Fairy tales are extremely important in the development of any child. They teach him certain values, exercise his imagination and instill in him a love of books and reading. Still, beyond such classics like “Little Red Riding Hood” and the more popular tales of the Grimm brothers, there are a few very interesting stories that have escaped the public’s attention. In order to correct this, we have made a list with 10 relatively unknown fairy tales.

10. “Verde Prato” by Giambattista Basile

Nella is a stunningly beautiful princess who is in love and is having an affair with a prince that is living in a castle near her. To shorten the time it takes for the prince to get to her, and also to keep the affair secret, the two lovers build a glass tunnel between the two castles. One day, the princess’ evil sisters damage the tunnel and the prince injures himself in the broken glass, while running to his lover. Since the glass was enchanted, the wounds could not be healed using mundane treatments. While searching for a cure in the forest, Nella overheard two Ogres talking about how the only thing that could cure the prince is the fat from their bodies. The princess then tricks one of the Ogres and kills him in order to extract his fat. She then runs to the prince, heals him, marries him aaaaannnd… burns her sisters alive. The end.

9. “The Flea” by Giambattista Basile

A king feeds a flea with his own blood until the insect reaches the size of a sheep. The king then takes the fleas’ pelt and promises his daughter in marriage to anyone who can guess what the origin of the strange animal skin is. Unfortunately for his daughter, an old ogre recognizes the smell of the flea and wins the contest. The princess is horrified to see that her new home is made of human skeletons and her new husband expects her to eventually get accustomed to eating human flesh. One day, an old woman hears her cry and sends her seven sons to save her from the Ogre. Finally, the Ogre is defeated and the princess returns to her father.

8. “The Wonderful Birch” by Andrew Lang

One day, a woman encounters an evil witch while searching for one of her lost sheep. The witch transforms the woman into a sheep and steals her appearance. She then proceeds returning to the woman’s house, where she lived with her husband and her daughter, and convinces the husband to slay the sheep. The mother is killed and eaten, but her daughter, knowing who she is, buries her under the birch tree. After some time, the king organizes a festival which the daughter attends with the help of her mother’s spirit. During the celebration, the prince falls in love with the daughter despite the witch’s plans to make him marry her ugly daughter. The two live happily after they escape the witch’s clutches.

7. “Faithful Johannes” by the brothers Grimm

A young king falls madly in love with the image of a princess, seen by him in a painting, and sends his faithful servant, Johannes, to kidnap her. After successfully kidnapping the princess, Johannes overheard three ravens talking about three misfortunes that will befall the young king if three particular rituals are not performed without the prophesies being revealed to him. The final ritual involves taking three drops of blood form the princess’ left breast which causes the king to condemn Johannes to death, thinking that he was fondling the new queen’s breasts. Faced with certain death, Johannes tells the king about the rituals and immediately turns to stone. After several years, the statue of Johannes tells the king that he can be brought to life if he kills his two children, which the king does. His old servant then returns to life and places the heads of each child back on their bodies, bringing them back to life.

6. “The Dog and the Sparrow” by the brothers Grimm

A starving dog runs away from his master and meets a sparrow, which soon becomes his friend.  The sparrow helps feed the dog and watches over him, but one faithful day, a man driving a wagon crushes the dog under its wheels. The grieving sparrow swears to avenge his friend and attacks the man’s horses. In his attempt to scare the sparrow, the man accidentally kills the poor beasts. The sparrow then flies around the man’s house causing the man to destroy it in a similar fashion. Finally, when the man eats the sparrow in a fit of rage, the sparrow pokes the man’s internal organs. He then tells his wife to kill the sparrow while in his mouth, but the bird flies away and the wife decapitates her own husband.