Reading notes taken from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs.
The first story was like a Rumplestiltskin story. A young woman was married to the king for possessing a talent that she didn't have. When the king locked her into a room and forced her to spin the skeins from flax. A strange creature came to her aid and said it would help her if she could guess its name. During the month the creature came to the woman and gave her three chances to guess its name or at the end of the month, she would belong to him. The end of the month came closer and the woman was scared because she had not guessed its name. The king was out hunting and saw the creature and it was singing and said its name. The woman was so happy because she wouldn't be taken away. The creature came back the last night of the month and had the three guesses for the woman like normal. The woman gave bad guesses for the first two to trick the creature, and then for the final one, she sang the song the king heard it signing in the forest.
There was another story that was about an old woman who found some extra money. The woman decided to use that extra money to go and buy a pig from the market. The pig wouldn't jump over a log on the way back home and the woman sought out a dog for help. The dog refused and the woman then asked a stick to beat the dog for not helping her. The stick refused and the woman asked the fire to burn the stick for not helping her. The fire refused and the woman went to the water to ask it to put out the fire for not helping her. The water refused and the woman went to the ox to drink the water for not helping her. The ox refused and the woman went to the butcher to kill the ox for not helping her. The butcher refused and the woman went to the rope to hang the butcher for not helping her. The rope refused and the woman went to the rat to gnaw the rope for not helping her. The rat refused and the woman went to the cat to kill the rat for not helping her, but the cat refused unless it got milk from the cow. The woman went to the cow to ask for its milk and it agreed if the woman went to get it some hay. After the cow ate the hay, the woman got her milk and the chain reaction started. The cat started to kill the mouse, the mouse started to gnaw the rope, the rope started to hang the butcher, the butcher started to kill the ox, the ox started to drink the water, the water started to put out the fire, the fire started to burn the stick, the stick started to beat the dog, and the dog started to bite the pig.
(Caption: Wool Skeins by Pixabay)
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