pssssst hey. hey. free and expansive database of folk and fairy tales. you can thank me later

Dunno how to put it properly into words but lately I find myself thinking more about that particular innocence of fairy tales, for lack of better word. Where a traveller in the middle of a field comes across an old woman with a scythe who is very clearly Death, but he treats her as any other auntie from the village. Or meeting a strange green-skinned man by the lake and sharing your loaf of bread with him when he asks because even though he's clearly not human, your mother's last words before you left home were to be kind to everyone. Where the old man in the forest rewards you for your help with nothing but a dove feather, and when you accept even such a seemingly useless reward with gratitude, on your way home you learn that it's turned to solid gold. Where supernatural beings never harm a person directly and every action against humans is a test of character, and every supernatural punishment is the result of a person bringing on their own demise through their own actions they could have avoided had they changed their ways. Where the hero wins for no other reason than that they were a good person. I don't have the braincells to describe this better right now but I wish modern fairy tales did this more instead of trying to be fantasy action movies.

Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher

A very My Flavor novella retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I like twists on fairy tales but they have to feel like they come from a place of loving fairy tales, not just wanting to use the known images. I feel the love here.

Baba Yaga by Boris Zvorykin.

Art by Jo Rioux

Lily Seika Jones aka Rivulet Paper (American, b. 1989, San Antonio, TX, USA, based Seattle, WA, USA) - In Hiding, 2017, Drawings: Ink

She-bear

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-🍄If you are a huge fan of Over the Garden wall, the idea of unknown woods, strange creatures, cute mushroom farmer friends, peculiar libraries filled with goats, and the mixture of nostalgia, whimsy, and the feeling that something isn’t quite right, you need to pick up Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin. Not only is her storytelling so magical, but all the beautiful illustrations are her own. I just finished this last night and I can’t believe such a magical little tale exists!! It really inspires me in terms of storytelling and art. Please go support Emily’s beautiful work🍄-

Sleeping beauty woken by snow white’s kiss by Chris Riddell

William Mason Brown (1828-1898) "Raspberries in a Wooded Landscape" Oil on canvas Located in the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas

The Russian Fairy Tale of Vasilisa The Beautiful

Alan Lee

John Bauer