Andrew Lang

The Lilac Fairy Book (1910) Andrew Lang

Publisher Marketing: HEREIN are 33 tales, stories and legends, once again compiled and translated by the late, great Andrew Lang - Britain's answer to the Grimm Brothers. Here you will find tales like THE SHIFTY LAD, THE FALSE PRINCE AND THE TRUE, THE ENCHANTED DEER, THE WONDERFUL TUNE, THE CASTLE OF KERGLAS, THE BONES OF DJULUNG and many, many more. As can be seen from the titles, these tales and stories are less well-known than our perennial favourites, which makes this volume even more unique, as it is not likely that these stories have been seen or heard for many-a-year, except by the most serious of folklorists. In addition, these unique tales are accompanied by 6 full page colour plates and a further 36 black and white illustrations by H. J. Ford are peppered throughout this 470 page volume. For this volume Andrew Lang has borrowed from sources closer to home. Sources like the Mabinogion, West Highland Tales, Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts as well as a number of Swedish and Finnish tales sourced and translated from works published by Zacharias Topelius, Professor of Finnish, Russian and Nordic history at the Imperial Alexander University of Finland (now the University of Helsinki). Mixed in with these Western tales are a few East African, Swahili tales like THE HEART OF A MONKEY and THE ONE-HANDED GIRL. A few others have been translated from 'Litterature Orale de l'Auvergne, ' par Paul Sebillot and various other unnamed Portuguese sources. So, find yourself a comfy chair, then sit back and enjoy this eclectic collection of 33 tales from the Celtic Lands, Scandinavia, Europe, Africa and beyond. Contributor Bio:  Lang, Andrew Andrew Lang (March, 31, 1844 - July 20, 1912) was a Scottish writer and literary critic who is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. Lang's academic interests extended beyond the literary and he was a noted contributor to the fields of anthropology, folklore, psychical research, history, and classic scholarship, as well as the inspiration for the University of St. Andrew's Andrew Lang Lectures. A prolific author, Lang published more than 100 works during his career, including twelve fairy books, in which he compiled folk and fairy tales from around the world. Lang's Lilac Fairy and Red Fairy books are credited with influencing J. R. R. Tolkien, who commented on the importance of fairy stories in the modern world in his 1939 Andrew Lang Lecture "On Fairy-Stories."