The Witch Must Die: The Hidden Meaning of Fairy Tales


Sheldon Cashdan - 1999
    Not since Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment has the underlying significance of fantasy and fairy tales been so insightfully and entertainingly mined.

Fantasy Encyclopedia


Judy Allen - 2005
    From goblins and fairies to dragons and Dracula, this encyclopedia covers them all with sparkling, readable text and stunning illustrations. Discover how the magic of stories throughout the centuries has kept these creatures alive in traditions and cultures around the world. Using a highly visual approach, featuring more than 400 photographs and illustrations, this book will introduce readers to each fantasy character within its habitat and genre. Cross-reference boxes direct readers to popular books and movies starring these fantastical creatures. This is a must-have for any fantasy enthusiast!

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights


Geraldine McCaughrean - 2000
    But his new bride Shahrazad has a clever plan to save herself. Her nightly stories--of Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba, and many other heroes and villains--are so engrossing that King Shahryar has to postpone her execution again and again... This illustrated edition brings together all the Arabian Nights tales in an original retelling by award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean.

African Folktales


Roger D. Abrahams - 1983
    Nearly 100 stories from over 40 tribe-related myths of creation, tales of epic deeds, ghost stories and tales set in both the animal and human realms.Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

Italian Folktales


Italo Calvino - 1956
      Filled with kings and peasants, saints and ogres—as well as some quite extraordinary plants and animals—these two hundred tales bring to life Italy’s folklore, sometimes with earthy humor, sometimes with noble mystery, and sometimes with the playfulness of sheer nonsense.   Selected and retold by one of the country’s greatest literary icons, “this collection stands with the finest folktale collections anywhere” (The New York Times Book Review).   “For readers of any age . . . A masterwork.” —The Wall Street Journal   “A magic book, and a classic to boot.” —Time

Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms And Superstitions Of Ireland


Jane Francesca Wilde - 2006
    This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Little Red Riding Hood


Walter Crane - 1875
    You can find this book online in the Digital Collection of the University of Floridahttp://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028272/00001?...

Brian Froud's Faeries' Tales


Brian Froud - 2014
    Humans throughout history have always had special relationships and bonds with faeries, whether loving and helpful or at times destructive. This new book explores that complex relationship and the liminal state between the human and faery world where interaction occurs.In Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Tales, readers encounter individual faeries, each with a story to uncover, as told by the faeries themselves. Many of the stories are familiar to humans, but the “true” story is told by the faeries. Similar to the Trolls fragments, the faeries’ tales are coupled with portraits and interspersed with drawings and studies of the mysterious and enchanting folk who travel back and forth between the human world and theirs.

A Weave of Words: An Armenian Tale


Robert D. San Souci - 1998
    A reworking of Armenian folktales in which a lazy prince learns to read, write, and weave to win his love only to have these very talents later save him from a three-headed monster.

Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop: And Other Practical Advice in Our Campaign Against the Fairy Kingdom


Reginald Bakeley - 2012
    Help is on the way! In the tradition of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl, "Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" shows how to banish those pesky dark Fairy creatures who are ready to thwart every last pleasure--be it gardening, country hikes, or even getting a good night's sleep.In this charming guide, "fairy hunter" Reginald Bakeley offers practical instructions to clear your home and garden of these unsettling inhabitants, and banish them from your chicken coop and kitchen cupboard forever.In "Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" readers will discover: - Why a bustle in one's hedgerow may be cause for alarm- Why a garden fumigator may come in handy on evenings at the pub- Why a toy merchant, a butcher, and a Freemason are among your best allies in the fight against the fey"Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" is the only complete manual on how to identify, track, defend, and destroy those bothersome brownies, goblins, dwarves, scheming flower-fairies, and other nasty members of the fairy realm.

Humbug Mountain


Sid Fleischman - 1978
    Little did Wiley, the son of a traveling newspaperman, imagine that the search for his grandfather would lead him into the hands of those nasty villains of the West—Shagnasty John and the Fool Killer. Using their newspaper, The Humbug Mountain Hoorah, Wiley and his sister and mother go about outwitting the outlaws in their scheme to ambush Grandfather's new boat and its cargo of gold.

Folktales from India


A.K. Ramanujan - 1992
    Gods disguised as beggars and beasts, animals enacting Machiavellian intrigues, sagacious jesters and magical storytellers, wise counselors and foolish kings--all inhabit a fabular world, yet one that is also firmly grounded in everyday life. Here is an indispensable guide to India's ageless folklore tradition.With black-and-white illustrations throughoutPart of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

At the Bottom of the Garden: A Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Nymphs, and Other Troublesome Things


Diane Purkiss - 2000
    Steeped in folklore and fantasy, it is a rich and diverse account of the part that fairies and fairy stories have played in culture and society.The pretty pastel world of gauzy-winged things who grant wishes and make dreams come true--as brought to you by Disney's fairies flitting across a woodland glade, or Tinkerbell's magic wand--is predated by a darker, denser world of gorgons, goblins, and gellos; the ancient antecedents of Shakespeare's mischievous Puck or J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. For, as Diane Purkiss explains in this engrossing history, ancient fairies were born of fear: fear of the dark, of death, and of other great rites of passage, birth and sex. To understand the importance of these early fairies to pre-industrial peoples, we need to recover that sense of dread.This book begins with the earliest manifestations of fairies in ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean. The child-killing demons and nymphs of these cultures are the joint ancestors of the medieval fairies of northern Europe, when fairy figures provided a bridge between the secular and the sacred. Fairies abducted babies and virgins, spirited away young men who were seduced by fairy queens and remained suspended in liminal states.Tamed by Shakespeare's view of the spirit world, Victorian fairies fluttered across the theater stage and the pages of children's books to reappear a century later as detergent trade marks and alien abductors. In learning about these often strange and mysterious creatures, we learn something about ourselves--our fears and our desires.

Polish Fairy Tales


Antoni Józef Gliński - 1862
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Arab Folktales


Inea Bushnaq - 1986
    Out of alleys of Cairo and Bedouin tents, from the Moroccan laborers and Syrian peasants, this collection of 130 tales comes from Arab worlds from North Africa to the Holy Land.