# Can anyone recommend some good fairy tales ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035 "2002-08-08T22:04:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/1 "2002-08-08T22:04:14Z")
I really enjoy all of the Disney movies, but I know most of them are based on old fairy tales. I am looking for some collections of these stories before they were Disneyized. Can you recommend some ? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/2 "2002-08-08T22:10:07Z")
MUST…RESIST…URGE…TO… SAY… Ah, okay. Under control now. Check out “Adventures of Sock Monkey” here. My wife has a real cool book of just what you are looking for, and I will get the title and let you know tommorow. Till then, check out the sock monkey and his friend the crow. [www.maakies.com](http://www.maakies.com) * * * Being drunk is the best feeling in my poor world!-- Drinky Crow ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/3 "2002-08-08T22:58:11Z")
If you look in the hardcover book section of a library or bookstore, you may find a collection of old fairy tales. Keep in mind, sometimes the endings are not as happy. The queen in Snow white has to wear molten iron shoes until she falls down dead. You also may enjoy hardcover adaptations of sories not maimed by the mouse. We have a wonderful vwersion of The 12 Dancing Princesses. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Green\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Fool)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/4 "2002-08-09T01:50:34Z")
Pick up a collection of Grimm’s Fairy tales. My favorite… A Jew Among Thorns… Awwww anti-semitism sure is cute. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/5 "2002-08-09T03:00:38Z")
All or at least most of the Grimm fairy tales can be found [here](http://www.bartleby.com/17/2/) incidentally, the entire [www.bartleby.com](http://www.bartleby.com) website is pretty cool. Has a good list of classic books. ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/6 "2002-08-09T03:11:20Z")
Right now I’m reading **The Uses of Enchantment** by Bruno Bettelheim. Another great book is **Women Who Run with the Wolves** by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Very cool books on the archetypal and psychological meanings behind fairy tales. Read the Grimm first, then if you’re interested these offer some interpretations that you may or may not agree with. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/7 "2002-08-09T03:22:55Z")
Andrew Lang published several collections of fairy tales in a colorful set of volumes; some of which you can get [at Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/sim-explorer/explore-items/-/0486216748/0/ref=pd_sim_d_b/103-7958337-7392610). I think there were originally more, though. Lots of cool, oldish looking illustrations to go with them. Some of the texts are online, as well: [Yellow Fairy Book](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/LanYell.html) [Red Fairy Book](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/LanRedF.html) [Blue Fairy Book](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/LanBlue.html) [Violet Fairy Book](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/LanViol.html) One of my favorite fairy tales from my childhood was [The White Cat](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=LanBlue.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=16&division=div1). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/8 "2002-08-09T04:17:43Z")
[\*Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales](http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1597)\* I’m a big fan of Joseph Jacob’s collections: (Often quite gory and bizarre – more than Grimm’s, in my opinion.) _[Celtic Fairy Tales](http://www.belinus.co.uk/folklore/FaerypiecesJacobs.htm) [English Fairy Tales](http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/FaerypiecesEnglishfairytales.htm)_ (My personal favourite.) _[Indian Fairy Tales](http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/FaerypiecesIndianfairytales.htm)_ More Andrew Lang collections: \* [Brown Fairy Book](http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/FaerypiecesBrownfairy.htm) [Crimson Fairy Book](http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2435) [Grey Fairy Book](http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/FaerypiecesGreyfairy.htm) [Lilac Fairy Book](http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/FaerypiecesLilacfairy.htm) [Olive Fairy Book](http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/FaerypiecesOlivefairy.htm) [Orange Fairy Book](http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/FaerypiecesOrangefairy.htm)\* And:\* [Old Hungarian Fairy Tales](http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=orczy&book=hungarian&story=_contents)\* Not exactly fairy-tales, but in the same vein: [Rudyard Kipling’s _Just So Stories_](http://www.boop.org/jan/justso/) (I love these, oh best beloved.) The Oz books are great, but don’t forget L. Frank Baum’s other stuff:\* (Racially and culturally insensitive-- not really suitable for children.) [John Dough and the Cherub](http://www.home.aone.net.au/sk/oz/dough.txt) The Master Key \*(Original title: _The Demon of Electricity_) _[The Sea Fairies](http://www.home.aone.net.au/sk/oz/seafar.txt) The Enchanted Isle of Yew_ Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/9 "2002-08-10T00:28:50Z")
Also read “Peter Pan” by Barrie and “The Wind in the Willows” by Grahame. If you want to branch out, you could read the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde. Here are a couple of them: [The Happy Prince](http://www.bibliomania.com/0/5/57/311/16491/1.html) [The Selfish Giant](http://www.bibliomania.com/0/5/57/310/16524/1.html) ---
**Author:** ![allanbard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@allanbard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allanbard)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/10 "2011-04-14T16:44:33Z")
How about some real modern fairy-tales? Like Harry Potter, Never-Ending Story, The Hobbit, The Wizard Of Earthsea, my Tale Of The Rock Pieces, or The Opposite Of Magic? I know you asked about the original old fairy-tales but these modern I mentioned are much better! Probably only some people will agree with me about this… Many of them like only the classical fairy-tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Snow-White And The Seven Dwarves, Puss In Boots, etc. just because they remind them of their childhood. They even forbid their kids to read books like Harry Potter, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, Alice In Wonderland, or The Wizard Of Oz. I guess it’s a certain evidence of “narrow-mindedness”, because they just can’t realize these modern tales combine not only amazing events, incredible creatures, or breath-taking battles and deeds. They also show us many good ways to deal with everlasting problems, problems we have today, had in the past too, or will have in the future… They show us how useless and stupid it is to be a racis (remember how useless it was to name H. Grainger a mud-blood in Harry Potter books, she was one of the best students Hogwarts had ever seen), to care only about our own well-being (in the battle between good and evil in Bring me The Head Of Prince Charming where the good won the contest just because being evil was stupid and the good creatures helped much more the evil contestants than any other evil doers did), or the true meaning of words like love (I hope I showed well enough what the real, unudultered love can do in my Tale Of The Rock Pieces), good, evil, truth, lies… Meanwhile, what mopst of the classical fairy-tales deal with is finding of enormous treasures, or good, profitable marriages. I’m not sure whether it’s a good comparison, but I guess old fairy-tales were the equivalent of soap operas in the past when there was no TV, Internet? So, I guess the difference between a TV soap opera of 1000 meaningless episodes and an Oscar nominee like Schilndler’s List, The Fisher King, Rain-man, or The Slumdog Billionaire… One can fight money only with money! my Tale Of The Rock Pieces. Even in the hottest fire there’s a bit of water. my The Opposite Of Magic. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/11 "2011-04-14T16:47:07Z")
Are there any fairy tales about zombies? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/12 "2011-04-14T16:56:57Z")
[_Arabian Nights_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_nights) comes under the general heading of fairy tales; and, as with Grimm’s, etc., the version the general public knows of any story might be rather different from the original. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/13 "2011-04-14T16:59:46Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Are there any fairy tales about zombies? Well, there are folktales about vampires. And there are plenty of folktales about people coming back from the dead as ghosts, or maybe even walking corpses, but in those stories they’re not mindless shambling monsters hungering for living human flesh. (The **vampires** in the original folktales are mindless shambling monsters hungering for living human blood. Also the condition is not contagious, its origins are different.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/14 "2011-04-14T17:03:45Z")
There are recent copies of _the Annotated Brothers Grimm, The Annotated Hans Christian Anderson_ and _the Annotated Classic Fairy tales_. But what I’d _really_ recommend is the original story of **Aladdin**. I like the Richard Burton translation (It’s available in many excerpts from the Arabian Nights, or in his full-blown 20 volume edition, if you can find it), but any good translation, like the Penguin one, ought to have it. It’s a surprisingly long and complex story, and you see the transformation of Aladdin from a selfish, self-indulgent wastrel to a responsible adult. The magic lamp and ring help him, of course, but most of it is an internal transformation. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/15 "2011-04-14T17:12:19Z")
Project Gutenberg has a great selection of [Fairy Tales](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search.html/?default_prefix=subject_id&sort_order=downloads&query=131). Including the folk tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, the folk tales made more artistic by Charles Perrault & the original stories of Hans Christian Anderson. Once you’ve done your homework, move on to Tanith Lee’s [Red as Blood or Tales From the Sisters Grimmer](http://www.amazon.com/Red-Blood-Tales-Sisters-Grimmer/dp/0879977906). ---
**Author:** ![allanbard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@allanbard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allanbard)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/16 "2011-04-14T17:22:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Are there any fairy tales about zombies? I would recommend some of mine (Tale Of the Rock Pieces, The Opposite Of Magic), though they are not exaclty about zombies but about someting much worse - Brown faces… the most horrible, sinister, greedy, unscrupulous and mean human race we have ever encountered… Almost all the wars in antiquity were with their partiocipation, actually all the wars, tortures, enslavings, killings, etc were caused by their mean actions… Well, I could recommend also some of Terry Pratchett’s books as well - like The Truth, Feet Of Clay, Guards, Guards… They are funny books btw, but any true fan of fantasy genre would love them! 😉 Enjoy reading! One can fight money only with money! my Tale Of The Rock Pieces. Even in the hottest fire there’s a bit of water. my The Opposite Of Magic. All the problems in the world lead to one - narrow-minded people. my Incredible Future. ---
**Author:** ![SarahJean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@SarahJean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SarahJean)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/17 "2011-04-14T18:15:34Z")
Charles Perrault has already been mentioned, he’s the source of most collected ones; google the tale of Melusine for a french/gaelic one; also check out Mme de Villeneuve who retold several tales and Charles Lamb [of Lamb’s tales from Shakespeare fame] who did several fairy tales of which Beauty and the Beast was one. Wikipedia has a huge list of fairy tales from different cultures as well as western european, so you’ll find Mulan as well as the well known Cinderella, Snow White and Rose Red, Snow White and the 7 dwarves, The Dog with Eyes like Saucers, The Snow Goose, Rumplestiltskin etc etc Japanese folk tales are a particularly rich source too. Sarah ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/18 "2011-04-14T18:18:35Z")
> [@allanbard](#): > > I would recommend some of mine (Tale Of the Rock Pieces, The Opposite Of Magic), though they are not exaclty about zombies but about someting much worse - Brown faces… the most horrible, sinister, greedy, unscrupulous and mean human race we have ever encountered… Almost all the wars in antiquity were with their partiocipation, actually all the wars, tortures, enslavings, killings, etc were caused by their mean actions… Hold on. _Brown faces_? _Brown faces_ are the most wicked race ever seen? Have you any idea how racist that sounds? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/19 "2011-04-14T19:51:40Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Hold on. _Brown faces_? > > _Brown faces_ are the most wicked race ever seen? > > Have you any idea how racist that sounds? Checking out his profile & doing a quick search revealed a vanity press project with a hideous cover. Bored now… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035/20 "2011-04-14T19:54:25Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Checking out his profile & doing a quick search revealed a vanity press project with a hideous cover. > > Bored now… Please don’t flay anyone. I just bought these shoes. I found that site after I posted the suggestion that his book might be racist. I’m tempted to buy the book to find out, but I’d rather see if **allanbard** is going to return first. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-fairy-tales/123035.md?page=2)