Fairy Tales about Weaving and Spinning

King Thrushbeard
The daughter of the king was beautiful but proud. She understood nothing about cooking or fire-making. She tried to spin but cut her fingers. She tried to weave baskets but broke the twigs. She had to become a kitchen-maid to learn about true love.

Old Mother Hubbard
The old nursery rhyme of Old Mother Hubbard. "When she came back the dog was spinning. The reel when 'twas done, was wove into a shirt, Which served to protect him from weather and dirt."

Pop Goes the Weasel
Is this a spinning song?

Rumpelstilskin
A miller's daughter is asked to spin straw into gold for the king or else she dies. Rumpelstilskin helps her out of her dilemma, in exchange for her first-born child.

The Emperor's New Clothes
There was once an emperor who was very vain. He hired new weavers to weave him the best and finest of cloth, but the weavers taught him an important lesson.

The Good Housewife and her Night Helpers
Inary asks for help spinning & weaving, and gets more than she bargained for.

The Good Housewife and Her Night Helpers
Inary worked hard into the night spinning and weaving. She asks for help, but gets more than she bargained for.

The Goose-girl at the Well
An old spinster teaches a foolish king about love and purity of heart.

The Happy Husband
While I go a howing, and mowing each morn; Then hey the little spinning wheel, Merrily round do's reel.

The Lady of Shallot
There she weaves by night and day. A magic web with colors gay...She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shallot.

The Lazy Spinner
If you really don't like to spin, or do housework, here's some clever ways to get out of it.

The Princess of Sleeping Wood
Beware of sharp spindles - another version of Sleeping Beauty.

The Silkworm and Spider
A silkworm and spider have a competition to see who is the better worker?

The Three Spinners
Does spinning cause repetitive stress injury? Or did the spinners find a way to turn a disability into an asset?

The Twelve Huntsmen
A Brother's Grimm tale of true love.

Twenty-third Evening
A little boy sits by his mother's side as she spins, watching the murmuring spindle and the revolving wheel, and thinks of many things.

More about Spinning

Mythology

More Fairy Tales and Fables