Your 13-year-old apprentice tells you he had an important dream last night, then refuses to tell you what it was about?

Chase him through the streets with a whip!

You're a king and you see this young boy being chased by a man with a whip?

Find out the story, then have the boy taken back to your castle where you treat him to the lap of luxury for three weeks so you can ask him to tell you about this incredible dream

The boy insists that he cannot reveal what he dreamed of until it comes true?

Continue asking him for seven years, then finally lose your patience and subject him to the Cask of Admontillado treatment

Don't worry, the princess will have fallen in love with the boy by then and thus bribe the bricklayer into leaving a space so she can pass food and water to the boy. For another seven years.

We politely ignore the practical matters of hygiene in fairy tale land.

Some shenanigans with a persistent suitor and averted doom for the kingdom later, the man is finally set free and is able to marry the princess (which was what had happened in his dream 14 years ago).

Oh, this other one features a real rarity: a protagonist with the ability to see through basic disguises!

A young commoner wins a ludicrously simple challenge for the princess's hand in marriage. Her father is opposed to this and orders him to keep watch over his many rabbits, with the price being the young man's head if even one should turn up missing.

Fortunately, a stock fairy tale old woman turns up to give him a magic whistle that will call all the rabbits to his side.

The king has the princess dress as a poor girl and beg the young man to give her a rabbit. He agrees, in exchange for a kiss.

He uses the whistle to call the rabbit back to him, no harm done.

The next day, the king disguises himself and tries to beg a rabbit off the young man.

"Sure, if you kiss a donkey's tail."

Nice to see a protagonist be able to pull that sort of thing on the people threatening to murder him.