Once upon a time… a fox made friends with a stork and decided to invite her to lunch. While he was wondering what to serve for meal, he thought he'd play a trick on the bird. So he prepared a tasty soup and poured it into two flat plates.

In days gone by there was a King who had three sons. When his sons came of age the King called them to him and said, "My dear lads, I want you to get married so that I may see your little ones, my grand-children, before I die."

Once upon a time, in a land far far away lived a very poor couple in a shack not far from the edge of the sea. Their only means of food was the fish that the old man caught in the sea. One morning, as was his usual routine, the fisherman took his fishing net down to the sea. But on this day something unusual happened, on this day the fisherman caught the Golden Fish. The Golden Fish begged for the fisherman to spare his life, and offered in return to grant the fisherman any wish he would like. But the kindhearted fisherman asked for nothing, and returned the Golden Fish to the sea. However, the fisherman's wife was not so kindhearted, she became irate when he related the story to her, and sent him back to the sea to catch the Golden Fish and to wish for a loaf of bread. The fisherman did as he was told, he caught the fish and wished for a loaf of bread. When he returned home he found a fresh baked loaf of bread on the table.

Many, many years ago there was a great magician, Poloza, who was known for as keeper of the Ural mountains ' treasures. This magician had hundreds of guards who watched over all his gold, silver, and jewels he had. But living among such valuable possession, he treasured most of all his daughter the Golden Hair Girl, whom Poloza was guarding more than all his material riches.

Once upon a time in a far away land a merchant was preparing to set out on a long journey. This merchant had three daughters, and he asked all of them what they would like as gifts for themselves when he returned from his voyage. The first daughter requested a golden crown, and the second one wanted a crystal mirror. The third daughter asked only for "the little scarlet flower."

Once upon a time in a land far, far away an evil queen sat with her magic mirror in her hand. She was appalled when this mirror revealed to her that she was no longer the most beautiful in all the land, but that a young princess was instead.

Once upon a time... a woodcutter lived happily with his wife in a pretty little log cabin in the middle of a thick forest. Each morning he set off singing to work, and when he came home in the evening, a plate of hot steaming soup was always waiting for him.

Once upon a time...in the immense Russian steppe, lay a little village where nearly all the inhabitants bred horses. It was the month of October, when a big livestock market was held yearly in the main town. Two brothers, one rich and the other one poor, set off for market. The rich man rode a stallion, and the poor brother a young mare.

Once upon a time in a far away land Tsar Saltan sat listening to the future plans of three sisters. One of these sisters said that she wanted to give birth to a great warrior, and employ the other two sisters in her charge. Tsar Saltan decided to marry this sister, making the other two sisters become very jealous. These two women decided to do everything they could to make the married sister's life unhappy.

There are good people in the world and some who are not so good. There are also people who are shameless in their wickedness.

Wee Little Havroshechka had the bad luck to fall in with such as these. She was an orphan and these people took her in and brought her up, only to make her work till she couldn't stand. She wove and spun and did the housework and had to answer for everyth ing.