Czechoslovak Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Fables
Read folk tales from Czechoslovakia in our enduring and endearing collection that includes authors like A.H. Wratislaw and Parker Fillmore. Jump to full list of Czechoslovak folk tales.
![](https://fairytalez.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/golden-spinning-wheel-illustration-by-jan-matulka-czechoslovak-fairy-tales.jpg)
“Zloboha put on Dobrunka’s clothes.” Illustration by Jan Matulka. Published in Czechoslovak Fairy Tales by Parker Fillmore (1919), Harcourt, Brace and Company.
About: The folklore and fairy tales that spring from Czechoslovakia are timeless and enduring in their sweet simplicity. Czechoslovak folk tales have a strong moral center, and you can trust that everything will work out in the end. They are one part sarcastic and one part virtuous; the pervasive humor and goodwill makes Czechoslovak tales charming.
In Czechoslovakia, historians have stated that devils played a more important role than gods. You will find a slew of various types of devils in Czechoslovak folklore, and on the whole, they are bumbling characters, easily duped, and really quite lovable. Devils may have been used to scare children into good behavior, but because they appear in folklore more often as sidekicks, or as enemies easy to overcome, they are truly more laughable than frightening.
You can find curious customs in Czechoslovak folk tales like the common practice of divination and fortune telling, or carrying one’s flax on the head if too poor to own a basket, and the extremes to which peasants will go to provide hospitality – even to the point of roasting a child for the unusual palate of a mysterious stranger. Never gruesome though, for kindness is always, always rewarded in time, and the moral prosper without suffering long. Peasants become counselors to Kings for their sensibility and sound mind, and cooperation, compassion and cleverness are main staples in any Czechoslovak fairy tale.
Author A.H. Wratislaw published several tales from the region in his book, Sixty Folk Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources in the 1800s. With the collection of Czechoslovak Folk Tales by Parker Fillmore, we have a rich sampling of the long oral tradition and deep love of fairy tales contained in Czech culture.
- Budulinek: The Story of Another Little Boy Who Opened the Door
- The Brownie, or House Spirit
- The Betrothal Gifts: The Story of Kubik and the Frog
- The Blacksmith's Stool: The Story of a Man Who Found that Death was Necessary
- The Bird with the Golden Gizzard: The Story of Two Brothers
- Batcha and the Dragon: The Story of a Shepherd Who Slept All Winter
- The Candles of Life: The Story of a Child for Whom Death Stood Godmother
- Clever Manka: The Story of a Girl Who Knew What to Say
- The Devil's Match: The Story of a Farmer Who Remembered What His Grandmother Told Him
- The Devil's Brother-in-Law: The Story of a Youth Who Couldn't Find Work
- The Dear Little Hen: The Story of a Rooster That Cheated
- The Disobedient Rooster: The Story of Another Little Hen
- The Devil's Gifts: The Story of a Man Whom the Devil Befriended
- The Flaming Horse: The Story of a Country Where the Sun Never Shines
- The Four Brothers (Czech Tale)
- The Gullible World: The Story of a Man Who Didn't Beat His Wife
- Gentle Dora: The Story of a Devil Who Married a Scold
- Golden Hair
- Godmother Death
- George with the Goat
- Grandfather's Eyes: The Story of Three Wicked Yezinkas
- The Golden Spinning-Wheel: The Story of King Dobromil and the Good Dobrunka
- The Golden Duck: The Story of Prince Raduz and the Faithful Ludmila
- Goldenhair
- Kuratko the Terrible: The Story of an Ungrateful Chick
- Katcha and the Devil: The Story of a Clinging Vine
- Longshanks, Girth, and Keen: The Story of Three Wonderful Serving Men
- The Long-Desired Child
- Lidushka and the Water Demon's Wife
- The Little Cock and the Little Hen
- Rattle-Rattle-Rattle and Chink-Chink-Chink: The Story of Long Beard, the Dwarf, and the Two Sisters
- The Shoemaker's Apron: The Story of the Man Who Sits Near the Golden Gate
- Swanda, the Piper
- Smolicheck: The Story of a Little Boy Who Opened the Door
- The Story of the Noses
- The Shepherd's Nosegay: The Story of a Princess Who Learned to Say 'Please'
- The Story That Never Ends
- The Twelve Months
- The Three Goldenhairs of Grandfather Allknow
- The Three Citrons: The Story of a Prince Who Climbed the Glass Hill
- The Three Golden Hairs: The Story of a Charcoal-Burner's Son Who Married a Princess