Best-loved folktales of the world

West Europe

British Isles

Scandinavia and Northern Europe

East Europe

Middle East

Asia

The Pacific

North America

Caribbean and West Indies

Central and South America.

West Europe: Cinderella (France)

Beauty and the beast (France)

Puss in boots (France)

Blue Beard (France)

White cat (France)

Drakestail (France)

Doctor and his pupil (France)

Snow-White (Germany)

Brave little tailor (Germany)

Ashenputtel (Germany)

Rapunzel (Germany)

Devil's three gold hairs (Germany)

Darling Roland (Germany)

Fisherman and his wife (Germany)

Frog prince (Germany)

Goosegirl (Germany)

Tom Thumb (Germany)

Wolf and the seven little kids (Germany)

Little Red Riding Hood (Germany)

Juniper tree (Germany)

Golden goose (Germany)

Thousand-Furs (Germany)

Rumplestiltskin (Germany)

Mother Holle (Germany)

Sleeping Beauty (Germany)

Queen bee (Germany)

Bremen Town musicians (Germany)

Hansel and Gretel (Germany)

Merman and the farmer (Germany)

Crab (Italy)

Bastianelo (Italy)

Cock and the mouse (Italy)

Thoughtless Abbott (Italy)

Don Demonio's mother-in-law (Spain)

Tonino and the fairies (Spain)

I ate the loaf (Spain)

Half-chick (Spain)

Legend of Saint Nicholas (Holland)

Hare and the tortoise (Ancient Greece)

Fox and the grapes (Ancient Greece)

Goose with the golden eggs (Ancient Greece)

Man, the boy, and the donkey (Ancient Greece)

Eros and Psyche (Ancient Greece)

Twelve months (Modern Greece).

British Isles: Jack and the beanstalk (England)

Jack the giant-killer (England)

Tom Tit Tot (England)

Boggart (England)

Good and bad news (England)

Hand of glory (England)

Lazy Jack (England)

Molly Whuppie (England)

Teeny-tiny (England)

Three wishes (England)

Dick Whittington and his cat

(England)

Pied Piper (England)

Master of all masters (England)

Munachar and Manachar (Ireland)

Field of Boliauns (Ireland)

Fisherman's son and the gruagach of tricks (Ireland)

Thirteenth son of the King of Erin (Ireland)

Birth of Fin MacCoul (Ireland)

Fin MacCoul and the Fenians of Erin in the Castle of Fear Dubh (Ireland)

Black, brown, and gray (Ireland)

Brownie of Blednock (Scotland)

Midwife (Scotland)

Wee, wee mannie (Scotland)

Cow on the roof (Wales)

Scandinavia and northern Europe: East of the sun and west of the moon (Norway)

Boots and the troll (Norway)

Gudbrand on the hillside or what the good man does is always right (Norway)

Giant who had no heart in his body (Norway)

Lad who went to the north wind (Norway)

Master thief (Norway)

Three billy goats gruff (Norway)

Mastermaid (Norway)

Not a pin to choose between them (Norway)

Princess on the glass hill (Norway)

Why the bear is stumpy-tailed (Norway)

Why the sea is salt (Norway)

Tinderbox (Denmark)

Peter Bull (Denmark)

Maid Lena (Denmark)

Old woman and the tramp, or Nail broth (Sweden)

Salt and bread (Sweden)

Seal's skin (Iceland)

Pig-headed wife (FInland)

Forest bride (Finland)

God and the devil share the harvest (Latvia)

Bul-bul bird (Latvia).

East Europe: Fool of the world and the flying ship (Russia)

Baba Yaga (Russia)

Firebird, the horse of power, and Princess Vasilissa (Russia)

Story of King Frost (Russia)

Prince Hedgehog (Russia)

Salt (Russia)

Treasure (Russia)

Woe (Russia)

Clever Manka (Russia)

Intelligence and luck (Czechoslovakia)

Czar Trojan's ears (Yugoslavia)

Stroke of luck (Hungary)

It could always be worse (Yiddish) Chelm justice (Yiddish)

Saint or horse (Yiddish)

When Hershel eats (Yiddish)

Middle East: Aladdin and his wonderful lamp (Arabian nights)

Ali Baba and the forty thieves (Arabian nights)

Fisherman and the genie (Arabian nights)

Donkey driver and the thief (Arabia)

Farmer and his hired help (Afghanistan)

Don't throw stones from not-yours to yours (Israel)

Three hares (Turkey)

Asia: Momotaro, or the Peach-boy (Japan)

Old woman who lost her dumplings (Japan)

Sparrow with the split tongue (Japan)

Tale of the Oki Islands (Japan)

Stonecutter (Japan)

Wife's portrait (Japan)

Urashima (Japan)

Magic kettle (Japan)

Taoist priest (China)

Simple Wang (China)

Faithful even in death (China)

Young head of the family (China)

Most frugal of men (China)

Magic brocade (China)

Planting a pear tree (China)

Groom's crimes (China)

Clever judge (China)

Money makes cares (China)

Drinking companions (China)

King's favorite (China).

Clever thief (Korea)

Tiger's whisker (Korea)

Hats to disappear with (Korea)

Why the parrot repeats man's words (Thailand)

Mister Lazybones (Laos)

Fisherman and the gatekeeper (Burma)

Little lizard's sorrow (Vietnam)

Fly (VIetnam)

Valiant Chattee-maker (India)

Tiger, the Brahman and the jackal (India)

How the raja's son won the Princess Labam (India)

How sun, moon and wind went out to dinner (india)

Monkey and the crocodile (India)

Tit for tat (India)

Pacific: How Ma-ui fished up the Great Island (Hawaii)

Why there are no tigers in Borneo (Indonesia)

How platypuses came to Australia (Australia)

Bunyip (Australia)

Africa: Talk (Africa- Ashanti Tribe)

Anansi's hat-shaking dance (Africa- Ashanti Tribe)

Anansi and his visitor, Turtle (Africa- Ashanti Tribe)

How spider obtained the sky-god's stories (Africa- Ashanti tTribe)

Younde goes to town (West Africa)

How Frog lost his tail (Africa- Sukuma Tribe)

Rubber man (Africa- Hausa Tribe)

Origin of death (Africa- Akamba Tribe)

Man chooses death (Africa- Madagascar)

Woman and children of the sycamore tree (Africa- Masai Tribe)

Wise dog (Africa- Yoruba Tribe)

Hunter and his magic flute (Africa- Yoruba Tribe)

Funeral of the hyena's mother (Africa- Yoruba Tribe)

Oni and the great bird (Africa- Yoruba Tribe)

Wooden spoon and the whip (Africa- Yoruba Tribe)

Why there are cracks in tortoise's shell (Africa-Baila Tribe)

Fire on the mountain (Ethiopia)

Why the sun and the moon live in the sky (Africa Efik-Ibibio)

Tug-of-war (Africa- Fan Tribe).

North America: People who could fly (Black American)

Baby in the crib (Black American)

Wonderful tar-baby story (Uncle Remus)

Paul Bunyan's cornstalk (Western United States)

Two old women's bet (Southern United States)

Jack in the giants' Newground (Southern United States)

Senor Coyote and the dogs (Mexico)

Talking cat (French Canada)

Indian Cinderella (Canadian Indian)

Deserted children (American Indian - Gros Ventre Tribe of Montana)

Girl who married a ghost (American Indian- Nisqualli Tribe of southern Washington)

Lost woman (American Indian- Blackfeet Tribe)

Theft of fire (American Indian- Chippewa Tribe) Manabozho and his toe (American Indian)

Raven brings light (Alaskan Indian)

Sedna legend (Eskimo)

Caribbean and West Indies: Magic orange tree (Haiti)

Greedy Mariani (Haiti)

Uncle Bouqui and little Malice (Haiti)

Bouki rents a horse (Haiti)

Anansi play with fire, Anansi get burned (Jamaica)

How El Bizarron fooled the devil (Cuba)

Story of the smart parrot (Puerto Rico)

Central and South America: How the devil constructed a church (Honduras)

Three magic oranges (Costa Rica) - Lucky table (Costa Rica)

Brer Rabbit, businessman (Costa Rica)

Search for the magic lake (Ecuador)

Deer and the jaguar share a house (Brazil)

Five brothers (Chile).