Ten of the Best: Fairytale Collections for Children
‘Once upon a time’, says Neil Philip.
Choosing ten ‘best’ in such a wide field was a challenge. I have ignored Grimm (the best of many versions being those of Jack Zipes and Brian Alderson) and the literary fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (my choice of translations being those of Naomi Lewis). Andrew Lang was the first to establish himself as a reteller of folktales from all round the world in his series of Colour Fairy Books (though Lang chose the stories, but delegated the retellings to his wife and others). More recently, folk and fairy tales have benefitted at the skilful hands of Ruth Manning-Sanders, Marcus Crouch, and the editors of my first choice, Sara and Stephen Corrin.
The Faber Book of Favourite Fairy Tales
Edited by Sara and Stephen Corrin, illus Juan Wijngaard, Faber, 978-0571148547, £12.00hbk
Here is a feast of stories from Grimm, Andersen and Perrault, but also Norway (East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon), Russia (Baba Yaga), and Greece (Midas and the Golden Touch). As an introduction to the classics of folk literature, it could hardly be bettered. As the editors say, ‘Children are new and these stories are new to children.’
The Arabian Nights
Rendered into English by Brian Alderson, embellished by Michael Foreman, Victor Gollancz
Just as there are countless versions of Grimm and Andersen, so too with The Arabian Nights (or 1001 Nights). Many of the best-known versions for adults are untrustworthy, ‘embellished’, to use the word for Michael Foreman’s beautiful illustrations here, to enhance the erotic content, while the scholarly versions by Haddawy are a bit dry. So to lead us into the magical storytelling of Scheherezade, who better than Brian Alderson?
The Dead Moon: Tales from East Anglia and the Fen Country
Retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland, illus Shirley Felts, Scholastic O/P
Of all Kevin Crossley-Holland’s many collections of folktales, I suspect this one, consisting of strange and eerie stories collected in his own home patch, is probably closest to his heart. The best of them, such as the title tale and Yallery Brown were first collected in the Lincolnshire Fens by Marie Clothilde Balfour, but Crossley-Holland makes them his own. Pity farmhand Tom, who frees an imp only to told, ‘For harm and bad luck and Yallery Brown/You’ve let out yourself from under the stone.’
A Bag of Moonshine
Alan Garner, illus PJ Lynch, CollinsVoyager, 978-0007127900, £6.99 pbk
Like Crossley-Holland, Alan Garner has put himself at the service of the English folktale (his Collected Folk Tales also contains a version of Yallery Brown). Hard to make a choice among his books, but A Bag of Moonshine is perhaps the closest to his true creative voice. ‘They say that, once upon a time, in such and such a place, not near and not far, not high and not low, there lived an old man and an old woman by the side of a lake.’
Fireside Tales of the Traveller Children
Duncan Williamson, illus Alan Herriot, Canongate O/P
The Scottish Traveller Duncan Williamson was an inexhaustible well of stories. ‘Many years ago, before your day and mine, there lived a woodcutter in the forest and he had three sons.’ You are drawn straight into the tale. Duncan’s tales of supernatural creatures are collected in The Broonie Silkies & Fairies (same publisher and illustrator). His autobiography is The Horsieman (also Canongate), while there is an excellent two-volume biography by David Campbell, A Traveller in Two Worlds (Luath).
Welsh Legends and Folk-Tales
Retold by Gwyn Jones, illus Joan Kiddell-Monroe, Oxford University Press, O/P
As an introduction to the myths, folktales, and legends of Wales, this volume could scarcely be bettered. As Gwyn Jones was co-translator of The Mabinogion, his versions of the Four Branches of Story are note-perfect, as is his long retelling of the story of Culhwch’s search for Olwen. But there are enchanting short tales too, such as the Eight Leaves of Story. Some of the stories are so elaborate they can be confusing, but Jones cleaves a bright path through them.
Celtic Fairy Tales
Collected annotated and introduced by Joseph Jacobs, illus Victor Ambrus, Bodley Head, O/P
A combination of two volumes published in the 1890s by renowned folklorist Joseph Jacobs, perhaps best known for his two volumes of English Fairy Tales (also republished in one volume by Bodley). This is a book full of wonders drawn from the oral traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. The kind of book to enter at your peril, in case you get lost and never find your way out.
Proud Knight, Fair Lady: The Twelve Lays of Marie de France
Translated by Naomi Lewis, illus Angela Barrett, Hutchinson, O/P
Naomi Lewis had an innate understanding of how to phrase and pace a story. She was the ideal person to make prose versions of the twelfth-century verse lais of Marie de France, based on Breton tales. Lewis writes, ‘a thread of magic runs through the lays; it gives them a place in the great tradition of fairy tale.’ Perhaps the best-known is Bisclavret, the tale of a werewolf with a noble heart.
The Wicked Tricks of Till Owlyglass
Retold by Michael Rosen, illus Fritz Wegner, Walker Books, O/P
From magic to mischief. Michael Rosen’s retellings of the comic tales of the German trickster Till Eulenspiegel are funny and fast-paced, leaving the reader wondering ‘Whatever will he get up to next?’ There’s a touching frame story in which Rosen and his brother are told the tales by Old Man Horst. There’s even a version of The Emperor’s New Clothes, in which Till pretends to paint a masterpiece that is invisible to liars.
Abbey Lubbers, Banshees & Boggarts: A Who’s Who of Fairies
Katharine Briggs, illus Yvonne Gilbert, Kestrel Books O/P
As the subtitle suggests, this is not exactly a collection of folk and fairy tales; instead it is a children’s version of Briggs’ Dictionary of Fairies. But it is the work of a born storyteller. If children want to find out where the name Dobby comes from or hear the story of the ghostly Cauld Lad of Hilton, this is the place to come.
Neil Philip is the author of numerous books of fairy and folk tales, including Horse Hooves and Chicken Feet, which won the Aesop Award of the American Folklore Society. His most recent book is The Watkins Book of English Folktales.
