Stories I chosen

A Treasury of Fairy Tales from Around the World

  I have decided to use fairytales from different countries because every country had their own fairytales and I think it’s important for children to read about other cultures and get see how diverse the world is.

1.       The girl who cried a lake- Kyrgyzstan

  Once there was a Khan who was head of the Wolf clan, and he had the most beautiful daughter.

 She was graceful, like a tree blowing in the breeze, with long black plaits and rosy red cheeks. But she was unusual, because her eyes were bright blue, like burning hot sapphires.

 Many Kyrgyz boys wanted to marry the girl with piercing blue eyes.

 One day, the girls of the Wolf clan decided to play kesh-kumay – kiss-chase of horseback! The girls leapt on to their horses, and sped across the steppe. The boys chased them like cowboys, with red and yellow scarves tied round their heads, leaning on the necks of their horses, urging them to go faster. If a boy caught a girl and kissed her, then it was said they would marry.

 The chase was exciting as the riders tried to trick each other, turning their horses sharply and changing direction. Suddenly a young hunter galloped across the steppe. He caught the Khan’s daughter and kissed her rosy cheek. She was surprised, and laughed. The hunter bent and picked a posy of wild bright flowers for the girl, and they began to talk. Then all their young friends gathered round and cheered.

 “What’s going on?” asked the Khan, stepping out of his yurt.

 “The hunter caught you daughter,” everyone shouted. “They will marry.”

 The Khan looked at the hunter.

 “I don’t think so,” he said.

 “But Father,” said the girl, “he won the chase.”

 “You can’t marry that bandit,” said her father. “He has nothing. He lives in the mountains with an eagle on his wrist, hunting rabbits and looking for snow-leopards. He doesn’t own a thing.”

 The Khan’s daughter stepped forward, “But he is bold and brave, Father. HE’s a skilled rider. He knows the ways of the land and can follow the invisible tracks left by animals.”

 “Get inside,” said her father, pointing at the yurt. “I’ll hear no more of it.” 

 But the Khan’s daughter and the hunter could not forget each other. They met secretly whenever they could. The girl would ride up to the jailoo, the grassy pastures on the lower slopes of the mountains. There the hunter would give her fresh milk from his horse, tell her stories about the mountains, and they would look at the ever-changing, rushing sky.

 “Please, Father,” she said one day, “we have fallen in love. He may not own much, but he can hear trees speaking and knows what rivers are saying.”

 “No,” said her Father. “You will marry the Khan’s son from the Vulture clan, across the valler.”

 “But I don’t want to.”

 “It’s a powerful match, and will keep the peace.”

 So preparations for the wedding began. Mare’s milk was poured into leather bags, shaken, and left to ferment, to make the festive milky drink kumys. Tents were put up, and horses given new saddles. Piles of fresh flat bread were made, sheep roasted, and platters of fruit and nuts arranged.

 Then the Khan’s daughter was dressed for her wedding. Her mother helped her into a white silk dress with silver decorative embroidery. Heavy silver necklaces were placed over her head, silver bracelets reached all the way up her arms. And a tall hat was placed on her head, with braids dangling from the brim like a thousand tiny plaits, each braid decorated with a glass bead that jangled as she walked.

 “You look like a princess!” sighed her mother.

 But the girl began to cry. A blue tear fell from her eye. She tried to wipe it away, but more tears came. Her throat was dry and sore, and she could not stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. Tears poured and rolled down her cheeks, and dripped on to her dress.

 She could not stop crying. The tears came faster and faster. The girl cried so much, she cried a stream. She cried a river. She cried a lake of tears. The girl cried a lake of tears that completely covered up the Wolf clan and the Vulture clan. Everyone – her mother, father and friends, her husband and all his people – sank down under the waves. All that was left was a big blue lake.

 The hunter rode down from the mountains, and found a lake. Where the valley had been, was a sapphire lake. He looked into the water.

 “It’s so blue. Like the eyes of my love.”

 He cupped his hands, filled them with water, and drank.

 “The water’s warm. And it tastes salty, like tears.”

 The hunter stared at the blue lake.

 “It is my love. She had become a lake!”

 The he stretched his arms above his head, “How I wish I could be the highest mountain,” he cried, pushing his arms up higher, “then I could look into her blue eyes forever.”

 Suddenly the hunter found himself growing, reaching higher into the sky. Up and up he stretched, until he was higher than all the other mountains. He had become the highest mountain of all, covered in snow, looking down into the blue lake. Forever staring into the eyes of his beloved.

 The mountain and the lake are still there, looking at each other, and can never be parted.

2.       The shining princess- Japan

Long, long ago, there lived an old bamboo woodcutter called Genzo and his wife. Not only were they very poor but they were often very sad for heaven had not seen fit to send them a child and both of them dearly loved children.

The old man knew that there could be no rest from work, for he and his wife only just had enough to eat with the little money he made by selling his cut bamboo.

On this particular morning he had gone out to work as usual armed with his axe, its edge razor sharp, and had started on an unusually green clump of bamboo. In Japan bamboo often grows over ten meters high and this was particularly tall and heavy group. He had felled only a couple of stems when a grove was suddenly diffused with a silvery glow, more like the moonlight than rays of the sun. Genzo looked round in astonishment and then realised that the light was pouring from the very first shoot he had cut. The old man dropped his axe and peeped into the severed stump and there, to his amazement, sitting contentedly in the hollow stem, was the pretties little girl he had ever seen. A miniature human being; only a few centimetres high but perfect in every respect.

She smiled up at Genzo, light radiating from her as he stopped to lift the little creature.

His wife could hardly believe her eyes when her husband hurried home before midday, but her astonishment was even greater when he opened his cupped hands and revealed the tiny little child.

They were now extremely happy and were made even more so when Genzo began to find little lumps of pure gold every now and then. These were always inside the hollow stems of the bamboo he had cut down, not in every one by any means but about once a week he would see a golden gleam. Occasionally he would find a precious stone in the same hiding places, a diamond, a sapphire and even a flawless pearl or two.

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By degrees the happy old couple became quite rich so that they were able to move to a larger and finer house. It was here that they named their child Kaguyahime, a Japanese name translated as ‘The shining Princess.’ She was a princess who was growing rapidly, astonishingly so, for in three months she had progressed from a tiny doll like creature into a fully grown young beautiful lady. In a darkened room she glowed with a soft radiance so the old couples addressed her as princess Moonlight. All hoses lucky enough to be allowed to see her were dazzled by her loveliness and could hardly wait to spread the tale of what they had seen.

Before long her fame was known in far off Kyoto and even in the outer lands of Japan, suitors for her hand in marriage came knocking and bowing and pleading for a chance to see the shining princess. All were refused permission except for three Samurai who the princess had secretly selected from the crowd of suitors who waited outside her garden window. With all the rest dismissed each of the three was allowed to enter the lower room for a brief glimpse of their bride-to-be, only to be left speechless at her beauty.

‘If you are to win my hand’ she told each of them in turn, ‘you much complete the task I set you.’

She asked the first samurai to bring her back a branch of the tree that grew on the summit of Mount Horai n the far distant Eastern Sea. The roots of this tree were silver, the trunk of gold, and it branches bore diamonds in the shape of flowers. The samurai bowed low and withdrew, still unable to speak.

The second samurai she asked to bring her back from China the skin of the fire-rat. This extremely rare, but ferocious animal always attacked on sight and its bite was lethal. It also had a magical power of being completely immune to flames and heat and could walk through the hottest fire without harm. The second samurai bowed low and withdrew in silence.

The princess asked the third samurai to search for the dragon that carried a precious stone embedded in the centre of its scaly head, a stone that shone with five separate colours ad with could make you invisible by merely holding it. The third samurai bowed and withdrew in silence.

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Each went their separate ways and having seen her beauty for themselves, each was determined to win the hand of the shining princess.

However, all three knew that the tasks they had been set were quite beyond their powers so each in turn set about devising a scheme that would trick the princess into thinking they had succeeded.

The first samurai did indeed set out for Mount Horai, but having heard that its slopes were haunted by giant serpents and that the tree itself was guarded by fire-breathing dragons he turned aside to the town of Yamaguchi. It was a city famous for its silversmiths and the first samurai sought out the very best and promised them much gold if they could copy a branch of the wonderful tree which grew on the summit of Mount Horai. The jewellers set off to work and for a whole year they used their skill until they finished the golden branch with its diamonds in the shape of flowers. The samurai paid them well and set off back to the home of the shining princess with his gift carefully protected in a silk-lined box of the finest split bamboo.

Meanwhile, the second samurai had sailed to China in quest for the vicious fire rat, only to be told that the last six warriors who had attempted to catch it had each been bitten to death and their bodies consumed in flames. Why should he take such a risk, he asked himself, when a cunning Chinese magician could make a skin so like that of the fire rat that no one in the world could tell the difference?

He searched for many months before finding a magician willing to undertake the task and much gold changed hands before the skin was finally produced. Well satisfied, the second samurai set off back to Japan with his precious gift laid in a lacquered box adorned with silver and precious stones.

The third of samurai had set off in search of the dragon which carried a fabulous ruby embedded within its head, but as he approached the cave in which it lived he came upon stacks of blackened skulls and other human bones. As he paused in fear there came a roar from the cave and a puff of smoke and flame so that he instantly turned his horse around and galloped at full speed away across the plains. Even so he felt a whiff of heat at his back, but this caused his horse to gallop even faster thus saved his life.

Like the other two, he now sought a out a skilful jeweller and set him the task of exactly imitating the precious stone set in the dragons head, a type of ruby which shone with five separated colours and had magical powers. In a year the stone was delivered to him at the cost of much gold, and the third samurai, too, set off back to the home of the shining princess.

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When the first samurai arrived he immediately asked old Genzo and his wife to take the bamboo box and it precious contents to their lovely daughter now that he had completed the task successfully. The old couple hurried to the princess and laid the box at her feet, retiring to kneel at the edge of the room while she undid the silken ribbons. When she took out the golden branch with its littering flowers they gasped with wonder, only to fall silent as they saw her frown.

‘A bough from the tree on Mount Horai is warm and gentle to the touch, magically warm form the fires in the mountain heart. But this imitation I hold in my hand is cold and metallic. Take the false thing away!’ And the shining princess fluttered her fan in anger.

When Genzo handed back the golden bough to the samurai and told him he was dismissed the warrior stamped his foot in rage and through the precious object to the ground. He turned his horse’s head toward the mountains and was never seen again. The princess gave orders that the gold jewels were to be sold and the money given to the poor people of the district. They afterward blessed her name.

Next day the second samurai arrived and handed over the lacquer box containing the skin of the fire rat. The princess opened the box, undid the silken wrappings and took out the skin and examined it carefully.

‘It looks and feels like the skin of a fire rat, but there is one test I must make.’

She carried the skin over to the glowing brazier and dropped it on the hottest part of the fire. Within seconds the skin shrivelled and emitted black smote, then suddenly burst into flames.

‘Again a false object had been brought to me. Even the fiercest flame could not singe a single hair on the fire rate. Send that dishonest samurai away!’ And once again the princess fluttered her fan in anger.

When the warrior was told the news he turned and left for the mountains, and that was the end of him.

The third samurai arrived a day later and handed over the enamel box containing the jewel, telling Genzo that he had personally slain the dragon and then prised the ruby from its head. The old man hurried away and handed the princess the box. At first she seemed quite impressed with the precious stone, turning it in her hand so that it changed into five beautiful colours each catching the light with glowing rays.

‘Perhaps this third samurai is true,’ said the princess, ‘but I must give the stone its final test,’ she held it tight in her hand, then turned to the old couple and asked them if they could see her.

‘Of course we can.’

‘The once again they have tried to trick me. The real dragon stone would have made me invisible. Take the miserable thing away!’

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So with the third samurai banished from her sight princess moonlight now had no suitors for her hand and she told the old couple that this pleased her rather than made her sad.

‘I will always remain a single girl so I can live with you until my time is up on earth.’

Genzo and his wife were overjoyed, although a little puzzled by what she meant. So they all lived happily for many years until the time came when the shining princess took to sitting for hours every night on the balcony gazing up at the moon. She appeared to be growing sadder and sadder, until one night Genzo found her weeping as though her heart would break. He pleaded with her to tell what it was that was making her so upset, until finally, with many tears, she told him her time on earth would soon be finished and the reason why she was so sad was that she could not bear to leave Genzo and his wife, her foster parents, but that she must return to her real parents and home on the moon.

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‘It is ordained that on the fifteenth of August my people will come take me back. I cannot refuse, but I promise to return to you as often as I can. Look for me at every full moon.’

It was just as she said.  On the fifteenth of August, the yellow harvest moon rose high in the heavens princess moonlight bade the old couple goodbye and, as they closed their eyes to prey for her safe returns he faded from sight and was one.

Genzo and his wife lived good and healthy lives to a very old age, happily knowing that they saw the shining princess every single month, for when the full moon raised in the sky her room would glow with light and they would hear her voice calling them. Until daylight they would talk happily with her.

After deciding to do The shining princess I did some ruff idea sketches

3.       The princess Atalanta- Greek

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All over the kingdom of Calydon there was rejoicing at the birth of the Prince. But the Queen lay in the big, silent bedchamber, lit only by the firelight, and the baby Prince himself slept quietly in his cradle at her side. Suddenly the Queen saw three tall shadows on the wall, three shadows of women spinning. One turned the wheel, while another twisted the spindle, and the third stood by with big shears to cut the thread.

Turning over quickly, the Queen saw the three strange beautiful women spinning a golden thread. And she knew that they were the three fairy godmothers who come at the birth of a child to spin the thread of the child’s fate and weave for them a good or bad fortune, a long or short life.

Eagerly the Queen watched and listened as the fairies span the thread of the Prince’s life: but she grew cold with dread when the fairy with the shears said:

‘We need not tarry long over our spinning, nor weave any pattern of love and adventure, or fortune: for the Prince’s life shall end when the brand burning there on the fire is consumed to ashes.’

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The three fairies bent their heads together, whispering and laughing; and then suddenly they were gone. But the queen sprang eagerly out of bed, snatched the burning brand from the midst of the flames, and plunged it into a pitcher of water witch stood nearby. When it was black and cold, she hid it away at the bottom of a chest, and went back to bed rejoicing that she had cheated the fairy spinners and given her son a life that would last just as long as she wished.

The years went by, and the Prince grew up into a strong and brave young man. Yet not a happy one, for he had a terrible temper but seemed never to get what he wanted. And in time what he wanted most was the hand in marriage of the Princess Atalanta.

Over this, fortune seemed at first to favour him. For about this time a fierce wild boar appeared in his land and caused such damage, and killed so many people that all the hunters from the lands round about were summoned to help kill it.

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The Princess Atalanta came with these, for she was a famous huntress. But as hunting was all she cared for, she refused to marry any of the Princes who sought her hand. ’He who has me must win me,’ she said. ‘And I can only be won by the man who can win a race against me. But if he loses, he must lose his head also.’

Then she laughed. For she was even more famous for her speed in running than her skill in hunting; and she did not think that any Prince would be so mad as to risk his head by racing against her. Yet several did; but they left their heads to decorate the racing track in her father’s kingdom; and soon no more suitors dared try to win her.

But when she came to Calydon to help hunt the boar, the Prince of Calydon fell more deeply in love with her than ever, and welcomed her with more honour than any kings and princes who flocked to his aid. Yet still Atalanta showed no sign of accepting him as a husband.

The hunters set out for the deep wooded valleys in search for the boar, and when it came charging out of the undergrowth, Atalanta was the first to wound it, with an arrow that sank right to the feathers in its body.

Then the other princes charged the wounded animal, and a terrible battle followed in which several of them lost their loves before the Prince of Calydon struck the final blow.

Everyone applauded; and soon the tough skin was stripped off, with the tusks and the hooves, and given to him as the victor. But he turned to the Princess Atalanta and laid them at her feet, saying:

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‘Beautiful Princess, it was you who struck the first blow and wounded the boar so deeply that without doubt it would have dies in time. And certainly had you not crippled it with your arrow, none of these Princes could have stood against it. Therefore the spoils belong by right to you: and to you I offer them-with all my heart.’

Atalanta was delighted to receive this wonderful trophy of her skill as a huntress, though the Prince’s heart was a gift on which she set no value. But the Prince’s uncles, the brothers of the Queen, who were envious and mean spirited men, muttered together that it was a shame and an insult to give the spoils to a mere woman: they had also wounded the boar, and as his next of kin, the Prince should have given the spoils to them instead of to this girl whom he was so fond.

Indeed, they grew so envious that on the way back to the palace they waylaid Atalanta and took the spoils from her with jeers and taunts and insulting words.

But as she stood weeping, while the two robbers were dividing the spoils between them, the Prince of Calydon came upon them. And when he saw what his wicked uncles had done, one of his blind rages came upon him so that he drew his sword and rushed bat them so fiercely that in a few moments they both lay dead.

It was a sad and shame-faced party that returned to the palace. Atalanta carried the spoils of the boar- but the Prince carried the bodies of several of their own number, including those of the Queen’s two brothers.

When the Queen knew what had happened she too went almost mad with grief; and rushing into her room she snatched the half-burnt brand out of the chest in which she had hidden it and flung it in her fury upon the fire.

The Prince her son was at that moment drinking a cup of wine to the beautiful Atalanta. Suddenly the cup fell from his hand and he staggered back,crying:

‘Help me! Help me! I burn, oh I burn!’

Then he sank to the ground and in a few moments he was dead.

After this the princess Atalanta returned home in great sorrow, vowing that now indeed she would never marry, since she had lost the Prince of Calydon whom she might have learnt to love.

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Yet in the end she was won by a Prince called Melanion who came to race against her with three Golden Apples in his pouch. Now these were magic apples, the fairest in the entire world, which grew on a tree in an enchanted garden tended by the western fairies.

When the race began Atalanta scornfully let Melanion keep in the lead for a little way before she sped forward to pass him and gain the winning post far in advanced. As she drew near to him he saw her shadow on the track beside him and cast down in her path one of the golden apples.

‘Oh the lovely thing!’ thought Atalanta. ‘I must have it, and I’ve heaps of time to pick it up and still beat this slow footed prince by half a length!’

While she paused to gather the apple, Melanion shot ahead. But very soon Atalanta overtook him and once more, as he saw her shadow, he let fall another golden apple.

Atalanta could not resist it, but once again she tuened aside, picked up the apple, and then ran her hardest to overtake Melanion.

She caught him up again, but for the third time a golden apple rolled across the track in front of her.

‘Surely I can pick up this lovely thing, and still beat any prince who ever ran!’ thought Atalanta, and she stopped again.

Then she ran as she had never run before; but Melanion was too far ahead of her: she could not overtake him in the short distance which still remained, and so he passed the finish line first.

And so the princess Atalanta accepted Prince Melanion as her husband, as he may not have been faster but used his wits to win. Very soon she forgot about the misfortune of the prince of Calydon, and learnt to truly love Melanion; and they lives for many years in perfect happiness. 

After deciding to do  The princess Atalanta I did some ruff idea sketches

4.       Sedna and the hunter- Greenland

      In the morning of time there was a girl of the Eskimos called Sedna. She was the only child of a widowed father and the prettiest girl in all the regions of snow and ice.

They lived beside the sea, in a snow igloo in winter and a tent made of reindeer hides during the brief summer, and many young came to woo the lovely Eskimo maiden. But Sedna would have none of them: she was cruel to each suitor in turn and took pleasure in her unkindness.

At last one summer’s day there came paddling over the sea a young and handsome hunter from a distant land, dressed in splendid furs. In his hand he carried an ivory spear made of the narwhal tusk.

He did not land, but sat in his skin kayak a little way from the shore, rocking on the gentle waves and calling to Sedna as she sat in her hut; until at last she came to the shore to gaze on this stranger who knew her name.

When the hunter saw Sedna he sang a sweet, alluring song:

‘Follow me-come to the land of birds,

Where hunger is not known.

You shall rest in my tent on the skins of bears,

And all shall be your own.

Through winter’s night you shall lack no light,

And our igloo glow with herat-

For our lamps shall be filled with the blubber oil

And your pot shall be filled with meat.’

Sedna stood in the doorway listening, and her heart was stirred. But still she hung back and would not yield to the hunter’s pleadings. So he sang again:

‘A robe of the seal’s soft fur

Shall keep my Sedna warm;

And a necklace bright of ivory white

Shall be hers, with many a charm.’

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Then Sedna hesitated no more. She wrapped her skin blanket around her and stepped into the kayak behind the hunter, who whirled his paddle and took them skimming over the waves to the Land of Birds beyond the sea.

But Sedna was not happy for long. Very soon she learnt that her handsome husband the hunter was not really a man at all. He was only a Kokksaut, a bird phantom whose real shape was that of a great bird, the fulmar petrel, but who could sometimes take on the form of a man- as he had done when he had wooed and won her heart.

When she knew the truth, Sedna was filled with despair, and she could feel nothing but hate for her husband, however hard he tried to comfort her and overcome her fear and dislike. So she sat in his tent on the soft bear skin, wrapped in the most beautiful robes and hung in ivory necklaces-but weeping, ever weeping.

Meanwhile, Angusta her father wept also for the loss of his daughter. And one day when the sea was calm he placed his kayak in the water and went paddling over to the Land of Birds to look for her.

When he arrived the Kokksaut was away, and seeing Sedna weeping sadly in her tent, he took her in his arms and carried her to his kayak. Then he started to paddle as fast as he could towards the land of man.

But the kokksaut came home soon after they had left; and when he knew that Sedna had gone, he changed into his terrible bird-ghost shape and sprang back into his kayak, uttering terrible cries.

Soon he drew near Angusta’s Kayak; but when the Eskimo saw the Kokksaut he hid Sedna under a pile of skins, and paddled steadily on.

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‘Sedna! Let me see Sedna!’ cried the Kokksaut, turning for a moment into the handsome hunter.

‘Never!’ cried Angusta. ‘I shall save her from you yet!’

‘She is mine!’ yelled the hunter. And suddenly he turned back into a huge shadowy bird, and flew over the kayak, uttering strange terrible cries, and flapping his mighty wings.

Then he seemed to fade into the darkness which hurtled down over the cold Arctic Ocean as a great storm swelled up, and the calm sea became a wild terror of cold waves under the raging wind.

Mad with terror at having offended so powerful an enemy, Angusta forgot all but his own safety. The foaming waves and the roaring wind were both crying: ‘Sedna! Sedna! Sedna! Give us Sedna!’ so he tore the pile of skins, seized his daughter, and flung her out of the boat. She clung to the edge trying not to be swallowed by the sea, but due to the freezing cold her fingers began to freeze; breaking off.

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With a dreadful, gurgling cry the sea took her and drew her down; and suddenly all was calm and the sun shone out again over the summer ocean.

Sadly Angusta paddled on until he came to the shore where his own tent stood. Night was coming on, chill and hard as all nights are in the Arctic, and he was so glad to wrap himself in a warm bear-skin and crouch down in his tent beside his dog who was tied to the tent pole.

All seemed at peace. But during the night the sea rose suddenly, and the tide poured up the shore, washing away Angusta, his tent and dog.

Down into the cold depth of the ocean they went. And there in the Land of Adlivun they found Sedna reigning as Queen over the souls of souls of those who are lost at sea. Surrounded by the creatures that had come to life from her frozen fingers; whales, fish, dolphins and much more.

She gave Angusta and found a place for his tent and his dog. And as she no longer feared the Kokksaut hunter who had won her- for she was now a Kokksaut herself- they lived happily as king and queen of the sea ghosts in Adlivun.

  

5.       Coat of rushes- England

             This story starts with a father and his three daughters; the father asks how much his daughters love him. The first two tell him what he wishes to hear but third states the truth; the father doesn’t approve of this and throws out the girl. She wonders into the land of fen and makes herself a coat of rushes to keep her warm. She finds work in the king’s kitchen, a three day ball is planned and the kitchen staff was permitted to go, coat of rushes doesn’t want to go as she is ashamed of what happened to her. She meets a fairy who gives her a silver gown; she attends the ball and catches the prince’s eye. The same happened the next day she attends in a gown of gold and this time the prince only had eyes for her. On the final day she wore a gown of feathers and the prince presented her a ring. The next day the prince grew ill as he had fallen in love with the girl; coat of rushes makes soup and places the ring inside it. Finding out it was coat of ruses he asks for her hand in marriage, her father turns up very grief stricken over his lost daughter when he realised that what she said meant she loved him the most. Coat reveals herself and lives happily ever after.