Baltic Tales

The Lord Who Became a Blacksmith

A Latvian folk tale, this version is from Tales of The Amber Sea, compiled and translated by Irina Zheleznova in 1974.

Once a lord was journeying to a certain place on business. On the way his coach broke down. Luckily, there happened to be a smithy nearby, so the lord ordered the coach to be repaired without delay. That was all right with the blacksmith who went to work at once and was done before you could count to two. He asked a ruble in payment, and the lord gave it him, for he could not very well do anything else, but the sum seeming much too high to him, became very angry.

The Luck Egg

Fairy Tale | Estonia | 9 minute read

An Estonian tale, this version is taken from the 1938 anthology Wonder Tales from Baltic Wizards by Frances Jenkins Olcott.

Once on a time, in a great wood lived a poor man with his wife. God had given them eight children, and when a ninth was born, they were not overjoyed. But God had sent the child, so they had to receive him and give him Christian baptism. But there was no one willing to stand as godfather to such a poor child.

“I will take him to the Church anyway,” thought the Father. “The Pastor may do as he chooses, christen him or not.”

The Kindhearted Lad and His Four Friends

Fairy Tale | Latvia | 6 minute read

A Latvian fairy tale, this version is from Tales of The Amber Sea, compiled and translated by Irina Zheleznova in 1974.

Once upon a time there lived a man and his son. One day it so happened that there was no bread left in the house, so the father gave the son a ruble to buy some. The son took the money and set off for the market.

He walked and he walked and what did he see but a peasant beating his dog so hard that it looked as if he meant to kill it.

The Duckling with Golden Feathers

Fairy Tale | Latvia | 5 minute read

A Latvian tale, this version is taken from the 1938 anthology Wonder Tales from Baltic Wizards by Frances Jenkins Olcott.

Once on a time two King’s children, a brother and a sister, lived with a hateful woman. She ill-treated the two children, though she loved her own daughter who was both dirty and ugly.

One day the two children said to each other, “Let us go away.”

So they went and went, till they reached a crossroad, and there they parted with many tears. The brother took with him a portrait of his sister to remember her by, and started on his way.

The Young Man Who Would Have His Eyes Opened

Fairy Tale | Estonia | 6 minute read

An Estonian fairy tale, this version was published in the Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, in 1901.

Once upon a time there lived a youth who was never happy unless he was prying into something that other people knew nothing about. After he had learned to understand the language of birds and beasts, he discovered accidentally that a great deal took place under cover of night which mortal eyes never saw.

Load more stories