The Green Fairy Book

I have been reading the Green Fairy Book on and off for some time and seeing it fit into a challenge this month gave me the extra push to finish it. The “Coloured” Lang Fairy Books are a series of 12 collections of fairy tales published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Lenora Blanche Alleyne. I have previously read The Blue Fairy Book and a great deal of The Red Fairy Book.

The Green Fairy Book was originally published in 1892 and consists of 42 stories and as with all story collections, I preferred some of the stories over others. I liked “The Bluebird”, “The Dirty Shepherdess” and “Little Two Eyes”, and of course the familiar versions of “The Three Little Pigs”, “The Three Bears” and “The show more Fisherman and his Wife”. There was, however, a lot of repetition in the stories and many were quite blood-thirsty, which is probably why they have faded away or been changed for modern tastes.

I doubt that I will read all 12 of these books, but I grew up on these historical children’s fairy tales and do enjoy revisiting them occasionally. Although many of the stories are quite moralistic, fairy tales are excellent for inspiring children’s imaginations as they do give a sense of wonder and magic to the world. show less

Andrew Lang has put together a fantastic collection of tales in his rainbow fairy books. His writing/editing is perfect for reading aloud to children of all ages, and there are wonderful black and white illustrations throughout the book.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the Blue and Olive, mainly because it was pretty lengthy and there weren't any I recognized other than a different version of 'The Three Little Pigs'

I fondly remember borrowing this from the library as a child. It's still fun to read as an adult. Appreciate the preface and the appendixes, etc, much more now.

I've left individual reviews for stories that had their own entry here on GR, the rest are in this review. Complete list of stories at the bottom of the review.

The Blue Bird **** A prince is cursed to become a blue-bird, the princess that saves him is sweet and kind. All's well that ends well, and a good story to start off the Green Fairy Book.

The Enchanted Watch **** A lad rescues several animals along his journey and it pays off in the end, especially when his wife betrays him.

Sylvain and Jocosa *** OMG BEST FRIENDS 4EVER!!!!

Fairy Gifts **** A nice spin on the story of princesses being given fairy gifts - too much of a good thing really is too much.

Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla *** Not a very memorable one for me.

Prince show more Featherhead and the Princess Celandine *** Such a ridiculous name for a prince.

The Three Little Pigs **** Classic tale that has been told many times, it's interesting to note the variations.

Heart of Ice *** A princess has her heart stolen and encased in ice.

The Enchanted Ring ** Handsome = good, ugly = bad and a magic ring makes everything better.

The Snuff-box *** Much store is placed in a magical snuff-box, which functions in much the same way as the fabled lamp in the story of Aladdin.

The Golden Blackbird *** Three sons go to try and find the golden blackbird to heal their ailing father.

The Little Soldier *** Damn, but that princess really is a trifling bitch who lies to the soldier repeatedly. I think that conniving girl got off too easy in the end but at least the soldier got his stuff back.

The Dirty Shepherdess *** This is reminiscent of a Greek story, as well as the story of King Lear. The older daughter compares her love to the apple of his eye, the younger to the salt in her food.

The Enchanted Snake **** The princess might be lovely, but she's quite a conniving and spoiled brat, fortunately, the hero realizes he deserves better.

The Biter Bit" **** Simon might be a scrooge but he's also clever, and knows to take good advice when he's given it.

The Story of the Three Bears *** Basically Goldilocks and the 3 bears, but goldilocks is a old woman.

Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida ** Fairies get so offended over the stupidest things. This story was boring and it dragged on.

Little One-eye, Little Two-eyes, and Little Three-eyes *** A weird story about a trio of sisters who, as the title says, have six eyes distributed unequally between them. Two-eyes is tormented by her mother and sisters because she's the only "normal" looking one. I'd give this story a higher rating if not for the ableist slant.

Jorinde and Joringel *** Pretty typical, nothing stood out to me. A tale of two lovers separaed by an evil witch.

The Crystal Coffin *** The poor princess was captured by an incel, but fortunately a kind and hard-working tailor was able to rescue her.

The Riddle *** Well, the princess is not a very nice one... I think the hero could have done better. Still, a fun tale.

Jack my Hedgehog Er, okay, this childless man is tired of being teased by his neighbors on not having kids so in the heat of the moment he says he is determined to have a child, even if that child is just a hedgehog. And as luck would have it, he eventually does have a son... who is half hedgehog. The man is so bitter that he wishes his son were dead. Gee, father of the year material right there /s. But hey, at least the hedgehog boy is a decent enough lad and gets a happy ending.

The Golden Lads *** Yanno, it would have been easy for the fisherman to just tell his wife that a fairy was responsible for their good fortune, it'd have gotten her off his back. But these stories have a lot of people forgetting their agreements with magical beings. You'd think the golden fish would find somewhere else to be...

The Story of a Clever Tailor *** Lazy but clever fellow manages to win a princess. Good on him.

The Golden Mermaid *** The wolf put up with a lot more than he needed to.

The War of the Wolf and the Fox **** I rejoice at this clever story of a old dog and a cat who prove themselves better than the master who wanted to kill them because he thought they were old and useless.

The Three Musicians ** Meh. The hero wins a princess from a ugly dwarf sorcerer holding her prisoner.

The Three Dogs **** I know that in these stories the hero often has things handed to him, but in this one the hero gets three dogs with varying wondrous abilities for what is almost a steal.

_____

"The Blue Bird"
"The Half-Chick"
"The Story of Caliph Stork"
"The Enchanted Watch"
"Rosanella"
"Sylvain and Jocosa"
"Fairy Gifts"
"Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla"
"Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine"
"The Three Little Pigs"
"Heart of Ice"
"The Enchanted Ring"
"The Snuff-box"
"The Golden Blackbird"
"The Little Soldier"
"The Magic Swan"
"The Dirty Shepherdess"
"The Enchanted Snake"
"The Biter Bit"
"King Kojata"
"Prince Fickle and Fair Helena"
"Puddocky"
"The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs"
"The Story of the Three Bears"
"Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida"
"Little One-eye, Little Two-eyes, and Little Three-eyes"
"Jorinde and Joringel"
"Allerleirauh; or, the Many-furred Creature"
"The Twelve Huntsmen"
"Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle"
"The Crystal Coffin"
"The Three Snake-leaves"
"The Riddle"
"Jack my Hedgehog"
"The Golden Lads"
"The White Snake"
"The Story of a Clever Tailor"
"The Golden Mermaid"
"The War of the Wolf and the Fox"
"The Story of the Fisherman and his Wife"
"The Three Musicians"
"The Three Dogs" 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 1892 edition.

Contents: "The Blue Bird", "The Half-Chick", "The Story of Caliph Stork", "The Enchanted Watch", "Rosanella", "Sylvain and Jocosa", "Fairy Gifts", "Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla", "Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine", "The Three Little Pigs", "Heart of , ce". "The Enchanted Ring", "The Snuff-box", "The Golden Blackbird", "The Little Soldier", "The Magic Swan", "The Dirty Shepherdess", "The Enchanted Snake", "The Biter Bit", "King Kojata",
"Prince Fickle and Fair Helena". "Puddocky", "The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs", "The show more Story of the Three Bears", "Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida", "Little One-eye, Little Two-eyes, and Little Three-eyes", "Jorinde and Joringel", "Allerleirauh; or, the Many-furred Creature", "The Twelve Huntsmen", "Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle", "The Crystal Coffin", "The Three Snake-leaves", "The Riddle", "Jack my Hedgehog", "The Golden Lads", "The White Snake",
"The Story of a Clever Tailor", "The Golden Mermaid", "The War of the Wolf and the Fox",
"The Story of the Fisherman and his Wife", "The Three Musicians", "The Three Dogs" show less

Good fun.