Category: Fairy Tale - Page 4

The Forbidden Knot

An Estonian fairy tale, this version was published in ‘Fairy Tales from the Soviet Union’ in 1986.

It was a bad year for the fishing vllage. The catches had been poor ever since autumn, and by spring the larders were empty. Fish is to the fisherman what grain is to the peasant. When there is no fish, the whole village goes hungry.

The fishermen gathered together and racked their brains. What could they do? It was too early in the year to go out to sea, but to stay at home would mean certain ruin.

So they thought and thought, then resolved to try their luck.

The Sea Bride

Fairy Tale | Latvia | 10 minute read

A Latvian fairy tale, this version was published in ‘Fairy Tales from the Soviet Union’ in 1986.

Once upon a time there was a little house on the seashore, and in it lived a poor fisherman. All that his large family had to eat was the fish he caught in the sea.

Then it came to pass that for eight days in a row his nets caught nothing but mud and seaweed. They all went hungry. On the ninth day the fisherman went out to sea with the first rays of the sun. But on this day too his nets did not bring in a single fish. The poor man was in despair. How could he return home empty-handed to his starving children? And the sun was already low in the sky.

The White Deer

Fairy Tale | Latvia | 10 minute read

A Latvian fairy tale, this version was published in ‘Fairy Tales from the Soviet Union’ in 1986.

Once upon a time there were two brothers. They grew up together as strong as two oaks by the river. One day their father said to them, “Tell me what trade you would choose.”

His sons thought it over and then said, “We’d like to be carpenters. But we’d much rather be hunters and hunt geese and wild ducks.”

Tiidu the Piper

Fairy Tale | Estonia | 20 minute read

An Estonian fairy tale, this version was published in the Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, in 1903.

Once upon a time there lived a poor man who had more children than bread to feed them with. However, they were strong and willing, and soon learned to make themselves of use to their father and mother, and when they were old enough they went out to service, and everyone was very glad to get them for servants, for they worked hard and were always cheerful. Out of all the ten or eleven, there was only one who gave his parents any trouble, and this was a big lazy boy whose name was Tiidu. Neither scoldings nor beatings nor kind words had any effect on him, and the older he grew the idler he got. He spent his winters crouching close to a warm stove, and his summers asleep under a shady tree; and if he was not doing either of these things he was playing tunes on his flute.

The Grateful Prince

Fairy Tale | Estonia | 26 minute read

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

Once upon a time the king of the Goldland lost himself in a forest, and try as he would he could not find the way out. As he was wandering down one path which had looked at first more hopeful than the rest he saw a man coming towards him.

‘What are you doing here, friend?’ asked the stranger; ‘darkness is falling fast, and soon the wild beasts will come from their lairs to seek for food.’

‘I have lost myself,’ answered the king, ‘and am trying to get home.’

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