The Storyteller
A variety of European folk tales are retold in nine new stories. A soldier captures Death in a magic sack. A fearless young man sets out to learn to shudder. A boy with a destiny that frightens a tyrant is sent on an impossible task that will see him wed the Princess, or dead. A storyteller must spin tales to stay alive. A woman bears a hedgehog-child who grows up to live alone in a castle until he does a King a favor and gets the Princess' hand in return. A Princess must keep silent while she works to free her brothers from an evil spell. A Princess runs away from wedding her father and disguises herself as an ugly forest creature. A young boy must overcome a heartless giant. A Princess searches the Earth for her stolen bridegroom.
- 1987-1989
- 1 season
- HBO
- Action & Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Horror
- TV-Y7
A variety of European folk tales are retold in nine new stories. A soldier captures Death in a magic sack. A fearless young man sets out to learn to shudder. A boy with a destiny that frightens a tyrant is sent on an impossible task that will see him wed the Princess, or dead. A storyteller must spin tales to stay alive. A woman bears a hedgehog-child who grows up to live alone in a castle until he does a King a favor and gets the Princess' hand in return. A Princess must keep silent while she works to free her brothers from an evil spell. A Princess runs away from wedding her father and disguises herself as an ugly forest creature. A young boy must overcome a heartless giant. A Princess searches the Earth for her stolen bridegroom.
Season 1 Episode Guide
9 Episodes 1987 - 1988
Episode 1
Hans My Hedgehog
Sat, Jan 31, 1987 24 mins
A farmer's wife wishes to have a child so badly she doesn't care what it looks like. As if by a miracle, she does get pregnant, but the child Hans looks like a cross between a human and a hedgehog. Nicknamed 'Grovelhog' by the other children and unaccepted by his father, Hans asks for a saddle for his giant chicken and leaves. Twenty years later a king who has lost his way stumbles upon the Grovelhog's castle. The creature helps the king find his way home, but demands to receive something in return: the first thing that greets the king on his way home.
Episode 2
Fearnot
Mon, Oct 26, 1987 24 mins
A young man named Fearnot sets out on a quest to learn how to shiver in fright. He meets a traveling tinker called McKay who vows to lead the boy to frightening places. Still, nothing on their path manages to put the shivers into Fearnot, no matter how frightening it gets.
Episode 3
A Story Short
Fri, Jan 22, 1988 24 mins
The Storyteller recounts a time in his life when he came upon a castle as a beggar and talked himself into a commission to tell the King a story each night for a year. On the last very day he couldn't come up with a story, and would have been boiled alive in oil for breaking the deal, if it weren't for the timely arrival of a mysterious beggar.
Episode 4
The Luck Child
Sat, Apr 16, 1988 24 mins
When a cruel, cold-hearted king hears about the birth of a luck child prophesied to one day rule in his stead, he seeks out the child and tries to get rid of him, but luck is with the baby and against the king. Seventeen years later when the ruler tries once more to sentence the boy to certain death, he ends up becoming his son-in-law and heir to the throne instead. Now the king has just one more card to play: in order for 'Lucky' to earn the hand of the princess in marriage, he must bring back the golden feather from the Griffin's back and venture to the creature's island - a place from where no one has yet returned.
Episode 5
The Soldier and Death
Fri, Apr 28, 1989 24 mins
An honest soldier receives a ruby whistle, a comparable dance, an unbeatable deck of cards, and a magic sack for being kind to three beggars. He defeats a bunch of devils by playing cards and catches them in his sack when they refuse to pay up. Years later, the last devil pays his debt by showing the soldier a way to tell if sick people have a chance of recovering or not. After a successful career as a miracle doctor, the soldier manages to trick Death himself and trap him in his sack. From then on nobody died. But people are not meant to live forever, so soon tired old men and women beg the soldier to set Death free and put things right. However, Death refuses to take the soldier, dooming him to roam the Earth forever.
Episode 6
The Three Ravens
Mon, Dec 1, 1997 24 mins
A witch has set her eyes on the widower King and manages to turn his three young sons into ravens. The king's daughter escapes the curse and vows to remain silent for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days in order to break the spell, but things become increasingly difficult when she falls in love with a prince whose new stepmother is the same witch that ruined her entire family.
Episode 7
Sapsorrow
Sun, Jul 30, 1989 24 mins
A king with three grown daughters is looking to find a new wife, and proclaims to marry whomever fits the original queen's ring. When his daughter Sapsorrow puts on the ring by mistake, she plans to make her escape from the castle with help from her animal friends. Disguised as a dirty, ragged thing, she sets to work in another castle where she falls for a handsome prince. Now if only he can see her beauty beneath her Scraggletag appearance.
Episode 8
The Heartless Giant
Fri, Apr 14, 1989 24 mins
Young Prince Leo learns about a heartless giant imprisoned long ago by his father the King somewhere in his castle. The boy tries to befriend the giant, but the giant tricks Leo into setting him free. The other princes set out to recapture the giant but are turned to stone instead. Ridden by guilt, Leo decides to seek out the giant's heart instead.
Episode 9
The True Bride
Sun, Jul 23, 1989 24 mins
Anja has been forced to work for a nasty troll all her life. When her master's tasks become increasingly difficult, a magical white lion appears out of nowhere to help her out. After being rid of the troll, Anja finds true love in the form of a gardener, but just before they can get married, her sweetheart is enchanted by none other than the Troll's daughter, the Trollop.
