Family Folktales

When characters have silly names like King Grumpy, Prince Curlicue, and Princess Cabbage-Stalk, can any of them expect to live happily ever after? Listen and find out!

A brother and sister promise their dying father to care for their much-younger brother and later reiterate that promise to their dying mother. But when the weather turns warm, first the older brother leaves and then the sister, leaving food and telling the boy they will return.

A silly wager results in a queen’s banishment – but what will be the fate of the king’s soon-to-be-born son?

After a soldier returns a bewitched princess to her original form he discovers her faithlessness, only to be taken in by her again and again. How can some very special plums help him gain his revenge and escape the princess and her father?

Prince Almas-ruh-baksh has survived, and found himself a few wives! But what will become of the princess who caused the deaths of his brother and so many others?

After his older brothers die in their attempts to win a princess, the youngest prince sets out on the same quest. Will he survive his attempts and win the princess?

The story of the sons continues with more magic and wonder, as well as The Story of the Fair Circassians!

A prince sets off seeking adventure but ends up the slave to a king -- and one who hates the young prince’s father! Will the prince find his way to freedom, despite the impossible tasks set him by his cruel master?

A princess will only marry a man who fits a precise description – and the only one who fits is a sorcerer and her father’s deadly enemy! Will this tale end in tears or in triumph?

A girl escaping a witch seeks refuge with an ogre! When a prince seeks to marry her, the ogre gives her a bit of advice – but will she take it?

A lad inspired by tales of knights and their valor decides to rid his community of the giant terrorizing them. What will happen to young Jack when other giants seek revenge for the death?

When a willful girl insists on eating a talking fish she catches, she becomes a fish herself! Will she succeed in the quest set her by the queen of the fishes, her only hope to return to her original form?

Little Klaus annoys his neighbor, Big Klaus, so much that Big Klaus kills Little Klaus’s horse. How will Little Klaus get revenge on his former friend?

A man and his wife have a dog who leads them to great wealth. A neighbor pesters until they loan him the dog so he can become rich, too; will things work out as planned?

A lad sets out to understand fear, but encounters with a band of robbers, an ogre, and drowning sailors teach him nothing. What will it take for him to finally know what it means to be afraid?

A prince wants to save a beautiful maiden who is under a witch's curse. When the pair try to escape from the witch, they learn how a small kindness may be repaid!

Two frogs, one from Kyoto and the other from Osaka, each set out to see the other city. What will they learn when they meet in the middle?

A young man trades his three sheep for three dogs with unusual abilities, and they help him save a princess! Will they be able to save her again when she is blackmailed into marrying another?

You may have heard a different version of this story before, but the moral remains the same: never judge a book by its cover!

Three soldiers, deserters from a great battle, make a bargain with a dragon: they will have all the money they need for seven years, and then be prepared to serve the dragon – unless they can find the answer to his riddle ….

A king passing by a charcoal burner’s hut hears the man and his wife lamenting their lives; he invites the pair to live in the castle as his guests. At dinner, he gives them only one rule: they must never lift the lid on the soup tureen on the dining table. Will the pair live happily ever after?

A king seriously injures his foot and only one person is able to bring him relief. When his specially treated shoe is lost, so is all hope; the man responsible for his freedom from pain has died. Is there anyone living who may ease his pain?

After the birth of her greatly-anticipated child, a queen fails to show proper respect to the crab-fairy responsible; in retaliation, the crab-fairy curses the infant princess to never know sunlight until she reaches her fifteenth birthday. Years later, just before that all-important birthday, her

A young woman agrees to marry a hoodie-crow, and all is well until her three babies are stolen. When her crow husband also disappears, the young woman sets out on a quest to reunite her family.

Two wives try to convince their husbands of more and more outrageous things to prove which man is more foolish in this Icelandic tale!