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The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen:
"A dying queen made her husband promise to hide her sons from the new queen by raising them in an island on a lake. When the king remarried, a henwife told the stepmother she knew a secret, and when the queen paid her richly, told her of her stepsons, and demanded that they be brought to court. The henwife gave the queen cards and told her to play with the stepsons for a geasa. The queen defeated her older two stepsons, but the youngest won. She set a geasa that the older two must steal: the Knight of the Glen's wild Steed of Bells. The youngest said that he will go with his brother, and set a geasa that she stand on a tower with her face to the wind, with a sheaf of corn to eat and water to drink, until they returned.

The princes met the Black Thief of Sloan, who warned them of the danger but came with them. When they tried to steal the horse, it rang the bells so that it warned the Knight and they were caught.

The knight took them to a furnace, to boil them, from the oldest to the youngest of the princes, and then the Black Thief. The Black Thief said that he had once been in more danger than the oldest and escaped with his life. The Knight said that if he told him that story, he would pardon the oldest son. The Black Thief told that he had once seen three witches going to sleep with their gold under the heads to keep the Black Thief from stealing it; he had put turf under their heads instead and gone off with the gold. They chased him as a greyhound, a hare, and a hawk. He climbed a tree. They changed themselves into a smith's anvil and a piece of iron, which the third one made a hatchet of, and she started to cut down the tree. But just then, a c**k crowed and they disappeared.

The knight pardoned the oldest son and set about to boil the second.

The Black Thief said he might yet escape, and the knight said that if he had been in another such great danger, he would pardon the second. The Black Thief told he had heard how a rich bishop had been buried with jewels and rich robes, and he went to rob the grave. He heard footsteps and lost courage. Then he met with a dark figure, which he shot at, and found it was one of the clergy, who had already rifled the tomb. Some guards came. He held up the body, and the guards shot at it, and ran into the tomb to ensure he had no others with him. The Black Thief escaped once they were past him.

The knight pardoned the second son and said he would pardon the youngest for yet another such tale.

The Black Thief told how he had once come to a castle where a woman held a child and wept. She told him that a giant lived there and had ordered her to kill the child and cook it in a pie. He killed her a pig and had her cut off a finger; then she baked the pie. When the giant returned, the woman had him hid in a room where the giant kept corpses. The giant doubted the pie, but the woman showed him the finger. Being not full, he went to cut off some meat from the corpses, and cut off some from the thief. He did not cry out, and the giant got drunk and slept. He blinded it but could not kill it. The giant threw a ring after him, and it leapt on his toe, where it called out whenever the giant did. The thief cut off the toe and threw it into a fishpond, where it called to the giant, who followed and drowned.

An old woman told the knight that he was the baby and she the woman, and the thief the man who had saved his life. They told the knight why they had to get the horse, and to spare their lives, he gave him it. The queen heard them coming, and threw herself from the tower and died."

~moans in irritation~ i dont wanna go to school!

May James have a good day today.x3

~hums~x3

~hums~

Bluebeard:
"Bluebeard is an immensely wealthy aristocrat, feared and shunned because of his "frightfully ugly" blue beard. He has been married several times, but no one knows what became of his wives. He is therefore avoided by the local girls. When Bluebeard visits one of his neighbours and asks to marry one of her two daughters, the girls are terrified, and each tries to pass him on to the other. Eventually he persuades the younger daughter to visit him, and after hosting a wonderful banquet, he convinces her to marry him. After the ceremony she goes to live with him in his château.

Very shortly after, Bluebeard announces that he must leave the country for a while; he gives all the keys of the château to his new wife, telling her they open the doors to rooms which contain his treasures. He tells her to use the keys freely, and enjoy herself whilst he is away. However, he also gives her the key to one small room beneath the castle, stressing to her that she must not enter this room under any circumstances. She vows she will never enter the room. He then goes away and leaves the house in her hands. Immediately she is overcome with the desire to see what the forbidden room holds, and despite warnings from her visiting sister, Anne, the girl abandons her guests during a house party, and takes the key to the room.

The wife immediately discovers the room's horrible secret: its floor is awash with blood, and the murdered bodies of her husband's former wives hang from hooks on the walls. Horrified, she drops the key into the pool of blood. She flees the room, but the blood staining the key will not wash off. She reveals her murderous husband's secret to her sister Anne, and both plan to flee the castle the next day. But Bluebeard returns home unexpectedly the next morning, and, noticing the blood on the key, immediately knows his wife has broken her vow. In a blind rage he threatens to behead her on the spot, but she implores him to give her a quarter of an hour to say her prayers. He consents, so she locks herself in the highest tower with Anne. While Bluebeard, sword in hand, tries to break down the door, the sisters wait for their two brothers to arrive. At the last moment, as Bluebeard is about to deliver the fatal blow, the brothers break into the castle, and as he attempts to flee, they kill him. He leaves no heirs but his wife, who inherits all his great fortune. She uses part of it for a dowry to marry off her sister, another part for her brothers' captains commissions, and the rest to marry a worthy gentleman who makes her forget her horrible encounter with Bluebeard."

The Blue Bird:
"Overwhelmed by grief, a wealthy king was unable to do anything but mourn the untimely loss of his wife. A lady came to him, telling tale that she too had lost her just husband. Together, through sharing loss and loss shared, their lamentation salved into consolation. In time they talked of other things, fell in love and cherishing one another, wed.

The king had a daughter named Fiordelisa whom he loved dearly. The queen too had a daughter from a prior marriage named Turritella. Turritella though, was less lovely by far than Fiordelisa. One day the king turned to the timely matter of his daughters' well-being and to matters of state and the arranging of marriages. The queen insisted that her daughter be the first to wed as she was the elder and, in her estimate, the far more charming. The king acquiesced. Soon, Prince Charming visited the kingdom. The queen dressed Turritella in all her finery for the reception and bribed Fiordelisa's ladies-in-waiting to steal all her dresses and jewels. Still, Prince Charming was taken with Fiordelisa and paid only her attention. The queen and Turritella badgered the king until he agreed to lock Fiordelisa up for the length of the visit, and attempted to blacken her character to the Prince.

The queen sent Prince Charming many gifts. When the king heard they were from Turritella, he rejected them. The queen angrily told him that Fiordelisa would be locked in a tower until he left. Prince Charming was outraged and begged to speak with Fiordelisa for a moment. The devious queen agreed but secretly arranged for Turritella to meet the Prince instead. In the darkness of their meeting place, Prince Charming mistook Turritella for Fiordelisa and unwittingly asked for the princess's hand in marriage.

Turritella conspired with her fairy godmother, Mazilla. Mazilla told her it would be difficult to deceive the Prince. At the wedding ceremony Turritella produced the Prince's ring and plead her case. Prince Charming refused to marry her and nothing that Turritella or Mazilla did could persuaded him, at last Mazilla threatened to curse him for breaking his promise. Prince Charming would still not agree and Mazilla turned him into a blue bird.

The queen, on hearing of the news, blamed Fiordelisa; she dressed Turritella as a bride and showed her to Fiordelisa, claiming that Prince Charming had agreed to marry her. She then persuaded the King that Fiordelisa was so infautated with Prince Charming that she had best remain in the tower until she came to her senses. The bluebird flew to the tower and told Fiordelisa the truth. Over many years, the bluebird visited her often, bringing her rich gifts of jewels.

Over the years the queen continued to look for a suitor for Turritella. One day, exasperated by the many suitors that rejected Turritella, the Queen sought Fiordelisa in her tower. She found Fiordelisa singing with the bluebird. Fiordelisa opened the window to let the bird escape, but the Queen discovered her jewelry and guessed that she was receiving some kind of aid. The Queen accused Fiordelisa of treason, but bluebird managed to foil the queen's plot.

For many days, Fiordelisa did not call the bluebird for fear of the queen's spy. One night, as the spy slept soundly she called the bluebird. This continued until one night, the spy heard and told the Queen, who had the fir tree where the bird perched covered with sharp edges, so that he was fatally wounded and could not fly to her. Fiordelisa believed the bluebird had betrayed her. A friend of the king's, an enchanter heard the King lamenting and rescued him from the tree.

The enchanter persuaded Mazilla to change Prince Charming back into a man for a few months, after which if he still refused Turritella, he would be turned back into a bird.

Time went by and Fiordelisa's father died. The people of her kingdom demanded her release. When the Queen resisted they killed her, and Turritella fled to Mazilla. Fiordelisa became queen and made preparations to find King Charming.

Along the way Fiordelisa met an old woman who proved to be another fairy. The fairy told her that King Charming had his own form and gave her four magical eggs. The first egg she used to climb a great hill of ivory. The second contained a chariot pulled by doves that brought her to King Charming's castle, but she could not reach the king in her disguise. She offered to sell to Turritella the finest jewelry King Charming had given her, and Turritella showed it to King Charming to find out the proper price. He recognized it and was saddened. Turritella returned to Fiordelisa, who would sell them only for a night in the Chamber of Echo, which King Charming had told her of, one night: whatever she said in there would be heard in the king's room. She reproached him with leaving her and lamented all night long, but he had taken a sleeping potion, and did not hear.

She broke the third egg and found a tiny coach drawn by mice. Again, she traded it for the Chamber of Echoes, and lamented all the night long. The pages heard her.

The next day, she opened the last egg, and it held a pie with six singing birds. She gave it to a page who told her that the King takes sleeping potions at night. She bribed the page the singing birds and told him not to give the King a sleeping potion that night. The King was awake, heard Fiordelisa and they were joyfully reunited.

The enchanter and the fairy assured them that they could prevent Mazilla from harming them, and when Turritella attempted to interfere, they turned her into an sow."

The Blue Mountains:
"A Scotsman, an Englishman and an Irishman all ran away from the army together. After several days, the Scotsman saw a castle, went to it without speaking to the others, and met a lady. At his request, she gave him a meal and a bed to sleep. And then the same thing happened to the Englishman.

The Irishman saw the same castle and went to it, but when the lady gave him food, he stared about the castle and did not eat. When she asked, he said he could not eat without knowing who she was or where she came from, or how she came there. She told him she was an enchanted princess, and if a man stayed in a little room from ten until midnight for three nights running, she would be freed. Every night creatures came into the room and beat him, but the princess had a bottle that cured him every morning.

She went off and told him she would back in a coach and six. A little lad came, and when he went to wait for the princess, the lad stuck a pin in his coat, putting him to sleep. When the princess came, the lad told her he was asleep. The princess said she would come once more, and then he would not see her again. The Irishman resolved to keep away, but the boy stuck the pin in his coat again, and the princess left, leaving him a sword.

He woke up the other men in the castle and gave them silver and plate to carry away and set out in search of her. Three years later, he pulled out the sword in order to kill himself and found written on it, You will find me in the Blue Mountains. He set out in search of the Blue Mountains and found an old man who had not seen anyone in three hundred years. The old man, that night, looked through his book, which contained the history of the world, but found nothing of where the Blue Mountains were. He blew a magical whistle, which let the Irishman travel to his brother's, nine hundred miles away, in a day. This brother summoned all the birds to consult them. Last of all, an eagle came; it had come from the Blue Mountains. The eagle said that the daughter of the king of the Blue Mountains was about to marry, because she had agreed with her father that if the man who had saved her had not arrived in that time, she would marry.

The eagle said if they killed sixty cattle and the Irishman would throw quarter of one into its mouth every time it turned its head, it could carry him. So he and the old man hunted, and it flew off with him and the meat, but near the castle, the meat ran out, and the eagle threw him off. He landed in the bay and was able to get ashore. He gave a guinea to the king's henwife to bring the princess to him. She recognized the Irishman and married him instead of her new bridegroom."