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The Coloured Fairy Books
The Crimson Fairy Book
It is almost impossible to envision what childhood would be like without the enchanting world of fairyland. Princes and princesses, kings and queens, giants and dwarfs, monsters and magicians, fairies and ogres—these are the companions who thrill young boys and girls of all lands and all times, as Andrew Lang's phenomenally successful collections of stories have proved. From the day that they were first printed, the Lang fairy books of many colors have entertained thousands of boys and girls, as they have also brought pleasure to the many parents who have read these unforgettable classics to their children.
The Crimson Fairy Book contains a fascinating collection of tales from many countries: Hungary, Russia, Rumania, Finland, Iceland, Japan, and Sicily are only some of them. Filled with imagination, excitement, and adventure, these tales will delight children with their illogical yet strangely reasonable events, and will offer parents a pleasant change from the well-worn favorites. One story (The Cottager and His Cat) tells of how cats were introduced into Iceland; another Japanese tale (The Crab and the Monkey) tells how a crab gets the best of a roguish monkey; and a remarkable tale (Little Wildrose) from Rumania tells how a beautiful child was reared in an eagle's nest.
All in all, the collection contains 36 stories, all narrated in the clear, lively prose for which Lang was famous. Not only are Lang's generally conceded to be the best English versions of standard stories, his collections are the richest and widest in range. His position as one of England's foremost folklorists as well as his first-rate literary abilities make his collections unmatchable in the English language.
The Crimson Fairy Book contains a fascinating collection of tales from many countries: Hungary, Russia, Rumania, Finland, Iceland, Japan, and Sicily are only some of them. Filled with imagination, excitement, and adventure, these tales will delight children with their illogical yet strangely reasonable events, and will offer parents a pleasant change from the well-worn favorites. One story (The Cottager and His Cat) tells of how cats were introduced into Iceland; another Japanese tale (The Crab and the Monkey) tells how a crab gets the best of a roguish monkey; and a remarkable tale (Little Wildrose) from Rumania tells how a beautiful child was reared in an eagle's nest.
All in all, the collection contains 36 stories, all narrated in the clear, lively prose for which Lang was famous. Not only are Lang's generally conceded to be the best English versions of standard stories, his collections are the richest and widest in range. His position as one of England's foremost folklorists as well as his first-rate literary abilities make his collections unmatchable in the English language.
371 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1903
130 people are currently reading
2711 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Lang
2,906 books555 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 45 reviews
July 23, 2019
From The Hairy Man:
"The king ordered his servants to take the boy into the forest and to kill him there, and to bring back part of his liver and lungs."
So horrific . So specific. Also, the boy was his own son. It didn't really make me feel better that his servant killed a dog instead. But the canine organs did dupe the king.
"The king ordered his servants to take the boy into the forest and to kill him there, and to bring back part of his liver and lungs."
So horrific . So specific. Also, the boy was his own son. It didn't really make me feel better that his servant killed a dog instead. But the canine organs did dupe the king.
January 23, 2015
A wide variety. I like "Lucky Luck," which is of the same type as "Faithful Johannes" (at least at first), but better put together. Oddly enough, it has two tales "The Hairy Man" and "The Gold-Bearded Man", where the prince gets in trouble by freeing a prisoner (a la "Iron Hans") but the freed captive does not play so great a role. I also particularly liked "The Colony of Cats" and "Niels and the Giants." And there is also "The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder" which gets a special mention for having the only benevolent stepmother in any fairy tale I've read.
May 1, 2014
Andrew Lang put together twelve Fairy Books filled with fairy tales from around the world, each named after it's own color. Personally, I've arranged my collection according to the rainbow and that's the order I'll be reading them in (I'm still undecided as to whether I think the red book looks better first, or the crimson. I decided to start with crimson - a picture of the collection, minus the Brown Fairy Book, which I don't own yet, can be seen here).
As described on the back of the book, "The Crimson Fairy Book contains a fascinating collection of tales from many countries: Hungary, Russia, Rumania, Finland, Iceland, Japan and Sicily are only some of them...All in all, the collection contains 36 stories, all narrated in the clear, lively prose for which Lang was famous." This book is an unabridged copy of the original 1903 edition and contains a total of 53 illustrations.
I'm not sure if each book has a prevailing theme, but this book seems to focus on events unfolding around members of royalty or people who become royalty, with a few stories about animals thrown into the mix.
What I liked:
The illustrations in this book are wonderful. There are two types - what I consider to be line drawings, and then the shaded, more detailed drawings, which I believe were originally published in color (oh how I wish these editions were in color too!)
As an adult, I often find myself wishing that more of the novels I read contained illustrations. You're never too old to read books with pictures!
There's one store in particular I'd like to highlight, as I felt it was a good example of a 'moral story' and I felt like it was something that children (and adults, I suppose) could learn a lesson from: The Stone-Cutter.
This tale really shows that the grass isn't always greener, because there's always going to be a life out there that is different than yours, and your perception of what's "better" than what you have isn't always right. This is probably the biggest lesson I took away from this book.
The Colony of Cats made me smile too, because a girl ran away from a bad home situation to serve in a castle full of cats. This is like, the ultimate crazy cat lady dream.
What I didn't like:
Many of these tales left me stumped - looking for the "moral" or the lesson of the story and wondering why on earth people used to tell such strange tales. Perhaps I was reading too much into these stories (wokka, wokka, wokka!) and my modern mind is used to plot development, character motivation, and generally, an explanation for why things are happening in the first place. While most of the stories entertained me, some left me confused, grossed out, or a little offended.
In the first story, Lovely Ilonka, a prince has wandered off into the world to find his fortune and comes across a house with a little old woman in it. He says good evening to her, to be polite and she respond with "It is lucky for you that you spoke to me or you have have met with a horrible death." Then she moves to the subject of what the prince is looking for and proceeds to try and help him. No more mention is made of his narrowly-escaped death! To someone who is used to reading novels, this just blew my mind. WHY would he have met with a horrible death for not speaking with her? Why is he not at all bothered that he could have been almost killed? Many stories felt underdeveloped in this way and left me wanting more. I kept getting hung up on details that clearly aren't important to whoever created these stories.
An example of something I found a little gross can be found in The Language of the Beats - a young shepherd wishes to gain the language of the beasts and the king of the snakes is willing to grant it to him. Here's the ritual: The boy is told to open his mouth and does so. The king of the snakes spits into his mouth, then tells the boy to spit back into his mouth. This happens three times, then the boy can understand the language of all animals. Ick!
A message that bothered me is also found in The Language of the Beasts - after gaining his powers, the boy is told not to mention them to anyone, or he'll die instantly. His wife begins questioning him one day after he laughs at something related to his secret power and he is almost ready to tell her of his power and die, when he overhears a crow talking about how he purposefully torments his many wives, and if they give him any sass he "gives [them] a lesson with his beak." The boy hears this and grabs a stick and calls his wife to him, saying he'll tell her what she wants to know, and "then he began to beat her with the stick, saying with each blow: 'It is that, wife, it is that!' And in this way he taught her never again to ask why he had laughed." Probably I'm being too pc, and I know this was written ages ago when it was fully acceptable to beat your wife and kids, but it's not something I enjoyed reading.
There are also several examples of people coming into riches or power through sheer luck and one such example is the story of How The Beggar Boy turned into Count Piro. The tale starts of by describing a man's son as a "lazy, stupid boy, who would never do anything he was told." The boy's father dies and rather than seek work, the boy decides to lay around the house and live off the magical pears from the tree outside the house. After this a fox comes by and randomly decides to help the boy. In the end, thanks to the cleverness of the fox, the boy ends up with a princess for a wife, his own castle and the title of Count Piro. All the fox asks is that if he dies, Piro will grant him a grand burial. To test Piro's loyalty the fox pretends to die and Piro orders him tossed into a ditch. The fox springs back to life and accuses Piro of being ungrateful. Piro passes it all off as a joke and is forgiven, but he's so ungrateful and undeserving of what he was rewarded with that I wish the fox had cursed him or something.
That said, it was interesting to read tales that were unfamiliar to me - having grown up with Disney movies and the usual retellings of popular tales (ie: Rose Red, Little Mermaid, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc). I will definitely continue to read my way through the rainbow of tales Lang has collected.
As described on the back of the book, "The Crimson Fairy Book contains a fascinating collection of tales from many countries: Hungary, Russia, Rumania, Finland, Iceland, Japan and Sicily are only some of them...All in all, the collection contains 36 stories, all narrated in the clear, lively prose for which Lang was famous." This book is an unabridged copy of the original 1903 edition and contains a total of 53 illustrations.
I'm not sure if each book has a prevailing theme, but this book seems to focus on events unfolding around members of royalty or people who become royalty, with a few stories about animals thrown into the mix.
What I liked:
The illustrations in this book are wonderful. There are two types - what I consider to be line drawings, and then the shaded, more detailed drawings, which I believe were originally published in color (oh how I wish these editions were in color too!)
As an adult, I often find myself wishing that more of the novels I read contained illustrations. You're never too old to read books with pictures!
There's one store in particular I'd like to highlight, as I felt it was a good example of a 'moral story' and I felt like it was something that children (and adults, I suppose) could learn a lesson from: The Stone-Cutter.
This story is essentially about a stone cutter who isn't happy with his position in life. He was good at what he did, but one day, upon delivering something to a rich man's house, the stone cutter desired to be rich too. His wish was granted by a mountain spirit and he enjoyed his new life for some time, but then saw a prince passing by and wished instead to be a prince. This wish was granted too. He then wishes to be the sun when he realized that no matter how he watered his grass, the sun still dried it out, and surely the sun was mightier than a price. After this the man wishes to become a cloud, and then a mountain, as he viewed each to be more powerful than the last. When he is being chipped away at by a stone-cutter, he wishes to be a man once more. In the end, he learned to be satisfied with what he originally had and never heard the voice of the mountain spirit again.
This tale really shows that the grass isn't always greener, because there's always going to be a life out there that is different than yours, and your perception of what's "better" than what you have isn't always right. This is probably the biggest lesson I took away from this book.
The Colony of Cats made me smile too, because a girl ran away from a bad home situation to serve in a castle full of cats. This is like, the ultimate crazy cat lady dream.
What I didn't like:
Many of these tales left me stumped - looking for the "moral" or the lesson of the story and wondering why on earth people used to tell such strange tales. Perhaps I was reading too much into these stories (wokka, wokka, wokka!) and my modern mind is used to plot development, character motivation, and generally, an explanation for why things are happening in the first place. While most of the stories entertained me, some left me confused, grossed out, or a little offended.
In the first story, Lovely Ilonka, a prince has wandered off into the world to find his fortune and comes across a house with a little old woman in it. He says good evening to her, to be polite and she respond with "It is lucky for you that you spoke to me or you have have met with a horrible death." Then she moves to the subject of what the prince is looking for and proceeds to try and help him. No more mention is made of his narrowly-escaped death! To someone who is used to reading novels, this just blew my mind. WHY would he have met with a horrible death for not speaking with her? Why is he not at all bothered that he could have been almost killed? Many stories felt underdeveloped in this way and left me wanting more. I kept getting hung up on details that clearly aren't important to whoever created these stories.
An example of something I found a little gross can be found in The Language of the Beats - a young shepherd wishes to gain the language of the beasts and the king of the snakes is willing to grant it to him. Here's the ritual: The boy is told to open his mouth and does so. The king of the snakes spits into his mouth, then tells the boy to spit back into his mouth. This happens three times, then the boy can understand the language of all animals. Ick!
A message that bothered me is also found in The Language of the Beasts - after gaining his powers, the boy is told not to mention them to anyone, or he'll die instantly. His wife begins questioning him one day after he laughs at something related to his secret power and he is almost ready to tell her of his power and die, when he overhears a crow talking about how he purposefully torments his many wives, and if they give him any sass he "gives [them] a lesson with his beak." The boy hears this and grabs a stick and calls his wife to him, saying he'll tell her what she wants to know, and "then he began to beat her with the stick, saying with each blow: 'It is that, wife, it is that!' And in this way he taught her never again to ask why he had laughed." Probably I'm being too pc, and I know this was written ages ago when it was fully acceptable to beat your wife and kids, but it's not something I enjoyed reading.
There are also several examples of people coming into riches or power through sheer luck and one such example is the story of How The Beggar Boy turned into Count Piro. The tale starts of by describing a man's son as a "lazy, stupid boy, who would never do anything he was told." The boy's father dies and rather than seek work, the boy decides to lay around the house and live off the magical pears from the tree outside the house. After this a fox comes by and randomly decides to help the boy. In the end, thanks to the cleverness of the fox, the boy ends up with a princess for a wife, his own castle and the title of Count Piro. All the fox asks is that if he dies, Piro will grant him a grand burial. To test Piro's loyalty the fox pretends to die and Piro orders him tossed into a ditch. The fox springs back to life and accuses Piro of being ungrateful. Piro passes it all off as a joke and is forgiven, but he's so ungrateful and undeserving of what he was rewarded with that I wish the fox had cursed him or something.
That said, it was interesting to read tales that were unfamiliar to me - having grown up with Disney movies and the usual retellings of popular tales (ie: Rose Red, Little Mermaid, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc). I will definitely continue to read my way through the rainbow of tales Lang has collected.
November 4, 2023
5/2023 reread:
I previously underestimated this volume of stories, thinking that some of them are lackluster. Maybe I was just in the right mood for them this time, but ones I overlooked before I now heartily enjoyed. In the hope that I will remember each story better in future, I have written a long review with comments on each story that I like.
Two additional favorites are The Colony of Cats and To Your Good Health. Colony of Cats is reminiscent of Grimm stories with the straightforward moral of choosing kindness over wickedness--but the story features tons of cats, which is guaranteed to win me over. To Your Good Health is a Clever Tailor type story, which I never tire of, and it shows how we can become so fixated on things that do not matter, as the king does. He simply cannot accept that one single person will not give him the courtesy he wants, even though he could easily ignore it. Similarly, we often worry about petty things like that and let them destroy our joy in life.
I enjoy The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality not only because it addresses the human desire to avoid death but also because, on a more general level, it encourages us to seek what we truly want and not settle for lesser substitutes (if what we want is actually important and meaningful, that is). Although the prince receives many tempting offers of long life, he does not allow anyone to prevent him from obtaining true immortality. I can't help wondering what his immortal life in the floating city is like.
Paperarello features a king who shows wonderful humility and restraint.
The Gifts of the Magician paints a humorous picture of everyone dancing around when the protagonist plays the zither. The king actually ties himself to a tree to stop himself from dancing but to no avail. The scenario is quite hilarious.
Eisenkopf reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin variants, but it has the interesting elements of a wall of fire, magical handkerchief, and magical cakes that turn into dogs. Much like Grimms' The Three Dogs, the ones in Eisenkopf come to their master's aid and easily overcome his opponents. Besides these elements, the story shows the protagonist falling out of love with his wife after meeting another woman. As sad as this is for the first wife, the story faces the uncomfortable reality that love can end, while many fairy tales tend to contain very exaggerated, idealistic pictures of love. The wife dies, conveniently getting the protagonist out of the uncomfortable situation and allowing him to marry his new love. But he still mourns for his first wife.
I never paid much attention to The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder, especially as it contains patterns and tropes that can sometimes get tiresome. But this one is notable, as other reviewers have mentioned, for containing a benevolent stepmother. I notice, too, that the story seems to promote disobedience. The prince does not listen to his stepmother or to the girl, yet things work out well for him. This is a stark contrast to other tales that encourage obedience. Maybe the story is telling us that there are times when disobedience can work in our favor. Difficult to tell sometimes with these tales!
Lovely Ilonka is not the most interesting story, but it does show persistence as the prince seeks a bride, and the maidens in the bulrushes is an intriguing fantasy element.
The Stone Cutter will always be one of the most satisfying and wise fairy tales I have read. The message, being contented, is very simple, but it is one of the most difficult things to carry out. I greatly enjoy most of the Japanese fairy tales that Lang features in his fairy books.
The Treasure Seeker is mysterious, humorous, and magical all in one and shows a downtrodden poor man become bold and prosperous.
The Three Robes will always be one of my favorites. For one thing, the green and red trees and the robes themselves are enchanting. For another, the story shows an admirable example of forgiveness and compassion. The prince and princess choose to help the ogress' daughter despite her role in their sufferings. The prince and princess recognize that the daughter has been forced into a difficult situation and does not deserve punishment--although I wonder why she does not confess to her part in the deception once she is away from the ogress. In too deep, perhaps. It is interesting, too, that the prince convinces the princess to help the daughter each time. I am reminded of how men sometimes do not notice when there is tension between women, because it can manifest as subtle glances and verbal jabs. Of course, the princess has good reason to resent the ogress' daughter, but the scenario reminded me of how men can sometimes be more compassionate toward women because they are not threatened by them in the same way.
Tritill, Litill, and the Birds has the usual reward for good deeds motif, but the ogress added variety. The Gold Bearded Man has a similar theme. Again, I wish the story came back to the gold bearded man in some way.
Many fairy tales encourage hard work, but How the Beggar Boy Turns into Count Piro seems to have an opposite message. The hero does not do a thing to earn his prosperity. Perhaps the story is about devoted friends/loved ones who help us even when we do not deserve it. And the hero seems to learn true gratitude toward the fox at the end.
I found new meaning in Tiidu the Piper this time. While Tiidu just wants to get rich, the old man encourages him to focus on his gift of playing the pipes, and this is what brings him prosperity. Many of us give up on our passions as careers because we find that occupations we care less about pay more. But maybe if we continued to pursue our true gifts we would find them to be more profitable and rewarding after all. Taking that chance can be difficult, though. This is a wonderful story, although I am unsure about Tiidu using the magical apples and nuts to fool the royals into giving him money. True, Tiidu takes less than he might have, but that part seems to applaud dishonesty.
The Cottager and His Cat does not have not much to it and I have read similar stories, but I do appreciate another tale celebrating cats.
I enjoy the magical objects in The Hairy Man and how, unlike The Gold Bearded Man, this one circles back to the man the prince helps. I never enjoy reading about animals being killed in place of people in fairy tales, although I recognize that the characters do not have much choice.
The Sham Prince or Ambitious Tailor is one of my very favorite fairy tales. It promotes humility and contentment with our station in life. I absolutely love those ivory boxes with their miniature crown, scepter, needle, and thread in them as well.
Lucky Luck is very much like the Grimms' Faithful John but with some variations. I appreciate that a horse is not killed in this one as it is in Faithful John.
I have always wanted a bit more to happen in The Magic Kettle, but the transformations from kettle to tanuki and back are magical and the protagonist's honesty at the end a great example.
The Seven Simons is a favorite mainly because of the Simons' gifts. I always love gifted companion stories like The Flying Ship, How Six Travelled Through the Wide World, and Long, Broad, and Quick-Eye. Although the beginning states that the king is as good as he is handsome and rich, I find him to be quite arrogant and entitled, so that is a drawback to the story. I'm not sure which gift I would choose to have. Probably climbing the pillar and seeing everything or being able to make a ship sail at the bottom of the sea.
I'm not sure what Clever Maria is about--not being too easy to get? Maria shows nothing but disrespect to the king and he falls for her. Whatever the message is supposed to be, the story is entertaining.
How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished is unpleasant but shows justice in the end. The Crab and the Monkey is a revenge story I like better, probably because the crab's friends come to her aid.
The Boy and the Dragon is not the most interesting story, but it does show bravery and hard work rewarded.
The Death of Abu Nowas and His Wife is a trickster tale that is pure fun.
The most charming part of Little Wildrose is her life with the eagles and how they love and provide for her. I am reminded of Thumbelina, because the poor parents, much like Thumbelina's mother, are never mentioned again after they lose Little Wildrose. I have trouble being totally satisfied with stories that take the time to introduce characters and their desires and then drop them never to bring them up again.
Motikatika kind of creeps me out with the baby who knows magic and consults bones for advice, but I also enjoy the story. I'm not sure about the justice at the end. If the father got eaten and supposedly deserved it, so did the mother for so willingly giving up her baby to be eaten by the ogre.
I mostly like How to Find out a True Friend. The apple test might at first seem nitpicky, but in real life small faults in manners can be signs of bigger character flaws. I struggle with the ending, when the hero sacrifices his baby to save his friend. How can one choose between friend and child? Fortunately the baby survives, but the hero had to make an extremely difficult decision.
The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret shows steadfastness in the face of temptation.
***
2020?
There are only a few stories in this collection I don't care for. Others, such as The Three Robes, Little Wildrose, The Stone Cutter, The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor, and Seven Simons, are absolutely lovely and wise.
Some I like but am not satisfied with. The Gold-Bearded Man, for instance, doesn't come to closure. At the end, I don't see how the gold-bearded man rewarded the prince, unless he caused the prince to stumble on the birds who would help him because he spared their lives.
I previously underestimated this volume of stories, thinking that some of them are lackluster. Maybe I was just in the right mood for them this time, but ones I overlooked before I now heartily enjoyed. In the hope that I will remember each story better in future, I have written a long review with comments on each story that I like.
Two additional favorites are The Colony of Cats and To Your Good Health. Colony of Cats is reminiscent of Grimm stories with the straightforward moral of choosing kindness over wickedness--but the story features tons of cats, which is guaranteed to win me over. To Your Good Health is a Clever Tailor type story, which I never tire of, and it shows how we can become so fixated on things that do not matter, as the king does. He simply cannot accept that one single person will not give him the courtesy he wants, even though he could easily ignore it. Similarly, we often worry about petty things like that and let them destroy our joy in life.
I enjoy The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality not only because it addresses the human desire to avoid death but also because, on a more general level, it encourages us to seek what we truly want and not settle for lesser substitutes (if what we want is actually important and meaningful, that is). Although the prince receives many tempting offers of long life, he does not allow anyone to prevent him from obtaining true immortality. I can't help wondering what his immortal life in the floating city is like.
Paperarello features a king who shows wonderful humility and restraint.
The Gifts of the Magician paints a humorous picture of everyone dancing around when the protagonist plays the zither. The king actually ties himself to a tree to stop himself from dancing but to no avail. The scenario is quite hilarious.
Eisenkopf reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin variants, but it has the interesting elements of a wall of fire, magical handkerchief, and magical cakes that turn into dogs. Much like Grimms' The Three Dogs, the ones in Eisenkopf come to their master's aid and easily overcome his opponents. Besides these elements, the story shows the protagonist falling out of love with his wife after meeting another woman. As sad as this is for the first wife, the story faces the uncomfortable reality that love can end, while many fairy tales tend to contain very exaggerated, idealistic pictures of love. The wife dies, conveniently getting the protagonist out of the uncomfortable situation and allowing him to marry his new love. But he still mourns for his first wife.
I never paid much attention to The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder, especially as it contains patterns and tropes that can sometimes get tiresome. But this one is notable, as other reviewers have mentioned, for containing a benevolent stepmother. I notice, too, that the story seems to promote disobedience. The prince does not listen to his stepmother or to the girl, yet things work out well for him. This is a stark contrast to other tales that encourage obedience. Maybe the story is telling us that there are times when disobedience can work in our favor. Difficult to tell sometimes with these tales!
Lovely Ilonka is not the most interesting story, but it does show persistence as the prince seeks a bride, and the maidens in the bulrushes is an intriguing fantasy element.
The Stone Cutter will always be one of the most satisfying and wise fairy tales I have read. The message, being contented, is very simple, but it is one of the most difficult things to carry out. I greatly enjoy most of the Japanese fairy tales that Lang features in his fairy books.
The Treasure Seeker is mysterious, humorous, and magical all in one and shows a downtrodden poor man become bold and prosperous.
The Three Robes will always be one of my favorites. For one thing, the green and red trees and the robes themselves are enchanting. For another, the story shows an admirable example of forgiveness and compassion. The prince and princess choose to help the ogress' daughter despite her role in their sufferings. The prince and princess recognize that the daughter has been forced into a difficult situation and does not deserve punishment--although I wonder why she does not confess to her part in the deception once she is away from the ogress. In too deep, perhaps. It is interesting, too, that the prince convinces the princess to help the daughter each time. I am reminded of how men sometimes do not notice when there is tension between women, because it can manifest as subtle glances and verbal jabs. Of course, the princess has good reason to resent the ogress' daughter, but the scenario reminded me of how men can sometimes be more compassionate toward women because they are not threatened by them in the same way.
Tritill, Litill, and the Birds has the usual reward for good deeds motif, but the ogress added variety. The Gold Bearded Man has a similar theme. Again, I wish the story came back to the gold bearded man in some way.
Many fairy tales encourage hard work, but How the Beggar Boy Turns into Count Piro seems to have an opposite message. The hero does not do a thing to earn his prosperity. Perhaps the story is about devoted friends/loved ones who help us even when we do not deserve it. And the hero seems to learn true gratitude toward the fox at the end.
I found new meaning in Tiidu the Piper this time. While Tiidu just wants to get rich, the old man encourages him to focus on his gift of playing the pipes, and this is what brings him prosperity. Many of us give up on our passions as careers because we find that occupations we care less about pay more. But maybe if we continued to pursue our true gifts we would find them to be more profitable and rewarding after all. Taking that chance can be difficult, though. This is a wonderful story, although I am unsure about Tiidu using the magical apples and nuts to fool the royals into giving him money. True, Tiidu takes less than he might have, but that part seems to applaud dishonesty.
The Cottager and His Cat does not have not much to it and I have read similar stories, but I do appreciate another tale celebrating cats.
I enjoy the magical objects in The Hairy Man and how, unlike The Gold Bearded Man, this one circles back to the man the prince helps. I never enjoy reading about animals being killed in place of people in fairy tales, although I recognize that the characters do not have much choice.
The Sham Prince or Ambitious Tailor is one of my very favorite fairy tales. It promotes humility and contentment with our station in life. I absolutely love those ivory boxes with their miniature crown, scepter, needle, and thread in them as well.
Lucky Luck is very much like the Grimms' Faithful John but with some variations. I appreciate that a horse is not killed in this one as it is in Faithful John.
I have always wanted a bit more to happen in The Magic Kettle, but the transformations from kettle to tanuki and back are magical and the protagonist's honesty at the end a great example.
The Seven Simons is a favorite mainly because of the Simons' gifts. I always love gifted companion stories like The Flying Ship, How Six Travelled Through the Wide World, and Long, Broad, and Quick-Eye. Although the beginning states that the king is as good as he is handsome and rich, I find him to be quite arrogant and entitled, so that is a drawback to the story. I'm not sure which gift I would choose to have. Probably climbing the pillar and seeing everything or being able to make a ship sail at the bottom of the sea.
I'm not sure what Clever Maria is about--not being too easy to get? Maria shows nothing but disrespect to the king and he falls for her. Whatever the message is supposed to be, the story is entertaining.
How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished is unpleasant but shows justice in the end. The Crab and the Monkey is a revenge story I like better, probably because the crab's friends come to her aid.
The Boy and the Dragon is not the most interesting story, but it does show bravery and hard work rewarded.
The Death of Abu Nowas and His Wife is a trickster tale that is pure fun.
The most charming part of Little Wildrose is her life with the eagles and how they love and provide for her. I am reminded of Thumbelina, because the poor parents, much like Thumbelina's mother, are never mentioned again after they lose Little Wildrose. I have trouble being totally satisfied with stories that take the time to introduce characters and their desires and then drop them never to bring them up again.
Motikatika kind of creeps me out with the baby who knows magic and consults bones for advice, but I also enjoy the story. I'm not sure about the justice at the end. If the father got eaten and supposedly deserved it, so did the mother for so willingly giving up her baby to be eaten by the ogre.
I mostly like How to Find out a True Friend. The apple test might at first seem nitpicky, but in real life small faults in manners can be signs of bigger character flaws. I struggle with the ending, when the hero sacrifices his baby to save his friend. How can one choose between friend and child? Fortunately the baby survives, but the hero had to make an extremely difficult decision.
The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret shows steadfastness in the face of temptation.
***
2020?
There are only a few stories in this collection I don't care for. Others, such as The Three Robes, Little Wildrose, The Stone Cutter, The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor, and Seven Simons, are absolutely lovely and wise.
Some I like but am not satisfied with. The Gold-Bearded Man, for instance, doesn't come to closure. At the end, I don't see how the gold-bearded man rewarded the prince, unless he caused the prince to stumble on the birds who would help him because he spared their lives.
May 23, 2018
Pretty much the same from all the others in the series... repetitive, boring and not many great fairy tales.
April 5, 2018
'The Colony of Cats' was among the best. The right length, some humor, and actually interesting enough to work. 'The Cottage and His Cat' was another cat-themed tale, although this one is nonsensical and another twist on get-rich with kings and luck. Animal themes continue with mixed results - The Crab and the Monkey was short and held interest picturing funny monkeys tricking naive crabs, but this one doesn't hold back a dark pinch at the end.
'The Gifts of the Magician' are just odd stories that don't know what they want to be. Of course an unappreciative bastard of a king, but what is with the servant warning of the magician that she then changes her mind about, and what of the horse's real identity? If so evil, why would the magician let him leave and then then grant him request later? Either way the story was strangely interesting.
My favorite may have been the quirky and mean-spirited 'The Hungry Animals - but it was too funny to pass up.
'The Gifts of the Magician' are just odd stories that don't know what they want to be. Of course an unappreciative bastard of a king, but what is with the servant warning of the magician that she then changes her mind about, and what of the horse's real identity? If so evil, why would the magician let him leave and then then grant him request later? Either way the story was strangely interesting.
My favorite may have been the quirky and mean-spirited 'The Hungry Animals - but it was too funny to pass up.
March 27, 2009
Fairy tales still move me, even as a not-so-mature woman in my 30s.
April 10, 2020
In terms of the ratio of engaging and entertaining tales to forgettable or dull ones, I would rate The Crimson Fairy Book about the same as The Brown Fairy Book. So unfortunately it falls on the low end of the scale for me. Though it did have more pleasant stories than The Brown Fairy Book, this collection of stories didn't have as much wit, snap, and charm as most of the others. Still, these ones were good and stood out well among the rest:
-The Hairy Man
-The Story of the Seven Simons
-The Stone-Cutter
-The Death of Abu Nowas and of His Wife
-The Colony of Cats
-The Treasure Seeker
-The Magic Kettle
-The Hairy Man
-The Story of the Seven Simons
-The Stone-Cutter
-The Death of Abu Nowas and of His Wife
-The Colony of Cats
-The Treasure Seeker
-The Magic Kettle
February 4, 2017
Me costó terminarlo... Más que nada por lo extravagante de los cuentos, la mayor parte termina con un gran WTF?
Por ejemplo, hay uno cual moraleja es "para que tu esposa te haga caso, pegale".
Hay varios (una gran mayoría) realmente creepy. Si nosotros los leyéramos hoy en día siendo niños, no creo que pudiésemos pasarnos sin horas y horas de terapia para recuperarnos.
Hay otro cuento que comienza con un viejecito que se muere y un grupo de animales se llevan su cadaver al bosque, y se lo van comiendo en el camino...
Definitivamente, no es apto para los niños de hoy en día.
La mayoría de los cuentos son europeos (Hungaros, Islandeses, Rusos, Italianos), pero tambien hay algunos japoneses (que, sorprendentemente son lo menos perturbadores).
Por ejemplo, hay uno cual moraleja es "para que tu esposa te haga caso, pegale".
Hay varios (una gran mayoría) realmente creepy. Si nosotros los leyéramos hoy en día siendo niños, no creo que pudiésemos pasarnos sin horas y horas de terapia para recuperarnos.
Hay otro cuento que comienza con un viejecito que se muere y un grupo de animales se llevan su cadaver al bosque, y se lo van comiendo en el camino...
Definitivamente, no es apto para los niños de hoy en día.
La mayoría de los cuentos son europeos (Hungaros, Islandeses, Rusos, Italianos), pero tambien hay algunos japoneses (que, sorprendentemente son lo menos perturbadores).
August 16, 2018
This is just one of the many colours of Fairy Tales collected together by the Folklorist Andrew Lang. This is a great collection (and free on Kindle, as are all the other coloured books). This one features traditional fairy tales from Japan, India and Sicily amongst other places and features all the usual characters (talking animals, clever youngest children, ogres, kings, princes and princesses, the rule of three, etc). Definitely worth a read if you feel like revisiting your childhood or are interested in this charming genre.
February 20, 2008
Steph actually introduced me to these. She grew up on them. I know most of the stories, but, Wow! A Fantastic collection of Fairy Tales and not of the everything ends happily ever after variety.
December 14, 2021
3.5 stars
As is usual with these sorts of story collections, it was a mixed bag as to ones that I liked versus ones I didn't like. It was essentially split in half for me, with 19 out of the 36 stories being ones I liked, and 17 being ones I wasn't a huge fan of. I've found I can't read straight through these, since I tend to get bored sometimes. The stories can get repetitive if they are very similar, and it does feel like half the stories in these books are variations on the same few tropes. I can't always put my finger on it, but I do end up thinking to myself that I've read a version of that story before. Sometimes there are even variations of the same story within the same book. For example, in this one, The Hairy Man and The Gold-Bearded Man are, from what I recall, pretty much the same story, just with a few different elements. I'm not exactly sure how Lang compiled these and decided which stories to include, but one would think he would try to make it so the stories weren't too similar in order to give some variety.
Favorites:
The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality
Good:
To Your Good Health!
The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret
The Prince and the Dragon
Little Wildrose
Tiidu the Piper
Paperarelloo
The Gifts of the Magician
The Strong Prince
The Treasure Seeker
The Stone-Cutter
The Gold-Bearded Man
The Three Robes
Eisenkopf
The Death of Abu Nowas and of His Wife
Niels and the Giants
The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor
The Colony of Cats
How to Find Out a True Friend
Okay:
Lucky Luck
The Hairy Man
The Story of the Seven Simons
The Cottager and His Cat
Tritill, Litill and the Birds
How the Beggar Boy Turned into Count Piro
The Rogue and the Herdsman
Motiratika
Shepherd Paul
The Crab and the Monkey
The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder
Clever Maria
The Magic Kettle
Didn't like:
Lovely Ilonka
The Language of Beasts
The Six Hungry Beasts
How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished
As is usual with these sorts of story collections, it was a mixed bag as to ones that I liked versus ones I didn't like. It was essentially split in half for me, with 19 out of the 36 stories being ones I liked, and 17 being ones I wasn't a huge fan of. I've found I can't read straight through these, since I tend to get bored sometimes. The stories can get repetitive if they are very similar, and it does feel like half the stories in these books are variations on the same few tropes. I can't always put my finger on it, but I do end up thinking to myself that I've read a version of that story before. Sometimes there are even variations of the same story within the same book. For example, in this one, The Hairy Man and The Gold-Bearded Man are, from what I recall, pretty much the same story, just with a few different elements. I'm not exactly sure how Lang compiled these and decided which stories to include, but one would think he would try to make it so the stories weren't too similar in order to give some variety.
Favorites:
The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality
Good:
To Your Good Health!
The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret
The Prince and the Dragon
Little Wildrose
Tiidu the Piper
Paperarelloo
The Gifts of the Magician
The Strong Prince
The Treasure Seeker
The Stone-Cutter
The Gold-Bearded Man
The Three Robes
Eisenkopf
The Death of Abu Nowas and of His Wife
Niels and the Giants
The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor
The Colony of Cats
How to Find Out a True Friend
Okay:
Lucky Luck
The Hairy Man
The Story of the Seven Simons
The Cottager and His Cat
Tritill, Litill and the Birds
How the Beggar Boy Turned into Count Piro
The Rogue and the Herdsman
Motiratika
Shepherd Paul
The Crab and the Monkey
The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder
Clever Maria
The Magic Kettle
Didn't like:
Lovely Ilonka
The Language of Beasts
The Six Hungry Beasts
How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished
November 14, 2017
Me gustó mucho esta colección de cuentos, tanto que me gustaría poder conseguir los demás libros de colores. Tiene cuentos de todos lados del mundo, y como son cuentos originales, a veces son sumamente extraños, y sorprendentemente violentos. Llegué a marcar 18 menciones de muertes, en donde a veces se incluía la muerte de 99 personas a manos de monarcas. Los Reyes asesinaban mucho, incluso a su propia gente, tan solo por no poder cuidar ovejas. Y con todo y la diversidad de países mostrada, salvo en los cuentos japoneses, los demás parecían tener fórmulas muy parecidas. Hombres jóvenes que tenían que salir al mundo en busca de fortuna, jóvenes doncellas raptadas por dragones, sabios en el bosque con poderes mágicos, animales parlantes, ogros atemorizantes, vinos con propiedades mágicas, princesas que aceptan casarse sin peros que valgan, muchachos que solo con probar su inteligencia se convertían en ministros y luego en reyes. Había muy pocos donde las mujeres mostraban inteligencia, o donde salían a buscar fortuna, pero lo entiendo dado lo viejos que son. Aún así, todos me gustaron, fueron divertidos, diferentes, y me encantan los cuentos de hadas, así que conocer diferentes cuentos de todo el mundo fue perfecto.
September 27, 2024
While the early books in this series tended to stick to British and northern European tales, this book includes tales from many more cultures, including Africa and Japan. The only story in this I remembered from my first reading, many moons ago, is "The Colony of Cats," which I dearly love. "Motikatika," although from Africa, is sort of in the "Hansel and Gretel" category because the mother in the story offers her baby to an ogre, and is quite determined to hand him over. Unfortunately for her, the baby is a magician...
Like Mary Catelli, I was intrigued by the fact that the stepmother in "The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder" is good and loving to her stepston. Even many of the European tales have an unusual feel to them. For example, many of them have a more medieval tale than pure fairy tale. In "Niels and the Giants," for instance, they travel to see the Pope (although they don't make it).
Like Mary Catelli, I was intrigued by the fact that the stepmother in "The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder" is good and loving to her stepston. Even many of the European tales have an unusual feel to them. For example, many of them have a more medieval tale than pure fairy tale. In "Niels and the Giants," for instance, they travel to see the Pope (although they don't make it).
May 29, 2021
A nice anthology of fairytales from around the world. Most are a bit similar to others and you can predict the ending in some but overall it's an interesting way to see what people used to think or how things were edited to fit the audience. There are a few the leave you scratching your head because they make no sense and others I laughed at because of how ridiculous they now seem. This is for children as part of the rainbow spectrum series however you may want to talk to your kids while they read it as there are some things in there that can be considered racist or antisemitic. Overall I didn't take seriously and shook my head at the folly of a "hero" that let their servants or the princess do all the work. Luckily there's an ok variety of good and bad stories that can encourage critical thinking and discussions about how times change.
March 20, 2022
This has been an improvement on the last few Fairy Books, with some interesting variety to the stories, most of which make a fair amount of sense. I was interested to see the basic plot of 'Puss in Boots' in a different version here, with the rather more wordy title of, 'How the Beggar Boy turned Into Count Piro'; other than that, the stories in this book didn't really remind me of ones I'd read before, which made a nice change. I have one overall favourite: 'The Story of the Sham Prince' (or 'The Ambitious Tailor'), which has a coherent and engaging plot, well realised characters and a happier-than-expected ending.
May 3, 2021
The collections have started to go downhill a little. I love the blue, red and pink books. This was roughly as good as the green collection, where everything is fine but nothing really stands out. Lots of repetition of previous Aarne-Thompson story types. This actually included a couple of examples of the same tale type in the one collection, e.g. The Goldbearded Man and The Hairy Man. If you ask me, that was poor judgement. However, I did enjoy some of the stories involving the shape-shifting tanuki, which functions similarly in Japanese folk literature as the fox does in Chinese.
September 29, 2025
This isn’t your run-of-the-mill, bedtime snooze-fest of fairy tales. Nope, it’s like author took a magic carpet and just zipped around the globe, scooping up stories from everywhere—Scandinavia, Japan, Russia, you name it. You get this wild mix: one story, there’s a clever kid hustling their way past some grumpy troll, and then suddenly you’re in some far-off land with a talking animal or a spell gone sideways. If you’re the sort of person who geeks out over folklore or loves getting lost in a story that’s older than your grandparents’ grandparents, this book’s basically a goldmine.
January 3, 2024
This is a collection of 36 folklore stories originally published in 1903. They are a little formulaic in that marriage to a beautiful princess you’ve never met is the just and reasonable reward for any act of service to a king, that weird things happen in series of three, that sharing food with beggars is rewarded ten-fold, and always take the advice from talking animals no matter how bizarre.
January 5, 2017
I took me a really long time to get through this book. I think it was because some of the tales just seemed longer than they actually were. Some were boring and others funny. It's a hodgepodge of short tales.
May 17, 2018
I'm finding that there is a lot of repetition within the collection of books. They are better if they are spread out over a long period of time rather than close together like I have been reading them.
October 12, 2017
Having read fairy tale books before, some of these stories were nothing new, but the new ones were interesting.
June 20, 2020
Fun and entertaining
I loved reading it. Very fun and interesting stories. Has a nice variety of tales, which are pretty amazing. I also absolutely loved the illustrations.
I loved reading it. Very fun and interesting stories. Has a nice variety of tales, which are pretty amazing. I also absolutely loved the illustrations.
Want to read
November 25, 202130. ⭐
August 1, 2022
The classic collection of fairy tales, the 8th in the series. A wonderful collection of tales from varied countries. A Reader's Corner Must Read.
February 12, 2023
This is the rarest of the Fairy Books, and I think that makes it more special. While it's similar to the others, it does have some rare and unique gems to offer.
October 9, 2025
This book is so overdue
January 21, 2021
Like all of this collection, Lang's fairy tales are highly moralistic but still very dark. I do enjoy them for all of that. This one has more Slavic tales than some of the others I have read. And this one has tales I remember being told when I was very little. It was fascinating to see just how much I remembered.
October 2, 2025
2 stars
1. Lovely Ilonka (Hungarian)
2. Lucky Luck (Hungarian)
3. The Hairy Man (Russian)
4. To Your Good Health (Russian)
5. The Story of the Seven Simons (Hungarian)
6. The Language of Beasts (?)
7. The Boy Who Couldn't Keep a Secret (Hungarian)
8. The Prince and the Dragon (Serbian)
9. Little Wildrose (Romanian)
10. Tiidu the Piper (Estonian)
11. Paperarello (Italian)
12. The Gifts of the Magician (Finnish)
13. The Strong Prince (Hungarian)
14. The Treasure Seeker (German)
15. The Cottager and his Cat (Icelandic)
16. The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality (Hungarian)
17. The Stone Cutter (Japanese)
18. The Gold Bearded Man (Hungarian)
19. Tritill, Littil, and the Birds (Hungarian)
20. The Three Robes (Icelandic)
21. The Six Hungry Beasts (Finnish)
22. How the Beggar Boy Turned into Count Piro (Italian)
23. The Rogue and the Herdsman (Icelandic)
24. Eisenkopf (Hungarian)
25. The Death of Abu Nowas, and his Wife (Tunisian)
26. Motikatia (African)
27. Niels and the Giants (Danish)
28. Shepherd Paul (Hungarian)
29. How the Wicked Tanuki Was Punished (Japanese)
30. The Crab and the Monkey (Japanese)
31. The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder (Icelandic)
32. The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor (Middle Eastern)
33. The Colony of Cats (Itallian)
34. How to Find out a True Friend (Italian)
35. Clever Maria (Portuguese)
36. The Magic Kettle (Japanese)
1. Lovely Ilonka (Hungarian)
2. Lucky Luck (Hungarian)
3. The Hairy Man (Russian)
4. To Your Good Health (Russian)
5. The Story of the Seven Simons (Hungarian)
6. The Language of Beasts (?)
7. The Boy Who Couldn't Keep a Secret (Hungarian)
8. The Prince and the Dragon (Serbian)
9. Little Wildrose (Romanian)
10. Tiidu the Piper (Estonian)
11. Paperarello (Italian)
12. The Gifts of the Magician (Finnish)
13. The Strong Prince (Hungarian)
14. The Treasure Seeker (German)
15. The Cottager and his Cat (Icelandic)
16. The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality (Hungarian)
17. The Stone Cutter (Japanese)
18. The Gold Bearded Man (Hungarian)
19. Tritill, Littil, and the Birds (Hungarian)
20. The Three Robes (Icelandic)
21. The Six Hungry Beasts (Finnish)
22. How the Beggar Boy Turned into Count Piro (Italian)
23. The Rogue and the Herdsman (Icelandic)
24. Eisenkopf (Hungarian)
25. The Death of Abu Nowas, and his Wife (Tunisian)
26. Motikatia (African)
27. Niels and the Giants (Danish)
28. Shepherd Paul (Hungarian)
29. How the Wicked Tanuki Was Punished (Japanese)
30. The Crab and the Monkey (Japanese)
31. The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder (Icelandic)
32. The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor (Middle Eastern)
33. The Colony of Cats (Itallian)
34. How to Find out a True Friend (Italian)
35. Clever Maria (Portuguese)
36. The Magic Kettle (Japanese)
March 6, 2016
This one is definitely one of my favorite Fairy Books! I don't have a copy, but I've read most of it online. The story selection is absolutely amazing, with stories from all over the world. I especially liked the Hungarian stories. There are so many stories that I like in the collection, and a few of the stories have stuff that's actually genuinely surprising in fairy tales.
My favorite stories:
- Little Wildrose
- Tiidu the Piper
- Paperarello
- The Gold-bearded Man (notably, this story - a variant of Iron Hans - has a wicked stepfather instead of the traditional wicked stepmother)
- Tritill, Litill, and the Birds
- How the Beggar Boy turned into Count Piro
- Shepherd Paul
- The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder (a rare fairy tale with a good stepmother - this one will always be one of my favorites for that reason alone!)
- The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor (this story is by Wilhelm Hauff, who also wrote The Story of Caliph Stork and The History of Dwarf Long Nose)
- Clever Maria
A few stories weren't too great, but overall, this collection is simply AMAZING! Definitely a must-have for anyone who likes fairy tales!
My favorite stories:
- Little Wildrose
- Tiidu the Piper
- Paperarello
- The Gold-bearded Man (notably, this story - a variant of Iron Hans - has a wicked stepfather instead of the traditional wicked stepmother)
- Tritill, Litill, and the Birds
- How the Beggar Boy turned into Count Piro
- Shepherd Paul
- The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder (a rare fairy tale with a good stepmother - this one will always be one of my favorites for that reason alone!)
- The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor (this story is by Wilhelm Hauff, who also wrote The Story of Caliph Stork and The History of Dwarf Long Nose)
- Clever Maria
A few stories weren't too great, but overall, this collection is simply AMAZING! Definitely a must-have for anyone who likes fairy tales!
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