• Cover
• Once Told: An Anthology of World Folklore
• Publication Information
• Chapter 1: Conquests, Tests, and Quests
• East of the Sun and West of the Moon
• The Song of Hiawatha
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The Three Delicate Wives of King Virtue
• Juan and Clotilde
• The King's Treasure
• Lady Godiva
• The Three Billy Goats Gruff
• The Goose Girl
• The Story of Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp
• Additional Readings: Conquests, Tests, and Quests
• Chapter 2: Tricks and Tricksters
• The Valiant Little Tailor
• Puss in Boots
• Peik
• Big Peter and Little Peter
• The Emperor’s New Clothes
• The Fox and the Crow
• How the Tortoise Provoked a Contest of Strength Between the Tapir and Whale
• Old Nick and the Girl
• Hymn to Hermes
• The Simpleton and the Sharper
• Additional Readings: Tricks and Tricksters
• Chapter 3: Heroes and Heroines
• Niagara
• Li Chi Slays the Serpent
• Molly Whuppie and the Double-Faced Giant
• The Three Golden Hairs: The Story of a Charcoal Burner’s Son Who Married a Princess
• Theseus and the Minotaur
• Orpheus
• Perseus the Hero
• Additional Readings: Heroes and Heroines
• Chapter 4: Taboo
• Blue Beard
• Little Snow-White
• The Fisher-Boy Urashima
• Rapunzel
• The Fairy Dwelling on Selana Moore
• The Twelve Brothers
• Our Lady's Child
• How the Devil Married Three Sisters
• Hymn to Demeter
• The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
• Additional Readings: Taboo
• Chapter 5: Shapeshifters
• The Frog-Prince
• The Blacksmith’s Wife of Yarrowfoot
• The She-Wolf
• The Mermaid Wife
• The Princess Peony
• The Magician and his Pupil
• The Seven Iron Slippers
• How Uther Pendragon made war on the duke of Cornwall, and how by the mean of Merlin he lay by the duchess and gat Arthur
• The Woman Who Humored Her Lover at Her Husband’s Expense
• The Second Kalandar’s Tale
• Additional Readings: Shapeshifters
• Chapter 6: Magic and Curses
• The Snow, The Crow, and The Blood
• The Charcoal-maker who Became King
• The Black School
• The Flying Dutchman
• The Book of Magic
• Briar Rose
• The Shoemaker and the Elves
• The Crystal Ball
• Cinderilla; or The Little Glass Slipper
• The Tale of the Trader and Jinni
• Additional Readings: Magic and Curses
• Chapter 7: The Dead
• Orpheus and Eurydice
• The Story of the Messenger from Heaven
• A Story from the Time of the Romans
• A Ghost Story
• Dividing Souls
• Maku Mawu and Maku Fia or "I Will Die God's Death" and "I Will Die the King's Death"
• The White Butterfly
• The Old Woman Who Never Dies
• The Galloping Hessian
• Sila Tsarevich and Ivashka with the White Smock
• Fair Margaret and Sweet William
• The Suffolk Miracle
• Additional Readings: The Dead
• Chapter 8: Animals and Creatures of the Other World
• The Monster Mosquitoe
• Miss Britton’s Poker
• Bruce and the Spider
• The Griffin and the Minor Canon
• Beauty and the Beast
• The White Cat
• The Farmer and the Devil on Island of the Popefigs
• How the Fairies Worked Magic
• Three Leprechauns
• The Little Mermaid
• The Vampire Cat
• The Fourth Voyage of Sinbad
• Additional Readings: Animals and Creatures of the Other World
• Bibliography
• Conquests, Tests, and Quests
• Tricks and Tricksters
• Heroes and Heroines
• Taboo
• Shapeshifters
• Magic and Curses
• The Dead
• Animals and Creatures of the Other World

How Uther Pendragon made war on the duke of Cornwall, and how by the mean of Merlin he lay by the duchess and gat Arthur

Sir Thomas Mallory

Then Ulfius was glad, and rode on more than a pace till that he came to King Uther Pendragon, and told him he had met with Merlin. Where is he? said the king. Sir, said Ulfius, he will not dwell long. Therewithal Ulfius was ware where Merlin stood at the porch of the pavilion's door. And then Merlin was bound to come to the king. When King Uther saw him, he said he was welcome. Sir, said Merlin, I know all your heart every deal; so ye will be sworn unto me as ye be a true king anointed, to fulfil my desire, ye shall have your desire. Then the king was sworn upon the Four Evangelists. Sir, said Merlin, this is my desire: the first night that ye shall lie by Igraine ye shall get a child on her, and when that is born, that it shall be delivered to me for to nourish there as I will have it; for it shall be your worship, and the child's avail, as mickle as the child is worth. I will well, said the king, as thou wilt have it. Now make you ready, said Merlin, this night ye shall lie with Igraine in the castle of Tintagil; and ye shall be like the duke her husband, Ulfius shall be like Sir Brastias, a knight of the duke's, and I will be like a knight that hight Sir Jordanus, a knight of the duke's. But wait ye make not many questions with her nor her men, but say ye are diseased, and so hie you to bed, and rise not on the morn till I come to you, for the castle of Tintagil is but ten miles hence; so this was done as they devised. But the duke of Tintagil espied how the king rode from the siege of Terrabil, and therefore that night he issued out of the castle at a postern for to have distressed the king's host. And so, through his own issue, the duke himself was slain or ever the king came at the castle of Tintagil.

Uther Pendragon by Howard Pyle, 1903

So after the death of the duke, King Uther lay with Igraine more than three hours after his death, and begat on her that night Arthur, and on day came Merlin to the king, and bade him make him ready, and so he kissed the lady Igraine and departed in all haste. But when the lady heard tell of the duke her husband, and by all record he was dead or ever King Uther came to her, then she marvelled who that might be that lay with her in likeness of her lord; so she mourned privily and held her peace. Then all the barons by one assent prayed the king of accord betwixt the lady Igraine and him; the king gave them leave, for fain would he have been accorded with her. So the king put all the trust in Ulfius to entreat between them, so by the entreaty at the last the king and she met together. Now will we do well, said Ulfius, our king is a lusty knight and wifeless, and my lady Igraine is a passing fair lady; it were great joy unto us all, an it might please the king to make her his queen. Unto that they all well accorded and moved it to the king. And anon, like a lusty knight, he assented thereto with good will, and so in all haste they were married in a morning with great mirth and joy.

And King Lot of Lothian and of Orkney then wedded Margawse that was Gawaine's mother, and King Nentres of the land of Garlot wedded Elaine. All this was done at the request of King Uther. And the third sister Morgan le Fay was put to school in a nunnery, and there she learned so much that she was a great clerk of necromancy. And after she was wedded to King Uriens of the land of Gore, that was Sir Ewain's le Blanchemain's father.