It is almost impossible to envision what childhood would be like without the enchanting world of fairyland. Flying dragons that kidnap princes transformed into white foxes, monsters and magicians, giants and dwarfs, ogres and fairies—these are the companions who thrill young boys and girls of all lands and times, as Andrew Lang's phenomenally successful collections of stories have proved. From the day that they were first printed, the Lang fairy tale 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 Olive Fairy Book includes unusual stories from Turkey, India, Denmark, Armenia, the Sudan, and the pen of Anatole France. But all of the stories are told in the common language of the fairy tale, and their heroes—the Green Knight who is saved by a soup made from nine snakes, the lovely Dorani who flies every night to fairyland, the king who understands the language of the animals—will be welcome to children and grown-ups alike.
All in all, this collection contains 29 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 makes his collections unmatchable in the English Language.
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