151 Tales From Europe

It had been foretold that when a son was born to a nobleman, his feet must not touch the ground for twelve years. So, he was very careful to ensure that his little son had nurses and attendants who carried him in their arms or on a littler always. But one day, unfortunately, hearing a […]

Once upon a time, there were two brothers, one of whom became very rich but was wicked and cruel. The other one remained so poor that sometimes he and his family had to go to bed hungry. One winter night, the poor brother’s family had nothing to eat, so he begged his rich brother to

When an old merchant was dying, he gave his house to the two elder sons and their wives and he gave each son three hundred gold coins. The two elder sons said they would travel and trade, improving their fortunes. “You stay home and look after your sisters-in-law,” they told the youngest, who was thoroughly

High up in the Black Mountains was a lake near which was a rich pasture to which the shepherd of Myddvai took his sheep. One day, as he lay there watching his sheep graze, three beautiful maidens emerged from the lake. One of them came near him and he offered her some bread. But the

It was a harvest holiday and Tom Fitzpatrick was out playing in the fields, when he heard a strange little sound of tapping from somewhere close by. He looked stealthily through the hedges and bushes. He saw a little old man with a beard, wearing a leather apron and a green cap, sitting on a

Macdonald was the lord of Saddell Castle. He wanted to get a set of trews stitched for himself. Trews were a kind of jumpsuit with the vest and the trousers stitched together and decorated with fringes. And they were very comfortable to wear. He asked the village tailor, who was a bright and cheeky man,

Conn of Hundred Fights was a famous warrior and dearly loved his son, Connla with the fiery hair. One day, as they stood on Mount Usna, Connla saw a beautiful maiden walking towards him and asked her who she was. She was from among the joyous Hill Folk who lived in the Land of the

Long ago, on the Scheldt River in Belgium, was a rich port to which ships came from all over the world carrying sugar, wine, olives, oranges, wool and many more goods. And rich merchant ships sailed from Holland and France down the river to other countries with timber, flax, linen, fish, cheese, bread and iron.

Peter Klaus was a goatherd of Sittendorf; he took his goats to the Kyffhauser Mountain to graze. He lay about while his dog ran around chasing the goats. He noticed that his largest goat would wander away and return only late in the evening. He followed him through a crack in the rocks to a

There was a great treasure at Klumhoi, guarded by a dragon! Three men in the village heard about it and decided to dig for it. “It’s necessary to be completely silent,” said one of them, “Otherwise, the dragon will wake up!” So determined to remain quiet, they took their spades to dig up the treasure.

The hens were roosting in their coop, when one feather dropped from a little white hen. Two hens sitting below saw the feather fall and one of them said, “Did you see that? The white hen is making herself pretty by pulling out some of her feathers!” The other hen exclaimed, “She thinks she’s prettier

A young man set off on Captain Hamilton’s ship for the East Indies, taking with him his dog, a pointer named Tray. Pointers are used by hunters as they can always sniff out where game animals, usually some birds, can be located to hunt. When they were far out at sea, Tray began to sniff.

A nobleman loved to collect birds. One day, he caught a nightingale. The bird pleaded with him to let her go. “Why should I let you go?” he asked. “I will give you very useful advice, sir!” replied the nightingale. He laughed and let her go, asking, “So, what’s the advice?” The nightingale sat on

Wandering from one town to another, two brothers met an old man with a long grey beard, carrying a sack. They told him that they were seeking happiness. He smiled and pulled out a handful of gold coins. “Will this help you?” he asked. “Oh, yes!” said the elder brother, taking the coins. Then he