It is almost impossible to envision what childhood would be like without the enchanting world of fairyland. Bewitched and haunted forests, chests of gold coins magically gained, giants and dwarfs, monsters and magicians, fairies and ogres—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.
In The Violet Fairy Book, we hear strange and exotic tales from the far corners of the Earth—Japanese, Serbian, Lithuanian, African, Portuguese, Rumanian, and Russian. But they are told in the common language of the fairy tale, and their event will be familiar to children and grown-ups alike. A magical dog called Schippeitaro helps his Japanese master; a man outwits a dragon in a Rumanian tale; and a Swahili story tells about a youth who visits the King of the Snakes.
All in all, this collection contains 35 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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