East of the Sun and West of the Moon

A fairy tale from The Blue Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang

This fairy tale comes from Norwegian folklore, collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and included by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book (1889). The story blends a quest for lost love with trials of cleverness and courage, and has echoes of the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. It remains one of the most beloved of all European fairy tales because it shows a heroine who makes a mistake, loses everything, and then wins it back through her own bravery and persistence. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band

Green · Independent readers, early, about 8 to 10

Length

long · about 865 words in 6 sections · 3 pictures

Source

The Blue Fairy Book, Andrew Lang · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.