Mythology and Folklore Blog

Catskin (Royal Ball from Wikipedia Commons ) Plot: There once was a rich man who wanted a son and instead had a daughter. Distraught he asked to never see her again. When she was old enough to be wed her dad said to marry her off to the first one to take her. This ended up being a gross old man so to postpone the marriage she asked for a cloak of silver, beaten gold, a feather of every bird in the sky, and catskin. When all of those had been provided she wrapped herself in the catskin and ran away. She got a job in the castle as a scullery maid where everyone called her Catskin. One day the prince had a ball to find a wife. Catskin wanted to go to the ball so she dressed in her silver cloak. The prince fell in love with her instantly. At the end of the night she had to go back to work as a maid. The prince, desperate to find her hosts two more balls and she attends them in her remaining cloaks. The final night the prince follows her and discovers that the woman he loves is the ma...

The Old Witch (Wicked Witch of the East from Wikipedia Commons ) Plot: In this story, a girl goes to find work as a servant. On her way to find a job, she hears a loaf of bread asking to be taken out of the oven. Kindly, she does this. Then she hears a cow asking to be milked. Kindly, she milks the cow. Then she hears an apple tree asking to be picked. Kindly, she picks the apples. Eventually, the girl reaches the home of a witch who agrees to take her on as a servant but warns her to never look up the chimney. One day the girl forgets the instructions and looks up on accident and finds bags of money. She runs away with this money and the witch chases after her. She comes upon the tree and asks it to hide her from the witch. Then she does the same with the cow and the oven. When she gets home she becomes rich and marries her sweetheart and lives happily ever after. Her sister then decides to try and accomplish the same thing but refuses to help the cow, oven, and apple tree. When...