Folklore read live!

How does the Irrlicht differ from the malicious Will-o-Wisp?

Find out in tonight's tales LIVE right NOW: https://youtube.com/live/SHpewkKA2pw

#FairyTaleTuesday #WritingCommunity #storyteller #FairyTale #AmReading #reading #indieWriter #fairy #folklore #folk #tales #stories #GrimmBrothers #dnd #dnd5e #pathfinder #pf2e #ttrpg #fantasy #lotr #german #folklore #legend #willowisp #irrlicht

EP 334: The Boy Who Was Called Thick Head (Macmillan)

Listen Here

Watch Here

The Boy Who Was Called Thick Head

Three brothers lived with their old Indian mother in the forest near the sea. Their father had been dead for a long time. When he died, he didn’t have a penny to his name, so his widow and sons were very poor. Where they lived there wasn’t a lot of game to be hunted, so they went to bed hungry. The youngest boy was smaller and weaker than the others, and when the two older sons went away to hunt, they always left him behind. Although he always wanted to go with them, they would never let him tag along, because he was so small and weak. Instead he had to do all of the house work. All day long he would gather wood in the forest and carry water from the stream. 

Even in the spring, when his brothers went out to draw sap from the maple trees, he was never permitted to go with them. He was always making mistakes and doing foolish things. His brothers called him Thick-head, and all the people around said he was a simpleton because of his slow and strange ways. Only his mother was kind to him and she always said, “They may laugh at you and call you a fool, but you will prove to be wiser than all of them, for it was told to me by a forest fairy when you were born.”

The Chief had a beautiful daughter who had many suitors. But her father turned them all away from his door and said, “My daughter is not old enough to get married; and when she is, she will only marry a great hunter.” 

The two older sons of the old woman decided that one of them must marry the girl. So they set out on a great hunting expedition, far away in the great northern forest, because it was autumn, and the hunter’s moon had come. 

The youngest wanted to go with them, for he had never left home and he wanted to see the world. His mother gave him permission to go. His brothers were very annoyed when they heard this, and they said, “Thick-head can’t help us hunt. He will only bring us bad luck. He isn’t a hunter, just a scullion and a drudge who is only good for tending fires.” But his mother told them to honor the boy’s wish and they had to obey. So the three brothers set out for the north, the two older brothers bellyaching loudly because they were accompanied by the boy that they thought was a fool.

The two older brothers had good luck hunting and they killed a lot of game; deer and rabbits and otters and beavers. And they came home carrying home a lot of dried meat and skins. They each thought, “Now we have begun to prove our skills to the Chief. And if we do the same next year, under the hunter’s moon, one of us will win his daughter when she is old enough to marry.” 

The only thing the youngest boy brought home from the northern forest was a large Earthworm, as thick as his finger and as long as his arm. It was the biggest Earthworm he had ever seen. He thought it was great curiosity as well as a great discovery, and he was so busy watching it each day that he had no time to hunt. When he brought it home in a box, his brothers said to their mother, “What did we tell you about Thick-head? Surely, he has proved himself a fool. He has caught only a fat Earth Worm in all of this time.” And they shouted it everywhere in the village and all the people loudly laughed at the simpleton, until “Thick-head’s hunt” became a byword in all the land. But the boy’s mother only smiled and said, “He will still surprise them all.”

The boy kept the Earth Worm in a tiny pen just outside the door of his home. One day a large Duck came waddling along, and sticking her bill over the little fence of the pen she quickly gobbled up the Worm. The boy was very angry and he went to the man who owned the Duck, and said, “Your duck ate up my pet worm. I want my worm.” 

The man offered to pay him whatever he wanted, but the boy said, “I do not want your money. I want my Worm.” 

But the man said, “How can I give you your Worm when my Duck has eaten it up? It is gone forever.” 

And the boy said, “It is not gone. It is in the Duck’s belly. So I must have the Duck.” Then to avoid further trouble the man gave Thick-head the Duck, for he thought to himself, “What’s the use of arguing with a fool.”

The boy took the Duck home and kept it in a little pen near his home with a low fence around it. And he tied a great weight to its foot so that it could not fly away. He was quite happy again, for he thought, “Now I have both my Worm and the Duck.” But one day a Fox came prowling along looking for food. He saw the fat Duck tied by the foot in the little pen. And he said, “What good fortune! There is a choice meal for me,” and in a twinkling he was over the fence. The Duck quacked and made a great noise, but she was soon silenced. The Fox had just finished eating up the Duck when the boy, who had heard the quacking, came running out of the house. The Fox was smacking his lips after his good meal, and he was too slow in getting away. The boy fell to beating him with a stout club and soon killed him and threw his body into the yard behind the house. And he thought, “That is not so bad. Now I have my Worm and the Duck and the Fox.”

That night an old Wolf came through the forest in search of food. He was very hungry, and in the bright moonlight he saw the dead Fox lying in the yard. He pounced upon it greedily and devoured it until not a trace of it was left. But the boy saw him before he could get away, and he came stealthily upon him and killed him with a blow of his axe. “I am surely in good luck,” he thought, “for now I have the Worm and the Duck and the Fox and the Wolf.” 

But the next day, when he told his brothers about his good fortune, they laughed at him loudly and said, “A lot of good a dead Wolf will do you. Before two days have passed it will be nothing but an evil-smelling thing and we will have to bury it deep. You are indeed a great fool.” The boy pondered for a long time over what they had said, and he thought, “Perhaps they are right. The dead Wolf won’t last long. I will save the skin.”

So he skinned the Wolf and dried the skin; and made a drum from it. The drum was one of the few musical instruments of the Indians in those old times, and they beat it loudly at all their dances and festivals. The boy beat the drum each evening, and made a great noise, and he was very proud because he had the only drum in the whole village. 

One day the Chief sent for him and said to him, “I want to borrow your drum for this evening. I am having a great gathering to announce to all the land that my daughter is now of age to marry and that suitors may now seek her hand in marriage. But we have no musical instruments and I want your drum, and I myself will beat it at the dance.” 

So Thick-head brought his drum to the Chief’s house, but he was not very well pleased, because he was not invited to the feast, while his brothers were among the favored guests. And he said to the Chief, “Be very careful. Do not tear the skin of my drum, for I can never get another like it. My Worm and my Duck and my Fox and my Wolf have all helped to make it.”

The next day he went for his drum. But the Chief had struck it too hard and had split it open so that it would now make no sound and it was ruined beyond repair. He offered to pay the boy a great price for it, but the boy said, “I do not want your price. I want my drum. Give me back my drum, for my Worm and the Duck and the Fox and the Wolf are all in it.” 

The Chief said, “How can I give you back your drum when it is broken? It is gone forever. I will give you anything you desire in exchange for it. Since you do not like the price I offer, you may name your own price and you shall have it.” 

And the boy thought to himself, “Here is my chance. Now I will surprise my brothers.” And then he said, “Since you cannot give me my drum, I will take your daughter in marriage in exchange.” The Chief was very perplexed, but he had to be true to his word. So he gave his daughter to Thick-head, and they were married, and the girl brought him much treasure and they lived very happily. His brothers were quite amazed and angered because they had failed. But his mother said, “I told you he was wiser than you and that he would outwit you, even though you called him Thick-head and fool. For the forest fairy told me so at his birth.”

The end

Source: ⁠Canadian Fairy Tales by Cyrus Macmillan

Prince Charming Part 1

#FanFic WanderingWitch #SnowWhite
#Wss366 Hedge / #GreeneryDay Japan

The day had started well. A gentle wind scented with verdant greenery stirred my hair. Bright violets bloomed along my path, mingling with yellow buttercups and brilliant orange poppies. Thrushes and titmice flitted in the #hedges. It was truly the kind of day where wandering the byways was a goddess-given blessing.

So wondrous was the day that I didn’t even mind the occasional burr that attached itself to my mage’s robes or the dense foliage that forced me to walk. The moss-covered path was easy on my feet. The occasional brook sang to me. Butterflies as bright as the star brooch of my profession delighted my eyes.

Who was this young woman so enamored with life?

It was me, Elaine the Wandering Witch.

#TootFic #MicroFiction #FairyTale #Mythpunk #NMFic

This #princess is an offical #nerd 😃 .

#Fairytale #FrogPrince

Explore the enchanting Disneyland Castle, the iconic centerpiece of Disneyland Park. Discover magical moments, fairy tale architecture, and unforgettable Disney memories in this spectacular video tour.

#Disneyland #DisneyCastle #DisneyMagic #DisneylandPark #ThemePark #DisneyAdventure #FamilyFun #TravelVlog #MagicalMoments #FairyTale #VacationIdeas #DisneyExperience #CastleTour #DisneyFans #TravelCalifornia

I'm currently listening to Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I'm only 20% in, and I have literally never heard so many brand names dropped in a book before. It's jarring.

#bookstadon #FairyTale