The framing device had an old storyteller (John Hurt) sitting by a fire telling each tale to both the viewers and to his talking dog (a realistic looking puppet of a brown and blonde Pudelpointer performed and voiced by Brian Henson) who acted as the voice of the viewers, and was written in a language and traditional style in keeping with old folk tales.

"The Heartless Giant", "The Soldier and Death", "The True Bride", and "Sapsorrow" first aired (in that order) in the US as part of The Jim Henson Hour on NBC, the first two in April 1989, the latter two in July 1989.

Upon arriving at an abandoned castle overrun with small devils, he plays them in a game of cards, winning 40 barrels of gold, and when they try to kill him, he captures them in the sack only letting them go when they promise to never return.

Quickly becoming rich and famous because he removed the devils from a palace that is owned by the Tzar, his luck runs short when his son becomes deathly ill.

This episode stars Reece Dinsdale as Fearnot, Gabrielle Anwar as his sweetheart, Willie Ross as the Tinker, Mr. McKoy, and Michael Cuckson as the Pond Sprite.

Recognizing him as the Luck Child after hearing the elderly couple's tale, the King promptly hands the young man a proclamation to be delivered to his kingdom.

The Little Man tells Lucky to hide, drugs the Griffin with his tampered goulash, plucks the golden feather for the boy, and persuades the creature to reveal the solution to the ferryman's lament.

As Lucky escapes while the Griffin sleeps, the youth takes a chest full of treasure on the shore of the island and returns triumphant.

This episode stars Steven Mackintosh as the Luck Child, Philip Jackson as the King, Cathryn Bradshaw as the Princess, Pauline Moran as the Queen, Anthony O'Donnell as the Little Man, Robert Eddison as the Cursed Ferryman, and George Little as the voice of the Griffin (which is operated by Alistair Fullarton and Brian Henson).

As a compromise, the King promises to give the StoryTeller a gold crown for each story he tells for each day of the year - and to boil him if he fails.

The other actors include Brenda Blethyn as the StoryTeller's wife, Bryan Pringle as the cook, Richard Vernon as the King, and John Kavanagh as the Beggar.

He comes into the chamber with his bagpipes and takes a seat by the fire and begins to play the same beautiful music that saved the king a year prior.

From an early German folk tale, this is a variant on "Allerleirauh", as well as containing elements of Donkeyskin and the Cinderella story recorded by the brothers Grimm.

This episode stars Alison Doody as Sapsorrow, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders as her bad sisters, Geoffrey Bayldon as the King, and James Wilby as the Prince.

Once found, Leo decides to find the giant's heart, but this is no easy task - it sits in an egg in a duck in a well in a church in a lake in a mountain far away.

This episode stars Elliott Spiers as Prince Leo, Nicholas Selby as the King, Peter Marinker as the voice of the wolf, and Frederick Warder as the giant.

When the Trollop catches up to the pair at the castle, she is misled by what she thinks is the scent of the couple and sounds of their voices, and falls to her death the same bottomless room that killed her father the troll.

The Thought Lion is operated by David Greenaway, Robert Tygner, and Mak Wilson while the Troll and Trollop are performed by Frederick Warder.

Written by Nigel Williams, the spin-off series follows a new storyteller recounting tales from Greek mythology, while his dog interjects with commentary and questions.

Reclaiming his rightful place as the son of King Aegeus, Theseus insisted on travelling to Crete to kill the dreaded Minotaur.

Ariadne, Minos' daughter, fell in love with Theseus and helped him get out of the Labyrinth by giving him a ball of thread allowing him to retrace his path.

He also failed to fly white sails on his return journey due to using it to wrap the Minotaur's head, thus causing his father to throw himself into the Aegean Sea which was since named after him.

This episode stars David Morrissey as Theseus, Steve Varnom as the Minotaur, Maggie O'Neill as Ariadne, Lindsay Duncan as Medea, and Amanda Burton as Aithra.

The Storyteller describes Medusa as having terrible claws, wings of brass, a breath as foul as corpses, poisonous snakes for hair, and can turn anyone who looks at her to stone.

After coming of age, the young hero vowed to bring back the head of Medusa in order to stop the evil King Polydectes from marrying his mother.

His love for her was so strong that when she perished from a poisoned snake bite when being chased by the satyr Aristaeus (who is depicted as Pan's brother in this show), Orpheus travelled down to the Underworld to plead to Hades for her return.

The episode stars Art Malik as Orpheus, Gina Bellman as Eurydice, Jesse Birdsall as Aristaeus, Robert Stephens as Hades, and Mel Martin as Persephone.

He mentions about how Daedalus built the labyrinth that he and the StoryTeller's Dog are in, ships that can sail under the sea, fireworks which can knock down a wall, lenses that set together can as far as the stars, and fell from grace a broken man where he made from clay a sculpture of a child without wings which he had no control over.

The other version (ISBN 0-679-45311-3, Random House) has full page color hand illustrations by Darcy May, depicting the stories alongside the text.

The 2024-25 anthology series Jim Henson Presents included The Storyteller as one of the featured properties, with an adaptation of The Tortoise and the Birds in the second issue.