My favorite story from this second half was "The Headless Princess". I noticed the title almost immediately, because "The Headless Princess" would definitely make you look twice, and the whole ended up being really good.
There was a priest who had a son, and the son went every day to reading and writing lessons. He would pass by the palace on his walk home, and one day he saw the princess getting ready for bed. The way she got ready for bed, however, was very strange. She would take off her head, wash it, braid her hair, then put her head back on. The little boy, of course, was in awe about seeing the princess taking off her head.
He decided to tell everyone about what he had seen, and shortly after, the princess became incredibly ill. She told her father that in the event that she should die to make sure that the priest's son read the psalter over her for three nights. Sadly, the princess died and her father sent for the priest. He asked if he had a son, and when the priest said yes, he explained that his son would be reading the psalter over the princess.
The boy returned to his lessons the next day and complained to his teacher that he thought he was in a lot of trouble because he had to read the psalms over the princess who he believed was a witch. The old woman explained how he could trap and kill the witch should she try to attack him.
Sure enough, when he went to read over her body, she came out of the coffin, but couldn't do anything because he had done exactly what his teacher had told him to do.
The princess ended up face down in her coffin, her father found her and demanded to know what happened. The boy explained everything and the king had his daughter be disposed of properly to get rid of the witch, and rewarded the boy with a lot of money and land.
I thought this story was really mysterious and interesting to read.
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