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Stories for little dreamers.
Grimm, Andersen, Perrault, Andrew Lang's fairy books and more — 389 classic tales to read aloud, with the full text open from the first page. Pick one by age, author or the time you have tonight.
Stories in the library: 389
- Adventure
A Voyage to Lilliput
A shipwrecked surgeon wakes to find himself a giant captive among the tiny people of Lilliput and their absurd wars.
- Adventure
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
A poor boy gains a genie-powered lamp, wins a princess, and must reclaim both when a magician steals his fortune.
- Classic
Beauty and the Beast
A merchant's kind daughter agrees to live with a fearsome Beast and learns to love him for who he truly is.
- Classic
Brother and Sister
A brother turned into a roe and his devoted sister find refuge with a king, until a witch stepmother murders her.
- Classic
Bushy Bride
A kind girl blessed with dropping gold is swapped for her hideous stepsister as the King's bride, until a ghostly nightly visit reveals the truth.
- Classic
Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper
A mistreated girl is transformed by her fairy godmother, wins the prince at the ball, and forgives her cruel stepsisters.
- Adventure
Dapplegrim
A poor youth and his enormous magic horse complete impossible tasks to rescue a princess from a troll and win her hand.
- Classic
Drakestail
A plucky little duck marches to the king to collect a debt, aided by four friends he swallowed along the way.
- Adventure
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
A girl who breaks a taboo must journey to the ends of the earth on the winds' backs to free her enchanted bear-prince from a troll.
- Adventure
Farmer Weatherbeard
A boy apprenticed to a sinister sorcerer escapes and outwits him through a series of shape-shifting transformations.
- Classic
Felicia and the Pot of Pinks
A gentle, mistreated girl is revealed to be a princess and rewarded by the Queen of the Woods.
- Classic
Graciosa and Percinet
A princess tormented by her father's jealous new wife is repeatedly rescued by a devoted fairy prince.
- Classic
Hansel and Gretel
Abandoned siblings outwit a child-eating witch who has trapped them in her house of sweets.
- Classic
Kari Woodengown
A mistreated princess flees with a magic bull and, through hardship, becomes a prince's bride.
- Classic
Little Red Riding-Hood
A little girl talking to a wolf on the way to her grandmother's leads him to eat them both.
- Classic
Little Thumb
Abandoned in the woods with his brothers, tiny Little Thumb outwits a child-eating ogre and saves them all.
- Classic
Little Thumbelina
A tiny girl is carried off by a toad and passed among creatures before finding freedom and a flower-prince husband.
- Adventure
Minnikin
A tiny but fearless boy slays multi-headed trolls, exposes a cowardly impostor, and rescues two princesses.
- Classic
Mother Holle
A kind, hard-working girl is showered with gold and her lazy stepsister learns why kindness pays — a beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
- Classic
Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess
A vain prince with an enormous nose cannot admit his flaw until love forces him to see the truth about himself.
- Classic
Princess Rosette
A princess who will only marry the King of the Peacocks is thrown into the sea by a treacherous nurse, and saved by her floating bed and clever little dog.
- Classic
Rapunzel
A girl locked in a tower by an enchantress is found by a prince, and after cruel separation they are reunited.
- Classic
Rumpelstiltskin
A miller's daughter must spin straw into gold, and a strange little man will help — for a terrible price, unless she can guess his name in time.
- Adventure
Rumpelstiltzkin
A girl who must spin straw into gold bargains away her firstborn to a strange little man, then races to guess his name.
- Classic
Snow-White and Rose-Red
Two kind sisters befriend a bear who turns out to be an enchanted prince freed by the death of a wicked dwarf.
- Adventure
Soria Moria Castle
A lazy lad sails to a strange land, slays multi-headed trolls to free three princesses, and wins the youngest's love.
- Adventure
The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen
Three princes on an impossible quest are saved from a boiling furnace when an old thief buys their lives with his most harrowing adventures.
- Classic
The Brave Little Tailor
A little tailor who kills seven flies at one blow bluffs his way past giants and a king to win a princess and a kingdom.
- Adventure
The Bronze Ring
A kind gardener's son wins a magic ring, a princess, and outwits a thieving sorcerer with the help of grateful mice.
- Classic
The Death of Koshchei the Deathless
Prince Ivan pursues his warrior-wife's abductor, the deathless sorcerer Koshchei, aided by animal helpers and Baba Yaga's magic steed.
- Classic
The Enchanted Canary
A prince seeks a golden-skinned princess hidden inside an orange, but a jealous girl steals her place until the truth is revealed.
- Classic
The Enchanted Pig
A princess married to an enchanted pig-prince breaks the spell too soon and must wear out iron shoes searching the world to win him back.
- Adventure
The Forty Thieves
Ali Baba discovers a robber band's magic-word treasure cave, and his quick-witted slave Morgiana repeatedly saves him from their revenge.
- Adventure
The Golden Branch
An ugly prince and a plain princess break enchantments and are transformed, finding beauty and each other via the Golden Branch.
- Classic
The Golden Goose
Kind-hearted Dullhead shares his lunch and wins a golden goose that sticks fast to anyone who touches it — and finally makes a princess laugh.
- Classic
The Goose-Girl
A princess robbed of her place by a treacherous maid tends geese until a wise old king uncovers the truth.
- Adventure
The History of Jack the Giant-Killer
A bold Cornish lad outwits and slaughters a string of man-eating giants in the days of King Arthur.
- Adventure
The History of Whittington
A penniless orphan's one possession, a cat, makes his fortune and he rises to become Lord Mayor of London.
- Classic
The Little Good Mouse
A kind imprisoned queen befriends a mouse who is really a fairy, and together they overthrow a tyrant king.
- Adventure
The Master-Maid
A clever captive maiden helps a prince outwit a giant, and outlasts betrayal to reclaim her love.
- Classic
The Master-Thief
A master-thief returns home and proves his skill by pulling off three impossible thefts set by a count.
- Adventure
The Nettle Spinner
A tyrannical lord forces a peasant girl to spin his own shroud from graveyard nettles, and his life ebbs away as she works.
- Adventure
The Norka
The youngest, 'simpleton' prince descends into the underworld to slay a monstrous beast and is betrayed by his jealous brothers.
- Classic
The Princess Mayblossom
A princess cursed to be unlucky escapes her tower with a handsome but selfish ambassador, and pays for her rash choice.
- Adventure
The Ratcatcher
A piper rids Hamel of its rats, and when cheated of his pay he lures away all the town's children.
- Classic
The Seven Foals
A scorned youngest son succeeds where his brothers failed, following the king's enchanted foals and breaking a troll's spell.
- Classic
The Six Sillies
A family so foolish they weep over troubles that never happen sends a young man around the world to find people even sillier. A giggly folktale.
- Classic
The Six Swans
A silent sister endures years of hardship and a death sentence to sew shirts that will free her brothers from a swan enchantment.
- Classic
The Sleeping Beauty
A christening curse sends a princess and her whole castle into a hundred-year sleep, until a prince arrives to wake them. The timeless fairy tale.
- Classic
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
A cursed princess sleeps a hundred years until a prince wakes her, but afterward faces his ogress mother's cannibal hunger.
- Adventure
The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou
Three princes vie for the same bride with magical treasures, and the youngest weds a fairy while his father grows jealous.
- Adventure
The Story of Sigurd
The Norse hero Sigurd reforges his father's sword, slays the dragon Fafnir, and is drawn into a doomed love triangle under a dwarf's curse.
- Classic
The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn what Fear Was
A fearless simpleton spends three nights in a haunted castle, comically unbothered by every ghost and horror he meets.
- Classic
The Three Dwarfs
A kind stepdaughter is blessed by three dwarfs while her cruel stepsister is cursed, and villainy is finally punished.
- Animals
The Three Little Pigs
Three pigs build houses of mud, cabbage, and brick, and only the sensible brick-builder outwits the fox who carries off the other two.
- Classic
The Twelve Brothers
A king orders his twelve sons killed if a daughter is born, and the sister later endures years of silence to save the brothers she accidentally cursed.
- Adventure
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Every night twelve princesses wear their shoes to pieces behind a locked door — until one clever soldier follows them to a secret underground ball.
- Adventure
The Voice of Death
A rich man seeking a land without death learns that no one can escape the voice that calls them away.
- Classic
The Wonderful Birch
A Cinderella-like girl is aided from beyond the grave by her murdered mother's spirit, working through a magical birch tree.
- Classic
The Yellow Dwarf
A proud princess and her mother are trapped by rash promises to a spiteful dwarf, with tragic consequences for her true love.
- Classic
Toads and Diamonds
One sister's kind words bring flowers and jewels from her lips; the other's rude words bring toads. A Perrault fairy tale on the power of courtesy.
- Classic
Trusty John
A devoted servant secretly saves his young king from three fatal curses, at the cost of being turned to stone.
- Classic
Allerleirauh
A princess flees her father's unnatural marriage plan, hides in disguise as a kitchen drudge, and is finally recognized by a king who loves her.
- Classic
Allerleirauh; or, the Many-Furred Creature
A princess flees in a cloak of a thousand furs to escape a forced marriage and works as a scullion until a king discovers her true beauty.
- Classic
Aschenputtel
A mistreated girl helped by a magic tree and birds wins the prince despite her cruel stepfamily.
- Classic
Ashputtel
A mistreated girl helped by a magic tree and birds wins the prince despite her cruel stepfamily.
- Adventure
Bearskin
A destitute soldier makes a pact with the Devil to stay unwashed and unkempt for seven years in exchange for endless gold, and keeps faith to win a bride.
- Classic
Blue Beard
A young wife discovers her sinister husband's forbidden closet full of his murdered former wives, and is nearly killed before her brothers arrive.
- Classic
Brother Lustig
A roguish discharged soldier travels with St. Peter, lies and schemes his way through miracles, and finally cheats his way into Heaven.
- Animals
Buckwheat
A proud buckwheat plant refuses to bow before a storm and is scorched by lightning while the humble grain survives.
- Animals
Cat and Mouse in Partnership
A cat tricks her mouse friend by secretly eating their shared winter provisions, then eats the mouse too.
- Classic
Cat-Skin
A princess flees her father in a fur cloak, works as a kitchen maid, and wins a king through three magic dresses.
- Classic
Catherine And Frederick
A comically foolish wife's blunders somehow lead her and her husband to recover their stolen gold.
- Classic
Clever Elsie
A woman famed as clever weeps over an imaginary future disaster and eventually loses track of who she even is.
- Classic
Clever Gretel
A greedy cook eats both roast fowls meant for a guest, then talks her way out of trouble with a quick trick.
- Classic
Clever Hans
A dim-witted boy takes every instruction literally, botching each errand with worse results.
- Adventure
Death's Messengers
Death promises to warn a young man before taking him, then reveals that sickness, pain, and sleep were the messengers all along.
- Classic
Doctor Knowall
A poor peasant poses as an all-knowing doctor and, through sheer coincidence, exposes a band of thieving servants.
- Adventure
Donkey Cabbages
A huntsman robbed of his magic treasures uses enchanted cabbages to turn his betrayers into donkeys and take revenge.
- Classic
Dummling And The Three Feathers
The underestimated youngest prince wins the crown with the help of a wise toad in an underground kingdom.
- Adventure
Elder-tree Mother
A sick boy drinks elder tea and an old man conjures the spirit of the elder tree, who is really Memory, to show him a lifetime of home.
- Adventure
Eve's Various Children
Eve hides her plain children from God, but he blesses them all with humble trades that keep the world running.
- Classic
Everything in its right place
A kind goose-girl and an honest peddler rise while cruel nobles fall, and a magic flute sets everyone in their rightful place.
- Classic
Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie*
A suitor works through a family with a repeating rhyme of questions to win his bride.
- Classic
Fairy Gifts
A princess visits friends who each received a single dazzling fairy gift, learns how each becomes a burden, and wisely asks for a quiet spirit instead.
- Classic
Faithful John
A devoted servant secretly protects his young king from three deadly curses, is turned to stone for it, and is revived only through a terrible sacrifice.
- Adventure
Ferdinand the Faithful
A faithful young man with a talking white horse fetches a princess for a king and, through her magic, wins her himself.
- Classic
Fitcher's Bird
A clever girl outwits a serial-murderer wizard, revives her dismembered sisters, and escapes disguised as a feathered bird.
- Classic
Frau Trude
A disobedient, curious girl visits a forbidden witch and pays a terrible price.
- Classic
Fred and Kate
A haplessly foolish wife bungles every task but accidentally frightens off thieves and recovers the family's gold.
- Adventure
FThe Bright Sun Brings It To Light
A tailor who robbed and murdered a poor traveler years earlier is undone when his own confession spreads and brings his crime to light.
- Adventure
Fundevogel
Two devoted foster-children flee a wicked cook by magically transforming, until she meets her end.
- Classic
Gambling Hansel
An incorrigible gambler is granted magic wishes, traps Death in a tree so no one dies, and gambles his way in and out of Heaven and Hell.
- Adventure
God's Food
A rich sister refuses to feed her starving widowed sister, and blood flows from the bread she cut.
- Classic
Godfather Death
A physician gifted by Death himself twice cheats his godfather to save the dying, and pays with his own life.
- Classic
Going A-Travelling
A boy sets out to travel repeating whatever phrase he was last told, always saying the wrong thing and getting beaten for it.
- Classic
Great Claus and little Claus
A cunning poor man repeatedly outwits and profits from his greedy, murderous namesake until the rival meets his end.
- Classic
Hans in Luck
Simple Hans keeps trading down from gold to nothing yet feels luckier with each bargain until he happily goes home empty-handed.
- Classic
Hans Married
A crafty uncle uses a pun on 'patches' to trick a greedy father into marrying his daughter to poor simple Hans.
- Classic
Hans the Hedgehog
A boy born half-hedgehog leaves home with his bagpipes, holds two kings to their promises, and finally sheds his prickly skin to become a handsome man.
- Adventure
Heart of Ice
A tiny but valiant prince journeys through wars and a deadly frozen wilderness to reclaim a princess's stolen, ice-bound heart.
- Classic
Herr Korbes
A band of animals and household objects travel to Herr Korbes's house and gang up to torment him.
- Animals
How Mrs. Fox married again
An old fox fakes his death to test his wife, who turns away every suitor lacking his fine qualities.
- Adventure
How Six Men Got On in the World
A discharged soldier gathers six men with fantastic powers to outwit a treacherous king and claim his treasure.
- Adventure
Iron Hans
A prince freed by a wild man of the forest hides his golden hair, proves himself in war and tournaments, and wins a princess.
- Adventure
Iron John
A boy frees a wild man from a cage and, guided by him, grows into a hero who wins a war and a princess.
- Adventure
Jack and the Beanstalk
A poor boy climbs a magic beanstalk and outwits a man-eating giant to win back his stolen inheritance.
- Classic
Jack My Hedgehog
A half-hedgehog boy who rides a rooster and plays bagpipes wins a kingdom and is freed from his prickly form.
- Classic
Jordina and Jordinel
When a witch turns his sweetheart into a caged bird, a young man seeks a magic flower to break the spell.
- Adventure
Jorinde and Joringel
When a witch turns his betrothed into a caged bird, a young man searches until he finds the magic flower that can break her spell.
- Classic
King Grisly-Beard
A scornful princess is married off to a beggar-fiddler and taught humility before her true suitor is revealed.
- Adventure
King Kojata
A king rashly promises a well-demon the son he does not yet know he has, and years later the prince must outwit the sorcerer with a swan-maiden's help.
- Classic
King Thrushbeard
A scornful princess is married off to a beggar and humbled through hardship before learning her suitor engineered it all.
- Classic
Lazy Harry
A lazy man and his equally idle wife dream up ever-easier schemes until they smash the honey pot and lose it all.
- Classic
Lean Lisa
A restless wife spins ever-grander plans over an imaginary cow until a quarrel with her husband ends the daydream.
- Classic
Lily and the lion
To free her enchanted prince, a devoted wife journeys across the world seeking help from sun, moon, and wind.
- Adventure
Little Ids's flowers
A little girl believes her wilting flowers are tired from dancing at the king's ball, and secretly watches them dance one night.
- Classic
Little One-Eye, Little Two-Eyes, and Little Three-Eyes
A mistreated middle sister is helped by a wise woman and a magic goat, and is finally rescued by a knight who sees her worth.
- Classic
Little Red Cap
A girl and her grandmother are swallowed by a wolf and rescued by a huntsman, then outwit a second wolf.
- Classic
Little Snow White
A beautiful princess flees her jealous stepmother, takes refuge with seven dwarfs, and survives repeated murder attempts.
- Adventure
Little Tuk
A kind boy who helps an old washerwoman falls asleep and dreams that the towns in his lesson come alive to reward him.
- Classic
Maid Maleen
A princess walled up in a dark tower for seven years survives to reclaim the prince she loves from a wicked false bride.
- Classic
Master Pfriem*
A hot-tempered, never-satisfied cobbler even finds fault with heaven itself in a dream.
- Classic
Mother Hulda
An industrious girl is rewarded with gold and her lazy stepsister with pitch after serving Mother Hulda.
- Classic
Mr. Korbes
A band of animals and objects ambush the wicked Mr. Korbes in his own house, one prank after another.
- Animals
Odds and Ends
A lazy bride mocks her hardworking maid, only to lose her bridegroom to the diligent girl.
- Adventure
Oh, If I Could But Shiver!
A fearless boy who cannot learn to shudder spends three nights in a haunted castle to win a princess and a fortune.
- Classic
Old Hildebrand
A parson tricks a gullible peasant into a fake pilgrimage so he can dally with the man's wife, until a friend exposes them.
- Classic
Old Rinkrank
A princess swallowed into a glass mountain serves an old creature for years, then cleverly traps him and escapes to marry her betrothed.
- Animals
Old Sultan
An aging dog and a wolf hatch a plan to secure the dog's place, then patch up a falling-out.
- Adventure
Ole_Luk_Oie, the dream god
The Sandman visits a little boy for seven nights, sending him into a different charming dream each evening.
- Classic
Our Lady's Child
A girl raised in heaven opens a forbidden door, then loses everything by lying until she finally confesses.
- Adventure
Poverty and Humility lead to Heaven
A prince gives up his riches to live seven years as a beggar and dies unrecognized but at peace with heaven.
- Adventure
Preface
An editor's introduction praising Hans Andersen and his place in children's literature.
- Classic
Prince Darling
A spoiled prince given a magic warning ring grows cruel and is turned into a monster until he learns to master his faults.
- Classic
Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine
A fickle prince and a vain princess are each humbled by fairy enchantment until they can truly love one another.
- Classic
Prince Fickle and Fair Helena
A fairy helps a mistreated girl through impossible tasks, and later she patiently wins back the faithless prince who forgot her.
- Adventure
Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla
A hidden princess and her invisible prince must outwit a jealous mother and a repulsive enchanter who tries to force the princess into marriage.
- Classic
Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida
An impatient prince and an idle princess are sent on strange fairy trials that teach each of them the virtue the other already has.
- Classic
Prudent Hans
A silly boy always follows yesterday's advice literally, ruining each new gift he brings home.
- Adventure
Puddocky
A girl cursed into a toad secretly helps the kind youngest prince win three contests and, restored to beauty, becomes his bride.
- Classic
Riquet With The Tuft
An ugly but witty prince and a beautiful but dull princess each grant the other their missing gift and fall in love.
- Adventure
Roland
A girl and her sweetheart flee a murderous witch using a magic wand, and love wins out after a spell of forgetfulness.
- Classic
Rosanella
Two fairies compete to work the greatest wonder, one raising a fickle prince and the other a princess so charming she cures his inconstancy.
- Classic
Rumpelstiltskin A fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm
A miller's daughter must guess a strange little man's name to keep the child she rashly promised him for spinning straw into gold.
- Classic
Sharing Joy and Sorrow
An abusive tailor twists the phrase 'share joy and sorrow' to excuse beating his wife, and finally gets the punishment he deserves.
- Classic
Simeli Mountain
A poor man finds a robbers' magic treasure mountain and lives modestly, but his greedy brother forgets the magic word and is caught.
- Adventure
Six soldires of fortune
A discharged soldier gathers five comrades with fantastic powers and outwits a treacherous king to win his treasure.
- Classic
Soup from a sausage skewer
Four little mice set out to learn how to make the fabled soup from a sausage skewer, each returning with a curious tale.
- Adventure
Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle
An orphan girl's inherited spinning tools magically lead a prince searching for the poorest and richest bride straight to her door.
- Classic
St. Joseph in the Forest
Three daughters visit a saint in the forest and are rewarded or punished according to their kindness and greed.
- Adventure
Strong Hans
A boy of superhuman strength escapes robbers, gathers giant companions, and rescues a captive princess despite his allies' treachery.
- Adventure
Sunshine stories
The Sunshine tells how a swan of fortune brought luck, art, and contentment to those it touched.
- Bedtime
Sweet Porridge
A magic little pot cooks sweet porridge on command — but what happens when someone forgets the words to make it stop? A cozy Brothers Grimm tale.
- Adventure
Sweetheart Roland
A girl escapes her murderous witch stepmother with her sweetheart and stays faithful to him through betrayal and disguise.
- Classic
Sylvain and Jocosa. The Yellow Bird
Two devoted young lovers are separated by a magic river as punishment for neglecting their fairy duty, then reunited and told a cautionary tale within the tale.
- Animals
The adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet
A rooster and hen have a series of comic adventures that turn increasingly deadly, ending with the death of everyone.
- Adventure
The Aged Mother
A grieving old woman sees her dead relatives in a ghostly church and learns her lost sons were spared a terrible fate.
- Classic
The Almond Tree
A murdered boy is reborn as a bird who avenges himself on his cruel stepmother and is restored to life.
- Adventure
The Beam
A clever girl sees through an enchanter's illusion, and he takes his revenge by fooling her on her wedding day.
- Adventure
The bell
Townsfolk chase a mysterious bell-tone through the forest, and a prince and a poor boy each find the sacred sound in nature itself.
- Classic
The Biter Bit
A stingy old man out-tricks three con-men who cheated him, springing ever-nastier hoaxes until they undo themselves.
- Animals
The Bittern and the Hoopoe
Two herdsmen, one whose pastures were too rich and one too poor, were turned into birds still calling their lost cattle.
- Adventure
The Black Bull of Norroway
A girl rides away on an enchanted black bull and, after a fateful mistake, serves seven years to win back her transformed knight.
- Classic
The Blue Bird
A king cursed to spend seven years as a blue bird stays faithful to an imprisoned princess despite a scheming stepmother.
- Adventure
The Blue Light
A discarded soldier gains a magic light with a dwarf servant and uses it to take revenge and win a kingdom.
- Classic
The Boots of Buffalo-Leather
A fearless soldier bluffs his way through a den of robbers, magically freezes them, and discovers his hunting companion is the King.
- Animals
The Bremen Town Musicians
Four worn-out animals — a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster — set off to become musicians and outwit a house full of robbers along the way.
- Animals
The butterfly
A fussy butterfly can never choose a flower-bride and ends up an old bachelor pinned in a curiosity box.
- Animals
The conceited apple branch
A proud apple branch looks down on the common dandelion until a sunbeam teaches it that all of creation shares in beauty.
- Adventure
The Crystal Ball
A young man aided by his transformed brothers fights a bull and a fiery bird to win the crystal ball and free a bewitched princess.
- Adventure
The Crystal Coffin
A wandering tailor is carried off by a magic stag to an underground vault where he frees an enchanted lady from a crystal coffin.
- Classic
The Cunning Little Tailor
The least-promising of three tailors outwits a proud princess's riddle and a dangerous bear to win her hand.
- Classic
The daisy
A little daisy silently longs to comfort a caged lark, who is forgotten and dies of thirst before help comes.
- Classic
The Darning-needle
A conceited darning-needle keeps her lofty self-regard even as she tumbles from sink to gutter to the road.
- Classic
The Death of the Little Hen
A hen chokes to death, and in the funeral procession every mourner drowns or dies until nothing living remains.
- Classic
The Devil and his Grandmother
Three deserting soldiers sell themselves to the Devil but escape when his own grandmother helps them solve his riddle.
- Classic
The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs
A luck-child destined to marry the princess must survive a jealous king's plots and fetch three golden hairs from the Devil himself.
- Classic
The Devil's Sooty Brother
A discharged soldier serves the Devil in hell for seven years and returns rich enough to marry a king's daughter.
- Classic
The Dirty Shepherdess
Banished for saying she loves her father like salt, a princess disguises herself as a shepherdess, wins a prince, and teaches her father the true worth of her words.
- Classic
The Ditmarsch Tale of Wonders
A short chain of impossible, upside-down happenings deliberately told as playful lies.
- Animals
The Dog and the Sparrow
When a careless waggoner runs over her dog friend, a sparrow exacts relentless, escalating revenge.
- Classic
The Donkey
A prince born as a donkey wins a princess who loves him, and when his skin is burned he stands revealed as a handsome man.
- Adventure
The dream of little Tuk
A kind boy who helps others is rewarded with a magical dream-journey through Danish towns.
- Animals
The drop of water
A magician colors a drop of ditch water to reveal tiny creatures savagely tearing each other apart, a mirror of city life.
- Adventure
The Drummer
A fearless drummer climbs a glass mountain, outwits giants and a witch, and wins an enchanted princess.
- Animals
The Duration Of Life
God gives man extra years borrowed from the ass, dog, and monkey, which explains why old age brings toil, weakness, and foolishness.
- Adventure
The Ear of Corn
An origin legend explaining why corn stalks bear only small ears, after a woman wasted grain and angered the Lord.
- Classic
The Edelbush
A dreamy old storyteller conjures 'Old Nanny' Remembrance from a teapot to sweep a sick boy through the seasons of a lifetime.
- Classic
The Elves
Three short tales of helpful elves: cobbler's helpers, an elf christening, and a changeling outwitted.
- Classic
The Elves and the Shoemaker
Every night, tiny elves quietly finish the poor shoemaker's work while he sleeps — a gentle Brothers Grimm story about kindness repaid.
- Classic
The emperor's new clothes
Two swindlers convince a vain emperor his invisible 'clothes' are real, until a child blurts out the truth.
- Adventure
The Enchanted Ring
A good youth wronged by his jealous brother receives a fairy's magic ring and uses its power honestly, while his brother is undone by the very same gift.
- Adventure
The Enchanted Snake
A princess who married an enchanted snake-prince journeys to heal her wounded love, gathering the magical blood a cure requires.
- Adventure
The Enchanted Watch
A kind but foolish youth spares three animals and gains a wish-granting watch, which his treacherous wife steals before his loyal cat and dog help him win it back.
- Classic
The Fairy
A kind girl is rewarded by a fairy so jewels fall from her lips, while her rude sister is cursed with toads and snakes.
- Classic
The false collar
A vain shirt-collar 'courts' a garter, iron, and scissors, then brags of romances that never happened.
- Animals
The farmyard cock and the weathercock
A boastful barnyard cock and an aloof, lofty weathercock each think themselves superior, until the wind decides the matter.
- Classic
The fir tree
A young fir tree always longs for the future, and only regrets it after being cut, discarded, and burned.
- Classic
The Flail from Heaven
A peasant spins an outlandish tall tale of growing oxen horns, a bean-stalk-like tree to heaven, and a flail brought back as proof.
- Classic
The flax
A humble flax plant stays cheerful as it is turned into linen, then paper, then flame, finding new purpose at every stage.
- Adventure
The flying trunk
A spendthrift's son flies in a magic trunk to woo a sultan's daughter, then loses everything through carelessness.
- Adventure
The four clever brothers
Four brothers each master a trade and combine their skills to rescue a princess from a dragon.
- Adventure
The Four Skilful Brothers
Four brothers each master a trade, then combine their talents to rescue a princess from a dragon.
- Animals
The Fox and His Cousin
A sly fox tricks the she-wolf into danger and then mocks her instead of helping.
- Animals
The Fox and the Cat
The fox brags of a hundred tricks and the cat knows only one — but when the hounds come, whose single trick actually saves the day? A sly Grimm fable.
- Animals
The Fox and the Geese
Geese about to be eaten by a fox ask for one last prayer and cackle on endlessly to delay their doom, so the tale never ends.
- Animals
The Fox and the Horse
A clever fox helps a cast-off old horse trap a lion and win back his master's care.
- Classic
The Frog Prince
A princess drops her golden ball into a well, and a talking frog offers to fetch it — if she keeps her promise. The classic Brothers Grimm tale.
- Classic
The Gallant Tailor
A little tailor who kills seven flies at one blow bluffs his way past giants and a king to win a kingdom.
- Classic
The Giant and the Tailor
A boastful little tailor so unnerves a giant with his big talk that the giant is glad to be rid of him.
- Classic
The Girl Without Hands
A girl promised to the devil has her hands cut off by her own father, then endures exile before a miraculous restoration.
- Classic
The Glass Coffin
A wandering tailor frees an enchanted maiden trapped in a glass coffin and helps undo a sinister magician's spells.
- Adventure
The Gnome
The youngest of three huntsmen descends underground to slay many-headed dragons and rescue three kidnapped princesses.
- Classic
The goblin and the huckster
A goblin torn between the beauty of poetry and a bowl of jam learns something about his own heart.
- Classic
The Godfather
A man's mysterious godfather grants power over life and death, but his house hides devilish, uncanny horrors.
- Classic
The Gold-Children
Two golden children born of a magic fish ride out to seek their fortunes, and one must rescue the other from a witch who turns him to stone.
- Adventure
The Golden Bird
A king's youngest son wins a golden bird, horse, and princess with help from a wise fox whose advice he must learn to trust.
- Classic
The Golden Blackbird
The youngest of three sons, helped by a magic hare, quests for a golden bird and wins a bride despite his brothers' treachery.
- Bedtime
The Golden Key
In the deep snow a poor boy finds a tiny golden key and a little iron box — and the tale ends just as the lid begins to open. A Brothers Grimm miniature.
- Adventure
The Golden Lads
Twin golden boys ride out to see the world, and when one is turned to stone by a witch his brother comes to save him.
- Adventure
The Golden Mermaid
A despised youngest prince, aided by a magician-wolf, steals a golden bird, horse, and mermaid, then survives his brothers' betrayal.
- Classic
The Good Bargain
A simple peasant blunders his way through misunderstandings and turns his beatings-reward into a fortune.
- Classic
The Goose-Girl at the Well
A princess banished for loving her father 'like salt' lives disguised with a wise old woman until her family finds her.
- Adventure
The Grave-Mound
A poor man and a fearless soldier keep watch over a rich miser's grave and trick the Devil out of claiming his soul.
- Animals
The Greenies
A boastful little aphid pleads its case to the narrator, who decides to make soap bubbles instead of washing the bugs away.
- Classic
The Griffin
Scorned 'Stupid Hans' wins the princess through honesty and a clever quest to pluck a feather from a man-eating Griffin.
- Animals
The Half-Chick
A vain one-legged chick refuses to help water, fire, and wind on his way to see the King, and each repays him in turn.
- Animals
The happy family
Two old garden snails live smugly in their burdock forest, sure they are the grandest creatures in the world.
- Animals
The Hare and the Hedgehog
A boastful hare mocks the hedgehog's little legs and challenges him to a race — but cleverness beats speed in this funny Brothers Grimm tale.
- Animals
The Hare and the Tortoise
The beloved Aesop fable about a boastful hare and a slow, steady tortoise — and the race that proves slow and steady wins.
- Animals
The Hare's Bride
A girl carried off to marry a hare tricks him with a straw doll and slips back home to her mother.
- Adventure
The Hazel-Branch
The Virgin Mary hides behind a hazel-bush from an adder, blessing the plant as a protection against snakes ever after.
- Adventure
The Heavenly Wedding
A simple peasant boy who believes he has reached heaven shares his food with a wooden Madonna and is invited to a heavenly wedding.
- Classic
The Hut in the Forest
Three sisters seek shelter in a mysterious forest hut, and only the youngest, who is kind to the animals, breaks an enchantment.
- Classic
The Iron Stove
A princess frees a bewitched prince from an iron stove and journeys over glass mountains and sharp swords to win him back.
- Classic
The Jew among Thorns
A servant with a magic fiddle that forces people to dance uses it to torment a man among thorns and get him hanged.
- Adventure
The juniper-tree
A murdered boy returns as a bird to expose his stepmother and be reborn beneath the juniper tree.
- Classic
The King of the Golden Mountain
A merchant's son unknowingly promised to a dark dwarf breaks a spell, weds a princess, then is betrayed by her.
- Adventure
The King's Son who Feared Nothing
A fearless prince wins a magic ring, is blinded by a treacherous giant, and endures three nights of torment to free a cursed maiden.
- Adventure
The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn
A poor youth gains three magical war-making objects and uses them to seize a kingdom by force.
- Adventure
The Lambkin and the Little Fish
A wicked stepmother bewitches a brother and sister into a fish and a lamb, and the lamb is nearly slaughtered before a kind cook saves them.
- Classic
The last dream of the old oak
An ancient oak muses on the day-long life of mayflies and dreams on Christmas night of rising to heaven with all it loves.
- Classic
The Lazy Spinner
A lazy wife uses clever tricks and a spooky voice in the woods to get out of every chore her husband sets her.
- Animals
The leap-frog
A flea, a grasshopper and a leap-frog compete for a princess in a jumping contest with an unexpected winner.
- Animals
The leaping match
A flea, a grasshopper, and a frog compete to jump highest for the princess's hand, and the quiet frog wins by cunning.
- Animals
The Lion and the Mouse
A classic Aesop bedtime fable: a tiny mouse begs a great lion for mercy — and later proves that even the smallest friend can save the mightiest.
- Classic
The Little Farmer
A poor farmer outwits a miller, a hangman's cask, and his greedy neighbors to become the richest man in the village.
- Classic
The Little Folks' Presents
Two travelers receive magical coals that turn to gold, but the greedy one who returns for more is punished.
- Bedtime
The Little Lighthouse Who Was Afraid of the Dark
A gentle bedtime story about a small lighthouse who discovers that his own light is exactly what keeps the whole sleepy harbor safe through the night.
- Classic
The little matchgirl
A freezing barefoot girl lights her matches for warmth and visions before dying on New Year's Eve.
- Classic
The Little Mermaid
A young mermaid trades her voice and endures constant pain for the chance to win a prince's love and an immortal soul.
- Classic
The Little Peasant
A poor peasant outwits everyone with a fake 'soothsayer' and a tall tale, and the greedy villagers bring about their own downfall.
- Adventure
The Little Soldier
A soldier frees a serpent-woman princess, is repeatedly betrayed by her, and cleverly wins back what she stole before choosing a truer bride.
- Adventure
The Lord's Animals and the Devil's
An origin tale explaining why goats have bitten-off tails and devil's eyes, from the Devil's failed bargain with the Lord.
- Classic
The Louse and the Flea
A louse burns herself and a chain of grieving objects escalates until a flood drowns everyone.
- Classic
The loving pair
A whipping top pines for a haughty ball who rejects him, until years later he meets her again, ruined, in a dustbin.
- Classic
The Magic Swan
A mistreated youngest brother gains a magic swan that sticks people together in a comic train, and makes a sad princess laugh at last.
- Classic
The Marvellous Musician
A wandering fiddler tricks a wolf, a fox, and a hare by trapping each one while pretending to teach them music.
- Classic
The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots
A boot-wearing cat schemes his penniless master into a marquis and a marriage with the princess.
- Adventure
The metal pig
A poor Florentine boy taken on magical night rides by a bronze pig grows up to become a great painter.
- Adventure
The miser in the bush
A kind servant with a magic bow and fiddle forces a cheating miser to dance in a thornbush and turns the tables when hauled before the law.
- Classic
The money box
The nursery toys hold a play while a proud clay money-pig looks on from his high shelf, until he takes a sudden tumble.
- Adventure
The Moon
Four men steal the moon and take pieces to their graves, waking the drunken, brawling dead until Saint Peter hangs the moon in heaven.
- Animals
The Mouse, The Bird, and the Sausage
Three housemates who swap their well-suited chores all come to grief when they abandon what worked.
- Animals
The Nail
A merchant in too much of a hurry to fix one missing horseshoe nail ends up losing his horse entirely.
- Classic
The naughty boy
A kind old poet shelters a cold child who turns out to be Cupid and mischievously shoots him.
- Adventure
The Nix of the Mill-Pond
A huntsman promised at birth to a water spirit is dragged under the pond, and his wife undertakes a long magical quest to win him back.
- Classic
The old house
A little boy befriends a lonely old man in an ancient house and gives him a tin soldier, which resurfaces years later after both house and man are gone.
- Adventure
The Old Man Made Young Again
A smith who watches the Lord magically restore an old man's youth tries the same on his mother-in-law with horrific results.
- Classic
The old street lamp
An old street lamp facing retirement receives magical gifts of memory and finds a loving home with its watchman.
- Classic
The Old Woman in the Wood
The lone survivor of a robbery is aided by a white dove and breaks the spell binding an enchanted prince.
- Classic
The Owl
A harmless owl strays into a barn and a whole town, too terrified to face it, burns the barn down rather than confront the 'monster.'
- Classic
The Pack of Ragamuffins
A rowdy band of a cock, hen, duck, pin and needle travel together and play tricks on an unlucky innkeeper.
- Classic
The pea blossom
Of five scattered peas, one takes root by a poor girl's window and its blossom gives her the hope to recover from illness.
- Classic
The Peasant And The Devil
A crafty peasant outwits the Devil twice over a crop bargain and keeps the buried treasure for himself.
- Animals
The Peasant in Heaven
A poor peasant and a rich lord both die and reach heaven, where Saint Peter gently explains why the rich man got the louder welcome.
- Classic
The Peasant's Wise Daughter
A clever peasant girl solves the king's riddles, marries him, and later outwits him to win back his heart.
- Animals
The pen and the inkstand
A pen and an inkstand each claim credit for a poet's work, until the poet reflects that all are merely instruments.
- Classic
The Pink
A prince with the power to wish for anything is stolen by a wicked cook, and must expose the villain and free his falsely imprisoned mother.
- Classic
The Poor Boy in the Grave
An orphan mistreated by his greedy foster parents accidentally drinks himself to death believing it is poison.
- Animals
The Poor Man and the Rich Man
The Lord rewards a poor couple's hospitality with three wishes, while the greedy rich man wastes his three wishes on anger and folly.
- Adventure
The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat
A mocked, simple apprentice loyally serves an enchanted cat for seven years and is rewarded when she becomes a princess and marries him.
- Animals
The Portuguese duck
A self-important duck loudly proclaims her big heart toward an injured songbird, then kills him with a careless peck.
- Classic
The Princess and the Pea
A prince searches the world for a real princess — and one stormy night a single pea beneath twenty mattresses reveals the truth. Andersen's classic.
- Adventure
The Princess on the Glass Hill
A mocked youngest son secretly tames three magic horses and rides up a glass hill to win the princess and half the kingdom.
- Adventure
The Queen Bee
Two proud brothers mock the smallest, but it's gentle Dullhead — who spared the ants, the ducks, and the bees — who wins the day with their help.
- Animals
The Rabbit's bride
A girl taken to be a rabbit's bride tricks him with a straw dummy and escapes home.
- Classic
The Raven
A man tries to free a princess cursed into a raven, failing three times before a long quest wins her at last.
- Classic
The real princess
A soaked stranger proves she is a true princess by feeling a pea beneath twenty mattresses.
- Adventure
The Red Etin
Two brothers fail a three-headed monster's riddles and are turned to stone, until a kinder third youth defeats it and frees the captives.
- Classic
The red shoes
A vain girl's enchanted red shoes force her to dance without rest until she begs to have her feet cut off.
- Classic
The Riddle
A prince stumps an arrogant riddle-setting princess with a riddle born from a chain of poisonings on his journey.
- Classic
The Robber Bridegroom
A bride discovers her suitor is a cannibal murderer and exposes him at their wedding feast.
- Animals
The roses and the sparrows
Roses and a family of chattering sparrows live by a pond, and beauty outlasts everything even as misfortune strikes their neighbors.
- Classic
The salad
A huntsman robbed of his magic treasures by a witch and her daughter uses enchanted salad to turn the tables.
- Adventure
The Sea-Hare
A youth wins a haughty all-seeing princess by hiding as a tiny sea-hare with the help of grateful animals.
- Classic
The Seven Ravens
When her seven brothers are turned into ravens, a devoted little sister travels to the ends of the earth to set them free. A tender Brothers Grimm tale.
- Classic
The Seven Swabians
Seven timid men share a single spear and mistake a hornet, a hare, and a frog for deadly monsters.
- Classic
The shadow
A learned man's shadow becomes a man, grows rich, and turns on its former master.
- Classic
The Shepherd Boy
A wise shepherd boy answers a king's three impossible questions with clever turnarounds.
- Classic
The shepherdess and the chimney sweep
Two porcelain figures in love flee up a chimney to escape an arranged marriage, then decide home is best.
- Adventure
The shoes of fortune
Magic galoshes grant every wish of whoever wears them, revealing that fulfilled wishes bring only new misery.
- Adventure
The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces
A clever soldier uses an invisibility cloak to uncover where twelve princesses secretly dance each night.
- Adventure
The Shroud
A dead child returns as a ghost to ask his grieving mother to stop weeping so he can rest.
- Classic
The Singing Bone
A jealous brother murders his younger sibling for glory, but a bone made into a horn sings the truth years later.
- Classic
The Singing, Soaring Lark
A girl weds an enchanted lion-prince, and when a stray light turns him into a dove she journeys to sun, moon and winds to win him back.
- Classic
The Six Servants
A prince and six servants with fantastical powers complete a sorceress-queen's deadly tasks to win her daughter.
- Adventure
The Skilful Huntsman
A sharpshooting huntsman rescues a sleeping princess from three giants and later proves he is her true deliverer.
- Adventure
The Snow Queen
When a shard of a magic mirror freezes Kay's heart and the Snow Queen carries him away, brave Gerda journeys across the world to save him.
- Classic
The snowman
A snowman falls in love with the warm glow of an indoor stove, not knowing that getting close to it would be his undoing.
- Adventure
The Snuff-Box
A young man finds a wish-granting snuff-box, wins a palace and bride, and journeys to the Sun, Moon, and Wind to recover it after it is stolen.
- Animals
The Sole
In a fish race to choose a king, the envious sole's jealous sneer leaves its mouth twisted to one side forever.
- Animals
The Sparrow and his Four Children
A father sparrow reunites with his four grown sons and hears how each learned to survive the world's dangers.
- Adventure
The Spirit in the Bottle
A poor scholar frees a menacing spirit from a bottle, outwits its threat, and wins a magical healing gift.
- Bedtime
The Star Money
A penniless orphan gives away her last bread and even her clothes to those in need — and the stars themselves shower down to reward her kindness.
- Classic
The steadfast tin soldier
A one-legged tin soldier stays devoted to a paper dancer through a perilous journey that ends in the stove.
- Adventure
The Stolen Farthings
The ghost of a dead child returns each noon until the coins it once wrongly kept are given to the poor.
- Animals
The storks
A stork family learns to fly while village boys taunt them with a cruel song, and the storks plan a fitting reward and revenge.
- Classic
The Story of a Clever Tailor
A lazy little tailor outwits a proud princess's riddle and tames a dangerous bear with nothing but nuts, a fiddle, and cheek.
- Classic
The story of a mother
A grieving mother chases Death to reclaim her sick child, sacrificing everything along the way.
- Adventure
The Story of Caliph Stork
A caliph and his vizier turn themselves into storks for fun, forget the magic word after laughing, and must find a way back to human form.
- Classic
The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs
A secretly thieving man plagued by a magically swollen cheek must dance well for underground dwarfs to be cured.
- Classic
The Story of Pretty Goldilocks
A loyal courtier named Charming, aided by animals he once helped, performs impossible tasks to win a princess for his king.
- Classic
The Story of Schlauraffen Land
A rapid-fire string of tall tales and impossible sights told for the fun of the absurd.
- Animals
The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife
A magic flounder grants a fisherman's ever-greedier wife each wish until she demands to be a god and loses everything.
- Classic
The Story of the Three Bears
The classic tale of a Great Huge Bear, a Middle Bear, a Little Small Wee Bear — and the uninvited visitor who tried their porridge, their chairs, and their beds.
- Animals
The Straw, The Coal, and the Bean
A straw, a coal, and a bean flee the cooking pot together and meet comic ends crossing a brook.
- Classic
The Swineherd
A prince disguises himself as a swineherd to test a shallow princess who values trinkets over true gifts.
- Adventure
The Table, the Ass and the Stick
Three brothers gain magic gifts, a thieving innkeeper steals two, and a magic cudgel sets things right.
- Classic
The Tailor in Heaven
A sneaky tailor slips into heaven and gets thrown out for hurling God's footstool at a sinner instead of leaving judgment to the Lord.
- Animals
The teapot
A vain teapot loses its spout and handle but finds new purpose nurturing a flower bulb in its later life.
- Adventure
The Terrible Head
A young hero quests for a snake-haired monster's head that turns onlookers to stone, and unknowingly fulfills a fatal prophecy.
- Adventure
The Thief and his Master
A boy apprenticed to a master-thief learns shape-shifting magic and outduels his teacher in a battle of transformations.
- Classic
The Three Apprentices
Three penniless apprentices strike a bargain with the Devil and are framed for a murder they must silently endure.
- Classic
The Three Army-Surgeons
Three boastful surgeons who detach their own hand, heart, and eyes get animal and thief's parts swapped in by mistake, with comic ill effects.
- Classic
The Three Black Princesses
A fisherman's son could free three enchanted princesses but, on bad advice, ruins their rescue and dooms them forever.
- Animals
The Three Brothers
Three brothers master their trades in a friendly contest for the family house and choose to live together in harmony.
- Adventure
The Three Dogs
A shepherd with three magical dogs slays a maiden-eating dragon, only to have a lying coachman steal the credit until the truth comes out.
- Classic
The Three Feathers
A scorned youngest son follows a feather to a toad's underground realm and wins the kingdom with the finest gifts and a magically transformed bride.
- Adventure
The Three Green Twigs
A pious hermit who judged a condemned man too harshly must wander in penance until a dead branch sprouts green twigs.
- Classic
The Three Languages
A boy mocked for only learning animal languages uses that gift to win a treasure and rise to become Pope.
- Classic
The Three Little Birds
Three royal children thrown into a river by jealous aunts survive, grow up, and reunite to free their imprisoned mother.
- Classic
The Three Little Men in the Wood
A kind girl is blessed with gold from her lips while her cruel stepsister is cursed, and a wicked stepmother meets grim justice.
- Adventure
The Three Musicians
Three musicians brave a haunted castle where a bearded dwarf beats intruders, until the cleverest breaks the spell on a sleeping princess.
- Classic
The Three Sluggards
A dying king promises his kingdom to whichever son can prove himself the laziest.
- Classic
The Three Snake-Leaves
A young king revives his dead wife with magic leaves, only for her to betray and murder him, until justice catches up with her.
- Classic
The Three Sons of Fortune
Three brothers each take a humble gift to a land where it is unknown and win a fortune.
- Classic
The Three Spinning Women
A girl who hates to spin is rescued by three strange old women — on one small condition. A witty Brothers Grimm tale of cleverness over chores.
- Classic
The three spinsters
A lazy girl escapes endless spinning with help from three oddly deformed women she honors at her wedding.
- Animals
The travelling musicians
Four aging farm animals cast off by their masters team up and scare a band of robbers out of their house.
- Adventure
The Travels Of Tom Thumb
A thumb-sized boy has a string of narrow escapes on his travels before returning home.
- Classic
The True History of Little Golden Hood
A playful retelling of Red Riding Hood in which a magic hood saves the girl and the wolf gets his comeuppance.
- Classic
The True Sweethearts
A mistreated girl helped by a magical old woman gains a castle, then must win back a prince who forgets her.
- Classic
The Turnip
A poor brother grows a giant turnip and gains fortune; his envious brother's murder plot backfires when the victim tricks a gullible student into the sack.
- Adventure
The Twelve Apostles
A poor mother's twelve hungry sons are each led by an angel to sleep for three hundred years and wake as the twelve apostles.
- Classic
The Twelve Huntsmen
A jilted princess disguises herself and eleven look-alikes as the king's huntsmen and cleverly wins back the love who forgot her.
- Classic
The Twelve Idle Servants
Twelve servants take turns bragging about the outrageous lengths of their own laziness.
- Adventure
The Two Brothers
Twin huntsmen with faithful beasts slay a seven-headed dragon, unmask a treacherous impostor, and rescue each other from stone and death.
- Adventure
The Two Kings' Children
A king's son helps a sorcerer's daughter and, with her magic, they escape her parents through shape-shifting to finally wed.
- Animals
The Ugly Duckling
A misfit duckling endures mockery and hardship before discovering he was a swan all along.
- Classic
The vagabonds
A cock and hen bully their way on a journey and play pranks on an innkeeper before flying off.
- Classic
The Valiant Little Tailor
A little tailor who kills seven flies at one blow bluffs his way past giants and beasts to win a kingdom.
- Animals
The War of the Wolf and the Fox
A discarded old cat and dog team up with a sly fox and win back their masters' favor through a comically bungled animal battle.
- Adventure
The Water Nix
A brother and sister tumble down a well into the clutches of a water witch, and must use their wits to escape. A short, thrilling Brothers Grimm tale.
- Classic
The Water of Life
The humble youngest prince quests for the healing water of life while his proud brothers plot against him.
- Adventure
The Water-Lily. The Gold-Spinners
A witch's captive maiden is turned into a water-lily and can only be freed by her prince's transformation magic.
- Animals
The Wedding of Mrs. Fox
A fox feigns death to test his wife, who is courted by a parade of suitors until only a proper match will do.
- Classic
The White Bride and the Black One
A jealous stepmother and stepsister drown the true bride and steal her place, until she returns as a duck to reclaim her life.
- Classic
The White Cat
A prince befriends an enchanted white cat who helps him win his father's contests, then must break her curse.
- Classic
The White Snake
A servant who can understand animals repays their kindness and, with their help, wins a princess through impossible tasks.
- Classic
The wild swans
To free her eleven brothers from a witch's swan-curse, Eliza must weave nettle coats in total silence while facing a false witchcraft accusation.
- Animals
The Willow-Wren
The birds hold a contest to choose a king, and a tiny nameless bird wins by trickery, explaining why the wren and owl behave as they do.
- Animals
The Willow-Wren And The Bear
Insulted by a boastful bear, the wren king rallies the birds and insects to win a comic war and force an apology.
- Animals
The Wise Servant
A servant sent to find a cow chases blackbirds instead, in an ironic little tale mocking so-called cleverness.
- Adventure
The Wishing-Table, The Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack
Three brothers earn magic gifts, and a cheating innkeeper who steals two is finally beaten into returning them by a magic cudgel.
- Animals
The Wolf and the Fox
A clever fox repeatedly leads a greedy wolf into trouble until the wolf's gluttony proves fatal.
- Animals
The Wolf and the Man
A boastful wolf who wants to fight a man learns the hard way why animals fear humankind.
- Animals
The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
A crafty wolf tricks his way into the goats' cottage while their mother is away — but Mother Goat has a clever plan to save her little ones.
- Classic
The wonderful musician
A lonely musician lures wolf, fox, and hare with his fiddle and tricks each into a trap, until a woodcutter proves the human company he really wanted.
- Classic
The Wonderful Sheep
A princess condemned to death by her father is hidden by an enchanted talking sheep who loves her, but forgetting her promise costs him his life.
- Adventure
The Young Giant
A thumb-sized boy raised by a giant grows enormously strong and pays back cruel, greedy masters with mighty blows.
- Adventure
Thumbling
A thumb-sized boy has a string of comic misadventures, including being swallowed by a cow and a wolf, before cleverly getting home to his parents.
- Adventure
Thumbling as Journeyman
A thumb-sized tailor cleverly survives being swallowed by a cow, stuffed in a sausage, and gulped by a fox on his travels.
- Adventure
Tom Thumb
A thumb-sized boy has a string of misadventures, swallowed by a cow and a wolf, but wits his way home to his parents.
- Animals
What happened to the thistle
A roadside thistle imagines grand futures for itself after its flowers play a small part in a couple's romance.
- Classic
What the goodman does is always right
A farmer trades his horse down to a sack of rotten apples, yet his devoted wife delights in every swap.
- Adventure
Why the Sea is Salt
A poor man's magic mill brings him fortune, and explains how the sea came to be salty.
- Classic
Wise Folks
A peasant, exasperated by his foolish wife, sets out and easily finds two people even sillier than she is.
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