The Featured Folktales collection of stories have been generously contributed by contemporary storytellers. Their accompanying essays offer insight into the deeper meaning of the stories and also suggest ways of putting the tales to use in particular settings. You may download this material for personal and educational purposes —and please keep the copyright information intact with your download. In accordance with copyright protections, you must contact the contributor for permission to record or to reprint the tales or the accompanying essays.
Other stories may be discovered by using the Search Folktales menu to the left.
The Blossom Tree
From Odds Bodkin
The Woman Who Was Turned Into a Tree
Invisibility
The Young Man, The Lion, and the Yellow-Flowered Zwart-Storm Tree
From Moyra Caldecott
The Old Man Who Made The Trees Blossom
From Alton Chung
The Punahou Spring
From Woody Fern
The Woodcutter and Death
The Magic Pear Tree
From Alida Gersie
Maon and the Willow
From Fred Hageneder
Tree of Creation
From Reneé Díaz de León Harvey
Nasrudin and the Trees: Seven Tales
From Priscilla Howe
The Singing Fir Tree
Silver Fir Cones
From Sheryl Ann Karas
Demon Girls of Ujae
From Daniel A. Kelin
The Gift of Kü
From Caren Loebel-Fried
Mikku and the Trees
From Margaret Read MacDonald
Fearing the Wind
From Jack Maguire
Green Willow
From Rafe Martin
The Strange Creature
From Michael McCarty
Why Death is Like the Banana Tree
The Sesame Seed and the Date Palm Tree
From Erica Helm Meade
The Green Huntsmen
From Cathy S. Mosley
The Dreaming Tree
From Elizabeth Murray
The Mari and the Lime Tree
As retold by Nikiuk
Of Greed and Measure
From Mary Oak O’Kane
Why Trees Whisper
Why Plants Have Human Characteristics
From Anne Pellowski
When the Bemböle People Went to Get Logs
From Neppe Pettersson
Honi and the Carob Tree
From Peninnah Schram
The Golden Tree
From Laura Simms
Orosu
From Fran Stallings
The Harper in Fairyland
From Beth Vaughan
The Woodcarver’s Gift
The Lady in White
From Cristy West
The Magic Orange Tree
From Diane Wolkstein