Polish Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Fables

Read Polish fairy tales from translated by popular author Maude Ashurt Biggs. Jump to full list of Polish fairy tales.

About: With universal themes of love, sorrow and lack of freedom, Polish folk tales take on timeless qualities that resonate with young and old alike. Oral storytelling was the earliest genre of the country’s literature and spread through the mouths of the common people in a rich and enduring tradition. Polish folklore contains customs, beliefs and traditions of the peasant classes, and shares a similarity to German fairy tales and Celtic ballads.

Sometimes cheerful and sometimes dark, Polish fairy tales are complex and intriguing. Full of symbolism and hard lessons, the beautiful and good still always win in the end. Find countless stories of wicked stepmothers, witches and terrifying dwarfs intertwined with rich poetry and beautiful prayers lifted from the lips of beautiful princesses. A popular author of Poland’s fairy tales is Maude Ashurt Biggs, who translated the work of A.J. Glinski, from a collection published in 1862. In the fairy tale book’s foreword, Biggs explains that the tales are from a collection Glinski printed in 1862. While we don’t know much about the original author, we do know that the tales come from East Poland in an area known as White Russia.

Listen to Polish fairy tales and folktales plus hundreds of other fairy tale audiobooks in the Fairytalez Audio Book App for Apple and Android devices.