Thursday, December 1, 2011

Wisdom, Wit and Wonder - Fabulous Fairy Tales!

The Frog Prince and Other Stories
by Walter Crane, 1874
“Deeper meaning resides in the fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in the truth that is taught by life.”
~
 Friedrich von Schiller

Recently, my colleagues and I have been discussing the lasting importance of fairytales amidst the plethora of personal stories on festival stages and  at story slams. Don't misunderstand me, I love a well-told personal tale; I have taken part in story slams and strongly support my local organization, massmouth.org. The current popularity of that genre offers the wonderful benefit of introducing a younger audience to the art of oral tradition. However, more than ever it seems as if the old tales are being relegated back to the nursery and adults assume fairy tales are for children.

In doing a bit of research for this post I came across this wonderful quote:

"Once upon a time, back when animals spoke and rivers sang and every quest was worth going on, back when dragons still roared and maidens were beautiful and an honest young man with a good heart and a great deal of luck could always wind up with a princess and half the kingdom - back then, fairytales were for adults...." Neil Gaiman


It is my hope that one day telling fairytales will be as mainstream and hip as The Moth and its facsimilies around the country. So here is short list of antique books on line, filled with stories. In the new year I will research and post more; the possibilites are endless.

Fairytales contain the wisdom, wit and wonder of the ages. Give them a try and you just might be swept away by story!

A Book of Fairy Tales from Many Places
Andrew Lang’s Colored Fairy Tale Books – They’re all here from blue to violet!
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/index.htm

Armenian Fairy Tales - Sixteen interesting folktales from the ancient country of Armenia.http://www.armeniaemb.org/Kids/ArmenianFairyTales/index.htm


Beauty and the Beast by
Warwick Goble, 1923
Canadian Wonder Tales by Cyrus MacMillian
http://tinyurl.com/6un85nh

Celtic Fairy Tales
http://tinyurl.com/6o7ksrx

Czechoslovak Fairy TalesSeventeen stories from the Baldwin Project.
http://tinyurl.com/87nv9hh



Fairy Tales by Howard Pyle, 1903.
Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights by E. Dixon, 1893.
Fairy Tales from Many Lands by Katharine Pyle, 1911. The Evil One Who Married Three Sisters, The Seven Golden Pea Hens and other unique stories are found within.
http://www.archive.org/details/fairytalesfromma00pyle


Fairy Tales and Folktales of the Irish Peasantry - Edited by W. B. Yeats and published in 1888 the stories are here to enjoy, courtesy of Sacred Texts. Revel in tales of the Merrow, Changelings, Pookas, Fairies and Banshees, Saints, Priests, Giants and Devils, Kings, Queens, Earls and Robbers; Yeats covers them all!
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/


Fairies at the Cradle
by Warwick Goble
Grimm’s Fairytales – 209 tales by the Brothers Grimm.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/

Indian Fairytales by Joseph Jacobs, 1912. It offers twenty-nine tales from Eastern India and gorgeous illustrations to complement each story. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/ift/index.htm

Japanese Fairy Tales by Teresa Peirce Williston, 1911

Pepper and Salt – Literary Fairy Tales by Howard Pyle, 1885
http://tinyurl.com/7y6momu
      

Roumanian Fairy Tales and Legends
by Mrs. E. B. Mawr, 1881.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/rft/

Russian Fairy Tales - The site shares twenty-one fairytales. Most offer both a short and long version, for those who want more details.
http://tinyurl.com/6blpls

Slovak National Fairy Tales - A Tribute to Pavol Dobšinský (Dobsinsky) -Interesting background information on the writer who created the largest collection of Slovak folktales. It also offers insight into the Slovak heritage and presents fourteen folktales.
http://www.geocities.com/slovaktales/index.htm


The Junior Classics (Volume One: Fairy and Wonder Tales) edited by William Patten.http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/1jrc110.txt


The Magic Ring and Other Oriental Fairy Tales by James Miller, 1861.
http://www.archive.org/details/magicringotheror00bobbiala


The Wonder Clock – Literary Fairy Tales by Howard Pyle, 1887.
http://tinyurl.com/7mswtce

There’s Magic in Fairy Tales – My blog celebrating the birthday of Harry Houdini from March of 2011. There are fairy tales filled with magic, crafts, curriculum and a fairy tale story stretch I wrote as well.
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/03/theres-magic-in-fairy-tales.html

Wonder Tales from Baltic Wizards by Frances Olcott, 1928.

If you missed the previous blog posts of public domain story collections go to:

Karen Chace 2011 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.