CONTENTS Blondine, Bonne-Biche, and Beau-Minon Blondine; Blondine Lost; The Forest of Lilacs; Blondine's Awakening - Beau-Minon; Bonne-Biche; Blondine's Second Awakening; The Parrot; Repentance; The Tortoise; The Journey and Arrival Good Little Henry The Poor Sick Mother; The Crow, the Cock, and the Frog; The Harvest; The Vintage; The Chase; The Fishing; The Plant of Life Princess Rosette The Farm; Rosette at the Court of the King Her Father; Family Council; Second Day of the Festival; Third and Last Day of the Festival The Little Gray Mouse The Little House; The Fairy Detestable; The Prince Gracious; The Tree in the Rotunda; The Casket Ourson The Lark and the Toad; Birth and Infancy of Ourson; Violette; The Dream; The Toad Again; Violette's Sacrifice; The Wild Boar; The Conflagration; The Well; The Farm - The Castle - The Forge; The Sacrifice; The Combat; The Recompense

    Dating from at least a millennium ago, these are the earliest-known Arabic short stories, which survived in a single, ragged manuscript in a library in Istanbul. Some found their way into The Arabian Nights, but most have never been read in English before. Composed to fascinate their original audiences, these charming, surreal, baffling, and beautiful stories are indeed both marvelous and strange.

    An ancient witch lived in the castle, and she had powerful magic. She cast a spell on any young man who came within one hundred steps of the castle—freezing him to the spot so he could not move or speak until the witch set him free. If a young girl wandered too near the castle walls, the witch turned her into a bird, and locked her in a cage inside the castle. But true love triumphs over evil enchantment in this story of one young couple, the beautiful Jorinda and Jorindel, the shepherd boy who loves her.

    The lyrical passages and poetic images, the wry humor, the tall-tale extravagance, and the homely realism of the 'Kalevala' come through with extraordinary effectiveness.

    Illustrated with woodcuts.With black-and-white drawings throughoutPart of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

    Jenkyn Thomas was dismayed to find that his students — who took such delight in the fairy stories of other nations — knew nothing at all of their own country's rich heritage of fairy tales. To fill the need for a collection of Welsh fairy tales for young readers, he compiled this definitive treasury.Abounding in phantoms, fairies, witches, magical spells, and other time-honored fairy-tale ingredients, the 83 fascinating stories include "Lady of the Lake," in which a young country boy falls in love with a beautiful girl who agrees to marry him under very strange conditions; "The Adventures of Three Farmers," and "The Fairy Wife," in which fairies outsmart mortals; and a wealth of other fanciful, imaginative tales. Among these are such favorites as "Elidyr’s Sojourn in Fairy-Land," "Pergrin and the Mermaiden," "The Cave of the Young Men of Snowdonia," "Goronwy Tudor and the Witches of Llanddona," "A Strange Otter," "Nansi Llwyd and the Dog of Darkness," "The Bride from the Red Lake," "Lowri Dafydd Earns a Purse of Gold," and many more. Overflowing with charm, whimsy, and authentic Welsh flavor, this stimulating collection is sure to delight not only children but also fairy- and folk-tale lovers of all ages.

    Tolkien's On Fairy-stories is his most-studied and most-quoted essay, an exemplary personal statement of his own views on the role of imagination in literature, and an intellectual tour de force vital for understanding Tolkien's achievement in writing The Lord of the Rings .Contained within is an introduction to Tolkien's original 1939 lecture and the history of the writing of On Fairy-stories, with previously unseen material. Here, at last, Flieger and Anderson reveal the extraordinary genesis of this seminal work and discuss how the conclusions that Tolkien reached during the composition of the essay would shape his writing for the rest of his life.

    S. Lewis but also such literary masters as Charles Williams and J. R. R. Tolkien. Though his longer fairy tales Lilith and Phantastes are particularly famous, much of MacDonald’s best fantasy writing is found in his shorter stories. In this volume editor Glenn Sadler has compiled some of MacDonald’s finest short works—marvelous fairy tales and stories certain to delight readers familiar with MacDonald and those about to meet him for the first time.

    Broadly labeled yokai, these creatures come in infinite shapes and sizes, from tengu mountain goblins and kappa water spirits to shape-shifting foxes and long-tongued ceiling-lickers. Currently popular in anime, manga, film, and computer games, many yokai originated in local legends, folktales, and regional ghost stories.Drawing on years of research in Japan, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the history and cultural context of yokai, tracing their roots, interpreting their meanings, and introducing people who have hunted them through the ages. In this delightful and accessible narrative, readers will explore the roles played by these mysterious beings within Japanese culture and will also learn of their abundance and variety through detailed entries, some with original illustrations, on more than fifty individual creatures. The Book of Yokai provides a lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its ever-expanding influence on global popular culture. It also invites readers to examine how people create, transmit, and collect folklore, and how they make sense of the mysteries in the world around them. By exploring yokai as a concept, we can better understand broader processes of tradition, innovation, storytelling, and individual and communal creativity.

    And they were told the story of a fierce fairy knight who now guarded the woods for the fairy queen. But Janet didn't believe in fairy stories and Janet didn't like being told what to do.

    Transcribed by Indian and English folklorists in the nineteenth century, these stories brim with wit and magic. Fans of fairy tales will encounter familiar favorites—epic quests and talking animals—alongside delightful surprises—an irreverent sense of humor and an array of bold, inspiring heroines. This special gift edition features an embossed, textured case and a ribbon marker, and each tale comes alive alongside exquisite artwork by a pair of contemporary Indian artists.

    Little wonder, as they were thought to be descended from the Fallen Angels and to have the power to destroy the world itself. Despite their modern image as gauzy playmates, fairies caused ordinary people to flee their homes out of fear, to revere fairy trees and paths, and to abuse or even kill infants or adults held to be fairy changelings. Such beliefs, along with some remarkably detailed sightings, lingered on in places well into the twentieth century. Often associated with witchcraft and black magic, fairies were also closely involved with reports of ghosts and poltergeists. In literature and art, the fairies still retained this edge of danger. From the wild magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, through the dark glamour of Keats, Christina Rosetti’s improbably erotic poem “Goblin Market,” or the paintings inspired by opium dreams, the amoral otherness of the fairies ran side-by-side with the newly delicate or feminized creations of the Victorian world. In the past thirty years, the enduring link between fairies and nature has been robustly exploited by eco-warriors and conservationists, from Ireland to Iceland. As changeable as changelings themselves, fairies have transformed over time like no other supernatural beings. And in this book, Richard Sugg tells the story of how the fairies went from terror to Tink.

    In Ask the Bones, master storytellers Arielle North Olson and Howard Schwartz retell a varied selection of the world's most frightening folktales. Be warned-these stories could scare you to death!Illustrated by David Linn."These twenty-two stories provide a wide variety of supernatural happenings that won't disappoint the young horror acolyte." (The Horn Book, starred review)

    Award-winning author Ursula Jones tells the story with elegance and humour, capturing all the magic and excitement of this timeless fairy tale. Illustrated with exquisite style by Sarah Gibb, this is a beautiful book to pore over and cherish.

    Whether she is seen as a benevolent earth-shaping giantess, harsh winter hag goddess, shape-shifting crone, guardian of sacred wells and animals, or ancient bestower of sovereignty; the Cailleach appears in many roles and manifestations in myths and legends across the British Isles. Tracking the Cailleach across thousands of years through folklore, literature and place names, the authors have uncovered startling references which hint at a hidden priestess cult worshipping the Cailleach from ancient times through into the twentieth century. By exploring her myths and legends, they demonstrate the hugely significant role of the Cailleach in the early history of the British Isles. The demonization of the Cailleach through the Middle Ages by the Christian Church paralleled that of women and witches, and is reflected in various other supernatural hag figures possibly derived from her and discussed in detail, such as Black Annis, Gyre Carling, Mia Lia, Nicneven and the Old Woman of the Mountain. Looking beyond the veil of the sacred landscape, the vision of the Cailleach confronts the seeker, in hills and rocks, lakes and wells, burial chambers and stormy skies. Now finally the primal elemental power of the Cailleach is revealed in her full glory, in the tales and places of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man; as well as in traces of her presence in England, Wales, Jersey, Brittany, Spain and Norway. This unique and ground-breaking work brings together for the first time the wealth of folklore, stories and legends regarding this most significant of British supernatural figures, whose myths and wisdom are as relevant today as they have ever been.