Favorite Folktales from Around the World

Table Of Contents

Acknowledgments  /  xiii
Introduction  /  1
 
TELLING TALES  /  17
The Man Who Had No Story (Ireland)  /  20
How Spider Obtained the Sky God’s Stories (Africa)  /  24
Helping to Lie (Germany)  /  27
The Ash Lad Who Made the Princess Say “You’re a Liar” (Norway)  /  28
The Parson and the Sexton (Norway)  /  29
The Tall Tales (Burma)  /  30
Catherine, Sly Country Lass (Italy)  /  33
The Wise Little Girl (Russia)  /  38
Clever Answers (Russia)  /  41
A Dispute in Sign Language (Israel)  /  42
Leopard, Goat, and Yam (Africa)  /  44
An Endless Story (Japan)  /  45
 
THE VERY YOUNG AND THE VERY OLD  /  47
Glooscap and the Baby (American Indian)  /  49
The Brewery of Eggshells (Ireland)  /  50
Father of Eighteen Elves (Iceland)  /  53
The Fly (Vietnam)  /  55
The Two Pickpockets (England)  /  58
The Seventh Father of the House (Norway)  /  59
The King’s Favorite (China)  /  61
Wagging My Tail in the Mud (China)  /  61
When One Man Has Two Wives (Syria)  /  62
The Old Man and His Grandson (Germany)  /  62
Half a Blanket (Ireland)  /  63
 
TRUE LOVES AND FALSE  /  65
How Men and Women Got Together (American Indian)  /  68
The Little Old Woman with Five Cows (Siberia)  /  72
The Prayer That Was Answered (Tibet)  /  79
The Merchant’s Daughter and the Slanderer (Russia)  /  82
What Happened to Hadji (Turkey)  /  85
Mr. Fox (England)  /  87
The Waiting Maid’s Parrot (China)  /  90
The White Cat (France)  /  95
Sedna (Eskimo)  /  105
Urashima the Fisherman (Japan)  /  107
The Sprit of the Can (Wales)  /  110
The Toad-Bridegroom (Korea)  /  112
Taken (Ireland)  /  115
The Girl at the Shieling (Iceland)  /  117
Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden (American Indian)  /  121
 
TRICKSTERS, ROGUES, AND CHEATS  /  125
Tyll Ulenspiegel’s Merry Prank (Germany)  /  128
The Hodja and the Cauldron (Turkey)  /  129
Being Greedy Chokes Anansi (Jamaica)  /  130
Quevedo and the King (Mexico)  /  131
Why the Hare Runs Away (Africa)  /  132
Coyote Fights a Lump of Pitch (American Indian)  /  134
Crack and Crook (Italy)  /  136
The Master Thief (Germany)  /  138
Peik (Norway)  /  144
The Monkey and the Crocodile (India)  /  151
The Race Between Toad and Donkey (Jamaica)  /  152
The King’s Son Goes Bear Hunting (Finland)  /  155
John Brodison and the Policeman (Ireland)  /  156
The Rabbi and the Inquisitor (Jewish)  /  157
The Ugly Son (Japan)  /  158
Dividing the Goose (Russia)  /  160
The Men Who Wouldn’t Stay Dead (France)  /  161
The Story of Campriano (Italy)  /  163
 
THE FOOL: NUMBSKULLS AND NOODLEHEADS  /  167
The Three Sillies (England)  /  170
Nasr-ed-Din Hodja in the Pulpit (Turkey)  /  173
Lazy Jack (England)  /  174
Chelm Justice (Jewish)  /  176
Those Stubborn Souls, the Biellese (Italy)  /  176
The Drovers Who Lost Their Feet (Mexico)  /  177
The Old Man and Woman Who Switched Jobs (Sweden)  /  178
The Two Old Women’s Bet (United States)  /  181
A Stroke of Luck (Hungary)  /  183
The Sausage (Sweden)  /  185
Nail Soup (Sweden)  /  187
Old Dry Frye (United States)  /  191
“Bye-bye” (Haiti)  /  194
The Barn is Burning (Afro-American)  /  195
 
HEROES: LIKELY AND UNLIKELY  /  199
The Birth of Finn MacCumhail (Ireland)  /  202
Li Chi Slays the Serpent (China)  /  210
The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs (Germany)  /  212
The Longwitton Dragon (England)  /  218
The Orphan Boy and the Elk Dog (American Indian)  /  220
Molly Whuppie (England)  /  228
The Beginning of the Narran Lake (Australian Aboriginal)  /  231
The Flying Head (American Indian)  /  233
The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was (Germany)  /  235
 
WONDER TALES, TALL TALES, AND BRAG  /  243
Talk (Africa)  /  246
The King of Ireland’s Son (Ireland)  /  248
The Goose Girl (Germany)  /  254
The Princess on the Glass Hill (Norway)  /  260
The Promises of the Three Sisters (Egypt)  /  268
The Magic Mirror of Rabbi Adam (Jewish)  /  276
The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle (England)  /  283
The Magic Pear Tree (China)  /  286
Faithful John (Germany)  /  287
Four Hound-Dog Stories (Ireland and United States)  /  294
 
SHAPE SHIFTERS  /  297
The Doctor and His Pupil (France)  /  300
The Swan-Maiden (Sweden)  /  303
Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushka (Russia)  /  305
The Blacksmith’s Wife of Yarrowfoot (Scotland)  /  308
The Seal’s Skin (Ireland)  /  310
The Wounded Seal (Scotland)  /  311
The Cat-Woman (France)  /  313
The Serpent-Woman (Spain)  /  315
The Snake’s Lover (Peru)  /  323
 
NOT QUITE HUMAN  /  329
The Well-Baked Man (American Indian)  /  331
The Finn Messenger (Norway)  /  333
Vasilisa the Beautiful (Russia)  /  335
Bridget and the Lurikeen (Ireland)  /  342
The Two Hunchbacks (Italy)  /  343
Then the Merman Laughed (Iceland)  /  346
Peregrin and the Mermaid (Wales)  /  347
The Ash Lad Who Had an Eating Match with the Troll (Norway)  /  348
How Mosquitoes Came to Be (American Indian)  /  350
The Departure of the Giants (Africa)  /  352
 
FOOLING THE DEVIL  /  355
The Peasant and the Devil (Germany)  /  358
Wicked John and the Devil (United States)  /  359
The Bad Wife (Russia)  /  367
Katcha and the Devil (Czechoslovakia)  /  369
The Lawyer and the Devil (Ireland)  /  375
Coals on the Devil’s Hearth (Ireland)  /  376
The Devil’s Hide (Finland)  /  378
How El Bizarrón Fooled the Devil (Cuba)  /  386
Bearskin (Germany)  /  389
The Lad and the Devil (Norway)  /  394
Wiley and the Hairy Man (United States)  /  395
 
THE GETTING OF WISDOM  /  401
Truth and Falsehood (Greece)  /  403
Getting Common Sense (Jamaica)  /  405
Rich Man, Poor Man (Africa)  /  406
The Lost Horse (China)  /  407
It Could Always Be Worse (Jewish)  /  408
His Just Reward (Sweden)  /  409
Djuha’s Sleeve (Syria)  /  411
King Mátyás and His Scholars (Hungary)  /  412
The Missing Axe (China)  /  412
What Melody Is the Sweetest? (Afghanistan)  /  413
The Peddler of Swaffham (England)  /  414
The Beduin’s Gazelle (Saudi Arabia)  /  415
The Happy Man’s Shirt (Italy)  /  417
 
GHOSTS AND REVENANTS  /  419
Orpheus and Eurydice (Greece)  /  422
The Spirit-Wife (American Indian)  /  423
One Night in Paradise (Italy)  /  428
A Pretty Girl in the Road (United States)  /  430
The Dream House (Ireland)  /  432
The Peasant and the Fiend (Estonia)  /  433
The Tinker and the Ghost (Spain)  /  435
Hold Him, Tabb (Afro-American)  /  439
Drinking Companions (China)  /  440
The Ostler and the Grave Robbers (Scotland)  /  444
 
DEATH AND THE WORLD’S END  /  445
The Duration of Life (Germany)  /  448
Woman Chooses Death (American Indian)   /  449
Jump into My Sack (Italy)  /  451
Youth Without Age and Life Without Death (Turkey)  /  457
Goha on the Deathbed (Egypt)  /  465
Death of a Miser (Russia)  /  466
Godfather Death (Germany)  /  466
The Hungry Peasant, God, and Death (Mexico)  /  469
The Word the Devil Made Up (Afro-American)  /  471
A Paddock in Heaven (England)  /  472
How a Man Found His Wife in the Land of the Dead (Papua)  /  472
The End of the World (American Indian)  /  474
 
Notes  /  477
Permissions Acknowledgments  /  495
  /