Buying a Dream

Six chiefs rule a single village, and the eldest holds the rest in fear. One night he sets them a strange challenge: dream, and he will buy the finest dream for a high price. But it is the youngest chief — the one who wants nothing from him — who finds himself in real danger when his turn comes, and who discovers that the smallest, humblest things can carry the greatest power.

A traditional tale from the Ainu people of northern Japan.

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The World Story Bank is an initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, gathering the folktales of the world, protecting them, and rewilding them back into modern culture. To hear more and support our work, visit https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank

The Mystic Garden

A just king sends three young men of royal blood out into the world to earn their station, and their voyage brings them to an island garden of extraordinary beauty — where they are welcomed, but given three curious warnings. Each youth finds something different to love among the fruit, the treasures and the order of the place. And when the summons comes to leave, what each chose to do there turns out to have decided everything.

A traditional tale from the Jewish tradition.

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The World Story Bank is an initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, gathering the folktales of the world, protecting them, and rewilding them back into modern culture. To hear more and support our work, visit https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank

The Star Wife

A young warrior, hunting where he has never been before, comes upon a worn circle in the grass — and from the sky descends a basket of dancing women, one of them lovelier than all the rest. He loses his heart in an instant, but winning her, and keeping her, will ask far more of him than cunning. This is a tale of love that reaches between the Earth and the stars, and of what a person will give up to be with the one they love.

A traditional tale from the Sioux people of North America.

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The World Story Bank is an initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, gathering the folktales of the world, protecting them, and rewilding them back into modern culture. To hear more and support our work, visit https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank