The Storyteller : Season 1

From an early Russian folk tale. A soldier returns from 20 years of war with nothing but three biscuits in his sack. Soon he must outwit devils, save a kingdom, and try to outwit death.

From an early German folk tale. The Storyteller recounts the adventures of a boy who goes out into the world to learn what fear is.

From an early Russian folk tale. A cruel king hears of the birth of the 7th son of the 7th son and of a prophecy has it that this child will grow up to become king of his kingdom. The cruel king decides to kill this 'Luck Child', and throwing the child and Chancellor into the sea, so ends the prophecy. But this is the Luck Child and he survives. Sixteen years later, the king discovers the Luck Child has survived and plots to kill him again. He sends 'Lucky' off to the palace with a letter that

From an early Celtic folk tale. This time, the story is about The Storyteller himself. Some time in his past, the Storyteller tells how he was forced to once beg for his supper. He starts with making a soup for a cook and another beggar using a stone. The cook that they come across lets them try, he's unbelieving and wants to see the soup made from a stone himself. So the Storyteller begins and asks for salt, which the cooks give, then stock, green, potatoes - until a soup is ready. When the

From an early German folk tale. A farmer's wife drives her husband mad with her desperate measures to have a baby. On the advice of the village Midwife, she tries sleeping upside down, bathing in nettles and so on. She wants a baby so badly that she doesn't care what she gets, even a hedgehog. That, of course, is she gets: a baby covered in quills, as soft as feathers. His mother calls him 'Hans My Hedgehog' and she is the only one to love him. The farmer grows to hate him, people laugh at him

From an early German folk tale. When the queen dies, a witch plans to ensnare the king. Placing a spell on him they plan to marry. She curses the king's children, three boys and a daughter, they stand in her way of power. But the queen tries to rid herself of her rivals and the king, afraid for his children, shows a place of safety and secrecy for them. But the queen, catches the 3 princes and turns them into ravens and the princess runs for her life. Her brothers, now as ravens tell her that

A king has three daughters, two bad and one good, the good daughter has many friends in the animal friends that hide in her pockets, under her bed and in her room. As there is no queen and by tradition the king cannot marry until a special ring is worn. All come to try and none can fit the unusual ring. The two bad daughters, fearing a new step-mother will get their inheritance, decide to try the ring themselves to stop their father from ever marrying. The youngest, good daughter comes along and

From an early German folk tale. A heartless giant who terrorizes the land is caught by the good king and imprisoned. Many years pass and the youngest prince, Leo, goes to the place where he is not supposed to and finds befriends the giant. Now the giant plots and plans. Using Leo, the heartless giant gets him to get the keys to his chains. The giant is free and the rampaging begins again. Leo's older brother goes to find the giant and never comes back. Then his other older brother goes and is

From an early German folk tale. A troll had a daughter, but she left straight off. So the troll took another to replace her to wait on him hand and foot. Her name is Anja and she has no father and she has no mother, so the troll is her other. Trolls are always contradicting themselves and this one used a stick and Anja gets that stick across her back frequently. This troll sets Anja an impossible task of plucking 20 pounds feathers and placing them into sacks without a single one escaping. So