Winged Magic: Legends and Stories from Many Lands Concerning Things that Fly

by Barbara Sleigh, John Patience (Illustrator)

A collection of folk tales from around the world concerning creatures that fly.

Genres: Childrens

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1979

About the author

Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh (1906-1982) was an English children's writer and broadcaster. She worked for the BBC Children's Hour and is the author of Carbonel and two sequels: The Kingdom of Carbonel and Carbonel and Calidor.

Reviews

[Capn]

Flying creatures of every kind, from mythical beasts to the humble honeybee, are the theme of this collection of folk tales. Taken from all over the word, Welsh herons and Swedish dragons, Russian swans and African bats, and many, many more feature in these enchanting and entertaining stories.

ISBN 0340265388/9780340265383

Inside cover reads: "This international selection of folk tales about flying creatures results in an unusual and varied anthology. Children will love the simple re-tellings, and the stories lend themselves to being read aloud."

I'd add that 'folk tales about flying creatures' should really have read 'folk tales that feature flying creatures, however peripherally'. They're good tales, though. And truly varied, as it states.

Contents (my notes are prefaced with an asterisk):
Five West Indies *Jamaica, a witch named Five, and Anansi
The Lyre Bird and the Bubble Australia *origin story of the existence of frogs
Prince Shaggy-Legs Sweden *A child-friendly telling of the Princess Thora of Sweden, Ragnar of Denmark, baby dragons, clever armour tale
A Wreath of Wild Roses France *some serious sibling rivalry between sisters, one good, one a greedy guzzler
Small is often Clever Japan *Crab and Wasp are friends, Monkey is the enemy. Revenge.
The Tower of Brass India *a very clever rescue is launched on the back of a flying beetle
The Tale of the Little Half-Chick Spain *I hated this. It's about a conceited deformed chick. And the origins of weather cocks.
The Jackdaw's Skull Hebrides *maybe don't try to give your baby magic powers by feeding it with a cup made from the skull of a jackdaw. Besides being unhygienic, it's bound to go badly.. you're just asking for a prophecy and a curse
Why the Cock Crows China *a dragon vs. a silver-horned cockerel
The Curse of the Black Knight Wales *a heron, Pengwern, Derwyn, Lady Myfanwy, a talking silver fish.
Comatas and the Bees Greece *a goatherd is nearly fatally punished for giving a baby goat from his master's flock to some dancing nymphs
The Swan Maiden Russia *(entitled "Prince Michael and the Swan Maid" when you actually flip to it) Prince Michael gets tired of being a prince and pulls a runner and captures and marries a swan maiden, who is later captured by a witch on a glass mountain
The Good Hunter North America *Iroquois, golden oriole, resurrection
The Word of Power Iraq *beware the mysterious pedlar selling strange and wonderous things. Also, storks and owls. I liked it.
The Golden Goose Germany *a woman had 3 sons. The first two are impressive (clever, handsome). The third is called Dummling. Guess who gets to marry the princess in the end.
Bat Soup Africa *Bat boils Rat to death in a cauldron. I found it disturbing. I'd have been quite upset if I had read this as a child!
The Golden Apples Iceland *Midgard: Odin, Honier, Loki. Enter Thiazi, King of Winter, in guise of an eagle. Asgard: golden apples of youth, Lady Iduna.
The Seven Ravens Poland *a poor widow, seven sons who are lazy and just want to eat, one daughter doing all the work, mum loses it and lobs a curse on them as a witch was passing by.. also, Moon People and an Amber mountain.
Postscript Ireland *a Holy Man, a cock, a mouse, and a fly. Sounds like the beginning of a bawdy bar joke, but it's just a sweet one-paragraph micro tale.

Again, I apologise for reviewing a book I read many months before and then have overwritten from my short-term memory, but here goes: I can actually remember most of these, vaguely. They are a very mixed lot, and I really enjoyed Sleigh's takes on the ones I recognized from elsewhere. It's a loose collection of stories, and the dragon on the cover of my edition was almost entirely misleading (though technically there are 2 stories containing dragons, but they featured far less prominently than advertised).

I seem to remember discovering that Sleigh had done several other folk tale anthologies.. I need those.

[Jennifer Plested · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely varied collection of short winged inspired stories