoat and slipper. And, thus bedight, Good Peggy, light, -- Her gains already count... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Daydreamer | India, Henry Cecil Bompas | From Bompas' preface: 'The Santals are a Munda tribe, a branch of that aboriginal element which probably entered India from the northeast. At the present day they inhabit the eastern outskirts of the Chutia Nagpore plateau.' | Cecil Henry Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas (London: David Nutt, 1909), no. 39, pp. 140-141. | Once an oil man was going to market with his pots of oil arranged on a flat basket, and he engaged a Santal for two annas to carry the basket. And as he went along, the Santal thought: With one anna I will buy food and with the other I will buy chickens, and the chickens will grow up and multiply, and then I will sell ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Fakir and His Jar of Butter | The 1001 Nights | null | The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, translated by Richard F. Burton, vol. 9 (Benares: Printed by the Kamashastra Society for private subscribers only, 1885), pp. 40-41. | A fakir abode once with one of the nobles of a certain town, who made him a daily allowance of three scones and a little clarified butter and honey. Now such butter was dear in those parts and the devotee laid all that came to him together in a jar he had, till he filled it and hung it up over his head for safekeeping.... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Lad and the Fox | Sweden | Nils Gabriel Djurklou was born in 1829 and died in 1904. | Gabriel Djurklou, Fairy Tales from the Swedish, translated by H. L. Brækstad (London: William Heinemann, 1901), pp. 85-86. | There was once upon a time a little lad, who was on his way to church, and when he came to a clearing in the forest he caught sight of a fox, who was lying on the top of a big stone fast asleep, so that the fox did not know the lad had seen him. 'If I kill that fox,' said the lad, taking a heavy stone in his fist, 'and... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Milkmaid and Her Bucket | Ambrose Bierce | The American satirist Ambrose Bierce was born in 1842 and died about 1914. He was last seen in Chihuahua, Mexico. D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology. | Ambrose Bierce, Fantastic Fables (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899), p. 192. | A senator fell to musing as follows: 'With the money which I shall get for my vote in favour of the bill to subsidise cat-ranches, I can buy a kit of burglar's tools and open a bank. The profit of that enterprise will enable me to obtain a long, low, black schooner, raise a death's-head flag and engage in commerce on t... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Milkmaid and Her Pail | Aesop | null | Ãsop's Fables, translated by V. S. Vernon Jones (London: W. Heinemann; New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1916), pp. 25-26. | A farmer's daughter had been out to milk the cows, and was returning to the dairy carrying her pail of milk upon her head. As she walked along, she fell a-musing after this fashion: The milk in this pail will provide me with cream, which I will make into butter and take to market to sell. With the money I will buy a nu... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Peasant and the Cucumbers | Leo Tolstoy | Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 and died in 1910. | Leo Tolstoy, Fables for Children; Stories for Children; Natural Science Stories, translated by Leo Wiener (London: J. M. Dent and Company, 1904), p. 40. | A peasant once went to the gardener's, to steal cucumbers. He crept up to the cucumbers, and thought, 'I will carry off a bag of cucumbers, which I will sell; with the money I will buy a hen. The hen will lay eggs, hatch them, and raise a lot of chicks. I will feed the chicks and sell them; then I will buy me a young s... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Poor Man and the Flask of Oil | Bidpai | null | The Tortoise and the Geese and other Fables of Bidpai, retold by Maude Barrows Dutton (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908), pp. 8-9. | There was once a poor man, who lived in a house next to a wealthy merchant who sold oil and honey. As the merchant was a kind neighbor, he one day sent a flask of oil to the poor man. The poor man was delighted, and put it carefully away on the top shelf. One evening, as he was gazing at it, he said half aloud, 'I wond... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | The Story of the Devotee Who Spilt the Jar of Honey and Oil | India/Persia | null | The Anvár-i SuhailÃ; or, The Lights of Canopus, Being the Persion Version of The Fables of Pilpay, translated by Edward B. Eastwick (Hertford: Stephen Austin, 1854), p. 409. | They have related that a pious man had a house in the vicinity of a merchant, and lived happily through favor of his neighborly kindness. The merchant continually sold honey and oil, and made his profits by that traffic in unctuous and sweet commodities. Inasmuch as the pious man lived a blameless life, and ever sowed ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | What Happened to a Woman Called Truhana | Spain, Prince Don Juan Manuel | This book (Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio) was first written in 1335. Don Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena, was born in 1282 and died in 1348. | Prince Don Juan Manuel Count Lucanor; or, The Fifty Pleasant Stories of Patronio: The Tales of the 'Spanish Boccaccio', first done into English by James York, 1868 (London: Gibbings and Company, 1899), no. 28, pp. 147-49. | A woman named Truhana, who was not very rich, went one day to market, carrying on her head a jar of honey. Along the road she was calculating how she could sell the honey and buy eggs, these eggs would produce chickens, and with the produce of the sale of these latter she would buy lambs; and in this way was calculatin... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1430 | What Happened to the Ascetic When He Lost His Honey and Oil | Kalilah and Dimnah | null | Kalilah and Dimnah; or, The Fables of Bidpai: Being an account of their literary history, with an English translationof the later Syriac version of the same, by I. G. N. Keith-Falconer (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1885), p. 170. | It is said that an ascetic derived his nourishment from a king, that is, the governor of a town, every day so much oil and so much honey. And whatever he had remaining, he used to pour into an earthenware vessel which he hung on a peg above the bedstead on which he slept. One day while sleeping on the bedstead, with th... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
954 | Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves | Translated by Richard F. Burton | null | null | But the woman whom Ali Baba had married was poor and needy; they lived, therefore, in a mean hovel and Ali Baba eked out a scanty livelihood by the sale of fuel which he daily collected in the jungle and carried about the town to the Bazar upon his three asses. Now it chanced one day that Ali Baba had cut dead branches... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
954 | The Forty Thieves | Retold by Andrew Lang | null | null | In a town in Persia there dwelt two brothers, one named Cassim, the other Ali Baba. Cassim was married to a rich wife and lived in plenty, while Ali Baba had to maintain his wife and children by cutting wood in a neighboring forest and selling it in the town. One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, he saw a troop of ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
156 | Androcles | Aesop | null | The Fables of Ãsop, selected, told anew, and their history traced by Joseph Jacobs (London: Macmillan and Company, 1902), no. 23, pp. 60-61. First published 1894. | A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a lion lying down moaning and groaning. At first he turned to flee, but finding that the lion did not pursue him, he turned back and went up to him. As he came near, the lion put out his paw, which ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
156 | Androcles and the Lion | Joseph Jacobs | Jacobs' story is a reconstruction from various historical sources. In 1912 George Bernard Shaw created a delightful, if irreverent, play, Androcles and the Lion from the traditional tale. | Joseph Jacobs, Europa's Fairy Book (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, © 1916), pp. 107-109. This book was also published under the title European Folk and Fairy Tales. | It happened in the old days at Rome that a slave named Androcles escaped from his master and fled into the forest, and he wandered there for a long time until he was weary and well nigh spent with hunger and despair. Just then he heard a lion near him moaning and groaning and at times roaring terribly. Tired as he was ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
156 | Of the Remembrance of Benefits | Gesta Romanorum | The Gesta Romanorum or 'Deeds of the Romans' is a collection of some 283 legends and fables. Created as a collection ca. 1330 in England, it served as a source of stories and plots for many of Europe's greatest writers. | Gesta Romanorum, translated by Charles Swan, revised and corrected by Wynnard Hooper (London: George Bell and Sons, 1906), no. 104, pp. 180-81. | There was a knight who devoted much of his time to hunting. It happened one day, as he was pursuing this diversion, that he was met by a lame lion, who showed him his foot. The knight dismounted, and drew from it a sharp thorn; and then applied an unguent to the wound, which speedily healed it. A while after this, the ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
156 | The Lion and the Saint | Andrew Lang | Link to a painting of Saint Jerome by Niccolò Antonio Colantonio. | Andrew Lang, The Red Book of Animal Stories (London: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1899), pp. 138-42. | If you should have the opportunity of seeing any large picture gallery abroad, or our own National Gallery in London, you will be very likely to come across some picture by one or other 'old master' representing an old man, with a long beard, sometimes reading or writing in a study, sometimes kneeling in a bare desert-... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
156 | The Lion and the Thorn | Ambrose Bierce | Link to an article about Ambrose Bierce. | Ambrose Bierce, Fantastic Fables (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899), pp. 170-71. | A lion roaming through the forest, got a thorn in his foot, and, meeting a shepherd, asked him to remove it. The shepherd did so, and the lion, having just surfeited himself on another shepherd, went away without harming him. Some time afterward the shepherd was condemned on a false accusation to be cast to the lions i... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
156 | The Slave and the Lion | Aesop | null | Ãsop's Fables, translated by V. S. Vernon Jones (London: W. Heinemann, 1912), pp. 31-32. | A slave ran away from his master, by whom he had been most cruelly treated, and, in order to avoid capture, betook himself into the desert. As he wandered about in search of food and shelter, he came to a cave, which he entered and found to by unoccupied. Really, however, it was a lion's den, and almost immediately, to... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | Chonguita the Monkey Wife (Fansler) | Philippines | Fansler's source: 'Narrated by Pilar Ejercito, a Tagalog from Pagsanjan, Laguna. She heard the story from her aunt, who had heard it when she was still a little girl.' Fansler entitles this story simply 'Chonguita.' For comparison, follow this link to a collection of tales about Monkey Bridegrooms. | Dean S. Fansler, Filipino Popular Tales (Lancaster and New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1921), no. 29, pp. 244-246. | There was a king who had three sons, named Pedro, Diego, and Juan. One day the king ordered these three gentlemen to set out from the kingdom and seek their fortunes. The three brothers took different directions, but before they separated they agreed to meet in a certain place in the forest. After walking for many days... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | Doll i' the Grass (Norway) | Norway | This tale differs from others in this group in that the 'creature' discovered by the hero in his search for a bride is not a creepy, crawly thing, but rather a beautiful -- but diminutive -- human (or possibly elfin) female. However, in all other aspects this story follows the outline of a traditional type 402 folktale... | Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, Popular Tales from the Norse, translated by George Webbe Dasent (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1888), pp. 374-376. | Once on a time there was a king who had twelve sons. When they were grown big he told them they must go out into the world and win themselves wives, but these wives must each be able to spin, and weave, and sew a shirt in one day, else he wouldn't have them for daughters-in-law. To each he gave a horse and a new suit o... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Cat Who Became a Queen (Knowles) | India | null | J. Hinton Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, and Company, 1893), pp. 8-10. | 'Ah me! Ah me! What availeth my marriage with all these women? Never a son has the Deity vouchsafed me. Must I die, and my name be altogether forgotten in the land?' Thus soliloquized one of the greatest monarchs that ever reigned in Kashmir, and then went to his zanána [the apartment where his wives lived], and threa... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Dog Bride (Bompas) | India | From the preface: 'The Santals are a Munda tribe, a branch of that aboriginal element which probably entered India from the northeast. At the present day they inhabit the eastern outskirts of the Chutia Nagpore plateau.... The Santal Parganas is a district 4800 square miles in area, lying about 150 miles north of Calcu... | Cecil Henry Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas (London: David Nutt, 1909), no. 85, pp. 254-256. | Once upon a time there was a youth who used to herd buffaloes; and as he watched his animals graze he noticed that exactly at noon every day a she-dog used to make its way to a ravine, in which there were some pools of water. This made him curious and he wondered to whom it belonged and what it did in the ravine. So he... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Frog (Schneller) | Austria/Italy | null | Christian Schneller, Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Sagenkunde (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner'schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1867), no. 29, pp. 82-84. | A man and a woman had no children, although they would have given their lives to have some. They prayed for offspring, under any conditions. It appeared that heaven had mercy on them, but when the time came, the newborn was a female frog. Not letting themselves be distracted, the man and the woman raised her. They taug... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Frog's Bridegroom (Jungbauer) | Germany | null | Gustav Jungbauer, Böhmerwald-Märchen (Passau, 1923), no. 1. | Once upon a time there was a father who had three sons. He sent two of them out to find brides for themselves, but the third one, stupid Hansl, was to stay home and feed the animals. He was not satisfied with this, so the father finally said, 'Just go. You can look for a bride too.' So Hansl left, and he came to a grea... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Frog's Skin (Wardrop) | Georgia | null | Marjory Wardrop, Georgian Folk Tales (London, 1894), pp. 15-21. | There were once three brothers who wished to marry. They said, 'Let us each shoot an arrow, and each shall take his wife from the place where the arrow falls.' They shot their arrows; those of the two elder brothers fell on noblemen's houses, while the youngest brother's arrow fell in a lake. The two elder brothers led... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Mouse Maiden (Parker) | Sri Lanka | Parker's source: A tom-tom beater from the Northwestern province. Punctuation revised by D. L. Ashliman. | H. Parker, Village Folk Tales of Ceylon (London: Luzac and Company, 1910), no. 54, pp. 295-298. | There are a king and a queen of a certain city, and there is a daughter of the queen. They asked permission to summon the daughter to go in marriage to the prince of another city. The king said, 'Ha,' so they came from that city to summon the king's princess. After coming, they told the bride to come out of her chamber... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The She-Wolf (Shewolf) | Croatia | The motif of the stolen skin is also found in many tales from the Swan Maiden and the Mermaid Wife groups. 'The She-Wolf' is, of course, a variant of the many werewolf legends that exist throughout Europe. Link to additional werewolf legends. | A. H. Wratislaw, Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources (London: Elliot Stock, 1889), pp. 290-291. | There was an enchanted mill, so that no one could stay there, because a she-wolf always haunted it. A soldier went once into the mill to sleep. He made a fire in the parlor, went up into the garret above, bored a hole with an auger in the floor, and peeped down into the parlor. A she-wolf came in and looked about the m... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Tsarevna Frog (Tsarevna) | Russia | Type 402, 'The Animal Bride'; followed by type 302, 'The Giant Whose Heart Was in an Egg.' | Verra Xenophontovna Kalamatiano de Blumenthal, Folk Tales from the Russian (Chicago, New York, and London: Rand, McNally and Compnay, 1903), pp. 13-26. | In old, old Russian tsarstvo, I do not know when, there lived a sovereign prince with the princess his wife. They had three sons, all of them young, and such brave fellows that no pen could describe them. The youngest had the name of Ivan Tsarevitch. One day their father said to his sons: ''My dear boys, take each of y... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | Of the Woman Who Loved a Serpent Who Lived in a Lake | Passamaquoddy | The Passamaquoddy Indians formerly occupied an area between present-day Maine and New Brunswick. Today they live primarily in Maine. | Charles G. Leland, The Algonquin Legends of New England; or, Myths and Folk Lore of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Tribes (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1884), pp. 273-274. | This, the sixth, was such a silent man that he passed for a fool. But he was wiser than people thought. He came to believe, by thinking it over, that this woman had some strange secret. He resolved to find it out. So he watched her all the time. He kept his eye on her by night and by day. It was summer, and she propose... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Bear Who Married a Woman | Tsimshian | The Tsmimshian Indians are native to the coastal regions of British Columbia and southern Alaska. | Franz Boas, Tsimshian Mythology (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1916), p. 19. | Once upon a time there lived a widow of the tribe of the Gispaxlâ'ts. Many men tried to marry her daughter, but she declined them all. The mother said, 'When a man comes to marry you, feel of the palms of his hands. If they are soft, decline him. If they are rough, accept him.' She meant that she wanted to have for a ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Bear Woman | Okanagon | This tale was collected by James A. Teit. The Okanagon tribe belongs to the Salish group. Their territory included present-day British Columbia, northern Washington and Idaho, and western Montana. | Franz Boas, Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes = Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 11 (Lancaster and New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1917), pp. 90-92. | It was late fall, and people were in the mountains hunting. Six people were living together: a man and his wife, his parents, and his two sisters. One day when out hunting, the man came on a patch of lily roots. On his return home he said to his wife, 'I saw a fine patch of large lilies. Tomorrow morning we shall move ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Fish-Man | Salish | This tale was collected by James A. Teit. A note by Teit concerning his source: 'This myth ... I collected at Hope [on the Fraser River], where interior influence is rather strong. Similar versions are said to be current among the Spuzzum Indians. The narrator was an old man who could speak some Thompson. The Fraser Ri... | Franz Boas, Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes = Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 11 (Lancaster and New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1917), p. 131. | Somewhere near the mouth of the Fraser River lived a girl who had refused all suitors. After a while a man came to visit her, and lay with her at night. The girl said to him, 'You must stay until daylight, and show yourself to my parents.' He answered, 'No, I am too poor. Your people would not like me.' As he continued... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Girl Who Married the Crow | Thompson (Ntlakyapamuk) | This tale was collected by James A. Teit. The place names mentioned in this legend (Lytton, Spences Bridge, Nicola, Kamloops, and Lillooet) are all in southern British Columbia. Lytton is at the junction of the Thompson and Fraser rivers. | Franz Boas, Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes = Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 11 (Lancaster and New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1917), pp. 30-32. | A girl belonging to a village of four underground lodges near Lytton refused all suitors who had come from Spences Bridge, Nicola, Kamloops, and Lillooet, although they brought as marriage gifts robes, dentalia, and other valuables. Her parents and the chief of the village were angry with her for refusing so many good ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Man Who Married a Bear | Nez Percé | This tale was collected by Herbert J. Spinden. According to Spinden, 'this is supposed to be a true tale of recent times, and not a myth.' Asotin Creek is in southeastern Washington. It flows into the Snake River near Lewiston, Idaho. The Grande Ronde River is mostly in northeastern Oregon and also flows into the Snake... | Franz Boas, Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes = Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 11 (Lancaster and New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1917), pp. 198-200. | A man name Five-Times-Surrounded-in-War (Pákatamápaütx) lived with his father at Asotin, and in the spring of the year the youth would go away from home and lose himself till fall. He would tell no one where he had been. Now, he really was accustomed to go up the Little Salmon (Hune'he) branch of the Grande Ronde Ri... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Woman Who Became a Horse (Horse) | Thompson (Ntlakyapamuk) | This tale was collected by James A. Teit. A note by Teit about his source: 'The narrator said he thought there was a little more to this story, but he did not remember it. He said the story was common to both the Thompson and the Okanagon. He had first heart it himself from an Okanagon over fifty years ago; but it was ... | Franz Boas, Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes = Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 11 (Lancaster and New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1917), p. 53. | A chief had many horses, and among them a stallion which his wife often rode. The woman and stallion became enamoured of each other and cohabited. The woman grew careless of her household duties and always wanted to look after the horses. When the people moved camp, and the horses were brought in, it was noticed that t... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
402 | The Woman Who Became a Horse (Horse2) | Skidi Pawnee | null | George A. Dorsey, Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee = Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 8 (Boston and New York: Published for the American Folk-Lore Society by Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1904), pp. 294-295. | A chief had many horses, and among them a stallion which his wife often rode. The woman and stallion became enamoured of each other and cohabited. The woman grew careless of her household duties and always wanted to look after the horses. When the people moved camp, and the horses were brought in, it was noticed that t... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | An Ant and a Grasshopper | Anianus (L'Estrange, 1692) | L'Estrange attributes this fable to Anianus [Avianus], a Latin fable writer who lived about 400 AD. Link the text of this fable in Latin: De Formica et Cicada. | Source (Internet Archive): Roger L'Estrange Fables of Ãsop and Other Eminent Mythologists, with Morals and Reflections (London: Printed for R. Sare, et al., 1692), no. 217, p. 189. Source (books.google.com): Roger L'Estrange Fables of Ãsop and Other Eminent Mythologists, with Morals and Reflections (London: Printed f... | As the ants were airing their provisions one winter, up comes a hungry grasshopper to 'em, and begs a charity. They told him that he should have wrought in summer, if he would not have wanted in winter. 'Well,' says the grasshopper, 'but I was not idle neither; for I sung out the whole season.' 'Nay then,' said they, '... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | An Ant Formerly a Man | Aesop (L'Estrange, 1692) | This fable is number 166 in the Perry Index, and is not included in most collections of Aesopic fables. | Source (Internet Archive): Roger L'Estrange Fables of Ãsop and Other Eminent Mythologists, with Morals and Reflections (London: Printed for R. Sare, et al., 1692), no. 188, p. 158. Source (books.google.com): Roger L'Estrange Fables of Ãsop and Other Eminent Mythologists, with Morals and Reflections (London: Printed f... | The Moral: That which some call good husbandry, industry, and providence, others call raking, avarice, and oppression: So that the vertue and the vice in many cases are hardly distinguishable but by the name. | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Ant and the Grasshopper (Bewick) | Aesop (Bewick, 1818) | null | Source (Internet Archive): The Fables of Aesop and Others, with designs on wood, by Thomas Bewick (Newcastle: Printed by R. Walker for T. Bewick and Son, 1818), pp. 307-308. Source (books.google.com): The Fables of Aesop and Others, with designs on wood, by Thomas Bewick (Newcastle: Printed by R. Walker for T. Bewick a... | One of the ants asked him how he had disposed of his time in summer, that he had not taken pains and laid in a stock, as they had done. 'Alas! my friends,' says he, 'I passed away the time merrily and pleasantly, in drinking, singing, and dancing, and never once thought of winter. 'If that be the case,' replied the ant... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Ant and the Grasshopper (Croxall) | Aesop (Croxall, 1775) | null | Fables of Ãsop and Others, translated into English with instructive applications, and a print before each fable, by Samuel Croxall, tenth edition, carefully revised and improved (London: Printed for W. Strahan et al., 1775), no. 121, pp. 205-206. | A grasshopper, who had chanced to outlive the summer, and was ready to starve with cold and hunger, approached them with great humility, and begged that they would relieve his necessity, with one grain of wheat or rye. One of the ants asked him, how he had disposed of his time in summer, that he had not taken pains, an... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Ant and the Grasshopper (Jacobs) | Aesop (Jacobs, 1894) | null | Source (Internet Archive): The Fables of Ãsop, selected, and told anew, and their history traced by Joseph Jacobs (London and New York: Macmillan and Company, 1894), pp. 86-87. Source (books.google.com): The Fables of Ãsop, selected, and told anew, and their history traced by Joseph Jacobs (London and New York: Macmi... | 'Why not come and chat with me,' said the grasshopper, 'instead of toiling and moiling in that way?' 'I am helping to lay up food for the winter,' said the ant, 'and recommend you to do the same.' 'Why bother about winter?' said the grasshopper. 'We have got plenty of food at present.' But the ant went on its way and c... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Ant and the Grasshopper (James) | Aesop, James, 1848 | null | Source (Internet Archive): Ãsop's Fables: A New Version, Chiefly from Original Sources, by Thomas James, with more than 100 illustrations designed by John Tenniel (London: John Murray, 1848), fable 12, p. 12. Source (books.google.com): Ãsop's Fables: A New Version, Chiefly from Original Sources, by Thomas James, with... | 'What were you doing,' said the ant, 'this last summer?' 'Oh,' said the grasshopper, 'I was not idle. I kept singing all the summer long.' Said the ant, laughing and shutting up his granary, 'Since you could sing all summer, you may dance all winter.' Winter finds out what summer lays by. | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Ants and the Grasshopper | Ambrose Bierce | null | Source (Internet Archive): Ambrose Bierce, Fantastic Fables (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899), p. 188. Source (books.google.com): Ambrose Bierce, Fantastic Fables (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899), p. 188. | Some members of a legislature were making schedules of their wealth at the end of the session, when an honest miner came along and asked them to divide with him. The members of the legislature inquired: 'Why did you not acquire property of your own?' ' Because,' replied the honest miner, 'I was so busy digging out gold... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Fable of the Ant and of the Sygalle [Cigala, Grasshopper] | Aesop (Caxton, 1484) | null | Source (books.google.com): The Fables of Aesop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484 with those of Avian, Alfonso, and Poggio, now again edited and induced by Joseph Jacobs. Vol. 2: Text and Glossary (London: David Nutt, 1889), no. 17, p. 123. Source (Internet Archive): The Fables of Aesop, as first printed by Wi... | It is good to purveye him self in the somer season of such thynges / wherof he shall myster and have nede in wynter season / As thow mayst see by this present fable / of the sygalle / whiche in the wynter tyme went and demaunded of the ant somme of her Corne for to ete / And thenne the ant sayd to the sygall / what has... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Grasshopper and the Ant | Ambrose Bierce | null | Source (Internet Archive): Ambrose Bierce, Fantastic Fables (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899), p. 165. Source (books.google.com): Ambrose Bierce, Fantastic Fables (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899), p. 165. | 'Why,' said the ant, 'did you not store up some food for yourself, instead of singing all the time?' 'So I did,' said the grasshopper. 'So I did; but you fellows broke in and carried it all away.' | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Grasshopper and the Ants | Aesop (Jones, 1912) | null | Source (Internet Archive): Ãsop's Fables, a new translation by V. S. Vernon Jones, with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton and illustrations by Arthur Rackham (London: William Heinemann; New York: Doubleday, Page, and Company, 1916), p. 125. First published in 1912. Source (books.google.com): Ãsop's Fables, a new tr... | One fine day in winter some ants were busy drying their store of corn, which had got rather damp during a long spell of rain. Presently up came a grasshopper and begged them to spare her a few grains, 'For,' she said, 'I'm simply starving.' The ants stopped work for a moment, though this was against their principles. '... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
280A | The Story of the Little Red Hen | Children's Story, USA | Link to another version of this story: 'The Little Red Hen and the Grain of Wheat: An English Folk Tale,' In the Nursery of My Bookhouse, edited by Olive Beaupré Miller (Chicago: The Bookhouse for Children Publishers, 1920), pp. 60-63. Link to a book version of this story: The Little Red Hen: An Old English Folk Tale,... | Mary Mapes Dodge, editor, St. Nicholas, vol. 1, no. 11 (September 1874), pp. 680-81. | There was once a little red hen. She was scratching near the barn one day, when she found a grain of wheat. She said, 'Who will plant this wheat?' The rat said, 'I won't.' The cat said, 'I won't.' The dog said, 'I won't.' The duck said, 'I won't.' And the pig said, 'I won't.' The little red hen said, 'I will, then.' So... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | Peer Gynt and the Trolls | Norway | Bræksted's source: Peter Christian Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn, vol. 2 (Christiania [Oslo]: Forlagt af C. A. Dybwad, 1848), pp. 77-84. Bræksted anglicizes the hero's name to Peter Gynt, but I have chosen to retain the Norwegian (and more familiar) form: Peer Gynt. | Peter Christian Asbjørnsen, Folk and Fairy Tales, translated by H. L. Brækstad (New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1883), pp. 149-50. | In the olden days there lived in Kvam a hunter, whose name was Peer Gynt, and who was always roaming about in the mountains after bears and elks, for in those days there were more forests on the mountains than there are now, and consequently plenty of wild beasts.... Shortly before Christmas, Peer set out again on anot... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Cat Mill | Germany | The supernatural creature whom I have called a kobold (a generic term) is identified by Kuhn and Schwartz as a Bieresel (beer-donkey), a spook in German folklore that would assume the form of an animal, then come into a tavern or other establishment and drink the guests' beer. | A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräche aus Meklenburg, Pommern, der Mark, Sachsen, Thüringen, Braunschweig, Hannover, Oldenburg und Westfalen: Aus dem Munde des Volkes gesammelt (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1848), p. 203. | In times past, a kobold frequented a hill above the mill, and every evening he would enter the mill and demand a certain measure of beer, which he then drank. Once a bear trainer was spending the night in the mill with his bears. The kobold arrived, jumping onto first one and then onto another one of the bears, when th... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Cat of Norrhult | Sweden | This legend is from Ãstergötland, a province in southeastern Sweden. Note by Hofberg: 'Not longer than thirty years ago a cross, said to be the one raised on this occasion, was still standing in Norrhult.' | Herman Hofberg, Swedish Fairy Tales, translated by W. H. Myers (Chicago: Belford-Clarke Company, 1890), pp. 126-128. | On the estate of Norrhult, in the parish of Rumskulla, the people in olden times were very much troubled by trolls and ghosts. The disturbances finally became so unbearable that they were compelled to desert house and home, and seek an asylum with their neighbors. One old man was left behind, and he, because he was so ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Cat on the Dovrefjell | Norway | I used the following translation: 'The Cat on the Dovrefell,' Popular Tales from the Norse, 2nd edition, translated by George Webbe Dasent (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1859), pp. 103-104. Finnmark is the northernmost county in Norway. The Dovrefjell (sometimes spelled Dovrefell in English) is a mountain range in ... | Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, Kjetta på Dovre, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852). | Once upon a time there was a man up in Finnmark who had caught a large white bear, which he was going to take to the King of Denmark. It so happened that he came to the Dovrefjell on Christmas Eve. He went to a cottage where a man lived whose name was Halvor, and he asked the man for lodging for himself and his white b... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Kelpie and the Boar | Scotland | The kelpie is a demonic 'water horse' featured in many Scottish and Irish superstitions and folktales. | Walter Gregor, 'Kelpie Stories from the North of Scotland,' The Folk-Lore Journal, vol. 1, part 9 (September 1883), p. 293. | A miller was annoyed by a kelpie entering his mill during night and playing havoc among the grain and meal. One night he shut up in the mill his boar, for a miller generally kept a good many pigs and a breeding sow or two. As usual kelpie entered the mill. The boar stood on his defence, and fought the kelpie. Next nigh... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Kobold and the Polar Bear | Germany | Taylor's source: an anonymous Middle High German story, probably drawn from Scandinavian sources. | Archer Taylor, 'Schrätel und Wasserbär,' Modern Philology, vol. 17, no. 6 (October 1919), pp. 305-306. | The king of Norway sends a polar bear (wazzerber) as a gift to the king of Denmark. The bear and its leader have just landed in Denmark when night overtakes them and they hasten on to a house by the roadside. The Norseman explains to the fanner that the bear is not a dangerous monster and asks quarters for the night. T... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Troll and the Bear | Norway | null | William A. Craigie, Scandinavian Folk-Lore: Illustrations of the Traditional Beliefs of the Northern Peoples (London: Alexander Gardner, 1896), pp. 65-66. | In Højegaard in old days no one could stay over Christmas Eve. All the folk had to go down to the old farm in Rønnebæk, which has long been given up, and stay there till Christmas morning, for every Christmas Eve there came an ugly troll from Dragehøi, with a sackful of toads on his back, which he roasted at the fi... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Water-Man | Moravia | Moravia, a traditional kingdom and region in central Europe with mixed Slavic and German populations, was incorporated in the twentieth century into Czechoslovakia, and subsequently into the Czech Republic. | Marie Kosch, 'Vom Wassermann,' Deutsche Volksmärchen aus Mähren (Kremsier: Druck und Commissionsverlag Heinrich Gusek, 1899), no. 1, pp. 103-104. | A bear trainer with his dancing bear once came to an isolated mill and asked the miller to take them in for the night, as there was no village far and wide, and night was already falling. 'I would be glad to take you in,' said the miller, 'if you are not afraid, for a water-man comes into the mill every night and plays... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
1161 | The Water Nix in the Oil Mill near Frauendorf | Germany | null | Karl Haupt, 'Der Wassernix und der Bär in der Oelmühle bei Freuendorf,' Sagenbuch der Lausitz, vol. 1 (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1862), no. 49, pp. 52-53. | Ages ago a water nix would bring fish to the so-called Oil Mill located at Frauendorf Manor on a channel of the River Spree near Cottbus. The nix would ask the miller to cook the fish, after which the nix would eat them right at the mill. With time these uncanny visits came to annoy the miller, but he never dared to tu... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | Bearskin (Grimm) | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm | The Grimms' source: The Haxthausen family and story by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (ca. 1622-1676) entitled 'Vom Ursprung des Namens Bärnhäuter,' first published in 1670. The Grimms first published this tale under the title 'Der Teufel Grünrock' (Devil Greenjacket) in the first edition of their Kinder-... | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, 'Der Bärenhäuter,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales -- Grimms' Fairy Tales), 7th edition, vol. 2 (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857), no. 101, pp. 81-86. | His parents were dead, and he had no longer a home, so he went to his brothers and asked them to support him until there was another war. The brothers, however, were hardhearted and said, 'What can we do with you? We have no work for you. See that you go and make a living for yourself.' The soldier had nothing left but... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | Bearskin (Grimmelshausen) | Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen | I used this edition: Hans Jacob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, Simplicianische Schriften, edited by Julius Tittmann, vol. 1 (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1877), pp. 247-53. | Abstracted from Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, 'Vom Ursprung des Namens Bärnhäuter' (1670). | The foes of war were soon replaced by the enemies cold, thirst, and hunger. With nowhere to turn for help, he was about to surrender to the powers of despair, when without warning an awful spirit appeared before him. He offered the poor soldier great wealth, if he would but serve this uncanny master for seven years. Se... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | Don Giovanni de la Fortuna | Sicily | Lang's source: Laura Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Märchen: Aus dem Volksmund gesammelt, vol. 2 (Leipzig: Engelmann, 1870), no. 72, pp. 89-93. | Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book (New York, London, and Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1897), pp. 356-360. | One day he was walking down a broad road when he was stopped by a handsome man he had never seen before, who, little as Don Giovanni knew it, was the devil himself. 'Would you like to be rich,' asked the devil, 'and to lead a pleasant life?' 'Yes, of course I should,' replied the Don. 'Well, here is a purse. Take it an... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | Hell's Gatekeeper | Austria | This cautionary tale presents a contrary view to the one presented by the other stories in this group. | Ignaz Vincenz Zingerle and Joseph Zingerle, 'Der höllische Thorwartl,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner'schen Buchhandlung, 1852), no. 7, pp. 41-42. | There was a very filthy boy who would never let himself be washed, always walking around with an unclean face. No amount of warning or pleading did any good, so every day the filthy one became more filthy. Now when people are very dirty and go about unwashed the evil one gains power over them. Many have painfully and b... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | Never-Wash | Russia | The great Russian folktale collector's name is also anglicized as Aleksandr Afanas'ev. | Alexander Afanasyev, Russian Folk-Tales, translated by Leonard A. Magnus (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1916), pp. 311-14. | Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served through three campaigns, but had never earned as much as an addled egg, and was then put on the retired list. Then, as he went on the road marching on and on, he became tired and sat down by a lake. And, as he rested, he began thinking things out, 'Where shall I now b... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | The Devil as Partner | Switzerland | null | Otto Sutermeister, 'Der Teufel als Schwager,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen aus der Schweiz (Aarau: Sauerländer, 1873), no. 27, pp. 83-86. | One evening a traveling journeyman came to an inn, and because he had been strenuously walking for several days in a row, he decided to rest a few days. It didn't bother him that his purse would not cover his costs. The innkeeper got wind of this, and one evening he said, 'My good friend, you are now well rested. Be so... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | The King's Tabernacle | Wales | null | Source (books.google.com): Hermann Pückler-Muskau, Tour in England, Ireland, and France in the Years 1826, 1827, 1828, and 1829 (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, and Blanchard, 1833), letter 28, p. 318. Source (Internet Archive): Hermann Pückler-Muskau, Tour in England, Ireland, and France in the Years 1826, 1827, 1828, and... | K___ Park, August 4th, 1828. Yesterday I took a very agreeable ride of some twenty miles on an untireable horse of iny host's; for distances disappear before the excellence of the horses and of the roads. I must tell you all I saw. I rode first to the small town of St. Asaph to look at the cathedral, which is adorned w... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
361 | The Reward of Kindness | Philippines | Fansler's source: 'Narrated by Elisa Cordero, a Tagalog from Pagsanjan, La Laguna, who heard the story from a Tagalog friend.' Note: The narrator names both the hero's mother and his mother-in-law 'Clara,' probably an unintended oversight. | Dean S. Fansler, Filipino Popular Tales (Lancaster and New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1921), no. 22, pp. 207-209. | In a certain town there once lived a couple who had never had a child. They had been married for nearly five years, and were very anxious for a son. The name of the wife was Clara; and of the man, Philip. One cloudy night in December, while they were talking by the window of their house, Clara said to her husband that ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | Beauty and the Beast (Basque) | Basque | Webster's source: Estefanella Hirigaray. | Wentworth Webster, Basque Legends, 2nd edition (London: Griffith and Farran, 1879), pp. 167-72. | As there are many in the world in its state now, there was a king who had three daughters. He used continually to bring handsome presents to his two elder daughters, but did not pay any attention at all to his youngest daughter, and yet she was the prettiest and most amiable. The king kept going from fair to fair, and ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | Beauty and the Beast (Jacobs) | Joseph Jacobs | null | Joseph Jacobs, Europa's Fairy Book [also published under the title European Folk and Fairy Tales] (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916), no. 5, pp. 34-41. Reconstructed from various European sources. | There was once a merchant that had three daughters, and he loved them better than himself. Now it happened that he had to go a long journey to buy some goods, and when he was just starting he said to them, 'What shall I bring you back, my dears?' And the eldest daughter asked to have a necklace; and the second daughter... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | Beauty and the Horse | Denmark | Bay's sources for this collection: Svend Grundtvig, E. T. Kristensen, Ingvor Bondesen, and L. Budde. | J. Christian Bay, Danish Fairy and Folk Tales (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1899), pp. 14-20. | There was once a merchant whose business was so immense that he was the wealthiest tradesman known. He had three daughters, one of whom was named Beauty. One day the merchant received word from friends far away, informing him of the failure of one of his connections, and he at once prepared himself for a journey to tha... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | Little Broomstick | Germany | Ludwig Bechstein (1801-1860) was Germany's most widely read collector and editor of folktales during the nineteenth century, his popularity within Germany at that time surpassing that of his more scholarly contemporaries, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. | Ludwig Bechstein, 'Besenstielchen,' Deutsches Märchenbuch, 5th edition (Leipzig: Verlag von Georg Wigand, 1847), pp. 228-32. | There was once a merchant who had three daughters. The two older ones were proud and haughty. The younger one, however, was well behaved and modest, although her beauty greatly surpassed that of her sisters. She dressed simply, and thus unconsciously enhanced her beauty more than her sisters were able to do with the mo... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | Rose | Irish-American | Newell's source: 'Obtained in Cambridge, Mass., from the recitation of Mary Brown, who heard it in New Brunswick from a woman of Irish extraction, born in the province.' | W. W. Newell, 'English Folk-Tales in America Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 2, no. 6 (July - September, 1889), pp. 213-14. | Once it was necessary for him to go on a long journey. He asked each of his daughters what he should bring them for a present. The elder daughters wanted silk dresses, jewelry, and all that was rare. Little Rose stood by, not saying a word. Her father asked: 'Little Rose, what can I bring for you?' 'Nothing, father, bu... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Bear Prince | Switzerland | null | Otto Sutermeister, 'Der Bärenprinz,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen aus der Schweiz (Aarau: H. R. Sauerländer, 1873), no. 37, pp. 112-15. | A merchant once wanted to go to market. He asked his three daughters what he should bring home for them. The oldest one said, 'I would like pearls and precious stones.' 'You can buy a sky-blue dress for me,' said the middle one. But the youngest one said, 'Nothing in the world would be dearer to me than a grape.' Once ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Clinking Clanking Lowesleaf | Germany | null | Carl and Theodor Colshorn, 'Vom klinkesklanken Lowesblatt,' Märchen und Sagen aus Hannover (Hannover: Verlag von Carl Ruempler, 1854), no. 20, pp. 64-69. | Once upon a time there was a king who had three daughters. The youngest was his pride and joy. One day he wanted to go to the fair to buy something, and he asked his three daughters what he should bring home for them. The first one asked for a golden spinning wheel. The second one a golden yarn reel, and the third one ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Enchanted Tsarévich | Russia | Magnus' source is the great collection of Alexander Afanasyev (1826-1871). | Leonard A. Magnus, Russian Folk-Tales (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1916), pp. 283-86. | Once upon a time there was a merchant who had three daughters. It so happened he had one day to go to strange countries to buy wares, and so he asked his daughters, 'What shall I bring you from beyond the seas?' The eldest asked for a new coat, and the next one also asked for a new coat; but the youngest one only took ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Fairy Serpent | China Additional tales about animal brides and bridegrooms | Fielde's source: 'These tales have been heard or overheard by the writer, as they were told in the Swatow vernacular, by persons who could not read.' | Adele M. Fielde, Chinese Nights Entertainment (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1893), pp. 45-41. | Once there was a man who had three daughters, of whom he was devotedly fond. They were skilful in embroidery; and he used every day on his way home from work to gather some flowers for them to use as patterns. One day when he found no flowers along his route homeward he went into the woods to look for wild blossoms, an... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Little Nut Twig | Germany | Ludwig Bechstein (1801-1860) was Germany's most widely read collector and editor of folktales during the nineteenth century, his popularity within Germany at that time surpassing that of his more scholarly contemporaries, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. | Ludwig Bechstein, 'Das Nusszweiglein,' Deutsches Märchenbuch, 5th edition (Leipzig: Verlag von Georg Wigand, 1847), pp. 81-85. | Once upon a time there was a rich merchant whose business required him to travel abroad. Taking leave, he said to his three daughters, 'Dear daughters, I would like to have something nice for you when I return. What should I bring home for you?' The oldest one said, 'Father dear, a beautiful pearl necklace for me!' The... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Singing Rose | Austria | null | Source: Ignaz and Joseph Zingerle, 'Die singende Rose,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner'schen Buchhandlung, 1852), no. 30, pp. 183-88. | A king had three daughters. They were more beautiful than the young women of today, and each had passed her sixteenth year of life. The king thought about making one of his daughters queen, but he did not know which one he should select over the other two. One day he summoned all three and said to them, 'My dear childr... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Small-Tooth Dog | England | null | Sidney Oldall Addy, Household Tales and Other Traditional Remains: Collected in the Counties of York, Lincoln, Derby, and Nottingham (London: David Nutt; Sheffield: Pawson and Brailsford, 1895), no. 1, pp. 1-4. | Once upon a time there was a merchant who traveled about the world a great deal. On one of his journeys thieves attacked him, and they would have taken both his life and his money if a large dog had not come to his rescue and driven the thieves away. When the dog had driven the thieves away he took the merchant to his ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Snake-Prince | Greece | null | Lucy M. J. Garnett, Greek Wonder Tales (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1913), , no. 11, pp. 180-88. | Scarlet thread, spun on the wheel, Twisting on the twirling reel, Like the dancers turn and spin, While I now my tale begin! Once upon a time there was a merchant, and he traded 'all the way to Bagdad,' as the saying is. He had twelve ships which sailed to foreign countries, and he had besides three pretty daughters. W... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | The Summer and Winter Garden | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm | 'The Summer and Winter Garden' was replaced in the Grimms' collection by 'The Singing, Springing Lark,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1814), vol. 2, no. 2. Since 1819 'The Singing, Springing Lark' has carried the KHM number 88. Link to the Grimm brothers' The Singing, Springing Lark. | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, 'Von dem Sommer- und Wintergarten,' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812), vol. 1, no. 68. | A merchant was planning to go to a fair, so he asked his three daughters what he should bring back for them. The oldest one said, 'A beautiful dress.' The second, 'A pair of pretty shoes.' The third, 'A rose.' To find a rose would be difficult, for it was the middle of winter, but because the youngest daughter was the ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
425C | Zelinda and the Monster | Italy | null | Thomas Frederick Crane, Italian Popular Tales (London: Macmillan and Company, 1885), no. 2, pp. 7-11. | There was once a poor man who had three daughters; and as the youngest was the fairest and most civil, and had the best disposition, her other two sisters envied her with a deadly envy, although her father, on the contrary, loved her dearly. It happened that in a neighboring town, in the month of January, there was a g... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
207C | Of the Vicissitude of Everything Good, and Especially of a Right Justice (Gestaromanorum) | Gesta Romanorum Application | The Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans) is a collection of tales compiled about 1300 and intended for the use of Christian preachers. Link to a retold version of this tale: Horace Elisha Scudder, 'The Bell of Justice,' The Book of Legends: Told Over Again (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1899), pp. 16-17. | Gesta Romanorum, translated from the Latin by Charles Swan, revised and corrected by Wynnard Hooper (London: George Bell and Sons, 1906), no. 105, pp. 182-83. | The Emperor Theodosius had the misfortune to lose his sight. He put up a bell in his palace; and the law was, that whoever had any suit to make should pull the string with his own hands. When the bell rang, a judge, appointed to this end, descended and administered justice. It chanced that a serpent made her nest immed... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
207C | The Bell of Atri (Longfellow) | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | 'The Bell of Atri' is 'The Sicilian's Tale' from part two of Tales of a Wayside Inn. Part one of this book was first published in 1863 and part two in 1872. The book follows a storytelling tradition dating back most prominently to Chaucer and Boccaccio in which wayfarers entertain one another by telling tales. Link to ... | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, [1915]), pp. 137-41. | At Atri in Abruzzo, a small town Of ancient Roman date, but scant renown, One of those little places that have run Half up the hill, beneath a blazing sun, And then sat down to rest, as if to say, 'I climb no farther upward, come what may,' -- The Re Giovanni, now unknown to fame, So many monarchs since have borne the ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
207C | The Dumb Plaintiff (Eckhardtsberg) | Germany | null | H. A. Guerber Legends of the Rhine, 3rd ed. (New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1899), pp. 308-309. | The story of 'The Bell of Atri,' which Longfellow has so charmingly told in his Tales of a Wayside Inn, is said to have originated in Eckhardtsberg near Breisach. In early days, when the ruins now crowning the hill were part of a strong fortress, the lord of Eckhardtsberg, wishing to render justice to all men, placed a... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
207C | The Emperor Charlemagne and the Serpent (Zurich) | Switzerland | Guerber's probably source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, 'Der Kaiser und die Schlange,' Deutsche Sagen, vol. 2 (Berlin: In der Nicolaischen Buchhandlung, 1818), no. 453, pp. 130-32. In later editions this legend is given the number 459. | H. A. Guerber Legends of Switzerland (New York: Dodd, Mean, and Company, 1905), pp. 248-52. | Zürich, the old Roman Turicum, on either side of the Limmat at the point where it flows out of the green-hued lake, is the capital of the canton of the same name, and noted alike for the beauty of its situation and for its famous university. In the days of the early Christian persecution, Felix and Regula, the patron ... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
150 | Of Hearing Good Counsel | Gesta Romanorum | null | Gesta Romanorum, translated by Charles Swan (London: George Bell and Sons, 1877), no. 167, pp. 318-319. | An archer, catching a little bird called a nightingale, was about to put her to death. But, being gifted with language, she said to him, 'What will it advantage you to kill me? I cannot satisfy your appetite. Let me go, and I will give you three rules, from which you will derive great benefit, if you follow them accura... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
150 | The Three Proverbs | Poland | null | Otto Knoop, 'Die drei Sprüche,' Ostmärkische Sagen, Märchen und Erzählungen (Lissa: Oskar Eulitz' Verlag, 1909), no. 72, pp. 147-149. | A rich man was once walking about in his garden. He was cheerful and happy. Suddenly he noticed a small bird that had been captured in a small net. He took hold of it and was more than a little surprised when it began to speak, saying, 'Give me my freedom, dear man! Of what use is it to you to lock me in a cage? Lookin... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
850 | The Emperor's Daughter and the Swineherd | Slavic | null | Source (books.google.com): Friedrich S. Krauss, Sagen und Märchern der Südslaven: Zum groÃen Teil aus ungedruckten Quellen, vol. 2 (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, 1884), no. 131, pp. 302-306. Source (Internet Archive): Friedrich S. Krauss, Sagen und Märchern der Südslaven: Zum groÃen Teil aus ungedruckten... | Once upon a time there was an emperor who had a daughter with three birthmarks on her body: on her forehead one shaped like a star, on her bosom one shaped like the sun, and on her knee one shaped like the moon. When she reached the age of marriage she said to her father that she would marry only the man who could gues... | Ashliman's Folktexts | 2021-03-10 |
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