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The Coloured Fairy Books
The Olive Fairy Book
29 tales from Turkey, India, Denmark, Armenia, the Sudan, and France. The Green Knight is saved by a soup made from nine snakes, the lovely Dorani flies every night to fairyland, heroes hear animals. Eight Punjabi tales, five from Armenia, 16 others. Flying dragons, ogres, fairies, and princes transformed into white foxes. 50 illustrations.
335 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1907
193 people are currently reading
2789 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Lang
2,903 books556 followersTales of the Scottish writer and anthropologist Andrew Lang include
The Blue Fairy Book
(1889).
Andrew Gabriel Lang, a prolific Scotsman of letters, contributed poetry, novels, literary criticism, and collected now best folklore.
The Young Scholar and Journalist
Andrew Gabriel Lang, the son of the town clerk and the eldest of eight children, lived in Selkirk in the Scottish borderlands. The wild and beautiful landscape of childhood greatly affected the youth and inspired a lifelong love of the outdoors and a fascination with local folklore and history. Charles Edward Stuart and Robert I the Bruce surrounded him in the borders, a rich area in history. He later achieved his literary Short History of Scotland .
A gifted student and avid reader, Lang went to the prestigious Saint Andrews University, which now holds a lecture series in his honor every few years, and then to Balliol College, Oxford. He later published Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes about the city in 1880.
Moving to London at the age of 31 years in 1875 as an already published poet, he started working as a journalist. His dry sense of humor, style, and huge array of interests made him a popular editor and columnist quickly for The Daily Post, Time magazine and Fortnightly Review. Whilst working in London, he met and married Leonora Blanche Alleyne Lang, his wife.
Interest in myths and folklore continued as he and Leonora traveled through France and Italy to hear local legends, from which came the most famous The Rainbow Fairy Books . In the late 19th century, interest in the native stories declined and very few persons recounting them for young readers. In fact, some educationalists attacked harmful magical stories in general to children. To challenge this notion, Lang first began collecting stories for the first of his colored volumes.
Lang gathered already recorded stories, while other folklorists collected stories directly from source. He used his time to collect a much greater breadth over the world from Jacob Grimm, his brother, Madame d'Aulnoy, and other less well sources.
Lang also worked as the editor, often credited as its sole creator for his work despite the essential support of his wife, who transcribed and organised the translation of the text, to the success.
He published to wide acclaim. The beautiful illustrations and magic captivated the minds of children and adults alike. The success first allowed Lang and Leonora to carry on their research and in 1890 to publish a much larger print run of The Red Fairy Book , which drew on even more sources. Between 1889 and 1910, they published twelve collections, which, each with a different colored binding, collected, edited and translated a total of 437 stories. Lang, credited with reviving interest in folklore, more importantly revolutionized the Victorian view and inspired generations of parents to begin reading them to children once more.
Last Works
Lang produced and at the same time continued a wide assortment of novels, literary criticism, articles, and poetry. As Anita Silvey, literary critic, however, noted, "The irony of Lang's life and work is that although he wrote for a profession... he is best recognized for the works he did not write," the folk stories that he collected.
He finished not the last Highways and Byways of the Border but died.
Andrew Gabriel Lang, a prolific Scotsman of letters, contributed poetry, novels, literary criticism, and collected now best folklore.
The Young Scholar and Journalist
Andrew Gabriel Lang, the son of the town clerk and the eldest of eight children, lived in Selkirk in the Scottish borderlands. The wild and beautiful landscape of childhood greatly affected the youth and inspired a lifelong love of the outdoors and a fascination with local folklore and history. Charles Edward Stuart and Robert I the Bruce surrounded him in the borders, a rich area in history. He later achieved his literary Short History of Scotland .
A gifted student and avid reader, Lang went to the prestigious Saint Andrews University, which now holds a lecture series in his honor every few years, and then to Balliol College, Oxford. He later published Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes about the city in 1880.
Moving to London at the age of 31 years in 1875 as an already published poet, he started working as a journalist. His dry sense of humor, style, and huge array of interests made him a popular editor and columnist quickly for The Daily Post, Time magazine and Fortnightly Review. Whilst working in London, he met and married Leonora Blanche Alleyne Lang, his wife.
Interest in myths and folklore continued as he and Leonora traveled through France and Italy to hear local legends, from which came the most famous The Rainbow Fairy Books . In the late 19th century, interest in the native stories declined and very few persons recounting them for young readers. In fact, some educationalists attacked harmful magical stories in general to children. To challenge this notion, Lang first began collecting stories for the first of his colored volumes.
Lang gathered already recorded stories, while other folklorists collected stories directly from source. He used his time to collect a much greater breadth over the world from Jacob Grimm, his brother, Madame d'Aulnoy, and other less well sources.
Lang also worked as the editor, often credited as its sole creator for his work despite the essential support of his wife, who transcribed and organised the translation of the text, to the success.
He published to wide acclaim. The beautiful illustrations and magic captivated the minds of children and adults alike. The success first allowed Lang and Leonora to carry on their research and in 1890 to publish a much larger print run of The Red Fairy Book , which drew on even more sources. Between 1889 and 1910, they published twelve collections, which, each with a different colored binding, collected, edited and translated a total of 437 stories. Lang, credited with reviving interest in folklore, more importantly revolutionized the Victorian view and inspired generations of parents to begin reading them to children once more.
Last Works
Lang produced and at the same time continued a wide assortment of novels, literary criticism, articles, and poetry. As Anita Silvey, literary critic, however, noted, "The irony of Lang's life and work is that although he wrote for a profession... he is best recognized for the works he did not write," the folk stories that he collected.
He finished not the last Highways and Byways of the Border but died.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
June 12, 2012
These traditional fairy tale stories are rich in character building qualities. The sun may shine purple and zebras may be blue and green polka dots but however fantastical the imagined world may be the stories retain a faithfulness to the moral order of the actual universe. The characters in the metaphors are not just random figments of a fancy imagination but rather reflections of our own invisible world, the supernatural.
The audio book version of "The Olive Fairy Book" is now complete and has been cataloged here: http://librivox.org/the-olive-fairy-b... Each short story is read by a different reader. I started this book as a project on LibriVox a few months ago. I was the Book Coordinator as well as the Dedicated Proof Listener. Many different LibriVox readers signed up to read one or more of the 29 fairy tales told in this book.
The audio book version of "The Olive Fairy Book" is now complete and has been cataloged here: http://librivox.org/the-olive-fairy-b... Each short story is read by a different reader. I started this book as a project on LibriVox a few months ago. I was the Book Coordinator as well as the Dedicated Proof Listener. Many different LibriVox readers signed up to read one or more of the 29 fairy tales told in this book.
June 30, 2018
I'm almost done with these and I honestly can't wait cause it's getting very repetitive.
March 14, 2018
As before with the Blue Book, many of these were long in length. I didn't recognize most of these, but my favorite new one is probably The Billy Goat and the King just because the characters amused me - the king with his giggles and the wife with her suspicious glares.
Want a perfect life and happiness? Apparently that's achievable only by falling in love with a beautiful prince or princess - the moral of most of these stories.
I may enjoy some of these more in print format since I listed to audio, and let's admit that audio and I are a bit out of sync.
Want a perfect life and happiness? Apparently that's achievable only by falling in love with a beautiful prince or princess - the moral of most of these stories.
I may enjoy some of these more in print format since I listed to audio, and let's admit that audio and I are a bit out of sync.
May 10, 2012
Sadly, this collection ran more in the way of The Billy Goat And The King, in which the happy ending comes in the form of a wise old goat teaching the King to better control his wife by threatening to beat the poor woman. I'm afraid neither women or men come out of the grand majority of these stories at all well.
There are a scant few tales in The Olive Fairy Book that I truly enjoyed, but they earn those three stars.
There are a scant few tales in The Olive Fairy Book that I truly enjoyed, but they earn those three stars.
October 1, 2017
Andrew Lang's Colored Fairy Books are classics that I somehow missed as a child. This particular volume has a number of Armenian, Turkish, and South Asian tales in addition to European ones.
May 10, 2012
I sort of regret that in reading these books, I didn't take the time to make special notes of the stories I liked best. The last story in this volume, "The Silent Princess", was a definite favorite. I love it when stories contain other stories.
March 24, 2020
3.5 stars
I think this was the first of Lang's Fairy Books that I ever read. I looked forward to trying it out again, but compared to most of the others I ended up with a rather short list of stories that I would re-read. most of them were enjoyable but just not very memorable for me since they dragged on a lot or were overly repetitive. These were the ones I did really like, and may re-read sometime:
-The Blue Parrot
-Little King Loc
-A Long-Bow Story(loved this one!)
-Thanksgiving of the Wazir
-Samba the Coward
-He Wins Who Waits
-The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana
I think this was the first of Lang's Fairy Books that I ever read. I looked forward to trying it out again, but compared to most of the others I ended up with a rather short list of stories that I would re-read. most of them were enjoyable but just not very memorable for me since they dragged on a lot or were overly repetitive. These were the ones I did really like, and may re-read sometime:
-The Blue Parrot
-Little King Loc
-A Long-Bow Story(loved this one!)
-Thanksgiving of the Wazir
-Samba the Coward
-He Wins Who Waits
-The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana
March 22, 2020
Very enjoyable tales full of magic and superstition and talking animals. I enjoyed The Silent Princess and The Thankfulness of the Wazir among the dozens of tales. I think this gave me a better impression of the beliefs of traditional India, though the tales from other countries also had remarkably similar lessons and outcomes.
August 8, 2025
Technically did not finish as this was an ILL and it was taking me an age and a day to get through. (I blame PP)
Some stories were markedly more enjoyable than others
Some stories were markedly more enjoyable than others
May 30, 2015
At this point in the series, Lang must have long run out of the more familiar stories and casted further abroad for this 11th(!) installment of the Fairy Book series. If the volume is somewhat lacking in first-rate tales as a result, it largely makes up for this in freshness. There's also a general cohesiveness to the collection that at times lacking in the Red Fairy Book— sure, there's the same number of literary fairy tales that have been abridged beyond intelligibility— but overall the writing has become more polished. With stories from Sudan, Armenia, Turkey and India,
The Olive Fairy Book
certainly fulfills my wish for more "cultural variety" in the series. Anyway, to the highlights!:
- Jackal or Tiger? (Indian, unattributed) is an odd little tale of marital dispute, in which the comic exaggeration of greed and selfishness juts up against the darker currents of familial breakdown and suggestions of murder and incest. This is the stuff of Greek tragedy, I'm saying, so it seems especially strange that the king gets a relatively happy ending. Water and blood seem to be the major motifs in the story — the bond of blood which he doesn't owe to his father (and half-sister) vs. the bond of water by which he is connected to the witch. So then, magic is only created through an alchemical reaction of both, a sacrifice given of both honor and blood. Who knows what this has to do with the jackal/tiger though.
- Kupti and Imani (Punjabi, unattributed) is a charming take on the classic story of good sister/bad sister in which bad sister is lazy and unprincipled and good sister is hardworking and self-reliant (see "Tam and Cam"). Imani is altogether awesome and it's nice for once to have a romance with a long friendship/courting period. As it always is though, no one recognizes anyone else in drag. Also, you should seek medical advice from monkeys:
- Major Campbell is credited with a number of amusing Punjabi folk stories, notably Diamond Cut Diamond, in which we learn the only way to defeat a con artist is a hire a better one. He also provides Dorani, an even more heartening variation of the "Dancing Princesses" story than the one I praised from The Red Fairy Book. As in that rendition, Dorani leaves the life of nightly escape of her own accord. Not because she has been bested; rather, having found her voice within the dream, she is ready to take it with her into reality.
- Silence as an act of female self-determination/defiance (see The Piano, dir. Jane Campion) rears its head again in the Turkish The Silent Princess. Echoing something of 1001 Nights, the hero must spin a story every night that tempts the princess to speak, or lose his head in the failing. Notably he does so by engaging her intelligence, and even more importantly, each story ends with the exercise of female judgment. Ignac Kunos also provides The Boy Who Found Fear At Last, which true to the title, shares a similar premise to the Grimm's "The Story of a Youth Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was". Where the Grimm tale is a comically morbid affair that implies fearlessness is a kind of sociopathy, "The Boy Who Found Fear At Last" is even more haunting in its implication that it is our ties to society that provide the greatest (existential) horrors:
- Jackal or Tiger? (Indian, unattributed) is an odd little tale of marital dispute, in which the comic exaggeration of greed and selfishness juts up against the darker currents of familial breakdown and suggestions of murder and incest. This is the stuff of Greek tragedy, I'm saying, so it seems especially strange that the king gets a relatively happy ending. Water and blood seem to be the major motifs in the story — the bond of blood which he doesn't owe to his father (and half-sister) vs. the bond of water by which he is connected to the witch. So then, magic is only created through an alchemical reaction of both, a sacrifice given of both honor and blood. Who knows what this has to do with the jackal/tiger though.
- Kupti and Imani (Punjabi, unattributed) is a charming take on the classic story of good sister/bad sister in which bad sister is lazy and unprincipled and good sister is hardworking and self-reliant (see "Tam and Cam"). Imani is altogether awesome and it's nice for once to have a romance with a long friendship/courting period. As it always is though, no one recognizes anyone else in drag. Also, you should seek medical advice from monkeys:
"It's a pity that we can't tell some man of a medicine so simple, and so save a good man's life. But men are so silly; they go and shut themselves up in stuffy houses in stuffy cities instead of living in nice airy trees, and so they miss knowing all the best things."
- Major Campbell is credited with a number of amusing Punjabi folk stories, notably Diamond Cut Diamond, in which we learn the only way to defeat a con artist is a hire a better one. He also provides Dorani, an even more heartening variation of the "Dancing Princesses" story than the one I praised from The Red Fairy Book. As in that rendition, Dorani leaves the life of nightly escape of her own accord. Not because she has been bested; rather, having found her voice within the dream, she is ready to take it with her into reality.
- Silence as an act of female self-determination/defiance (see The Piano, dir. Jane Campion) rears its head again in the Turkish The Silent Princess. Echoing something of 1001 Nights, the hero must spin a story every night that tempts the princess to speak, or lose his head in the failing. Notably he does so by engaging her intelligence, and even more importantly, each story ends with the exercise of female judgment. Ignac Kunos also provides The Boy Who Found Fear At Last, which true to the title, shares a similar premise to the Grimm's "The Story of a Youth Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was". Where the Grimm tale is a comically morbid affair that implies fearlessness is a kind of sociopathy, "The Boy Who Found Fear At Last" is even more haunting in its implication that it is our ties to society that provide the greatest (existential) horrors:
‘The king! the king!’ but as he listened to the cries, a vision, swifter than lightning, flashed across his brain. He saw himself seated on a throne, spending his life trying, and never succeeding, to make poor people rich; miserable people happy; bad people good; never doing anything he wished to do, not able even to marry the girl that he loved [...] a cold shiver, that he knew not the meaning of, ran through him.And all that time Lang insisting the Fairy Books are for children. Ha! Rating: 3.5 stars
‘This is fear whom you have so long sought,’ whispered a voice, which seemed to reach his ears alone. And the youth bowed his head as the vision once more flashed before his eyes, and he accepted his doom, and made ready to pass his life with fear beside him.
October 15, 2022
October 2022 reread:
This is the fourth or fifth time I have read this, and it is still one of my top favorite fairy books (Green and Yellow being next). While many of the stories follow familiar formulas, a few feel more fresh, such as The Fate of the Turtle, Diamond Cut Diamond, The Steel Cane.
Top favorite stories:
Little King Loc (one of my absolute favorite fairy tales, it is a beautiful story of sacrificial love. The dignity and tragedy of poor King Loc!)
Kupti and Imani
Dorani
The Snake Prince
Boy Who Found Fear at Last
The Silent Princess
I like all of the stories, though. The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana is a good story, but I can never quite follow it or remember exactly what happens.
2013:
This book is one of my favorites in the Lang collection because all of the stories are so unique and non-formulaic, though, of course, there are themes that appear in many fairy tales. The only story I dislike is The Billy Goat and the King which, though I'm not a feminist, does grate on me. Most of the others I love, and each other I like very much.
This is the fourth or fifth time I have read this, and it is still one of my top favorite fairy books (Green and Yellow being next). While many of the stories follow familiar formulas, a few feel more fresh, such as The Fate of the Turtle, Diamond Cut Diamond, The Steel Cane.
Top favorite stories:
Little King Loc (one of my absolute favorite fairy tales, it is a beautiful story of sacrificial love. The dignity and tragedy of poor King Loc!)
Kupti and Imani
Dorani
The Snake Prince
Boy Who Found Fear at Last
The Silent Princess
I like all of the stories, though. The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana is a good story, but I can never quite follow it or remember exactly what happens.
2013:
This book is one of my favorites in the Lang collection because all of the stories are so unique and non-formulaic, though, of course, there are themes that appear in many fairy tales. The only story I dislike is The Billy Goat and the King which, though I'm not a feminist, does grate on me. Most of the others I love, and each other I like very much.
February 14, 2015
I got this book for Christmas. It's definitely my favorite of Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. I was lucky enough to get an illustrated version. The pictures are beautiful and the stories are entertaining.
My favorite stories:
- The Blue Parrot (my favorite one of all)
- The Story of Little King Loc
- Kupti and Imani
- Dorani
- The Story of Zoulvisia
- The Snake Prince
- The Boy Who Found Fear at Last
- The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana
- The Silent Princess
A few stories weren't to my liking (The Strange Adventures of Little Maia, Grasp All, Lose All, He Wins Who Waits) or flat-out confusing (Geirlug the King's Daughter comes to mind), but overall the stories were excellent. I like how non-European stories dominate the book - it's nice to see stories from other cultures. Definitely a recommendation for fairy tale lovers!
My favorite stories:
- The Blue Parrot (my favorite one of all)
- The Story of Little King Loc
- Kupti and Imani
- Dorani
- The Story of Zoulvisia
- The Snake Prince
- The Boy Who Found Fear at Last
- The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana
- The Silent Princess
A few stories weren't to my liking (The Strange Adventures of Little Maia, Grasp All, Lose All, He Wins Who Waits) or flat-out confusing (Geirlug the King's Daughter comes to mind), but overall the stories were excellent. I like how non-European stories dominate the book - it's nice to see stories from other cultures. Definitely a recommendation for fairy tale lovers!
December 8, 2014
A mix of tales leaning toward India and the Middle East. "The Green Knight" gives us a new and different promise a dying queen should not extract from her husband. "The Prince and Princess in the Forest" and "The Silent Princess" are unusual tales. Several literary French ones -- which I was, by this point, able to pick out of the others just by style.
February 6, 2008
all of the books in this series are great... fairy tales, fairy tales, fairy tales... absurd and wonderful and oddly familiar...
uh, this is a 5-star book, but my stars aren't working right now.
uh, this is a 5-star book, but my stars aren't working right now.
February 24, 2009
Another fantastic fairy book. Fabulous illustrations as usual. 300 pages later and I still love reading each fairy tale!
February 15, 2019
As always... I love fairy tales.
In this collection there were quite a bit that weren't familiar to me. Some of those were confusing to say the least.
In this collection there were quite a bit that weren't familiar to me. Some of those were confusing to say the least.
January 24, 2020
The best part of this book is the gorgeous original illustrations. This Dover publication is filled with illustrated plates every couple of pages that just scream to be filled with color they are so lovely. I borrowed this book from the library because I had seen the added Art Deco illustrations in the Folio Society publication and wondered if it was worth the spend-y $700+ price tag.
I have to preface my review with the fact that I am not a big fan of short stories. I like character development and short stories generally don’t allot time for such a practice. And what is a fairytale? In essence it is a short story. This book is filled with classic fairytales from around the world. There are dragons, witches, fairies, spells, poisonings, princesses, knights, etc. Classic, right? Classic or not these stories were all new to me. Some held my interest more than others, but all were an adventure into new territory. I did occasionally wonder what they would sound like in their original language, especially since I am learning Turkish, and if anything was lost the the translation. (I did expect there to be at least one tragic Turkish love story.)
My favorite story may have been the jackal or tiger?, mainly for the moral which seems to be “the old king has never been heard to contradict his wife anymore. If he even looks as if he does not agree with her, she smiles at him and says: ‘Is it the tiger, then? Or the jackal?’ And he has not another word to say.”
I learned that snakes drink milk and sugar. Also I learned that if a pretty girl wears boy clothes or a poor person’s clothes, no one will recognize her.
My second favorite fairytale was The boy who found fear at last. I really enjoyed the moral being “he saw himself seated on a throne, spending his life trying, and never succeeding, to make poor people rich; miserable people happy; bad people good; never doing anything he wished to do, not able even to marry the girl that he loved.”-It was not where I thought the story was going and it reminded me how much it sucks to be the boss.
I imagine this olive fairy book, with it’s tales from Denmark, Turkey and Indian, fits in very nicely to the 12 volume collection that was put together by
Andrew Lang. Andrew Lang, an author in his own right, is best know for being the editor of this twelve volume Color Fairy Book series. The Olive Fairy Book was originally published in 1907 and is the 11th in the series of twelve that Lang meant to end at four. Based on the extremely popular reception of his collection, Lang proceeded to publish one a year until his death at the age of 68 in 1912.
The Olive Fairy Book is geared towards adults and collectors. If you are a fan of Fairy Tales you should not miss Andrew Lang’s Color/Rainbow Fairy Books.
While I am antiquing, I will be watching for these in first addition and in their subsequent 1930’s republications...there are some colored illustrations in those.
Enjoy!
I have to preface my review with the fact that I am not a big fan of short stories. I like character development and short stories generally don’t allot time for such a practice. And what is a fairytale? In essence it is a short story. This book is filled with classic fairytales from around the world. There are dragons, witches, fairies, spells, poisonings, princesses, knights, etc. Classic, right? Classic or not these stories were all new to me. Some held my interest more than others, but all were an adventure into new territory. I did occasionally wonder what they would sound like in their original language, especially since I am learning Turkish, and if anything was lost the the translation. (I did expect there to be at least one tragic Turkish love story.)
My favorite story may have been the jackal or tiger?, mainly for the moral which seems to be “the old king has never been heard to contradict his wife anymore. If he even looks as if he does not agree with her, she smiles at him and says: ‘Is it the tiger, then? Or the jackal?’ And he has not another word to say.”
I learned that snakes drink milk and sugar. Also I learned that if a pretty girl wears boy clothes or a poor person’s clothes, no one will recognize her.
My second favorite fairytale was The boy who found fear at last. I really enjoyed the moral being “he saw himself seated on a throne, spending his life trying, and never succeeding, to make poor people rich; miserable people happy; bad people good; never doing anything he wished to do, not able even to marry the girl that he loved.”-It was not where I thought the story was going and it reminded me how much it sucks to be the boss.
I imagine this olive fairy book, with it’s tales from Denmark, Turkey and Indian, fits in very nicely to the 12 volume collection that was put together by
Andrew Lang. Andrew Lang, an author in his own right, is best know for being the editor of this twelve volume Color Fairy Book series. The Olive Fairy Book was originally published in 1907 and is the 11th in the series of twelve that Lang meant to end at four. Based on the extremely popular reception of his collection, Lang proceeded to publish one a year until his death at the age of 68 in 1912.
The Olive Fairy Book is geared towards adults and collectors. If you are a fan of Fairy Tales you should not miss Andrew Lang’s Color/Rainbow Fairy Books.
While I am antiquing, I will be watching for these in first addition and in their subsequent 1930’s republications...there are some colored illustrations in those.
Enjoy!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2020
The Olive Fairy Book is one of a series of compiled fairy tale books often referred to as the Rainbow Fairy Books or Coloured Fairy Books.
The Folio Society currently offers the Blue Fairy Book but in the past has done all of them. The Olive Fairy Book is one of the more rare ones, so I borrowed from the library from the Dover collection. If you are interested in the collection, this Dover series is smaller and much more affordable. It also claims to contain every story from the original publication word for word and black and whites of the original artwork - maybe forty pictures all together.
The Olive series was a good read. I was only familiar with a single story going into this, but the general themes of man’s interaction with the fae folk seem to have been in common across all of Europe and into India and the Middle East. You’ll catch the origins of certain sayings that persist today such as good things come to those who wait. No story was so long that you grew tired of one before it went on to the next.
I give this book three stars instead of four only because with a curated set of stories I would have enjoyed a page or even a paragraph of some history such as exactly which country it came from and any known history about the story coming to be.
I did enjoy this book though and would recommend to anyone who wanted to read a comprehensive collection of fairy tales to read the entire rainbow of this series along with Aesop’s Tales, the complete stories of The Brother’s Grimm, a good collection of Nursery Rhymes, and a comprehensive collection of Greek/Roman mythology.
The Folio Society currently offers the Blue Fairy Book but in the past has done all of them. The Olive Fairy Book is one of the more rare ones, so I borrowed from the library from the Dover collection. If you are interested in the collection, this Dover series is smaller and much more affordable. It also claims to contain every story from the original publication word for word and black and whites of the original artwork - maybe forty pictures all together.
The Olive series was a good read. I was only familiar with a single story going into this, but the general themes of man’s interaction with the fae folk seem to have been in common across all of Europe and into India and the Middle East. You’ll catch the origins of certain sayings that persist today such as good things come to those who wait. No story was so long that you grew tired of one before it went on to the next.
I give this book three stars instead of four only because with a curated set of stories I would have enjoyed a page or even a paragraph of some history such as exactly which country it came from and any known history about the story coming to be.
I did enjoy this book though and would recommend to anyone who wanted to read a comprehensive collection of fairy tales to read the entire rainbow of this series along with Aesop’s Tales, the complete stories of The Brother’s Grimm, a good collection of Nursery Rhymes, and a comprehensive collection of Greek/Roman mythology.
April 22, 2019
I first encountered the Lang collection, often called the Colored Fairy Books because of their titles (Blue, Olive, Crimson, etc.) when I was in elementary school. I enjoyed them because they were so different from the sanitized, prissy princess, modern versions, and I'm happy to see them now available (for very cheap) in Kindle format.
We forget that fairy tales were not originally for children and were not created as vehicles for which to market toys and Happy Meals to toddlers. They were oral entertainment, grisly and cutting social or political commentary more often than not.
For one of the more interesting aspects of fairy tale history, look up "préciosité." The Brothers Grimm are credited with collecting and publishing fairly tales; however,les précieuse is a little-known step in how a group of French noble-women affected the shape of the modern fairy tale and elevated the art of storytelling.
Like any old literature, it's best to read Lang's collections in the context of their times and understand that our 21st century (professed) sensibilities might get a little tweaked from some of the language and prejudices in older literature. Anyone looking for the sweet, slick, happily-ever-after versions where nothing violent or rude ever happens will likely not like this (or any of the older) collections.
We forget that fairy tales were not originally for children and were not created as vehicles for which to market toys and Happy Meals to toddlers. They were oral entertainment, grisly and cutting social or political commentary more often than not.
For one of the more interesting aspects of fairy tale history, look up "préciosité." The Brothers Grimm are credited with collecting and publishing fairly tales; however,les précieuse is a little-known step in how a group of French noble-women affected the shape of the modern fairy tale and elevated the art of storytelling.
Like any old literature, it's best to read Lang's collections in the context of their times and understand that our 21st century (professed) sensibilities might get a little tweaked from some of the language and prejudices in older literature. Anyone looking for the sweet, slick, happily-ever-after versions where nothing violent or rude ever happens will likely not like this (or any of the older) collections.
September 24, 2022
This volume contains, for me, mostly quite interesting stories, few of which I had seen before in another version. There were a couple of faintly familiar ones, but it's been a while since I read other versions in previous Fairy Books; there was also one very recognisable story, in the shape of 'The Strange Adventures of Little Maia', which is no more or less than 'Thumbelina' by another name.
The stories almost all made enough sense for my liking, and mostly followed a general theme of princes and princesses, and protagonists getting over certain hurdles in order to marry them. Hardly any of them really stood out, but there was one I particularly enjoyed, which I am now struggling to find as the titles are not at all illuminating! It seems to be called 'Jackal or Tiger?', the relevance of which I have utterly forgotten; what I enjoyed was the well-rounded protagonist, Ameer Ali, secretly a king's son, attracting the romantic attentions both of a supernatural being and his unknowing half-sister, and going through various adventures to reach the correct outcome.
The stories almost all made enough sense for my liking, and mostly followed a general theme of princes and princesses, and protagonists getting over certain hurdles in order to marry them. Hardly any of them really stood out, but there was one I particularly enjoyed, which I am now struggling to find as the titles are not at all illuminating! It seems to be called 'Jackal or Tiger?', the relevance of which I have utterly forgotten; what I enjoyed was the well-rounded protagonist, Ameer Ali, secretly a king's son, attracting the romantic attentions both of a supernatural being and his unknowing half-sister, and going through various adventures to reach the correct outcome.
September 4, 2025
This collection’s like a magical passport, bouncing from culture to culture. You’ve got stories from places you’ve barely heard of, and suddenly you’re knee-deep in weird spells, talking animals, and the kind of absurd logic that only makes sense if you grew up on bedtime stories.
What really gets me with this one is the mix—it’s not just the same old European fairy tales we’ve all had drilled into our brains since we were, what, five? Sure, there are a few familiar faces in the lineup, but then you hit something so off-the-wall new, it’s like... where has this been all my life? Some of these tales are wild. Seriously, I found myself double-checking a couple just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally wandered into a fever dream.
What really gets me with this one is the mix—it’s not just the same old European fairy tales we’ve all had drilled into our brains since we were, what, five? Sure, there are a few familiar faces in the lineup, but then you hit something so off-the-wall new, it’s like... where has this been all my life? Some of these tales are wild. Seriously, I found myself double-checking a couple just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally wandered into a fever dream.
December 20, 2022
İçinde 17 masal vardı. Yazar çeşitli kültür ve ülkelerin masallarını derleyerek uyarlamış. Bazılarını Binbir Gece Masalları ile Kelile ve Dimne'den hatırlıyorum. Burada bizim kültürden aldığı Keloğlan'ı büyücüye dönüştürmüş. Beğenmedim.
Genel olarak kitap yazım ve anlatım yanlışlıklarıyla doluydu. Anlamak için çabalamak lazımdı. Kim kimdi, neyin nesiydi çok hızlıca geçilmiş. Olaylar oldu bittiye gelmiş gibiydi. Çevirmenin isminin olduğu kitapları neden almamam lazım onu anladım. Hikayelerden birkaçı güzeldi ama çevirmen yüzünden kusura bakmayın düşük puan veriyorum. Orijinali kesinlikle iyidir.
Genel olarak kitap yazım ve anlatım yanlışlıklarıyla doluydu. Anlamak için çabalamak lazımdı. Kim kimdi, neyin nesiydi çok hızlıca geçilmiş. Olaylar oldu bittiye gelmiş gibiydi. Çevirmenin isminin olduğu kitapları neden almamam lazım onu anladım. Hikayelerden birkaçı güzeldi ama çevirmen yüzünden kusura bakmayın düşük puan veriyorum. Orijinali kesinlikle iyidir.
October 8, 2017
A wonderful collection of tales from Europe, the middle east, and Asia. These aren't the traditional "disney" fairy tales that have become so popular. Yes, many have happy endings, but these are traditional fairy tales that contain a point. Help the needy, don't betray your family, have patience, etc. Almost all the stories contain a note of origin, which enhanced their authenticity.
October 31, 2025
The Olive Fairy Book (The Rainbow Fairy Books #11) by Andrew Lang – The Silent Princess may be a familiar friend, but you are certainly going to have lots of new friends to meet in this collection! Happy Reading!
October 9, 2017
Andrew Lang - 5 start, naturally. Great collection of short stories from around the world. Some are very, very folksy.
September 22, 2018
Fairy tales from more exotic locales.
July 18, 2020
It’s a classic.
September 2, 2021
a really interesting alternative to the typical fairy tale book, definitely worth a read if you’re looking for something light and different
July 10, 2022
The 11th book in the classic collection of fairy tales edited by Lange. A must read for lovers of fairy tales of all ages.
May 29, 2023
Fairy tales never get old for me. Elements of the story repeat and mix up, but always feel new. I recommend all these books.
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