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The Classic Fairy Tales
Everyone has at one time been inspired or enchanted by fairy tales, with their evil witches, pure princesses, heroic princes, and happy endings. Yet over the years, most of these popular tales have undergone many transformations, as editors and storytellers have shortened and sentimentalized them, as well as slanted them to suit the demands of the time.
Now reissued, Iona and Peter Opie's magnificent The Classic Fairy Tales , presents twenty-four of the best-known fairy tales in their original written form. Drawing on years of expertise, the editors provide introductions to each fairy tale, tracing the development of each story and noting points of interest. We learn, for example, that in a 17th century version of "Sleeping Beauty", the prince actually raped the princess in her sleep. Goldilocks, it turns out, evolved from the little old woman of the original story into a young girl. Little Red Ridinghood was actually eaten by the wolf, and in an early version of the "Frog Prince," the princess had to sleep with the frog to free him from his spell.
With classic tales from the likes of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, and the works of such famous illustrators as Gustav Dore, Kate Greenaway, and George Cruikshank, The Classic Fairy Tales brings to life the charm and beauty of these timeless favorites.
Now reissued, Iona and Peter Opie's magnificent The Classic Fairy Tales , presents twenty-four of the best-known fairy tales in their original written form. Drawing on years of expertise, the editors provide introductions to each fairy tale, tracing the development of each story and noting points of interest. We learn, for example, that in a 17th century version of "Sleeping Beauty", the prince actually raped the princess in her sleep. Goldilocks, it turns out, evolved from the little old woman of the original story into a young girl. Little Red Ridinghood was actually eaten by the wolf, and in an early version of the "Frog Prince," the princess had to sleep with the frog to free him from his spell.
With classic tales from the likes of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, and the works of such famous illustrators as Gustav Dore, Kate Greenaway, and George Cruikshank, The Classic Fairy Tales brings to life the charm and beauty of these timeless favorites.
255 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
28 people are currently reading
598 people want to read
About the author
Iona Opie
44 books32 followersIona Margaret Balfour Archibald was born in Colchester, Essex, England. She was a researcher and writer on folklore and children's street culture. She is considered an authority on children's rhymes, street and playground games and the Mother Goose tradition. She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1998 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1999.
The couple met during World War II and married on 2 September 1943. The couple worked together closely, from their home near Farnham, Surrey, conducting primary fieldwork, library research, and interviews of thousands of children. In pursuing the folklore of contemporary childhood they directly recorded rhymes and games in real time as they were being sung, chanted, or played. Working from their home in Alton, Hampshire they collaborated on several celebrated books and produced over 30 works. The couple were jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal in 1960. The medal is awarded by The Folklore Society "for outstanding research and scholarship".
Speaking in 2010, Iona speaks of working with her husband as being "like two of us in a very small boat and each had an oar and we were trying to row across the Atlantic." and that "[W]e would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night."
Iona Opie died in 2017.
The couple met during World War II and married on 2 September 1943. The couple worked together closely, from their home near Farnham, Surrey, conducting primary fieldwork, library research, and interviews of thousands of children. In pursuing the folklore of contemporary childhood they directly recorded rhymes and games in real time as they were being sung, chanted, or played. Working from their home in Alton, Hampshire they collaborated on several celebrated books and produced over 30 works. The couple were jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal in 1960. The medal is awarded by The Folklore Society "for outstanding research and scholarship".
Speaking in 2010, Iona speaks of working with her husband as being "like two of us in a very small boat and each had an oar and we were trying to row across the Atlantic." and that "[W]e would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night."
Iona Opie died in 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 18, 2025
It is a well known fact that the fairy tales which seem so familiar to us, and so much loved by the little ones of today, are not the original tales. Over the centuries they have been retold and sanitised so much, that they are but a shadow of the earlier, frequently grisly and gruesome tales. What’s more, there are many similar tales across different cultures. Many British tales originate here or from somewhere in Europe, but others are common worldwide, and their appropriation is lost in the deep mists of time.
If we want to get to the original, how on earth do we do so? Different cultures are proud of their own versions, and regard them as the standard: the “real one”. Pinning it down on the internet is hopeless. It needs an academic eye, and access to rare texts. Sometimes only one text has been found still extant of the earliest known versions of the folk tales in this collection, jealously protected in a library, with minimal access only to experts in the field. Who would I trust to research this fascinating but specialist subject? There’s only one name that comes to mind—well two in fact—Iona and Peter Opie.
Iona and Peter Opie were folklorists who pioneered the study of childhood culture, past and present, in Britain. Now renowned as the most prominent English folklorists, and world-famous authorities on children’s lore and customs, theirs is not a typical academic background. Both from fairly well to do families, the couple met and married whilst in the armed forces during World War II. However, an accident whilst training ended Peter Opie’s military career. He began a career as a writer, and was quite successful. The couple moved from London to rural England, and enjoyed country walks. On one of these, they both remembered the “Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home”, rhyme from their childhood, and that sparked a life-long interest which altered existing perceptions of children’s street culture and notions of play. They began researching into the origins of that one simple rhyme, they began to collect nursery rhyme books, their interest grew … and the rest is history.
I first came across their work decades later, during the years when I was studying Child Development, and read a few of their books which by then were becoming classics in the field. In 1960, the Opies had been jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal, the highest honour of “The Folklore Society”, for “outstanding research and scholarship”. First I read the popular “The Puffin book of Nursery Rhymes” (though the two Oxford ones are more complete, and regarded as the definitive ones), then “The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse”, and two books I found fascinating: “Children’s Games in Street and Playground” and “The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren”. Although not in the mainstream of academia, these are scholarly books, with much carefully recorded first hand research. Iona and Peter Opie carried out interviews with school-age children via an increasingly widening network of school teachers in State schools. Over the decades, Iona Opie estimated the number of contributors must be close to twenty thousand. This last book has been seen as revitalising the study of Folklore in post-war Britain, the subject having fallen into relative decline.
Iona and Peter Opie collaborated on about 25 books altogether, and Iona Opie continued to research and publish after her husband’s death. As well as their original research, the couple were were also noted anthologists. The Classic Fairy Tales, another Oxford University Press book, this time from 1974 and around the middle of their career, straddles both disciplines. In The Classic Fairy Tales, 24 of the best known tales are given the exact words they were first published in in English, (or in a few cases, the exact words of the earliest surviving text). These source versions had never before been published together.
However for each one, the authors also provide an historical introduction, showing the development of the story, citing parallels in other countries, and perhaps other centuries. We have all been enchanted, enthralled and even terrified by fairy tales, and it is a rare child who is brought up without learning the story of “Cinderella” or “Little Red Riding Hood”. But do we ever ask: Was Cinderella’s slipper really a glass slipper, or was it made of fur? Was Little Red Riding Hood actually devoured by the wolf, or was she saved? Who was the original Bluebeard? Or How did Southey’s version of “The Three Bears” become the “Goldilocks and the three Bears” we know and love today? (There were competing stories from 1849 and 1858, one saying: “The Village-people called her “Silver-Locks”, because her curly hair was shining”, but the illustrator John Hassall finally decided it with his illustration accompanying the passage: “the little girl had long golden hair, so she was called “Goldilocks””.) We rarely read that the Prince in “Sleeping Beauty” was not the kind, handsome and courageous person we have always supposed, but a rapist who left Sleeping Beauty with two babies. Nor do we remember that the the stepmother chopped off the heels and toes of the “ugly sisters”, in order to fit their feet into the glass slipper. Or that Jack’s father was an ogre, who slit the throats of his seven little daughters. Or … but you get the idea.
The most popular tales have long histories, over which successive editors have not only shortened and sentimentalised them but also slanted them according to the demands of the time. In a general introduction, Iona and Peter Opie look at the realism as well as the enchantment in the tales. They also consider the problems scholars face when they wonder where the tales come from.
Usually it is possible to trace the varying history of a story through several centuries, but with “Jack the Giant Killer” and “Jack and the Beanstalk” for instance, no mention has been found in 16th and 17th century literature. Although there is a strong tradition of giant-killing tales among the hill folk of British descent in the Southern Appalachians, no telling of the tale has been recorded in English oral tradition. Some classic anecdotes seem to have been first put together by a publisher comparatively recently—in 1711. The roots of “Jack the Giant Killer” go back to the Prose Edda, by Snorri Sturluson, written about 1220, and those of “Jack and the Beanstalk” again to the Prose Edda, but in a sense also to Jacob’s ladder, or the Tower of Babel, but the disappearance of the story in these middle centuries makes fixing provenance and earliest versions problematic, and a matter of conjecture.
Iona and Peter Opie describe the collection of tales made in Europe, and also in Asia, long before most of the stories were printed in English. This is a thorough and well researched book, putting into perspective the contributions of Perrault, Madame d’Aulnoy, the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen.
The book is slightly oversize, with quite small print. The stories and introductions are all generously illustrated, often by the earliest artists found. These include the 18th century wood-engraver Thomas Bewick, as well as 19th century illustrators such as Walter Crane, George Cruikshank, Gustave Doré, Kate Greenaway, Vilhelm Pedersen, Richard Doyle, Alfred Crowquill, as well as turn of the century and early 20th century artists such as Hugh Thompson, Harry Clarke, John Hassall, Kay Nielsen, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, W. Heath Robinson, Rex Whistler and Mervyn Peake. Altogether there are about 150 illustrations, 40 of which are in colour.
If you want to delve deep into the origins and comparisons of fairy tales, you can’t do better than read this book.
Here are the 24 tales which are included:
The History of Tom Thumb
Jack the Giant Killer
The Yellow Dwarf
Sleeping Beauty
Little Red Riding Hood
Diamonds and Toads (The Fairy)
Bluebeard
Puss in Boots
Cinderella
Hop o’ my Thumb (Little Poucet)
Beauty and the Beast
The Three Wishes
The Three Heads in the Well (The King of Colchester’s Daughter)
Jack and the Beanstalk
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Snow-Drop)
The Frog Prince
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Rumpelstiltskin
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Tinder Box
The Princess and the Pea
Thumbelina (Tommelise)
The Swineherd
Hansel and Gretel
If we want to get to the original, how on earth do we do so? Different cultures are proud of their own versions, and regard them as the standard: the “real one”. Pinning it down on the internet is hopeless. It needs an academic eye, and access to rare texts. Sometimes only one text has been found still extant of the earliest known versions of the folk tales in this collection, jealously protected in a library, with minimal access only to experts in the field. Who would I trust to research this fascinating but specialist subject? There’s only one name that comes to mind—well two in fact—Iona and Peter Opie.
Iona and Peter Opie were folklorists who pioneered the study of childhood culture, past and present, in Britain. Now renowned as the most prominent English folklorists, and world-famous authorities on children’s lore and customs, theirs is not a typical academic background. Both from fairly well to do families, the couple met and married whilst in the armed forces during World War II. However, an accident whilst training ended Peter Opie’s military career. He began a career as a writer, and was quite successful. The couple moved from London to rural England, and enjoyed country walks. On one of these, they both remembered the “Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home”, rhyme from their childhood, and that sparked a life-long interest which altered existing perceptions of children’s street culture and notions of play. They began researching into the origins of that one simple rhyme, they began to collect nursery rhyme books, their interest grew … and the rest is history.
I first came across their work decades later, during the years when I was studying Child Development, and read a few of their books which by then were becoming classics in the field. In 1960, the Opies had been jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal, the highest honour of “The Folklore Society”, for “outstanding research and scholarship”. First I read the popular “The Puffin book of Nursery Rhymes” (though the two Oxford ones are more complete, and regarded as the definitive ones), then “The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse”, and two books I found fascinating: “Children’s Games in Street and Playground” and “The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren”. Although not in the mainstream of academia, these are scholarly books, with much carefully recorded first hand research. Iona and Peter Opie carried out interviews with school-age children via an increasingly widening network of school teachers in State schools. Over the decades, Iona Opie estimated the number of contributors must be close to twenty thousand. This last book has been seen as revitalising the study of Folklore in post-war Britain, the subject having fallen into relative decline.
Iona and Peter Opie collaborated on about 25 books altogether, and Iona Opie continued to research and publish after her husband’s death. As well as their original research, the couple were were also noted anthologists. The Classic Fairy Tales, another Oxford University Press book, this time from 1974 and around the middle of their career, straddles both disciplines. In The Classic Fairy Tales, 24 of the best known tales are given the exact words they were first published in in English, (or in a few cases, the exact words of the earliest surviving text). These source versions had never before been published together.
However for each one, the authors also provide an historical introduction, showing the development of the story, citing parallels in other countries, and perhaps other centuries. We have all been enchanted, enthralled and even terrified by fairy tales, and it is a rare child who is brought up without learning the story of “Cinderella” or “Little Red Riding Hood”. But do we ever ask: Was Cinderella’s slipper really a glass slipper, or was it made of fur? Was Little Red Riding Hood actually devoured by the wolf, or was she saved? Who was the original Bluebeard? Or How did Southey’s version of “The Three Bears” become the “Goldilocks and the three Bears” we know and love today? (There were competing stories from 1849 and 1858, one saying: “The Village-people called her “Silver-Locks”, because her curly hair was shining”, but the illustrator John Hassall finally decided it with his illustration accompanying the passage: “the little girl had long golden hair, so she was called “Goldilocks””.) We rarely read that the Prince in “Sleeping Beauty” was not the kind, handsome and courageous person we have always supposed, but a rapist who left Sleeping Beauty with two babies. Nor do we remember that the the stepmother chopped off the heels and toes of the “ugly sisters”, in order to fit their feet into the glass slipper. Or that Jack’s father was an ogre, who slit the throats of his seven little daughters. Or … but you get the idea.
The most popular tales have long histories, over which successive editors have not only shortened and sentimentalised them but also slanted them according to the demands of the time. In a general introduction, Iona and Peter Opie look at the realism as well as the enchantment in the tales. They also consider the problems scholars face when they wonder where the tales come from.
Usually it is possible to trace the varying history of a story through several centuries, but with “Jack the Giant Killer” and “Jack and the Beanstalk” for instance, no mention has been found in 16th and 17th century literature. Although there is a strong tradition of giant-killing tales among the hill folk of British descent in the Southern Appalachians, no telling of the tale has been recorded in English oral tradition. Some classic anecdotes seem to have been first put together by a publisher comparatively recently—in 1711. The roots of “Jack the Giant Killer” go back to the Prose Edda, by Snorri Sturluson, written about 1220, and those of “Jack and the Beanstalk” again to the Prose Edda, but in a sense also to Jacob’s ladder, or the Tower of Babel, but the disappearance of the story in these middle centuries makes fixing provenance and earliest versions problematic, and a matter of conjecture.
Iona and Peter Opie describe the collection of tales made in Europe, and also in Asia, long before most of the stories were printed in English. This is a thorough and well researched book, putting into perspective the contributions of Perrault, Madame d’Aulnoy, the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen.
The book is slightly oversize, with quite small print. The stories and introductions are all generously illustrated, often by the earliest artists found. These include the 18th century wood-engraver Thomas Bewick, as well as 19th century illustrators such as Walter Crane, George Cruikshank, Gustave Doré, Kate Greenaway, Vilhelm Pedersen, Richard Doyle, Alfred Crowquill, as well as turn of the century and early 20th century artists such as Hugh Thompson, Harry Clarke, John Hassall, Kay Nielsen, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, W. Heath Robinson, Rex Whistler and Mervyn Peake. Altogether there are about 150 illustrations, 40 of which are in colour.
If you want to delve deep into the origins and comparisons of fairy tales, you can’t do better than read this book.
Here are the 24 tales which are included:
The History of Tom Thumb
Jack the Giant Killer
The Yellow Dwarf
Sleeping Beauty
Little Red Riding Hood
Diamonds and Toads (The Fairy)
Bluebeard
Puss in Boots
Cinderella
Hop o’ my Thumb (Little Poucet)
Beauty and the Beast
The Three Wishes
The Three Heads in the Well (The King of Colchester’s Daughter)
Jack and the Beanstalk
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Snow-Drop)
The Frog Prince
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Rumpelstiltskin
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Tinder Box
The Princess and the Pea
Thumbelina (Tommelise)
The Swineherd
Hansel and Gretel
June 19, 2017
Aside the short but instructive prefaces and notes by Iona Opie, this anthology doesn't have anything out of the ordinary to offer to the reader. It's more an introductory sort of collection, but it has really gorgeous artwork that makes it stand out amongst similar publications.
These illustrations are a varied mix of ink drawings, black and white charcoal-style drawings and full-colour paintings by many artists, which adds variety but also gives it a somewhat mixed-bag appearance. Some I had seen already (like the Red Riding Hood one in the cover), and some I hadn't and some surprised me. I loved the way Beast was depicted here, I'd not seen that before and it's really nice to see a pre-Disney horned Beast.
These illustrations are a varied mix of ink drawings, black and white charcoal-style drawings and full-colour paintings by many artists, which adds variety but also gives it a somewhat mixed-bag appearance. Some I had seen already (like the Red Riding Hood one in the cover), and some I hadn't and some surprised me. I loved the way Beast was depicted here, I'd not seen that before and it's really nice to see a pre-Disney horned Beast.
July 21, 2022
A rereading. I often reread fairy tales. Just for leisure. Maybe even to ease my way into sleep. I started reading fairy tales and myths, folklore of all kinds as a child and have continued that reading and education for decades. It was always for my own personal pleasure. But lately, I have realized just how fairy tales and folklore and myth has influenced me in ways I did not fully understand. And I am smiling writing that. This edition, 1993, is gorgeous, with beautiful illustrations. I suppose I believe in narrative, in telling stories, in art that has a narrative, that this is where we find meaning.
July 9, 2023
Nice collection of fairy tales and some useful context in the introduction and the beginning of the stories 🧚♀️
December 21, 2017
“Fairy tales are thus more realistic than they may appear at first sight; while the magic in them almost heightens the realism. The magic sets us wondering how we ourselves would react in similar circumstances. It encourages speculation. It gives a child license to wonder. And this is the merit of the tales, that by going beyond possibility they enlarge our daily horizon. For a man not given to speculation might as well walk on four legs as on two. A child who does not feel wonder is but an inlet for apple pie.”
February 4, 2025
Collection of the popular classic fairy tales. Each tale is introduced with a brief summary, history, and overview by the authors.
February 17, 2016
I'll never finish this (officially on Goodreads, anyway). I'll just take it down off the shelf now and then and read bits and pieces here and there in between novels.
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REVIEW WIP
My uncle had the coolest bedroom in the entire world. A magnificent bookshelf on one wall, MC Escher artwork and trippy posters of skulls on two others, with the third having a window overlooking a lovely San Francisco neighborhood. He even had an incense burner shaped like a reclined skeleton dressed like a Native American smoking a peace pipe (which was what the incense came out of). A room like that could hardly be more magical to an imaginative bookish child if the closet was an actual portal to Narnia.
One of my fondest childhood memories is me taking books down off of that magnificent bookshelf and reading the hours away on my uncle's bed. One of those books was The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona Opie.
I was probably WAY too young to be reading this, and the grotesque illustrations and gruesome imagery of the fairy tales themselves frankly scared the shit out of me, but I was also fascinated. Though I couldn't understand all of what I had read, this book introduced names to me that I would carry in my mind into my later years of literary exploration, like Cupid and Psyche and Jack the Giant Killer. This dark Pre-Disney side of fairy tales, coupled with Opie's commentary and historical context opened up a whole new world of literature for me.
Pure nostalgia was what spurred me to purchase this book on Amazon more than a decade later. So, does it hold up to my rosy memories? No...and yes.
I was hoping, going into it all of these years later, that Opie would provide some commentary and perhaps her own interpretation of the deeper meanings of these tales. This, unfortunately is very few and far between, with most of her scholarship providing only the historical context of the tales. It's still fairly interesting, but not quite what I was hoping for. Her introduction, however, is a fascinating essay on the themes of fairy tales and their development over hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of years. I wish that the individual fairy tales themselves had been given more of that kind of treatment.
Speaking of the fairy tales themselves, these very first English translations are the next best thing to reading them in their original language. Comparing what the tales were then to what the tales are now is a contemplative and enjoyable exercise in itself.
If you have any remote interest in fairy tales as a serious subject, definitely give this one a look. While it may not offer the commentary and interpretations that other scholarly works on fairy tales do, it gives enough information, a sense of context, and the closest possible versions to the original tales available in the English language to let you create those interpretations for yourself.
--------------------------------
REVIEW WIP
My uncle had the coolest bedroom in the entire world. A magnificent bookshelf on one wall, MC Escher artwork and trippy posters of skulls on two others, with the third having a window overlooking a lovely San Francisco neighborhood. He even had an incense burner shaped like a reclined skeleton dressed like a Native American smoking a peace pipe (which was what the incense came out of). A room like that could hardly be more magical to an imaginative bookish child if the closet was an actual portal to Narnia.
One of my fondest childhood memories is me taking books down off of that magnificent bookshelf and reading the hours away on my uncle's bed. One of those books was The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona Opie.
I was probably WAY too young to be reading this, and the grotesque illustrations and gruesome imagery of the fairy tales themselves frankly scared the shit out of me, but I was also fascinated. Though I couldn't understand all of what I had read, this book introduced names to me that I would carry in my mind into my later years of literary exploration, like Cupid and Psyche and Jack the Giant Killer. This dark Pre-Disney side of fairy tales, coupled with Opie's commentary and historical context opened up a whole new world of literature for me.
Pure nostalgia was what spurred me to purchase this book on Amazon more than a decade later. So, does it hold up to my rosy memories? No...and yes.
I was hoping, going into it all of these years later, that Opie would provide some commentary and perhaps her own interpretation of the deeper meanings of these tales. This, unfortunately is very few and far between, with most of her scholarship providing only the historical context of the tales. It's still fairly interesting, but not quite what I was hoping for. Her introduction, however, is a fascinating essay on the themes of fairy tales and their development over hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of years. I wish that the individual fairy tales themselves had been given more of that kind of treatment.
Speaking of the fairy tales themselves, these very first English translations are the next best thing to reading them in their original language. Comparing what the tales were then to what the tales are now is a contemplative and enjoyable exercise in itself.
If you have any remote interest in fairy tales as a serious subject, definitely give this one a look. While it may not offer the commentary and interpretations that other scholarly works on fairy tales do, it gives enough information, a sense of context, and the closest possible versions to the original tales available in the English language to let you create those interpretations for yourself.
April 20, 2019
I got this book for my folk and fairy tales course, where we mainly focused on European tales. This text retains the traditional aspects of these tales, offering historical and literary criticism about them, as well as placing them alongside various illustrations depicting different scenes from the past. This collection is great to begin with if you're doing research, and even better if you're appreciative of the classic tales.
Review cross-listed here!
Review cross-listed here!
June 19, 2020
This book helped to contextualise the stories that most of us read, learnt or watched as children. There is a good introduction to each of the fairy tales with the authors stating the possible origins and the other various editions of said tale. I was also interested in the lesser known fairy tales such as Hop o' my thumb and The tinder box.
I have a hardback edition which has good quality paper and good binding with lovey illustrations throughout. A good text to educate yourself on how the original tales would have been told, it's also fun to compare them to their modern day equivalents
I have a hardback edition which has good quality paper and good binding with lovey illustrations throughout. A good text to educate yourself on how the original tales would have been told, it's also fun to compare them to their modern day equivalents
October 14, 2019
Interesting reading: not only the fairy tales themselves but some of the history and various versions across widely scattered populations. Read this for my RAD (Read and Discuss) Texas group; we are using ALA's Let's Talk about It "Not for Children Only" theme.
May 16, 2022
The Opies tempt us back into our childhood with the various origins of 24 well known tales alongside their preference for the respective texts of the stories. Most stories are familiar but some less so - The Swineherd, The Three Heads in the Well etc. Well worth a dip or a cover to cover read.
September 19, 2020
The drawing on page 229 is incorrectly annotated. The Disney dwarf in the drawing is Doc, not Grumpy.
February 20, 2024
An interesting overview of the history behind what we know as the common 'fairy tales' that are now so Disney-fied in our minds that the true story has often been lost.
August 17, 2017
I read this based on a recommendation that it was a good book for authentic fairy tales. However, after cracking it open, I found that it only carries the original English text of each tale and as most are foreign, their English translations usually didn't come out until the stories had already been watered down a bit. Each chapter is opened with an explanation of the history and various translations, which I found to be the most interesting part of the book along with the authors' introduction to folktales that describe a general history and the themes found in the tales.
Overall, I found it rather boring. It took me a while to get through it and I love reading the original fairy tales. The history behind them was interesting, but the stories themselves were not well explained. The authors kept the original language with a few minor footnotes to explain words or phrases, but often you are left to try and decipher Olde English for yourself. Granted, it's not super hard, but it would have been nice to have more clear and concise language.
If you're interested in the original wording and syntax of the stories, this is a good book for you. Otherwise, it's not great.
Overall, I found it rather boring. It took me a while to get through it and I love reading the original fairy tales. The history behind them was interesting, but the stories themselves were not well explained. The authors kept the original language with a few minor footnotes to explain words or phrases, but often you are left to try and decipher Olde English for yourself. Granted, it's not super hard, but it would have been nice to have more clear and concise language.
If you're interested in the original wording and syntax of the stories, this is a good book for you. Otherwise, it's not great.
June 9, 2010
Since I gravitate towards books that retell fairytales, I thought that I would read the best source we have of the original fairytale versions. Iona and Peter Opie, a husband/wife team, are considered the best researchers/archivists of folk literature. In this book they have brought together the best-known fairy tales as they were first published in English. Before each story, they write a historical introduction that offers further insight to each story. Unexpectedly, this book is located in the adult section of the library, but still worth reading to children so they know the originals before they became Disneyfied.
May 6, 2014
This book is one I discovered on the shelves of my local library, then purchased because I simply had to have it. The Opies have gathered the original printed version of 24 European fairy tales. Reading this book makes you realize that Walt Disney did not invent such classic characters as Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. In fact, the first time Cindy's story was printed, in the 1700s, her name was spelled Cinderilla. Archetypal stories here include Diamonds and Toads, Bluebeard, and The Story of the Three Bears.
February 13, 2017
The cool, and annoying, thing about this collection is that each tale is given in its form of first publication. That means some old-timey English here and there, and god knows I rarely feel like putting forth that kind of effort. Beauty and the Beast was my fave of what I read. There must be more than this provincial life!
October 1, 2014
I own this 1947 copy of the Fairy Tales and I read the version of Rumpelstitltskin in it. The story is very similar to other versions written in several Grimm's Fairy Tales books and would be good to use to introduce the story for any grade level. When the girl guesses his name, Rumplestiltskin pounds his foot into the ground, but then removes it and runs off. The end is not as violent as some other versions that might frighten young children.
February 19, 2014
I read this for our let's talk about it group with the theme "Not just for Kids". It was somewhat interesting but the introduction was very difficult to get into and found that the fairy tales used were somewhat repetitious in nature. Due to snowy conditions we had to postpone our "Talk" and reschedule and I am hoping that will enlighten me some. I did not learn anything I did not already know except for how old these tales are.
February 22, 2008
A stunning collection of the oldest versions the author could find of classics like "Little Red Riding Hood," "Goldilocks," and "Beauty and the Beast" (the version here is simply amazing). The best compilation of its kind that I've read.
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May 20, 2012This is fab. I can't believe I've never heard of this couple before, because their collection, knowledge, and intro notes are superb and really do a great job of connecting various tales. This is an excellent resource that incorporates lots of history, various illustrators' takes on tales, and a vast understanding of the various (mostly European, plus Chinese) influences of fairy tales.
July 6, 2012
This book described 24 well-known fairy tales and their place in folk-lore. It mainly concentrated on their history in Europe, but did mention some non-European versions of the stories. The book also contained the earliest known English text of the stories, some of which were quite different to the versions I heard in my childhood.
August 31, 2012
I can't tell you how much I adore this book, it will be with me for life. With each fairy tale, the Opies give a brief overview of the history of the tale and differences in various versions, followed by the earliest version of the tale in its entirety. It's a gruesome but enthralling read, no Disney-fied 'happily ever after' tales here!
April 27, 2009
from Introduction, page 11: 'The magic in the tales (if magic is what it is) lies in people and creatures being shown to be what they really are.' Retellings and some background on classic fairy tales, color illustrations scattered throughout. A great resource.
April 27, 2009
from Introduction, page 11: 'The magic in the tales (if magic is what it is) lies in people and creatures being shown to be what they really are.' Retellings and some background on classic fairy tales, color illustrations scattered throughout. A great resource.
November 20, 2011
I absolutely love fairy tales, but not in this context! Wow the originals are really different and its great that this book gives an intro to the tale so that you can have your mind set in the right century.
July 22, 2010
this book all the fairytale that together. these fairy tales are one that I grow up with as a kid, but they are write with their true endings.
October 10, 2012
This was a lot of fun to read.
Currently reading
January 12, 2012So far a fun return to the why of the classic stories we all know.
December 17, 2014
The historical information before each story was quite interesting.
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