The Blue Fairy Book

"The tales in this volume are intended for children, who will like, it is hoped, the old stories that have pleased so many generations.


The taste of the world, which has veered so often, is constant enough to fairy tales. The children to whom and for whom they are told represent the young age of man. They are true to his early loves, they have his unblunted edge of belief, and his fresh appetite for marvels. The instinct of economy so works that we are still repeating to the boys and girls of each generation the stories that were old before Homer sang, and the adventures that have wandered, like the wandering Psyche, over all the world. We may alter now and again the arrangement of incidents, but these always remain essentially the same, and of all the combinations into which they can be fitted, the oldest combinations are still the favourites."


Andrew Lang.


Fairy tales in this volume:


The Bronze Ring

Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

The Yellow Dwarf

Little Red Riding Hood

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was

Rumpelstiltzkin

Beauty and the Beast

The Master-Maid

Why the Sea Is Salt

The Master Cat; Or, Puss In Boots

Felicia and the Pot of Pinks

The White Cat

The Water-Lily. The Gold-Spinners

The Terrible Head

The Story of Pretty Goldilocks

The History of Whittington

The Wonderful Sheep

Little Thumb

The Forty Thieves

Hansel and Grettel

Snow-White and Rose-Red

The Goose-Girl

Toads and Diamonds

Prince Darling

Blue Beard

Trusty John

The Brave Little Tailor

A Voyage to Lilliput

The Princess on the Glass Hill

The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou

The History of Jack the Giant-Killer

The Black Bull of Norroway

The Red Etin