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The Twelve Wild Ducks

A queen who had twelve sons and no daughter said she would not care what happened to her sons if she had a daughter as white as snow and as red as blood. A troll witch told her that she would have a daughter, and the witch would have her sons as soon as the baby was baptized.

Her daughter was born and christened "Snow-white and Rosy-red," and all her brothers were turned into wild ducks and flew away. Snow-white and Rosy-red was often sad when growing up, and one day the queen asked her why, and she said that everyone else had brothers and sisters, but she had none. So the queen told her about her brothers.

She set out and, after three years, found the cottage where her brothers lived. Having done all the housework, she slept in her youngest brother's bed. Her brothers found her, and her oldest brother wanted to kill her as the cause of their problems, but her youngest brother argued that it was their mother's fault, and the sister pled that she had searched for them for three years. They told her that she could set them free by weaving cloth of thistle-down, and making them all neckerchiefs, shirts, and coats, without crying, laughing, or speaking. She set to work. Her brothers flew off as wild ducks every day, but returned as men every night.

A king found her and brought her to his castle to marry her, over his stepmother's objections. She kept on sewing, but when she had a son, the old queen threw the baby into a pit of snakes and smeared her mouth with blood, to tell her stepson that the young queen killed and ate her baby. This happened three times, and the old queen finally persuaded the king to have his wife burned at the stake, but she finished the shirts. Her brothers came to take them and having turned back into men, told her to speak. She told the truth, and the princes showed them their babies, still alive in the snake pit.

The king asked his mother what a fitting punishment would be for such an evil crime, and she prescribed being torn apart by twelve horses, and so she fell victim to her own punishment.

The Two Brothers

A rich goldsmith and a poor broommaker were brothers. The broommaker had two identical twin sons. One day, the broommaker saw a golden bird in the woods, knocked off a feather, and sold it to his brother for a great sum. He pursued the bird again and found a golden egg. A third time, he brought back the bird itself, and his brother, who knew its powers — that whoever ate its heart and liver would find a gold coin beneath his pillow every night — had his wife cook it. But his nephews came to the kitchen to beg, and when two bits fell from the bird, they ate them, and the gold coins appeared beneath their pillows.

The goldsmith told his brother that his sons were in league with the devil, and persuaded him to abandon them. A huntsman took them in and taught them his trade. Once they were grown, they begged his permission to seek their fortune. He was pleased, because they talked like brave huntsmen, and let them go, giving them a knife with directions that if they ever parted, they should stick it into a tree, and when one returned, he could see how his brother fared, because the blade's side would rust if it went ill with him.

On the way, they nearly shot a hare for hunger, but it begged for its life, offering to give them two young hares instead, so they let it go. The same happened with a fox, a wolf, a bear, and a lion. The young animals showed them a village where they could buy food. They parted ways, each one taking half the animals, and drove a knife into a tree where they parted.

The younger came to a town all hung in black, where a dragon had eaten every young maiden except the princess, who was to be given to it the next day. The huntsman climbed the dragon's hill and found three cups and a sword. He was unable to wield the sword until he had drunk from the cups.

The next morning, the princess was brought to the hill, and the king's marshal watched. The seven-headed dragon came and breathed fire, setting all the grass ablaze, but the animals trampled the flames out. The huntsman cut off six of its heads and its tail and had the animals tear it to bits. The princess distributed her necklace among the animals, and gave the huntsman her knife, with which he cut off the dragon's tongues. He was exhausted and told the lion to keep watch while he slept, but the lion was also exhausted, and told the bear to keep watch, and so on down to the hare, who had no one to tell to keep watch. The marshal cut off the huntsman's head and forced the princess to promise to say that he had rescued her.

The animals woke and would have killed the hare, but it said it knew of a root that would restore the huntsman, so they let it fetch it. The huntsman thought the princess must have killed him, to be rid of him, and wandered the world. A year later, he came back to the town and found it hung in red for the princess's wedding to the marshal. The huntsman bet with the innkeeper that he could get bread from the king's table, and sent the hare. The princess recognized it by the part of her necklace, and sent a loaf with it. The innkeeper would bet no more, but he sent the fox, wolf, bear, and lion for meat, vegetables, confectionery, and wine.

The king wondered at the animals, and the princess told him to send for their master. When he arrived at the castle, the seven dragon's heads were displayed, and the huntsman opened their mouth and asked where their tongues were. He produced the tongues, and the princess confirmed his story. The marshal was executed, and the huntsman and princess married.

One day, he hunted a white stag and ended up alone in the woods. An old woman begged to come near the fire, and asked him to strike his animals with a wand so they would not harm her. This turned them to stone, and so she was able to turn him to stone.

His brother found the knife all rusted on one side, and went in search of his brother. He was welcomed as the young king in the town, but put a sword in the bed between him and the princess. Hearing what his brother had been doing, he set out to the same woods and found the same witch, but refused to strike his animals. When he shot his gun at her, she was proof to lead, but he tore off three silver buttons and shot her. He made her restore his brother, his brother's animals, and many others.

The brothers went home, telling their tales. On hearing that his brother had been accepted as him and slept in his bed, the young king cut off his head, but repented of it. The hare brought the root again, and the brother was restored. They returned to the town, and the princess could recognize her husband by the necklace on his animals, and asked him why he had put the sword in the bed those night, revealing to him that his brother had been true.

The Two Kings' Children

It was foretold of a king's son that he would be killed by a stag at sixteen. When he was sixteen, he went hunting and chased a stag; a great man, a king, caught him and carried him off. He set him to watch his three daughters, one each night; he would call to the king's son each hour, and if he answered every time, the king's son could marry his daughter, but if not, he would die. Each night, the daughter he was set to watch enchanted a statue of St. Christopher to answer in the king's son's place.

The king said in order to marry one of the daughters, he had to cut down a forest in a day, and the king gave him a glass axe, a glass mallet, and a glass wedge to do it. All these things broke, and the king's son wept. The king told his daughters to bring him some food. The youngest daughter brought it, and told him to let her comb his hair. He fell asleep, and she conjured up Earth-workers to fell the forest.

The king then ordered the king's son to clear a muddy pond and fill it with fish in a day. When the king's son tried, his hoe and shovel stuck and broke. The youngest daughter brought him food and got him to sleep again; then she conjured the Earth workers again.

The king then ordered the king's son to clear a mountain of briars and put a castle on it. The glass hatchet he was given broke on the first briars, and the youngest daughter saved him again.

Finally, the king declared that the youngest daughter could not marry until the oldest daughters were married. The couple decided to run away at night. Once they were on their way, the king's daughter heard her father behind them. She turned herself into a rose, and the king's son into a briar. Her father thought he had lost them, and went back, but his wife told him the briar and the rose had been the children. He chased them again. The king's daughter turned herself into a priest, and the king's son into a church, and she preached a sermon. The king listened to the sermon and went home. His wife told him that they had been the children and came after them herself. The daughter realized the queen would know them whatever they did, but she changed herself into a duck and the king's son into a pond. The queen tried to drink the pool, but became ill and told her daughter she could come back. The daughter did, and the queen gave her three walnuts to aid her.

The king's son and the king's daughter went on. The king's son had her stay while he went to get her carriage to bring her back in due state, but his mother kissed him, and he forgot the king's daughter entirely. The king's daughter had to work for a miller.

One day, the queen sought a bride for her son. The king's daughter cracked one walnut and found a splendid dress in it. She wore it to the wedding. The bride declared she would not marry without a dress as fine. The king's daughter would not give it up unless she could spend a night outside the king's son's bedroom. The bride agreed but had the servants give the king's son a potion so he slept. She lamented all night long; the king's son did not hear, but the servants did. In the morning, the bride took the dress and went with the king's son to the church, but the king's daughter cracked the second walnut, and it held a more splendid dress, and the bride again refused to marry without one as fine. The king's daughter asked the same price, and the bride agreed and gave the same order, but the servant, who had heard, gave the king's son something to keep him awake. He heard her laments and was troubled by them. His mother had locked the door, but in the morning, he begged her pardon. The king's daughter cracked the third walnut and found still more splendid dress and wore it as her wedding gown, but the bride and the false mother were sent away.

The Ugly Duckling

When the tale begins, a mother duck's eggs hatch. One of the little birds is perceived by the duck’s surroundings as a homely little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse from the other birds and animals on the farm. He wanders sadly from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He then finds a home with an old woman but her cat and hen tease him mercilessly and again he sets off on his own. He sees a flock of migrating wild swans; he is delighted and excited but he cannot join them for he is too young and cannot fly. Winter arrives. A farmer finds and carries the freezing little bird home, but the foundling is frightened by the farmer’s noisy children and flees the house. He spends a miserable winter alone in the outdoors mostly hiding in a cave on the lake that partly freezes over. When spring arrives a flock of swans descends on the now thawing lake. The ugly duckling, now having fully grown and matured cannot endure a life of solitude and hardship any more and decides to throw himself at the flock of swans deciding that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness and misery. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he has grown into one of them. The flock takes to the air and the ugly duckling spreads his beautiful large wings and takes flight with the rest of his new family.

Urashima Tarō

One day a young fisherman named Urashima Tarō is fishing when he notices a group of children torturing a small turtle. Tarō saves it and lets it to go back to the sea. The next day, a huge turtle approaches him and tells him that the small turtle he had saved is the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, Ryūjin, who wants to see him to thank him. The turtle magically gives Tarō gills and brings him to the bottom of the sea, to the Palace of the Dragon God (Ryūgū-jō). There he meets the Emperor and the small turtle, who was now a lovely princess, Otohime.
Urashima Tarō illustration by Edmund Dulac

Tarō stays there with her for a few days, but soon wants to go back to his village and see his aging mother, so he requests Otohime's permission to leave. The princess says she is sorry to see him go, but wishes him well and gives him a mysterious box called tamatebako which will protect him from harm but which she tells him never to open. Tarō grabs the box, jumps on the back of the same turtle that had brought him there, and soon is at the seashore.

When he goes home, everything has changed. His home is gone, his mother has vanished, and the people he knew are nowhere to be seen. He asks if anybody knows a man called Urashima Tarō. They answer that they had heard someone of that name had vanished at sea long ago. He discovers that 300 years have passed since the day he left for the bottom of the sea. Struck by grief, he absent-mindedly opens the box the princess had given him, from which bursts forth a cloud of white smoke. He is suddenly aged, his beard long and white, and his back bent. From the sea comes the sad, sweet voice of the princess: "I told you not to open that box. In it was your old age ..."

The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars

A very rich and hard-hearted merchant, Mark or Marko, had one daughter, Anastasia. One day, he was about to set dogs on three beggars, when Anastasia pleaded with him. He let them stay in the stable loft. Anastasia went to see them. In the Russian version, they were then grandly dressed; in both, they decided to give Marko's wealth to a new-born named Vasilii, the seventh son of a poor peasant in a nearby village. She told her father. He went and found just such a boy had been born. He offered to be his godfather and then to raise the boy, giving the poor father a sum of money as well. When the father agreed, the merchant threw the baby over a cliff.

Other merchants picked up the child and brought him to Marko, who persuaded them to leave him with them. He put the boy in a barrel, or an open boat, and threw it into the sea. It floated to a monastery, where the abbot took the child in. Many years later, Marko passed by and heard the story. He persuaded the abbot that he wanted to take him in, and that he would give a large sum to the monastery for it. The abbot and monks agreed, and Marko sent him to his wife with a letter prescribing that he should be pushed into the soap-making cauldron at once.

Vasilii met the three beggars on the way, who breathed on the letter. When he arrived, the letter called for him to marry Anastasia at once. His wife obeyed, and Marko arrived to find a letter in his own handwriting calling for it. So he sent his son-in-law to collect rent from Tsar Zmey (Russian) or the Serpent King (Serbian).

In the Serbian version, he met an old oak which asks if he can discover why it can't fall. In both, he met a ferryman who asks if he can discover why he is bound to ferry people back and forth, and a whale being used as a bridge, which asks if he can discover how long it will be bound to this task.

At the castle, he met a maiden, who hid him and asked the Serpent King or Tsar Zmey in serpent form, about a dream she had had. He told her the oak had to be pushed over, which would reveal treasure, the ferryman had to push the boat off with another person in it, and the whale had to vomit up the twelve ships it had swallowed without leave. He went back, carefully not telling the whale and the ferryman until he had already crossed. In the Russian version, he received jewels from the whale; in the Serbian, he found gold and silver under the oak. He returned to Marko, who set out to make sure the next time, Vasilii would not be able to escape, but the ferryman pushed the boat off, and Marko is ferrying people still.

Vasilisa the Beautiful

A merchant had, by his first wife, a single daughter, who was known as Vasilisa ("Βασίλισσα", meaning Queen in Greek) the Beautiful. When she was eight years old, her mother died. On her deathbed, she gave Vasilisa a tiny wooden doll with instructions to give it a little to eat and a little to drink if she were in need, and then it would help her. As soon as her mother died, Vasilisa gave it a little to drink and a little to eat, and it comforted her.

After a time, her father remarried to a woman with two daughters. Her stepmother was very cruel to her, but with the help of the doll, Vasilisa was able to perform all the tasks imposed on her. When young men came wooing, the stepmother rejected them all because it was not proper for the younger to marry before the older, and none of the suitors wished to marry Vasilisa's stepsisters.

One day the merchant had to embark on a journey. His wife sold the house and moved them all to a gloomy hut by the forest. One day she gave each of the girls a task and put out all the fires except a single candle. Her older daughter then put out the candle, whereupon they sent Vasilisa to fetch light from Baba Yaga's hut. The doll advised her to go, and she went. While she was walking, a mysterious man rode by her in the hours before dawn, dressed in white, riding a white horse whose equipment was all white; then a similar rider in red. She came to a house that stood on chicken legs and was walled by a fence made of human bones. A black rider, like the white and red riders, rode past her, and night fell, whereupon the eye sockets of the skulls became luminous. Vasilisa was too frightened to run away, and so Baba Yaga found her when she arrived in her mortar.
Baba Yaga in her mortar, by Ivan Bilibin

Baba Yaga said that she must perform tasks to earn the fire, or be killed. For the first task, Vasilisa was to clean the house and yard, cook supper, and pick out black grains and wild peas from a quarter measure of wheat. Baba Yaga left, and Vasilisa cooked, while the doll did everything else. At dawn, the white rider passed; at or before noon, the red. As the black rider rode past, Baba Yaga returned and could complain of nothing. She bade three pairs of disembodied hands seize the grain to grind it, and set Vasilisa the same tasks for the next day, with the addition of cleaning poppy seeds that had been mixed with dirt. Again, the doll did everything but cook the meal. Baba Yaga set the three pairs of hands to press the oil from the poppy seeds.

Vasilisa asked about the riders' identities and was told that the white one was Day, the red one the Sun, and the black one Night. Other details are not explained, on the grounds that Baba Yaga preferred to keep them secret. In return, Baba Yaga inquired into the cause of Vasilisa's success. On hearing the answer "by my mother's blessing", Baba Yaga sends Vasilisa home with a skull-lantern to provide light for her step-family, only to find that, since sending her out on her task, no candles or fire will light in their home. Even lamps and candles brought in from outside snuff out the second they are carried over the threshold. The light burns Vasilisa's stepmother and stepsisters to ashes, and Vasilisa buries the skull as per its instructions so no person would ever be harmed by it.

Later, Vasilisa becomes an assistant to a maker of cloth in Russia's capital city, where she becomes so skilled at her work that the czar himself notices her skill; he later marries Vasilisa.

The Water Nixie

A brother and sister fell into a well, where a nixie caught them and made them work for her. One Sunday while she was at church, they ran away. The nixie chased them. The girl threw a brush, which became a mountain with thousands of spikes, which the nixie got through with great effort. The boy threw a comb behind them, which became a mountains with thousands of teeth, which the nixie got through with great effort. The girl threw a mirror behind them, which became a mountain too slick for the nixie to climb. She went back to get an ax, but before she could chop through the mountain, they escaped.