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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?
43 Items found Print
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Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
from Signet Classics
Fairy Tales & Fables for 10th grade-adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.91
Aesop's Fables
Puffin Classics
by Aesop
Reprint from Puffin Books
Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$6.79
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)
$12.74
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 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)
$8.46
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)
$7.61
Bremen Town Musicians
by Ilse Plume retelling Brothers Grimm
Tra from Dragonfly Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
1981 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.79
Complete Fables of Aesop
Penguin Classics
by Aesop
from Penguin Classics
Fables for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.90
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)
$14.45
Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde
Signet Classics
by Oscar Wilde
from Signet Classics
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Jack Zipes
3rd edition from Bantam Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$21.25
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$33.99
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
Emperor's New Clothes
Folk Tale Classic Library
by Virginia Lee Burton (designed and illustrated), Hans Christian Andersen
from Clarion Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.49
Fairy Tales of Brothers Grimm - Comprehension Guide
by Emily Fischer
from Veritas Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Veritas Press Literature Guides (Location: LITSG-VP)
$19.00 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Fairy Tales of Hans Christen Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Reginald Spink and illustrated by W. Heath Robinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
$15.30
Fairy Tales: The Brothers Grimm
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by The Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 2nd-6th grade
$16.96 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales
by Brothers Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt
from Canterbury Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$21.24
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Puffin Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$9.34
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Don Daily
from Applesauce Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.11
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Louis Rhead
from SeaWolf Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$11.95
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
Puffin Classics
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Naomi Lewis
3rd edition from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales for 2nd-6th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$6.79
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Louis Rhead
from SeaWolf Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$10.16
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)
$22.95
Illustrated Treasury of Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Grimm Brothers, illustrated by Daniela Drescher
from Floris Books
for 4th-8th grade
$21.21
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.99
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, translated by Richard Howard
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
$15.30
Little Red Riding Hood
by Trina Schart Hyman, retelling Grimm
from Holiday House
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1984 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.79
Little Red Riding Hood
by Paul Galdone, Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
First Edition Thus from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.64
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
by Karen Foxlee
from Yearling
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.79
Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm; translated by Jack Zipes, illustrated by Andrea Dezso
from Princeton University Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$29.75
Princess and the Pea
by Hans Christian Andersen & Dorothee Duntze
from North-South Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$6.76
Puppets of Spelhorst
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Julie Morstad
from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$15.29
Random House Book of Fairy Tales
by Various Authors
from Random House
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 3rd-6th grade
in Picture Book Treasuries (Location: PIC-TRE)
$19.54
Rapunzel
by Paul Zelinsky
from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-4th grade
1998 Caldecott Medal winner
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.49
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, Retold by Allison Grace MacDonald and Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$15.29
Snow White
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Charles Santore
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$14.41
Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm
by Brothers Grimm, translated by Randall Jarrell and illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Sunburst Edition, 1987 from Square Fish Publishing
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1973 Caldecott Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.49
Spinning Silver
from Del Rey
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Steadfast Tin Soldier
by Hans Christian Anderson, translated by M.R. James, illustrated by Marcia Brown
from Atheneum
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1954 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
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)
$30.00
Tales from the Perilous Realm
by J. R. R. Tolkien, illustrated by Alan Lee
from William Morrow & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Ugly Duckling
by Hans Christian Andersen, Jerry Pinkney
First edition from HarperCollins
for Preschool-2nd grade
2000 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
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