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Fairy Tales & Fables

The striking thing about fairy tales is not their dissimilarity to reality, but their resemblance to life as we know it. We don't fight dragons on our way to work (though we might when we're there) or find magic lamps when we need them, but existence has its ups and downs the same as any story about witches and Princes Charming, even if they're typically less magical. But the people we see in fairy tales are very much like the people we encounter every day, people we can relate to because they experience the same victories and defeats we do.

G.K. Chesterton says in Orthodoxy that a good story used to be about a hero among dragons, while in our modern age what is considered a good story is one about a dragon among dragons. It's true—today, most serious fiction is about lonely people struggling against existential angst in a dark world of cement and automobiles, a world devoid of beauty. Perhaps the great pull of fairy tales is that they aren't serious fiction, that their characters inhabit worlds of magic and wonder, that bad guys are identified by their pointy eyebrows and wicked grins, that eggs are made of gold and princesses have hair long as a castle tower.

But, some will object, this isn't consistent with what we know. Okay, we could respond, what of it? Why must our literature reflect exactly the world we live in, with its prosaic drudgery and numbing ambiguity? Why can't we have heroes who go to the moon on horseback and rescue fair damsels with a well-placed kiss and kill ogres in epic battles beneath enchanted trees? Why shouldn't we read about gnomes and pixies and mushrooms that hold the secrets of the universe? Why do we all have to be boring old people wallowing in ennui?

Or maybe we could put it another way— how do you know there isn't gold in that huge fish too big for fishermen to catch? Are you certain your ugly and mean coworker isn't under a curse....or an evil sorcerer himself? Who's to say all those good things that happened to you last week weren't the result of finding that lucky penny on the sidewalk? Did you really just misplace your socks, or are there brownies under the couch? And when you married the love of your life, wasn't it a bit like climbing a secluded tower, Love's First Kiss, and riding off into the sunset all rolled into one?

It's interesting to note that it was scholars who preserved the old fairy tales in writing. Charles Perrault began the trend in the 17th century, and the Brothers Grimm followed in the 19th, recording what for centuries past had existed only in the minds and speech of the people. Fables (shorter fairy tales with morals blatantly attached at the end) had always been written, but fairy tales themselves were, until these chroniclers appeared, purely oral tradition.

The reason is plain—stories of the common people, they offered clearly defined morality, hopefulness, and entertainment beyond the merely mundane, all set in the context of violence, oppression and injustice they knew so well. This isn't the kind of thing that gets written down, because then it would lose its power and its capacity for refuge from the horrors of actual existence.

Fortunately for us, however, they were written down before they dropped forever into the black hole of the Past. Our lives aren't typically as fraught with danger as those of peasants in Medieval Europe or Bushmen in deepest Africa, but they are just as in need of light and even frivolity. We lose sight of the joy of the magical at the risk of losing sight of the joy of life itself. Fairy tales are nothing if they aren't magical, and less than nothing if they aren't sources of the kind of profound joy their protagonists often seem to enjoy.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Literary Life Podcast
Episode 70: Why Read Fairy Tales?
48 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Harry Rountree
from Gallery Books
for 3rd-9th grade
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Macmillan
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.99
Alex O'Donnell and the 40 CyberThieves
by Regina Doman
from Chesterton Press
for 7th-10th grade
Annotated Brothers Grimm
by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Bicentennial from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Classic Fairy Tales
by Maria Tatar
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Arabian Nights
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, editors, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Arabian Nights
International Collectors Library
by Sir Richard Burton, illustrated by Steele Savage
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Arabian Nights
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, editors, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$29.99
Arabian Nights
by Amabel Williams-Ellis, illustrated by Pauline Baynes
from Blackie & Son LTD.
for 9th-Adult
Arabian Nights
by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, editors, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Book-of-the-Month Club
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
Arabian Nights I
Signet Classics
by Richard Burton (Translator), Jack Zipes (Adapter)
from Signet Classics
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$9.95
Arabian Nights II
Signet Classics
by Anonymous, Sir Richard Burton (Translator), Jack Zipes (Adapter)
from Signet Classics
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$8.95
Argosy of Fables
by F. T. Cooper (editor), illustrated by Paul Bransom
from Frederick A. Stokes Company
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$64.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Fairy Tales
by Peter Opie & Iona Opie
from Oxford University
for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Complete Fables of Aesop
Penguin Classics
by Aesop
from Penguin Classics
Fables for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Complete Fairy Tales
Penguin Classics
by George MacDonald
from Penguin Classics
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
3rd edition from Bantam Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$24.00
Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Wilhelm Grimm, Jacob Grimm
from International Collectors Library
for 5th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Complete Illustrated Stories of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by E.H. Wehnert
Redesigned Edition (1st Edition in this form) from Chancellor Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$35.00
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris, retold by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
from Dial Press
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$50.00
Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights
Dent & Dutton Illustrated Series
by E. Dixon, illustrated by Joan Kiddell-Monroe
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Lucille Corcos
from Heritage Press
for 4th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, selected & edited by Louis & Bryna Untermeyer and illustrated by Lucille Corcos
from Easton Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Readers #4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
1954 printing from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 1
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 2
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 3
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Penguin Classics
for 5th-10th grade
Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories
by Hans Christian Andersen, Translated by Erik Christian Haugaard
1983 Anchor Books Edition from Anchor Books
for 2nd-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$25.00
It's Perfectly True
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Paul Leyssac and illustrated by Richard Bennett
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-12th grade
Kingdom Far and Clear
Calla Edition
by Mark Helprin
from Dover Publications
for 6th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.99 $7.50 (2 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, translated by Richard Howard
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
$18.00
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Medieval Fables
by Marie de France
from Book Sales Inc.
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Phantastes
by George MacDonald
from Eerdmans
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.99
Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine
by Mark Twain & Philip Stead
First Edition from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
for 4th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Scottish Fairy Tales
from Bracken Books
for 3rd-Adult
Spinning Silver
from Del Rey
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Stories from the Arabian Nights
by Laurence Housman, illustrated by Edmund Dulac
from George H. Doran Company
for 9th-Adult
Tales from the Perilous Realm
by J. R. R. Tolkien, illustrated by Alan Lee
from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Treasury of French Tales
by Henri Pourrat, translated by Mary Mian, illustrated Pauline Baynes
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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