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Grandfather Pavel and the Priceless Pebble

by Ruth Manning-Sanders

Read the Book online: Grandfather Pavel and the Priceless Pebble

This week in the Tales from the Library Book Club we will be reading  the short fairy tale 'Grandfather Pavel and the Priceless Pebble' by Ruth Manning-Sanders. Aparently this story is a Bulgarian folk and fairy tale, i however struggled upon research to find the exact original source of this story that inspired Manning-Sanders interpritation. Most Bulgarian folk tales are however generally funny and feature unexpected plot twists. They are loved by both children and adults. (much like most fairy tales)

Here is an unrelated but interesting Bulgarian folk tale:

Krali Marko is a favorite Bulgarian folklore character known for his power and kindness. He always helps the poor, punishes the evil and kills dragons. There are many folk tales about his strength, here is one of them.

Krali Marko was so overconfident of his strength, that he said “I’m so strong that if the Earth had a handle, I would have lifted it”.

God heard his words and thought he was too confident for a human being. So, to challenge his statement, he sent him a stone weighing as much as the Earth. When Krali Marko saw the stone on the road, he got angry that there was an obstacle in his way. He grabbed the stone and threw it away.

When God saw Krali Marko’s reaction he wisely decided to take away half of his power. Since then Krali Marko could do anything but lift the Earth.

Here is another: 

Once Hitar Petar went to the market without any money. He saw a soup vendor selling delicious soup. As he didn’t have money with him, Hitar Petar took a piece of bread out of his pocket and held it in the tasty smelling steam coming out of the soup pot. After a while, the bread was well flavored and Hitar Petar ate it. Seeing this, the vendor asked Hitar Petar to pay for the food.

“But I just held my bread over the steam, I won’t pay” said Hitar Petar.

“If you won’t pay, then you deserve to be beaten with a stick” said the vendor.

“No problem. But if I flavored the bread using your steam, then you should beat only my shadow” said Hitar Petar

Everyone at the market started laughing at the greedy vendor.

About the author

Ruth Manning-Sanders (21 August 1886 – 12 October 1988) was a Welsh-born English poet and author, well known for a series of children's books in which she collected and related fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. Ruth Vernon Manning was the youngest of three daughters of John Manning, an English Unitarian minister. She was born in Swansea, Wales, but the family moved to Cheshire when she was three.

"And so you will find, as you read these stories, that they all have one thing in common. Though they come from many different countries, and were told long, long ago by simple people separated that they may not even have known of each other's existence, yet the stories these people told are all alike in this they every one have a happy ending." Ruth Manning-Sanders

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