Tricksters. Russian Fairy Tales

In yesterday's post I shared some Devil folktales from western Europe, but there are lots of Devil folktales in eastern Europe too. Remember Pan Twardowski from earlier in the week? That was a Polish story, and for Russian stories, you can start by exploring the astounding collection of folktales by Alexander Afanasyev: Russian Fairy Tales.

It's a big book, almost 700 pages, but the Internet Archive search can help you look for stories about the Devil and his tricks: search for the Devil.

Along with this book of stories from Russia, I wanted to include this very sweet book with a folktale from Romania in which the sneaky Devil manages to get inside Noah's Ark: Noah and the Devil: A Legend of Noah's Ark from Romania by Neil Philip (one of my favorite storytellers; more by Neil Philip).

This story from Romania also appears in Neil Philip's lovely anthology: Fairy Tales of Eastern Europe.

So, jump in and enjoy. You'll find other tricksters too, not just the sneaky Devil!

Russian Fairy Tales

by Alexander Afanasyev

Noah and the Devil:

A Legend of Noah's Ark from Romania

by Neil Philip