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European Folktales - Page 3

At Old Folktales we collect and share traditional folktales from every corner of Europe, including: United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Malta, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, and Vatican City. These stories include: Witch tales, fairy legends, and moral parables. Heroic knights, forest spirits, and clever peasants. Slavic myths, Celtic fables, and Nordic trickster tales

A black rooster crows in a Balkan village square at sunrise, as villagers watch with awe and fear.

The Black Rooster of the Balkans

by Oyebode Ayoola

August 3, 2025

European Folktales

Once, in a mountain village where wolves howled louder than the church bell, there lived an old widow named Baba Velka. Her only companion was the black rooster, a sleek, sharp-eyed, and oddly watchful one. She called him Karakalak, and he never crowed at dawn like other roosters. He crowed only when something was about to change. The villagers whispered.

European Folktales

The Mill That Ground Desires

In the fjord-side village of Hrafnsfjörður, there stood an old mill no one dared to claim. It was said to grind not wheat nor barley, but whatever the heart most desired.Its stone walls leaned like a tired sailor, its wheel turned without water, and on still nights, a low humming spilled