The Princess and the White Bear King (book and cd)

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Now, once on a time there was, as there well might be, a king. He had two daughters who were ugly and bad, but the third was as fair and soft as the bright day, and the king and everyone was glad of her. So one day she dreamt of a golden wreath that was so lovely she couldn’t live until she had it. But as she could not get it, she grew sullen and wouldn’t so much as talk for grief, and when the king knew it was the wreath she sorrowed for, he sent out a pattern cut just like the one that the princess had dreamt of, and sent word to goldsmiths in every land to see if they could get the like of it. So the goldsmiths worked night and day; but some of the wreaths she tossed away from her, and the rest she would not so much as look at. And as she said this she begged her mother so hard, that at last she got leave to give her the scissors. Well he passed by here the day before yesterday; but he went so fast you’ll never be able to catch him up,’ she said. But once when she was in the wood, she set her eyes upon a white bear, who had the very wreath she had dreamt of between his paws and was playing with it. The princess wanted to buy it, but the bear said she could only have it if he could have her. Because she thought life was not worth living without the wreathe, she agreed to be fetched in three days, on Thursday.

Michael moves to a new house, with his mum and dad and his new baby sister. But soon his sister is ill in hospital, and Michael feels helpless. He explores a broken-down garage in the garden and makes a discovery that will change his life: Skellig, a creature covered in dust and cobwebs. Michael is not sure what this creature is. The only person he can confide in is Mina, the girl across the road. Together they move Skellig from the dangerous garage and an astounding story unfolds. The familiar version was collected by the artist August Schneider in 1870 from Setesdal. [3] Jørgen Moe collected a variant of the tale from Bygland, summarized in the 2nd edition of Norske Folke-Eventyr (1852). [4] [5]Well!” said the old hag. “You may well do that, but I must see him to sleep and wake him in the morning.” Kamp, Jens. Danske Folkeminder, æventyr, Folkesagn, Gaader, Rim Og Folketro. Odense: R. Nielsen, 1877. pp. 294-302. When the old hag set her eyes on the napkin, she wanted to buy it. “For all the roasting and boiling, it is worth nothing because we have too many mouths to feed.” Everything was soon set right between them, and if they could get rid of the old hag he would be free. King Valemon had the carpenters make a trapdoor on the bridge over which the bridal train had to pass, and it was custom for the bride and her friends to be at the head of the train.

Hurbánková, Šárka (2018). "G.B. Basile and Apuleius: first literary tales: morphological analysis of three fairytales". Graeco-Latina Brunensia (2): 75–93. doi: 10.5817/GLB2018-2-6.

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Once upon a time there was a king with two daughters who were ugly and evil, but a third who was as fair and soft as the bright day. One night, his third daughter dreamt of a golden wreath so lovely that she couldn’t live without it. She grew sullen and wouldn’t so much as talk due to her grief at not having the wreathe, so the king sent out a pattern based on her dream to goldsmiths far and wide to see if they make the wreath. The goldsmiths worked night and day, but the princess tossed all their wreathes away. This little girl played about on the floor with a napkin, which was of that kind that when one said on it, ‘Napkin, spread yourself out and be covered with all dainty dishes,’ it did so, and where it was there was never any want of a good dinner. Well!’ said the goody in the hut, ‘since you have been so kind and good towards me and my bairns, it were a shame if I didn’t do all in my power to try to help you over the hill. My husband is one of the best smiths in the world, and now you must lie down and rest till he comes home, and then I’ll get him to forge you claws for your hands and feet, and then you can see if you can crawl and scramble up.’