History Series / TheStoryteller

*** And she [[spoiler:speaks too soon]] by three minutes, [[spoiler:so her youngest brother keeps a wing]].

One of JimHenson's hidden gems, ''The Storyteller'' featured an enigmatic TricksterMentor and his pet dog, sharing European folk tales with the audience. Wittily told with clever narration and artful animatronics, this short-lived series remains the best-kept secret of Henson's history.

* RetroactiveRecognition: A non-acting example -- the script writer for the series was Anthony Mingella, then just some guy but now famous as a writer and director of films including ''TrulyMadlyDeeply'', ''TheEnglishPatient'', ''TheTalentedMrRipley'' and ''ColdMountain''

* UnnecessaryMakeover: YMMV, but Anja (from "The True Bride") looked better with straight blonde hair, than she does with the curly red mop she gets when she becomes a princess.

** "The True Bride" and "Hans, My Hedgehog" both are based on their respective stories with references to "East of the Sun and West of the Moon", the former for its use of trolls, and the second for the heroine's search for her husband (the original story is basically a good girl/bad girl story).

** Technically, karma is at play here; his good deeds notwithstanding, the soldier does keep a devil as a servant for a while and uses power received from it to essentially become a con artist, and upsets the natural order by trapping Death, which is why he is not allowed into heaven. On the other hand, his eternal life is probably still preferable to hell.
*** He isn't a con artist. He uses magic to heal people. It's just that some people can't be healed.

** [[CursedWithAwesome On the other hand]], he gets eternal life

* OffingTheOffspring: The Heroine in "The Seven Ravens" is accused of doing this

** In "The Three Ravens", the princess is forbidden to speak for three years, three months, three weeks and three days to free her brothers from a curse. This becomes a lot more difficult when she is accused of murdering her own children...

* In "The Three Ravens", the princess is unable to speak for three years, three months, three weeks and three days. This becomes a lot more difficult when she is accused of murdering her own children...

* CompleteMonster: In "The True Bride" the Troll and the Trollop.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Tons of famous British actors have roles ranging from Dawn French to Derek Jacobi.

* TearJerker: All of the {{Downer Ending}}s. The story of Daedelus in particular will ''rip out your soul.''
* TooGoodToLast

* YouNoTakeCandle: The griffon in "The Luck Child".

* HulkSpeak: The Griffon in "The Luck Child". It also shrieks and uses onomatopoeia in an almost comical way. It's interesting to gauge the reaction small children have to it, given that it's speech patterns resemble their own and are vaguely loveable, but the creature itself is still NightmareFuel.

* BreakingTheForthWall: Dog often interjects and interrupts stories that he finds disagreeable. In "Sapsorrow" he even argues with the stepsisters, appearing in the scene alongside them.

* DeathTakesAHoliday: "The Soldier and Death." Although it's not so much taking a holiday as it is being trapped in a sack.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Or sympathy, at least. In "The Luck Child," the king promises Lucky a place in his court, but gives him a letter telling the queen to order his death instead (it was to avoid a prophecy that the boy would replace him). En route to the king's palace, the boy falls into the clutches of a poisoner and forger who finds the letter and is so affronted by the king's plot that he forges a new one telling the queen to marry Lucky to their daughter the princess.

* TheGirlWhoFitsThisSlipper: "Sapsorrow," twice.

* HulkSpeak: The Griffon in " The Luck Child". It also shrieks and uses onomatopoeia in an almost comical way. It's interesting to gauge the reaction small children have to it, given that it's speech patterns resemble their own and are vaguely loveable, but the creature itself is still NightmareFuel.
* KarmicProtection: Whenever there's a good ending, it's because the character is kind to others. The exception is "The Soldier and Death," in which even though the soldier let Death go free and did a number of other kind turns over the course of the story, he is doomed to wander the earth forever, unable to die and denied entry into both heaven and hell. Even then, the Storyteller softens the DownerEnding by assuring his audience that the soldier will be all right.

* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: In "The Soldier and Death." It won't reap him, and neither Heaven nor Hell will take him.

** In "The Soldier and Death," the soldier meets three old men and gives each of them one of his three biscuits; each of them gives him something back, but it's the third man who gives him the magic deck of cards and magic sack that get him through most of the rest of the story.
** In "Sapsorrow," the princess buys time to make her "Straggletag" disguise by requesting three fabulous dresses, then later wears the dresses to three balls to dance with the prince before accidentally leaving her slipper behind.
** In "The True Bride," the lion accomplishes three of the troll's impossible tasks for Anja before killing him, and gives Anja three gifts with which she bargains with the trollop for three nights with her betrothed.

* WonderChild: "Hans My Hedgehog."
* XMeetsY: Some of the stories are combined from others. Obviously, Sapsorrow is Cinderella (ugly sisters, magic slipper, animal friends) meets Donkeyskin (okay, really Allerleirauh, most of the plot from both), and The Three Ravens is "The Six Swans" (most of the plot) and "The Seven Ravens" (the choice of birds.)
** "The True Bride and "Hans, My Hedgehog" both are based on their respective stories with refrences to "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," the former for its use of trolls, and the second for the heroine's search for her husband (the original story is basically a good girl/bad girl story.)
* YouNoTakeCandle: The griffon in "The Luck Child."

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** Technically, karma is at play here. Letting Death go is not exactly a good thing, which is why is not allowed into Heaven. The only reason he is not allowed into Hell is because the demons are trying to get back at him (he conned them to get the sack that caught Death). Anyway, wouldn't living on Earth forever be nicer than going to Hell? So, it more or less justifies itself.

* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: In The Russian Soldier's tale. It won't reap him, and neither Heaven nor Hell will take him.

--> -- OpeningNarration