A Book of Charms and Changelings

by Ruth Manning-Sanders, Robin Jacques (Illustrator)

Fifteen folktales from around the world, each involving either changelings or charms that work good or evil.
1. The Magic Bridle (Bosnian)
2. Chief-Nang (Chinese)
3. The Enchanted Wine Jug (Korean)
4. The Flute Player (Finnish)
5. The Dwarf with the Long Beard (Slavic)
6. The Hat (Esthonia)
7. Fedor and the Fairy (Gypsy)
8. Pancakes and Pies (Russian)
9. The Forty Goats (Valley of the Nile)
10. The Ogre, The Sun, and the Raven (North American Indian)
11. Peppi (Sicilian)
12. The Sun Mother (Transylvanian)
13. The White Lamb (Brittany)
14. Rubizal (Silesian)
15. Tredrill (Cornish)

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy, Short Stories, Fairy Tales

124 pages, Hardcover

First published June 17, 1971

About the author

Ruth Manning-Sanders, youngest daughter of an English minister, describes her childhood as “extraordinarily happy. . . with kind and understanding parents and any amount of freedom.” She read omnivorously, and she and her two sisters wrote and acted their own plays. A Shakespeare scholar at Manchester University, she later married Cornish artist George Manning-Sanders. They began married life in a horse drawn caravan, and traveled to all parts of the British Isles.
Mrs. Manning-Sanders has collected folk and fairy stories from around the world and she published more than 90 books during her lifetime.

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairy tales about the world, with country sources (but no more) and nice illustrations, retold for children.

All sorts of transformations. Not just a pure changeling tale, of which there is one in the collection. There's also a little girl turned to a lamb by her stepmother, a goat getting married, and more.

[Pinkaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth be told, I just really wanted to read The Forty Goats and the Goat Riding a Goat also known as ATU 425D (The Vanished Husband), which is an Egyptian folktale retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

I was originally looking for the book "Beauty and the Beast Tales from around the world" by Heidi Anne Heiner but I couldn't find a copy of it. But instead, i saw that Forty Goats is also translated in this "A Book of Charms and Changelings" by Ruth Manning-Sanders in openlibrary.

It's not spectacular plot-wise, but it is very cute and it's intriguing to see a different cultural take on a beloved classic. I loved reading it.

I am temporarily marking this book as DNF, not because it's bad, but because I was only interested with Forty Goats and I'm not sure yet how interested I am in reading the rest of the stories. Maybe one day I will get to it.

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of wonderful stories, although not my favorite in the series. Favorite stories in this collection included "Forty Goats", "The Enchanted Wine Jug", and "The Dwarf with the Long Beard".

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

C. fiction, children's fiction, fantasy, short stories, Mom's stash, discard

[Vanessa Dargain · Rating 4 out of 5]

FAVORITES : The sun's mother , Peppi and The dwarf with the long beard .

[Faythe Swanson]

Light-hearted fairytales about doing good, behaving ourselves, & not ill will towards others. Basically, if we choose to live in this way, things will work out in our favor.