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| The Frog Prince and Other Stories by Walter Crane, 1874 |
~ 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
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| Beauty and the Beast by Warwick Goble, 1923 |
http://tinyurl.com/6un85nh
Celtic Fairy Tales
http://tinyurl.com/6o7ksrx
Czechoslovak Fairy Tales – Seventeen 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/
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/
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| Fairies at the Cradle by Warwick Goble |
Grimm’s Fairytales – 209 tales by the Brothers Grimm.
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
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
http://www.archive.org/details/magicringotheror00bobbiala
The Wonder Clock – Literary Fairy Tales by Howard Pyle, 1887.
http://tinyurl.com/7mswtceThere’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.
