I'm not sure that the term "Fairy Tales" most accurately defines the texts that follow the title. But what do you want to do when the plots neatly fit into inter-genre gaps, and both genres renounce them, like Esau from his birthright? Therefore, let there be "Fairy Tales". These little things were written at different times and for a variety of reasons. “The Princess,” which opens this collection, I wrote many years ago. “Cassandra” is also several years old and was written as a prose version of the play of the same name. But “The Tale of the Tailor and the Mouse King” originally appeared as an embedded story from the story “Half an hour before the End of the World.” All other tales are completely independent and, with the exception of “The Age for Boars,” were written specifically for this collection.