Danuta Mayer

My 1920s Grosset & Dunlap is not the rare find of their edition of this book and has no color plates. It does have a funny preface by Andrew Lang re persons who do not like him publishing 'another' fairy tale book, --- the Red, Green and Blue already in print. There are 48 fairy tales, some familiar and others not so.

Reviews for the stories in this book can be found on their own individual book pages (such reviews state which fairy book they come from) but some of these short stories don't have their own entries so I am putting them here. Complete list of stories at the bottom of my review.

The Seven-headed Serpent *** A Prince saves a country from a evil serpent.

The Crow *** A good-hearted princess saves a prince from a spell that keeps him in crow's form.

How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World **** show more Six men with different talents work together to help the hero. Funny how they joined a stranger so quickly, but it's an entertaining tale nonetheless.

The Glass Mountain *** The hero gets a bunch of neat stuff from well-wishers and saves a princess on a glass mountain.

The Three Brothers *** Two brothers leave the third for dead after he leads them all to a valuable treasure (such gratitude! /s) but fortunately he had a suspicion they were going to betray him so he took measures. He comes back but instead of kicking his brother's asses like they deserved, he forgives them and shares the treasure with them. Bah. Forgiveness is nice, but we're talking about people who tried to (and believed they did murder their brother.

In the Land of Souls **** Sad but sweet tale of a man who seeks his dead bride.

The Flower Queen's Daughter *** A prince saves the titular maiden from a dragon and they live happily ever after.

Flying Ship *** Simpleton is a simple lad, but he has enough of a kind heart and good spirit that his luck perseveres and he ends up with a princess as wife.

The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son **** A quite weird tale but it's different than the others in this collection. Personally would like to see this turned into a movie or miniseries or something.

The Death of the Sun-hero *** Fate is inescapable.

The Witch *** Another story with a evil stepmom. Kindness to animals comes back as good karma. Evil is overcome, yay. At least in the end the children's father learns his lessons and takes care of his kids.

The Hazel-nut Child **** A teeny little man makes his way in the world, reminded me a bit of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina.

Prince Ring ** Two princes share the same name. But other than that, meh.

How to tell a True Princess * This is the story of the Princess and the Pea. This story has always bothered me because really, is being so sensitive to a pea such a good quality?

The Witch in the Stone Boat *** A good-hearted queen is forced to switch places with aforesaid witch but her husband manages to save the day. A bit simplistic as far as this kind of tale goes, but eh.

The Nightingale **** Nothing beats the real thing. The Emperor thinks he can replace the nightingale with an artificial bird, but in the end it's the real thing that's best.

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"Cat and Mouse in Partnership"
"The Six Swans"
"The Dragon of the North"
"Story of the Emperor's New Clothes"
"The Golden Crab"
"The Iron Stove"
"The Dragon and his Grandmother"
"The Donkey Cabbage"
"The Little Green Frog"
"The Seven-headed Serpent"
"The Grateful Beasts"
"The Giants and the Herd-boy"
"The Invisible Prince"
"The Crow"
"How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World"
"The Wizard King"
"The Nixy"
"The Glass Mountain"
"Alphege, or the Green Monkey"
"Fairer-than-a-Fairy"
"The Three Brothers"
"The Boy and the Wolves, or the Broken Promise"
"The Glass Axe"
"The Dead Wife"
"In the Land of Souls"
"The White Duck"
"The Witch and Her Servants"
"The Magic Ring"
"The Flower Queen's Daughter"
"Flying Ship"
"The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son"
"The Story of King Frost"
"The Death of the Sun-hero"
"The Witch"
"The Hazel-nut Child"
"The Story of Big Klaus and Little Klaus"
"Prince Ring"
"The Swineherd"
"How to tell a True Princess"
"The Blue Mountains"
"The Tinder-box"
"The Witch in the Stone Boat"
"Thumbelina"
"The Nightingale"
"Hermod and Hadvor"
"The Steadfast Tin-soldier"
"Blockhead Hans"
"A Story about a Darning-needle" show less

To avoid overabundance of information re persons responsible for translations and/or adaptation, please refer to Lang's Preface. Unabridged Replication of Longman & Green's 1894 edition.

Contents: "Cat and Mouse in Partnership", "The Six Swans", "The Dragon of the North", "Story of the Emperor's New Clothes", "The Golden Crab", "The Iron Stove", "The Dragon and his Grandmother", "The Donkey Cabbage", "The Little Green Frog", "The Seven-headed Serpent",
"The Grateful Beasts", "The Giants and show more the Herd-boy", "The Invisible Prince", "The Crow", "How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World", "The Wizard King", "The Nixy", "The Glass Mountain", "Alphege, or the Green Monkey", "Fairer-than-a-Fairy", "The Three Brothers", "The Boy and the Wolves, or the Broken Promise", "The Glass Axe", "The Dead Wife", "In the Land of Souls", "The White Duck", "The Witch and Her Servants", "The Magic Ring", "The Flower Queen's Daughter", "Flying Ship", "The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son", "The Story of King Frost", "The Death of the Sun-hero", "The Witch", "The Hazel-nut Child", "The Story of Big Klaus and Little Klaus". "Prince Ring", "The Swineherd", "How to tell a True Princess", "The Blue Mountains", "The Tinder-box", "The Witch in the Stone Boat", "Thumbelina", "The Nightingale",
"Hermod and Hadvor", "The Steadfast Tin-soldier", "Blockhead Hans", "A Story about a Darning-needle" show less

This is Book 5 in the Andrew Lang Color Fairy Tale Series