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Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know: Illustrated
This volume contains a collection of fairy tales from a wide array of classical works. These immortal tales include "The Enchanted Stag", "Twelve Brothers", "Puss in Boots", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Light Princess", "Beauty and the Beast", "Hansel and Gretel", "Jack the Giant Killer", "The Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor", and "The Story of Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp".
212 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1905
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About the author
Hamilton Wright Mabie
678 books34 followersHamilton Wright Mabie, A.M., L.H.D., LL.D. (1846–1916) was an American essayist, editor, critic, and lecturer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
October 11, 2011
Next time I hear anyone talk about how violent movies and video games are and how they are so bad for the kids, I am going to point them in the direction of this book. If I were to pick any book to have someone read in the hope that they would suffer from nightmares, it would be this one and this collection of stories. American Psycho didn't frighten or disturb me as much as this book did. Now, a reason for that could be because I've dabbled in the soliciting and subsequent murdering of prostitutes. I also am extremely proud of my business card. Neither one of those things are true, but if I had a business card you can bet it would be the damn finest business card there ever was.
Typically, fairy tales are supposed to teach a lesson of sorts, so I would like to share with you the lessons I learned from reading these tales of the fairy.
- Disobedient children indirectly kill their fathers. The phrase "you'll be the death of me" has never been so aptly applied to some of these stories.
- Stepmothers are evil and usually possess some sort of magic ability/witchery.
- Sisters are always jealous of the younger, prettier sister. The younger, prettier sister is always respectful to everyone and goes out of her way to appease the elder sisters.
- Most women are vain.
- The building of a palace unmatched by all other palaces in the known world over the course of one night is not the least bit suspicious.
- Wives will give away your shit without asking.
- Evil house guests do not consume salt.
- Shortly after marrying a princess/prince the king and/or queen will die and you inherit the kingdom and live happily ever after.
- The ending of a story and vengeance are always swift and very, very clean.
- If you disobey your husband, he will try to kill you, but will end up dying first and you will inherit all of his stuff.
There are plenty of other lessons I learned, but these were the most prevalent. Do with them as you may, but beware of stepmothers, wicked fairies, and jealous sisters. And it is okay to kill giants without provocation as long as you send their heads to the king.
Typically, fairy tales are supposed to teach a lesson of sorts, so I would like to share with you the lessons I learned from reading these tales of the fairy.
- Disobedient children indirectly kill their fathers. The phrase "you'll be the death of me" has never been so aptly applied to some of these stories.
- Stepmothers are evil and usually possess some sort of magic ability/witchery.
- Sisters are always jealous of the younger, prettier sister. The younger, prettier sister is always respectful to everyone and goes out of her way to appease the elder sisters.
- Most women are vain.
- The building of a palace unmatched by all other palaces in the known world over the course of one night is not the least bit suspicious.
- Wives will give away your shit without asking.
- Evil house guests do not consume salt.
- Shortly after marrying a princess/prince the king and/or queen will die and you inherit the kingdom and live happily ever after.
- The ending of a story and vengeance are always swift and very, very clean.
- If you disobey your husband, he will try to kill you, but will end up dying first and you will inherit all of his stuff.
There are plenty of other lessons I learned, but these were the most prevalent. Do with them as you may, but beware of stepmothers, wicked fairies, and jealous sisters. And it is okay to kill giants without provocation as long as you send their heads to the king.
January 6, 2012
I probably wouldn't have read this had it not been free for kindle. There're some favorites in here, but while I enjoy fairytails in general, I much prefer the unfiltered Grimm's. I mean, Cinderella's just not the same without some good ole toe carnage.
August 6, 2016
A bunch of old fairy tales, pulled from various sources.
I'll do them by author, since they're hard to classify all in one chunk.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
"The Magic Mirror", "Hansel and Grethel", etc
No plot, no character development, a few are hideously abridged (although I can't tell if this is just a particularly bad edition), they're written in a rather dull language, and quite honestly not enjoyable in the least.
1001 Nights
"Aladdin", "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves", etc
These are actually not bad, but a more complete edition would make more sense than a few stories scattered here and there amid other styles of telling. I've read an edition of these (Burton was it?) a while back, I'd recommend just going with that.
Comtesse d'Aulnoy
"The White Cat" and "The Fair One with the Golden Locks"
Just... ugh. In headline form:
"Man falls in love with a cat!"
"Parents hate child enough to give her a ridiculous name!"
"It's ok to murder members of various endangered species!"
Charles Perrault
"Blue Beard", "Cinderella", "Little Red Riding Hood", etc
I can't figure out if the originals were quite this full of entendres, or if it's a side effect of a particularly atrocious translation, but Perrault sounds like one dirty old bastard either way. (the other fairy tales have a healthy share of this sort of stuff too, but he goes all out)
The wolf, before LRRH starts querying him about the size of his various appendages, tells her to get undressed and get into bed with him, which request she readily complies with, for instance.
Hans Christian Andersen
"The Princess on the Pea", "The Ugly Duckling"
Heh, heh.
In the morning she was asked how she had slept.
"Oh, miserably!" said the princess. "I scarcely closed my eyes all night long. Goodness knows what was in my bed. I lay upon something hard, so that I am black and blue all over. It is quite dreadful!"
...
So the prince took her for his wife.
You can probably guess where I'm going with this.
But other than that, had I not read these I would not have missed out.
(there are others, but nothing really worthy of note)
Admittedly though, a few of these are filled with tidbits of truth, such as:
A handsome, rich, young prince, whose territories joined to hers, was deeply in love with the reports he heard of her, and sent to demand her in marriage.
But in general, don't bother.
I'll do them by author, since they're hard to classify all in one chunk.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
"The Magic Mirror", "Hansel and Grethel", etc
No plot, no character development, a few are hideously abridged (although I can't tell if this is just a particularly bad edition), they're written in a rather dull language, and quite honestly not enjoyable in the least.
1001 Nights
"Aladdin", "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves", etc
These are actually not bad, but a more complete edition would make more sense than a few stories scattered here and there amid other styles of telling. I've read an edition of these (Burton was it?) a while back, I'd recommend just going with that.
Comtesse d'Aulnoy
"The White Cat" and "The Fair One with the Golden Locks"
Just... ugh. In headline form:
"Man falls in love with a cat!"
"Parents hate child enough to give her a ridiculous name!"
"It's ok to murder members of various endangered species!"
Charles Perrault
"Blue Beard", "Cinderella", "Little Red Riding Hood", etc
I can't figure out if the originals were quite this full of entendres, or if it's a side effect of a particularly atrocious translation, but Perrault sounds like one dirty old bastard either way. (the other fairy tales have a healthy share of this sort of stuff too, but he goes all out)
The wolf, before LRRH starts querying him about the size of his various appendages, tells her to get undressed and get into bed with him, which request she readily complies with, for instance.
Hans Christian Andersen
"The Princess on the Pea", "The Ugly Duckling"
Heh, heh.
In the morning she was asked how she had slept.
"Oh, miserably!" said the princess. "I scarcely closed my eyes all night long. Goodness knows what was in my bed. I lay upon something hard, so that I am black and blue all over. It is quite dreadful!"
...
So the prince took her for his wife.
You can probably guess where I'm going with this.
But other than that, had I not read these I would not have missed out.
(there are others, but nothing really worthy of note)
Admittedly though, a few of these are filled with tidbits of truth, such as:
A handsome, rich, young prince, whose territories joined to hers, was deeply in love with the reports he heard of her, and sent to demand her in marriage.
But in general, don't bother.
June 19, 2012
Extended versions (full version?) of all the familiar childhood fairy tales like Aladdin & Alibaba, Hansel & Gretel etc, refreshing to read these again as an adult and realise how dark these tales actually are.
May 26, 2020
I noticed that Hamilton Wright Mabie combines different elements into one fairytale. For example:
* One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes was very similar to Cinderella
* The Magic Mirror had echoes of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
* The start of the Enchanted Stag sounded a lot like Hansel and Gretel
I was even surprised to find some linked to Arthurian legend. How interesting!
A few stories were new to me but I'd heard the majority before.
Maybe it's because I'm familiar with a lot of the stories but I would have liked a bit more creativity in these retellings. Some were quite trite and simplistic while others had unexpected darkness. Most were very repetitive. I also think that reading the originals would have been better because something appears to have been lost in translation here.
* One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes was very similar to Cinderella
* The Magic Mirror had echoes of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
* The start of the Enchanted Stag sounded a lot like Hansel and Gretel
I was even surprised to find some linked to Arthurian legend. How interesting!
A few stories were new to me but I'd heard the majority before.
Maybe it's because I'm familiar with a lot of the stories but I would have liked a bit more creativity in these retellings. Some were quite trite and simplistic while others had unexpected darkness. Most were very repetitive. I also think that reading the originals would have been better because something appears to have been lost in translation here.
May 6, 2013
I was looking for an audiblebook that would provide a lot of bang for the buck (11 hours 5 minutes for 1 credit). We've been reading several novelizations of fairy tales lately,(like "Half Upon A Time") and they make reference to fairy tales that my kids aren't familiar with (like Rose Red, or the man who slew 7 with one blow). So, we've been checking out physical fairy tale books as well as audio books about fairy tales to fill in the holes in our fairy tale education.
This compilation uses older langauge, which I really like. My kids seem to be able to understand it just fine. The narrator is good. There are some familiar stories, as well as some I'd never heard. The book starts off with "One Eye, Two Eye, Three Eye." Add a magic goat and you've got a slightly creepy, but really fun fairy tale. Others I wasn't as familiar with included the Enchanted Stag, The White Cat, The Twelve Brothers, The Fair One With the Golden Locks, Blue Beard.
Stories with plenty of familiarity, but may have some surprises from the way they were portrayed by Disney or other modern tellings include: Snow White (or in this version, the Magic Mirror), Hansel and Gretel, Aladdin, Ali Baba, Cinderella, Puss in Boots, The Golden Goose, the Three Bears,etc.
There are 24 separate stories in this book.
We all really enjoyed this book. Remember, though, that original fairy tales can be a bit more savage than you might remember. This isn't necessarily bedtime reading for every child.
This compilation uses older langauge, which I really like. My kids seem to be able to understand it just fine. The narrator is good. There are some familiar stories, as well as some I'd never heard. The book starts off with "One Eye, Two Eye, Three Eye." Add a magic goat and you've got a slightly creepy, but really fun fairy tale. Others I wasn't as familiar with included the Enchanted Stag, The White Cat, The Twelve Brothers, The Fair One With the Golden Locks, Blue Beard.
Stories with plenty of familiarity, but may have some surprises from the way they were portrayed by Disney or other modern tellings include: Snow White (or in this version, the Magic Mirror), Hansel and Gretel, Aladdin, Ali Baba, Cinderella, Puss in Boots, The Golden Goose, the Three Bears,etc.
There are 24 separate stories in this book.
We all really enjoyed this book. Remember, though, that original fairy tales can be a bit more savage than you might remember. This isn't necessarily bedtime reading for every child.
March 12, 2015
I had a similar book in Spanish growing up. I grew up knowing that fairy tales are dark and not always have a happy ending. But I love them! I love the morals they teach, and the fact that they teach us not to see life through pink colored glasses. And I love that my 9 year old twins can read them too, and that we can have discussions of the moral of the stories.
September 15, 2011
It's funny how the stories you "knew" via cinema/TV are quite so different from their real versions. Some are crud, some others more deep, some just have no happy ending, and nevertheless, almost everybody only knows the Disneysied happy versions. What a pity.
March 12, 2014
Not having really ever hearing the true fairy tales other than Disney or other modern children's story tailing, now I know the really tales. While the Disney spins of these tales are good and great moral values are taught to children, the actual fairy tales are much better and give a better lesson of moral values. They are more dark and in some cases violent than what we currently tell our children. Another great thing about this book is that it is more than just a few Grimm Fairy Tales but a few that I never heard of before. I would highly recommend everyone to read this book.
January 23, 2012
In terms of retellings of fairytales that were perfectly fine before they were re-told, this is a book full of bad ones. I suspect some of them are just bad translations, but the prose is pretty awful in more than one place, and the stories are told awkwardly. Which is an unforgivable sin for a collection of fairytales, because the only thing that makes one different from another is the way they're written down.
I am disappointed by this book.
I am disappointed by this book.
October 23, 2011
It was weird, some of these stories seemed sanitised (Cinderella for example), while others revelled in the tradition of gory fairy tales for children. Of course, we did have the perfect princesses and brave princes, but I did detect a note of sarcasm on occasion. Still, a nice read which took me back to my childhood.
September 2, 2012
I think this should be called fairy tales every child should know once they've grown up.
Some of the stories may want vetting for younger children.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book I would stick to the modernised fairy tale versions.
It is fascinating to see where some of the stories stemmed from and how they have been altered.
Some of the stories may want vetting for younger children.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book I would stick to the modernised fairy tale versions.
It is fascinating to see where some of the stories stemmed from and how they have been altered.
July 22, 2012
Wow. These are not your Disney sugar coated fairy tales, although everyone does end up living happily ever after. Well, almost everyone. It was interesting to read them in their original forms, though.
January 4, 2014
Remembered stories of my youth.
Yes, so many stories just as I remembered them, some I had never heard, and some different than I remembered. This is a great collection of fairy tales, saving the best for last!
Yes, so many stories just as I remembered them, some I had never heard, and some different than I remembered. This is a great collection of fairy tales, saving the best for last!
October 31, 2019
Good selection of classic and some more unknown fairytales, even if some are a tad dark lol
February 20, 2014
Really liked reading since it is a collection of all those wonderful stories that one must have read in childhood. All those, fairies, beasts, giants and mostly good old English. By old, i mean really really old. The one's right after thy's and thou's. Though i admit thy's and thou's are funny to read, this one is a real pleasure. Simple stories that help to the wild imagination of children. Though there are certain stories that i found boring, the rest were so good that i choose to ignore the spoilers.
It was actually like revising all those stories that i have read in my childhood. It was fun reading them again. It was like reliving all those memories when i first had the chance of reading them. That i would say is the beauty of this book. A few years back i think, my mum brought this book home that is a some collection of short stories that were told by our grand mothers and mothers verbally. They were actually never written but this book just happened from the thoughts of one person who is lucky to have the pleasure of listening those stories from the elders. I thought it was a wonderful thought as i enjoyed reading the book like anything. It was some book written in telugu and i actually don't remember the name of the book or the author. But would definitely go back to read that book any day.
I was actually telling all this because this book caused an almost similar effect on me. You know reading is something that helps a child in every possible way it can. These are the kind of books that make children yearn for books. I would definitely make sure that going in future, i would read all these stories(even the boring ones)to my kids whenever they are ready.
This made me think, life is never boring with books. Thank you Hamilton.
It was actually like revising all those stories that i have read in my childhood. It was fun reading them again. It was like reliving all those memories when i first had the chance of reading them. That i would say is the beauty of this book. A few years back i think, my mum brought this book home that is a some collection of short stories that were told by our grand mothers and mothers verbally. They were actually never written but this book just happened from the thoughts of one person who is lucky to have the pleasure of listening those stories from the elders. I thought it was a wonderful thought as i enjoyed reading the book like anything. It was some book written in telugu and i actually don't remember the name of the book or the author. But would definitely go back to read that book any day.
I was actually telling all this because this book caused an almost similar effect on me. You know reading is something that helps a child in every possible way it can. These are the kind of books that make children yearn for books. I would definitely make sure that going in future, i would read all these stories(even the boring ones)to my kids whenever they are ready.
This made me think, life is never boring with books. Thank you Hamilton.
February 5, 2015
For my independent reading, I chose the book "Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know" by Hamilton Wright Mabie, and enjoyed it immensely. It is a book of fantasy stories, and I would recommend it not only to a child - like the title suggests - but to adults that want to indulge in their childhood again.
We're familiar with Disney - that big, iconic company that produces stunningly animated feature films, racking in millions of dollars from viewers around the world.
We're familiar with Disney's fairytale adaptions, kid-friendly versions of the whimsical tales we think we know so much about, the ones about magic and talking animals and pretty girls in dresses.
Yes, we think we know them. But do we really?
Dive deeper than ever before into the world of stories, taking place all around the world, woven into existence by storytellers of different origins - for this book is a book filled to the brim with the recorded follies of characters in another world, vivid images ready to be imprinted into the minds of youth. It expands on the lives of all those characters so well-known today: Aladdin, Cinderella, and more - as well as characters you've never heard of, such as the One-Eyed, Two-Eyed and Three-Eyed sisters and the Deer with the Golden Leash. Each chapter is a new story, a new legend.
I learnt so much more about these iconic characters and their stories. I've realized that Disney glosses over the plot a lot, altering this - and that to their liking and whatever they deem appropriate (Which is a good thing sometimes, though, to make it all more child-friendly). It's a new breath of air, and a great experience. I've watched the movies, but never read the book - and it was truly fascinating.
We're familiar with Disney - that big, iconic company that produces stunningly animated feature films, racking in millions of dollars from viewers around the world.
We're familiar with Disney's fairytale adaptions, kid-friendly versions of the whimsical tales we think we know so much about, the ones about magic and talking animals and pretty girls in dresses.
Yes, we think we know them. But do we really?
Dive deeper than ever before into the world of stories, taking place all around the world, woven into existence by storytellers of different origins - for this book is a book filled to the brim with the recorded follies of characters in another world, vivid images ready to be imprinted into the minds of youth. It expands on the lives of all those characters so well-known today: Aladdin, Cinderella, and more - as well as characters you've never heard of, such as the One-Eyed, Two-Eyed and Three-Eyed sisters and the Deer with the Golden Leash. Each chapter is a new story, a new legend.
I learnt so much more about these iconic characters and their stories. I've realized that Disney glosses over the plot a lot, altering this - and that to their liking and whatever they deem appropriate (Which is a good thing sometimes, though, to make it all more child-friendly). It's a new breath of air, and a great experience. I've watched the movies, but never read the book - and it was truly fascinating.
August 10, 2016
Some of the tales were magical and intriguing, others, long-winded and disjointed. Adults may want to do a bit of screening before they decide these are fairy tales "every child should know"--the version of "Aladdin" appearing in this book contains some fairly nasty stereotypes of Jews, as well as slavery presented without comment.
The other stories are as grim as you remember the original fairy tales to be. However, the version of "Cinderella" appearing here appears to be sanitized. I did enjoy this "Little Red Riding Hood"--which simply ends with the whiny Hood being gobbled up by the wolf--and not avenged by the woodsman.
The other stories are as grim as you remember the original fairy tales to be. However, the version of "Cinderella" appearing here appears to be sanitized. I did enjoy this "Little Red Riding Hood"--which simply ends with the whiny Hood being gobbled up by the wolf--and not avenged by the woodsman.
August 12, 2010
on my kindle!
May 12, 2010
Yipes, and to think I enjoyed these as an impressionable child! What were the Brothers Grimm, and my beloved Walt Disney smoking?
January 3, 2012
Very classical and easy to understand.
November 12, 2013
The Light Princess was definitely my favorite story.
April 22, 2013
very old school some good others haard to understand
August 27, 2013
A very fun collection of fairy tales, many that I had never heard of before. It was a very light read and kept me very entertained.
September 25, 2013
A very different take on the classic fairy tales.
December 8, 2013
A great read, full of stories that every child should know. Reading this reminded me of all day f the stories I used to and has reawakened my love of fairy tales
January 21, 2014
The stories are not quite the way I remember them. The language gets quite archaic sometimes. Still a nice set of fairy tales.
March 29, 2014
This is a good book.
I enjoyed reading these stories first, then to my children. My son enjoyed Beauty and the Beast best of all.
I enjoyed reading these stories first, then to my children. My son enjoyed Beauty and the Beast best of all.
October 1, 2012
Cute, most of these I had never actually read before so it was interesting.
September 23, 2012
Fantastic collection of orignal fairy tales!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews