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what a dull night.><;

~pokes stuff~

~sips drink~

~keeps at it~

The Feather of Finist the Falcon:
"A merchant asked his three daughters what they want him to bring them from the fair. The older two ask for dresses or shawls, but the youngest wants either the feather of Finist the Falcon or a red flower. In some variants, he went to the fair twice, able to bring back what her older sisters had asked for, but not hers, but she did not vary her request.

In the third or first visit, he found the feather, or else found the flower and must promise that his daughter will marry Finist the Falcon for it. Whether the flower or the feather, the thing brought Finist the Falcon to her at night, and he wooed her. If she was given the flower, he gave her a feather that would magically aid her. Her sisters discovered the visit; they might have spied, or she may have appeared in finer clothing, from use of the feathers, than they knew she had, or she may have appeared in church as a strange woman (like Cinderella at the ball) because of her rich clothing, and not hidden it quickly enough when she returned home. Once they became suspicious, they often listened and, hearing a man's voice, tried to persuade their father that their sister had a lover, but failed.

However they discovered it, the sisters put knives in the window, so that he was injured. He said that she must search for him to find him, which would wear out three pairs of iron shoes, and three iron staves. He did not return. She set out to find him.

She finds a hut with a witch (sometimes referred to as a Baba Yaga), who gives her a gift (such as a silver spinning wheel and a golden spindle), and sends her on to another witch. This witch gives her another gift (such as a silver dish and a golden egg), and sends her on to yet a third witch. This one gives her a third gift (such as a golden embroidery frame and a needle that sewed of itself), and sent her to the castle where Finist was to marry.

In some variants, she found someone trying to wash the blood from Finist's shirt and washed it herself. In all, she managed to trade the witches' gifts to the bride to let her stay a night with Finist. The princess either put a magical pin in his hair to keep him asleep or gave him a sleeping draught; the third night, either Finist is warned not to drink the draught, or the pin falls out. He woke and knew her.

In some variants, he asked the nobles whom he should marry: the woman who had sold him, or the woman who had bought him. They agreed the woman who bought him should have him.

In other variants, she went home to her father. When he and her sisters went to church, she dressed finely and went with Finist, and her sisters came back with stories of the prince and princess who came to church. The third time, her father saw the carriage stopped at his own door, and the daughter had to confess. She married Finist."

Finette Cendron:
"A king and queen lost their kingdom and sold all they had brought with them, until they were poor. The queen resolved that she could make nets, with which the king could catch birds and fish to support them. As for their three daughters, they were useless; the king should take them somewhere and leave them there.

Their youngest, Finette, heard this and went to her fairy godmother. She became tired on the way and sat down to cry. A jennet appeared before her, and she begged it to carry her to her godmother. Her godmother gave her a ball of thread that, if she tied to the house door, would lead her back, and a bag with gold and silver dresses.

The next day, their mother led them off and urged them to go to sleep in a meadow. Then she left. Though her sisters were cruel to her, Finette woke them. The sisters promised her many things if she would lead them, and they made their way back. Their mother pretended she had left to get something else. Her sisters blamed Finette, gave her nothing they had promised, and beat her. The queen resolved to lead them away further, so Finette visited her godmother again. Her godmother told her this time to bring a sack of ashes and use it to make footprints, but she should not bring her sisters back, and she would never see her godmother again if she did. The queen led them off, her sisters bewailed their fate, and Finette had pity on them. The king and queen plotted for a third time, and the middle sister said they could leave peas for their path, but Finette brought her jewelry and the bag of clothing instead. When the queen abandoned them, pigeons had eaten their peas, and they could not return.

Finette found an acorn and refused to let them eat it; instead, they planted it. They ate cabbages and lettuce. The acorn grew into a tree and Finette climbed it. One day, her sisters looked into her bag and found her jewelry; they stole it and put stones in its place. After this, one day Finette saw from the tree a dazzling castle. Her sisters stole her clothing and jewelry and left her in rags when they went to it. A hideous and enormous old woman told them that it was an ogre's castle. She told them she would let them live a few days; they tried to flee but she caught them. The ogre returned, and she hid them so she could eat them herself. He smelled them, and she persuaded him to keep them to look after the castle, so she could eat them while he was gone. While they were at work, Finette tricked the ogre into the oven and burned him to cinders. Then she persuaded the ogress that if she let them dress her and do her hair, she would soon find a noble husband. While she was doing the hair, she cut off the ogress's head.

Her sisters dressed themselves in the treasures of the castle and, so they might find husbands, went off to show themselves in the nearest town, threatening to beat her if the castle was not perfectly kept. They came back with tales of dancing with the king's son and kept going and leaving her behind. One day, Finette found an old key, and it proved to be gold and to open a chest full of beautiful clothing. When her sisters left, she dressed herself and followed to the ball, where she called herself Cendron and everyone paid court to her.

For many days, this went on; the chest always produced new clothing. But one day, Finette left in a hurry because she had to get back before her sisters, and she left behind a red velvet slipper, embroidered with pearls. The king's oldest son found it and fell ill. No doctor could cure him. He said he had fallen in love with the woman whose shoe it was, so they ordered all the women to appear and try it on. Her sisters went, but Finette did not know the way. She dressed herself and found the jennet at her door again. She rode past her sisters, splashing them with mud. When she put on the slipper, the prince wanted to marry her, but Finette insisted that the king, who was the one who had conquered her parents' kingdom, restore it to them, first. They agreed. She married off her sisters and sent back to the jennet with gifts for her fairy godmother."

The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa:
"A royal huntsman found a feather of the firebird and, though his horse warned him against it, picked it up. The king demanded that he bring him the bird. The huntsman went to his horse, who told him to demand that measures of corn be spread over the fields. He did, and the firebird came to eat and was caught. He brought it to the king, who said that because he had done that, now he must bring him Princess Vasilisa to be his bride. The horse had him demand food and drink for the journey, and a tent with a golden top. With it, they set out to a lake where the princess was rowing. He set up the tent and set out the food. The princess came and ate, and drinking foreign wine, she became drunk and slept. He carried her off.

Princess Vasilisa refused to marry without her wedding gown, from the bottom of the sea. The king sent the huntsman for it. He rode the horse to the sea, where the horse found a great crab and threatened to crush it. The crab asked the horse to spare it and summoned all the crabs to fetch the wedding gown.

Princess Vasilisa refused to marry without the king ordering the huntsman to bathe in boiling water. The huntsman went to his horse, who charmed his body. He bathed in the boiling water and became handsome. The king went to bathe in the same water, and died. The people took the huntsman as king instead, and he married the princess."