A collection of original fairy tales stylized as folk tales. Akunin turns to well-known classical plots and characters, creating new stories based on old archetypes. These are not "modernized" fairy tales—they could genuinely be mistaken for folklore. Though, perhaps, with a slightly more philosophical bent than is customary in folk art.
- In the French fairy tale "Bluebeard," a rich and beautiful marchioness has already ruined eight husbands and is getting married again.
- In the Russian fairy tale, one of three sons named Ivanushka Bright-Eyes follows his dying father’s will to go in search of the keys to happiness.
- In the English fairy tale, a king’s triplet daughters are born, and fairies generously bestow beauty, intelligence, and kindness upon the little girls. But no, the princesses did not possess all these virtues at once. The thing is, each of them received only one as a gift...
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