Reading Notes: Czech Folktales part B

Story Endings: I noticed all of the folktales from my first reading ended happily with the characters getting rich, reuniting with family, or everything returning to normal again. I wanted to jot down the trends in all of these stories.

Dragon, Source

The Man Who Met Misery

“ At last — there was no other choice, for the ring kept on calling out "Here I am" — Francis stretched out that finger, and the ogre broke it off with one grip. Off ran Francis, glad enough to get off with his life.

When he reached home, they asked him: "Did you meet Misery?"

"Indeed I did. I know what it is now. It gave me a nice run for it. It's an awful thing, and there's no joking with it.

• This is one of those stories where crazy things happened, and the best ending possible was for things to just go back to normal.

Nine at a Blow

“ The tailor told the king that the dragon had killed the giant, so he pocketed the thousand pounds for himself.”

• Happy ending, someone gets rich.

A Clever Lass

“And so they drove home again, and he was king and she queen again.”

• Ending that returns to the original, riches implied because they’re royalty

The Soldier and the Devil

“He returned to this world, and afterwards he went to Heaven again, and there he is still, as right as rain.”

• Happy ending, things returned to normal.

Old Nick and Kitty

“The devil left things as they were, and before you could say "Jack Robinson" he was off. So it all turned out all right.”

• Things were left as they were.

The Knight Bambus

“But behold! Instead of gold there were only rustling leaves in it. Then he remembered that he was not to say anything about it. He frowned, and his wife burst into tears, and they had to spend the rest of their life, until they died, in poverty just as before.”

• Kind of unhappy I guess, but “just as before” meaning things were normal.
  
  

Bibliography: Czech Folktales, Source