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 Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:16 pm
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:17 pm
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:18 pm
Little Daylight
A king and queen gain a daughter, whom they name Daylight. They invite all the fairies who live in the woods by their palace, except one, newly arrived, who lives in the swamp and has everyone convinced she is a witch.
The fairy arrives anyway, and demands the baby's name. On hearing it is "Little Daylight" she says it shall be little daylight, as the princess would sleep all day. Another fairy gives her the gift of waking all night, but the swamp-fairy insists that she wasn't done with the curse, and that Daylight shall wax and wane with the moon. A second fairy says that the curse shall be broken when a prince kisses her without knowing it, and the swamp-fairy can not pretend again that she was not done.
As the princess grows up, she is beautiful and full of high spirits at the full moon, and as it wanes, turns wan and withered, as if sickly. The older she grows the more extreme the contrast becomes.
A nearby prince has to flee a revolt in his country and comes to the woods. He meets a fairy who is very cryptic with him, and then comes across Daylight dancing in the woods by moonlight. He sees her three nights in a row, as the moon is waxing to full, and falls in love. The third night, they have a conversation in which the princess tells him she has never seen the sun. He meets the fairy again and talks with her, but the fairy can not tell him the full curse.
The swamp-fairy discovers his presence and prevents him from finding her again until the moon is more than half gone; then, she thinks the withered princess will not attract him, so she relaxes her guard.
The prince finds Daylight again when the moon is new, and she is so withered and feeble that he spends the night trying to minister to her, and when carrying her to help, kisses her.
Dawn arrives, Daylight is restored to her full beauty, and she asks the prince whether the sun is coming.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:20 pm
The Little Girl Sold with the Pears
A man had to pay the king four baskets of pears as rent, but one year, his trees yielded only three and a half, so he put his youngest daughter in the fourth basket to fill it up. The royal servants found her by the pears she ate, and she went to work as a servant. As she grew up, she and the prince fell in love. The maidservants grew envious.
In Manning-Sander's version, they said she had boasted of doing all the laundry in one day; with the prince's aid she was able to do it.
In both versions, the maids told the king that she had boasted she could steal the witch's, or ogress's, treasure. The king insisted that she do it.
Manning-Sanders had the prince told her what to do. Although Calvino found this in his original version, to increase her identification with the pears, she went and passed by an apple tree and a peach tree to sleep in the third, a pear tree. In the morning, a little old woman was under the tree.[2]
In both cases, they gave her grease, bread, and millet. She went on, gave the millet to three women in a bakery, sweeping out the ovens with their hair, threw the bread to some mastiffs, crossed by a red river with a charm that the little old woman had given her, and greased the hinges of the witches' house. Then she took the treasure chest. The chest began to speak, but the door refused to slam on her, the river to drown her, the dogs to eat her, and the women in the bakery to bake her.
Curious, she opened the chest and a golden hen with her chicks escaped, or musical instruments that played on their own, but the little old woman or prince put them back.
The prince told her to ask, for her reward, for the coal chest in the cellar. When she asked and it was brought up, the prince was hidden in it, so they married.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:20 pm
The Little Good Mouse
A king and queen were in love and happy, and made their entire kingdom happy. Nearby lived a cruel king, who heard of their joy and attacked them. The king went to fight him but was killed and defeated. The cruel king then captured the dead king's queen. Because she was to have a child, he threatened to kill but actually intended to marry her child, if a daughter, to his son. He consulted a fairy, who encouraged the queen and told the cruel king that the child would be a beautiful and accomplished daughter; the king said if it were not true, he would kill both mother and child.
A mouse came into the queen's tower cell one night and danced, amusing her. Although she received only three peas a day, she gave one to the mouse. She found a cooked partridge for herself on the table. She exchanged the peas for better food this way, but feared for her child. Finding the mouse playing with straw, she wove a basket and rope from them, to lower the child once born. One day, she saw an old woman there. The woman offered to help her if she would throw her the mouse, which she loved to eat; the queen refused, and the woman stalked off. The baby was born, and the queen named her Joliette and went to lower her. The mouse jumped in the basket, and the queen told it that if she had sacrificed it, she might have saved her baby. The mouse turned into the fairy and offered to care for the child. She lowered the baby, and climbed down the rope as a mouse; then, in distress, she climbed back up, because her enemy had stolen the princess.
Meanwhile, the jailer went to the king with the news the baby had been born. The king came. The queen told him a fairy had taken it. He took her to the woods to hang her, but the fairy made her invisible, and they escaped.
Fifteen years later, they heard that the prince was to marry a turkeyherd. Going to see, they found the ugly prince arguing with the beautiful turkeyherd, while her turkeys trampled the jewels and fine garments he had given her. The fairy talked with her, and realized she was the princess. She dressed her in fine clothing and went to tell the queen. The king heard that the turkeyherd was refusing his son, and sent for her. His soldiers were astounded to find her dressed as she was, but brought her, and the king ordered her to love his son. She refused, and they decided to shut her up in a tower.
The mouse crept into their bedrooms and bit them while they slept. When they met, they were in a rage, and killed each other. The fairy freed the princess and spoke to the people. They agreed to take her as their queen. The fairy brought her a handsome prince to be her king, and they married.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:21 pm
The Little Green Frog
Two kings, Peridor and Diamantino, were cousins and neighbors, and the fairies protected them, until Diamantino behave so badly to his wife Aglantino that they would not let him live. His daughter Serpentine was his heiress, but as she was a baby, Aglantino became regent. Peridor loved his wife, but was so thoughtless that for punishment, the fairies let his wife die; his only comfort was his son, Saphir.
The fairies put a mirror into Saphir's bedroom, and it showed not his own face, but a beautiful girl. He fell in love. After a year, he saw she had a like mirror, and though he could not see the man reflected in it, he became jealous.
His father had grown more grief-stricken with time, until it was feared he would die. A gorgeous bird appeared at his window one day, and he felt well again, but the bird vanished. He offered a great reward, but no one could find it. Saphir set out in quest. In the forest, while thirsty, he came on a fountain and took out a cup to drink, but a little green frog kept jumping in his cup. It told him to drink and then to talk with it, because it knew of the bird.
It directed him to a castle, and told him to put a grain of sand in front of its gates. This would put everyone to sleep. He should go straight to the stable and take the horse. He obeyed until he reached the horse, when he thought it should have a harness as well, but when he laid hands on it, everyone woke. The lord took a fancy to him and let him go, and he returned to the frog.
After he convinced it of his regret, it sent him back with a grain of gold, and told him to find a room and take off a maiden there, without heed to her resistance. He obeyed until she asked to put on a dress first; this woke them all, and only by the fairies' intervention was he freed.
The frog sent him back with a grain of diamond and told him to find the garden, and cut off the branch with the bird he sought on it. This time he obeyed, and when he returned, he found a little rustic palace, with the maiden he had seen in the mirror. She told him that she had long admired him but never dreamed that he could see her. She told him that she had been the frog; that her name was Serpentine, and she knew nothing else of her family; and that fairies had raised her. She refused to marry him because he was a prince and she could not name her family.
A fairy arrived, to tell them the truth, and bring Aglantino to them; then she carried them to Peridor's castle. The bird proved to be Constance, and Saphir and Serpentine were married.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:22 pm
Little Johnny Sheep-Dung
A good-for-nothing boy once begged a sheepskin from butchers; it was so filthy he came to be called "Little Johnny Sheep-Dung". One day, he met a bourgeois on a horse, who hired him on the promise of little work and feeding him; Johnny did not realize that he was the Devil. At his home, the Devil showed him a horse (actually a prince he had transformed to that shape) and told him to beat it every morning. Johnny did, but not hard, for fear of tiring himself. After a few days, the horse warned him that he worked for the Devil, told him to take ten sacks of the Devil's gold, and had him ride off on it. They rode through an ocean, where waters opened for them. The Devil chased them, but every time he came close, the horse had Johnny drop a sack, so the Devil stopped to pick the money up. When the tenth sack was dropped, they escaped the other side, and the waters closed on the Devil and drowned him.
Soon they reached the king's castle, where the king thought his son had been lost hunting. The horse told Johnny to work as a gardener; they would set him to tend strawberries, and he should cut them at the root and lie down beside them. He did that, and fell asleep. His sheepskin vanished, and he was wearing fine clothing. The youngest princess saw him, he was very handsome, and she fell in love. When he woke, the strawberries were ripe, and he was wearing his sheepskin. He went back to the horse, and it had a man's head. The next day, the horse sent him. They put him to tend the arbors, and at the horse's command, he cut all their roots and slept. The youngest princess again saw him looking handsome, the arbors grew back and held fruit by the time he woke, and the horse had become a man to his waist. The third day, the horse sent him again, he planted the spade in the ground he was supposed to spade and slept, the youngest princess admired him again, the ground was all spaded when he woke, and the horse was a man again.
The king was thinking of marrying off his daughters. His older two were promised to two princes, but the youngest had refused all matches. She went to her father and told him she wanted to marry Johnny. The king did not want to, but she insisted, and so they were promised. Then the king called all three of the men and told them that the one who defeated the other two would get his crown. The princes set out on fractious horses and scorned Johnny, on a lame horse, but when they had ridden by, the horse and his clothing were changed to a fine horse and outfit. He rode after and told them he had come to fight in Johnny's place. They fought and did not injure each other, and Johnny rode off. A second day, it went the same, but the third, Johnny wounded both the others. He went back with them and revealed who he was; the youngest princess was not surprised. The king said the crown was his. Johnny said it belonged to his son, and when the king said that his son was dead, he brought him to the court. The marriages were performed, the son became king, and Johnny was his most loyal friend.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:23 pm
The Little Match Girl
On a cold New Year’s Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward, sees a shooting star, and remembers her deceased grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone died and is going into Heaven. As she lights her next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother nearby for as long as she can. The child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the dead child in the nook.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:24 pm
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid lives in an underwater kingdom with her father the sea king; her grandmother; and her five elder sisters, each born one year apart. When a mermaid turns 15, she is allowed to swim to the surface to watch the world above, and as the sisters become old enough, one of them visits the surface every year. As each of them returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the surface and of human beings.
When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she ventures to the surface, sees a ship with a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a distance. A great storm hits, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from a near-drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here she waits until a young girl from the temple finds him. The prince never sees the Little Mermaid.
The Little Mermaid asks her grandmother whether humans can live forever if they do not drown. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolk's 300 years, but that when mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal soul that lives on in Heaven. The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, eventually visits the Sea Witch, who sells her a potion that gives her legs, in exchange for her tongue (as the Little Mermaid has the most intoxicating voice in the world). The Sea Witch warns, however, that once she becomes a human, she will never be able to return to the sea. Drinking the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her, yet when she recovers she will have two beautiful legs, and will be able to dance like no human has ever danced before. However, it will constantly feel like she is walking on sharp swords hard enough to make her bleed. In addition, she will only get a soul if she finds true love's kiss and if the prince loves her and marries her, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Little Mermaid will die brokenhearted and disintegrate into sea foam.
The Little Mermaid drinks the potion and meets the prince, who is attracted to her beauty and grace even though she is mute. Most of all he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite her excruciating pain. When the prince's father orders his son to marry the neighboring king's daughter, the prince tells the Little Mermaid he will not, because he does not love the princess. He goes on to say he can only love the young woman from the temple, who he believes rescued him. It turns out that the princess is the temple girl, who had been sent to the temple to be educated. The prince loves her and the wedding is announced.
The prince and princess marry, and the Little Mermaid's heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has given up and of all the pain she has suffered. She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her, but before dawn, her sisters bring her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their long hair. If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again, all her suffering will end and she will live out her full life.
The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince lying with his bride and as dawn breaks she throws herself into the sea. Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air. The other daughters of the air tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. She will earn her own soul by doing good deeds for 300 years; for each good child she found, she would obtain one year less while, for each bad child, she would cry, and each tear would mean one month more and she will eventually rise up into the kingdom of God.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:25 pm
The Little Peasant
A poor peasant and his wife did not even have a cow. They had a woodworker make them a calf of wood and brought it to the pasture. When the cowherd returned without it, they found it had been stolen and took him to court for his carelessness, and the judge made him give them a cow. They had nothing to feed it and so had to kill it. The peasant took the hide to town to sell. He found a raven with broken wings and wrapped it in the hide. Weather grew bad and he took shelter in a mill, where the miller's wife gave him some bread and cheese. Then the parson arrived, and because her husband was away, he and the wife had a feast. Her husband returned, and the wife hid the parson and the food. The peasant pretended that the hide was a soothsayer and made the raven croak. He told the miller where the food was hidden, and after they had eaten, that the Devil was in the parson's hiding place. The parson fled, and the miller gave the peasant 300 thalers.
Being rich now, he was brought before the mayor to ask where he had gotten his money; he said he had sold the hide. They killed their cows but could not get much for them. They sentenced him to be rolled into the river in a barrel filled with holes. A shepherd came along, and the peasant declared that he would not do it, and explained that they were trying to force him to be mayor. The shepherd changed places with him, the peasant took his sheep, and they drowned the shepherd. Seeing him with the sheep later, they asked where he had gotten them, and he said they were in the river. Everyone jumped into the river and drowned, and the peasant was their sole heir and very rich.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:29 pm
Little Wildrose
An old man went in search of a child, so someone would inherit his home. In a dark wood, he found a hermit, who gave him an apple, telling him to eat half and give his wife half. On the way home, he grew thirsty; there was no water, and he ate the whole apple. He found a beautiful baby girl and carried her home, laying her in a pail to call his wife near his home. An eagle carried the child off for its eaglets to eat, but they nestled up to her instead. A lindworm came to eat them, but something killed it. The eagle raised her with the eaglet.
One day, an emperor's son saw her. He could not lure her down and grew sick from love. His father asked him what was wrong and, hearing of it, sent about for word of the maiden. An old woman promised to get them the girl. She started to set up a fire beneath the tree and did everything wrong. Little Wildrose tried to tell her how to do it, but she continued to do it wrong; Little Wildrose came down to show her, and the old woman carried her off. The emperor's son married her.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:30 pm
Long, Broad and Sharpsight
A king with one son was growing old. He told his son he wished to see him married before he died. The son said he did not know a suitable bride. His father sent him to a tower room that had not been opened in years. There he found windows showing beautiful women, and a curtain over one window. He pulled away the curtain and fell in love with the woman he saw there. He told his father, who told him he should have left that window curtained, because the woman was the prisoner of an evil sorcerer, in an iron castle, but he had given his word and must try to rescue her.
On the way, he met a man who wanted to be taken into his service; his name was Long, and he could extend himself, and showed it by taking down a nest from a tall tree. The prince took him. He also met Broad, who could extend himself until he was as large as mountain, and Sharpsight, who kept his eyes bandaged because he could see through the bandage, and without it he would set things afire, or break them into pieces, and he took them into his service as well.
They reached the iron castle. As soon as they were inside, the gates closed. They found many men, turned to stone, and food laid out. Because no one came, they ate. The sorcerer appeared with the woman and told them they could have the princess if they could keep her from escaping three nights. The prince tried to talk to her, but she did not answer. They fell asleep, she vanished, but Sharpsight spotted her: she had turned into an acorn on an oak tree. Long brought her back. The wizard was furious. The next day, she became a precious stone on a mountain, but again Sharpsight saw her, and Long brought her back. The wizard was furious again. The third night, she became a golden ring on a shell in the sea. Long brought Broad with him, and Broad, making himself broad, drank up the sea. Long got the ring. On the way back, he could not carry Broad but dropped him. All the water came out, and Broad barely managed to avoid drowning, but they made it back.
The sorcerer turned into a crow. All the people turned to stone came back to life. The prince took the woman home and married her. Long, Broad, and Sharpsight left his service and went on to seek their fortune.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:31 pm
Looking for a Bride
A shepherd could not choose which of three sisters to marry. His mother told him to give them cheese. One did not cut off all the rind and so ate some. The second cut off good cheese with the rind. The third carefully pared off the rind, and so he married her.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:32 pm
Lord Peter
A couple died, leaving their three sons a porridge-pot, a griddle, and a cat. The older two took the porridge-pot and griddle, so they could lend them and get something to eat, but the youngest, Peter, took the cat, because otherwise she would starve at the old home. They all set out to seek their fortune.
The cat caught game and had Peter present them to the king as gifts from Lord Peter. The king wanted to visit Lord Peter; when Peter refused, he insisted on Lord Peter's visiting to him. Peter complained to the cat that he was in trouble now, but the cat provided clothing and a coach for him. On the visit, the king declared that he would go home with Lord Peter. Peter told the cat, and it went ahead, to bribe all the people along the way to describe their flocks as Lord Peter's. Then they came to a troll's castle, but the troll was gone, so they went in. When the troll arrived, the cat distracted it with a story until sunrise, and the sunlight made it burst.
The cat told Peter that everything was his, now, and in return, all it asked was that Peter cut off its head. He refused, but the cat threatened to claw his eyes out if he didn't. When he did, the cat became a lovely princess, who told him that the castle had belonged to her parents, and the troll had turned her into a cat. Now, she was willing to become his wife. He agreed to marry her, and the wedding was held.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:34 pm
The Lost Children
A couple, Jacques and Toinon, were very stingy. Their children -- Jean, who was twelve, and his sister Jeanette, who was eight-- suffered because of this, and finally they decided to lose them in the forest. Toinon took them and left them there. They tried to find her, and then tried to find their way out. Jean climbed a tree and saw a white house and a red house. They went to the red one. The woman there let them in, but told them to be quiet or her husband would eat them. She hid them, but her husband was the Devil and could smell them because they were Christians. He beat his wife and put Jean into the barn to fatten him up before eating him, making Jeanette bring him food. The Devil was too fat to get into the barn, so he ordered Jeanette to bring him the tip of Jean's finger to test how fat he was; Jeanette brought him a rat's tail. The third time, he noticed the trick and pulled Jean out. He made a sawhorse to lay Jean on to bleed, and went for a walk. Jeanette had Jean pretend not to understand how he was to be put on the sawhorse. The Devil's wife showed them, and Jean tied her on and cut her throat. They took the Devil's gold and silver and fled in his carriage. The Devil chased them. On the way, he met various people -- a laborer, a shepherd, a beadle, some laundresses -- and asked whether they had seen the children. The first time he asked, they each misheard him, but then told him they hadn't, except for the laundresses, who told him they crossed the river. The Devil could not cross it, so one laundress offered to cut her hair to let him cross on it, but when he was in the middle, the laundresses dropped it, so he drowned. The children got home and took care of their parents, despite what they had done.
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