Best of Magical Tales

Arndt was returning home with his little sister, Reutha, and the children were tired. Reutha said that she’d rest on a little mound under a bush while Arndt went ahead to see if he could spot the light of their cottage.When he returned, Reutha had vanished and all he could find were her shoes. An

It was a lazy afternoon in Baghdad. Caliph Chasid was relaxing, when his Grand Minister brought in a merchant. The merchant had a large heavy chest and displayed jewels, precious stones and many treasures inside it. Having purchased a few things, the Caliph noticed a small old box inside it containing black powder and a

An old man and his wife lived happily on a small farm. The couple had no children, but they loved their little pet dog, Shiro.One morning, Shiro was barking and tried to pull the old man to his field. There was a Hinoki tree in the field and Shiro kept digging the ground near it.

There lived a baker. He was a very mean fellow and he was greedy too. So, he spent most of the day trying to be clever and to cheat his customers somehow. His daughter grew up helping him in his bakery. Since she was always watching him, she picked up all his nasty ways and

Once, a young tailor was lost in a forest. Terrified of wild animals, he climbed up a tree. But he saw a light not far away. Scrambling down, he ran towards it. A rough man opened the door and asked him rudely what he wanted.“Just something to eat and a place to rest for the

Zadig was a rich and handsome young man of Babylon. One day, he decided to travel around the world to gain wisdom. He saw all kinds of people, even those who were poor and miserable and wondered about the differences in the people. On the banks of the Euphrates river, he met an old hermit

A housewife lived in a cottage on the main street of the village, but not many people came to her house. She was known to be a rather stingy woman and did not like to give or share anything. If anyone came asking for something, she would find some reason not to give it.But one

A strange thing was happening that year. It was summer and the weather had become very warm. Roads and fields were full of little dragons. The whole place looked green and purple with dragons of different shapes and sizes. They made their nests in the shrubs, bushes and hedges. They didn’t harm the children, but

Hercules was a great hero who had been given twelve difficult tasks to perform by his cousin, the king. He came with his bow and a quiver full of arrows, and wearing a great lion-skin to search for the golden apples from the garden of Hesperides, which was guarded by a hundred-headed dragon. Fifty heads

There was a place called Carland which was marshy and full of bogs–large patches of water with weeds and mounds inside it. There were pools of water, often black or green, with all kinds of weeds and when you walked through them, the ground was squishy and squelchy.The Moon shone brightly over the marsh and

Long time ago, a boy named Epithemeus made friends with a girl named Pandora. She was a friendly and good-natured girl but was extremely curious about everything. He took her around his house and showed her all his toys and other things.Her eyes fell on a chest that lay in one corner and she asked,

Once upon a time, there lived a poor woodman in a village. He would go every day into the forest to chop and collect wood to sell in the village. His wife would give him a loaf of bread and a pitcher of water when he went.That morning, the woodman had decided to cut down

The King’s daughter was beautiful, but she was very vain. Whenever someone asked to marry her, she would mock him. One day, when a handsome prince with a golden beard came to the palace, she laughed at him and named him ‘Prince Grisly-Beard!’ The King was so angry that he announced, “The Princess will marry

A man with a daughter married a widow who also had a daughter. But the girl’s new stepmother hated her. She was very cruel.One winter morning, the stepmother made the girl wear a thin dress and told her, “Go to the woods and fetch strawberries.” The girl shivered and pleaded, “It’s very cold in this

Once, there was a very skilled stone-cutter. He cut slabs from rocks in a mountain to make urns, tables, shelves, decorations and even headstones for those who were to be buried. The mountain spirits liked the stone-cutter and wished to bless him.One day, when the stone-cutter went to the house of a very rich man