My answer was quite simple. All people in the world tell fairytales to their children. The Japanese tell them, the Chinese, the American Indians and the Eskimos to pass the long wintry nights. Native South Africans tell them, Greeks, as did the old Egyptians, when Moses had not long been rescued out of the bulrushes. The Germans, French, Spanish, Italians, Danes, Koryaks and Kalmykians tell them, and the stories are apt to be like each other everywhere. However much nations and politicians differ over policy and ideology, all their children agree to liking fairy tales. Maybe there’s a lesson for adults in this somewhere? That is not to say I always expect a fairy tale ending. But I do expect good to always trump evil. Am I naive? Maybe so.
EXACTLY what is a FAIRY TALE or why call them FAIRY STORIES? Well, can you imagine a child saying, 'Tell me a folk-tale', or 'Another nursery tale, please, grandma'. Its somehow doesnt ring true. Fairy tales are stories in which something 'fairy' occurs, something extraordinary–fairies, giants, dwarfs, speaking animals, or the remarkable stupidity of some of the characters.
In Victorian times, many of the Folk-Lorists of the day, Joseph Jacobs, Andrew Lang, John Campbell (better known as “John of Islay”) and others, flouted the Florklorist’s creed, choosing to present stories that would fill children's imaginations “with bright trains of images”. Vividly painted princesses, Pied Pipers, pots of gold, giants, speaking cats, Kings, Hoybahs, wise men, Knights in Shining Armour, washerwomen, fools and their follies and more. All these overflow from these the tales of the Victorian books, all bound by the common threads of basic moral lessons.
Many of the tales were recorded verbatim from storytellers in the field. They are by no means in an authorised form, and even touch on the “vulgar” using archaic and colloquial English. In the times, the literary establishment objected to the use of such archaic colloquialisms. These tales were told for generations in a form that used these dialects and ”vulgar” words for effect. However, we believe the traditional form makes these stories all the richer in a modern setting.
On our site, you will find these classic tales re-published in their original form with the same vibrancy and vividity (if there is such a word) that captured the imaginations of thousands of children almost century ago. And its even better that they are being used to raise funds for charities around the world.
Abela Publishing
Yesterday's Books for Today's Charities
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