Thursday’s Tales

I love fairy tales, folktales, tall tales, even re-tellings. I’ve tried to organize the ones I’ve featured here at Carol’s Notebook below.

First, of course, two sets of stories pop into my head immediately when I think of  fairy tales. In Denmark, Hans Christian Andersen wrote his stories in the 1800s, while Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were collecting and publishing folklore in Germany.

Brothers Grimm

• Bearskin
• The Brave Little Tailor
• The Bremen Town Musicians
• Cinderella
• The Ear of Corn
• The Elves and the Shoemaker
• Faithful Johannes
• Fisherman and His Wife
• The Four Skilful Brothers
• Frau Trude
• The Frog King
• The Girl without Hands
• Godfather Death
• The Golden Goose
• The Hand with the Knife
• Hansel and Grethel
• Hans the Hedgehog
• How Some Children Played at Slaughtering
• Jorinde and Joringel
• The Juniper Tree
• King Thrushbeard
• Little Red Cap
• Little Snow White
• Maid Maleen
• The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage
• One Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes
• The Queen Bee
• Rapunzel
• The Riddle
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The Robber Bridegroom
• The Seven Ravens
• The Six Swans
• Snow White and Rose Red
• The Star Talers
• The Three Army Surgeons
• The Three Little Men in the Woods
• Thumbling
• The Twelve Brothers
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses
• The Willful Child
• The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids

Hans Christian Andersen

• The Butterfly
• The Emperor’s New Clothes
• The Ice Maiden
• The Little Mermaid
• The Little Match Girl
• The Nightingale
• The Old Grave-Stone
• The Philosopher’s Stone
• The Princess and the Pea
• The Red Shoes
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Snowman
• The Steadfast Tin Soldier

Earlier and less well-known, Charles Perrault wrote some fairy tales in France in the 1600s.

Charles Perrault

• Diamonds and Toads
• Puss in Boots
• Cinderella
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Hop o’ My Thumb
• Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

Joseph Jacobs also collected many of the traditional stories, publishing a series of fairy tale books beginning around 1888.

Joseph Jacobs

• Jack and the Beanstalk
• The Pedlar of Swaffham
• The Pied Piper
• The Sea-Maiden
• The Story of the Three Little Pigs
• The Strange Visitor
• Tamlane

I’ve tried to break some of the other various tales down by area. Fairy tales and folktales are told all around the world, with similarities and differences showing up in each culture.

Africa

Congo

• The Boy Who Wanted the Moon

Kenya

• The Lion, the Hare, and the Hyena

Rwanda

• Sebgugugu the Glutton

South Africa

• Crocodile’s Treason

Asia

China

• The Legend of Nian

Japan

• The Fountain of Youth
• Momotaro, the Peach Boy
• The Vampire Cat of Nabeshima

India

• The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
• Dorani

Iran

• The Knight, the Princess, and the Magic Rock

Korea

• The Story Bag
• Heungbu and Nolbu
• Magic Spring

Sri Lanka

• The Frog Prince

Tibet

• The Story of the Two Devils

Vietnam

• The Hundred-knot Bamboo Tree

Europe

Denmark

• The Green Knight

France

• Beauty and the Beast

Great Britain

• Bluebeard
• The Small-Tooth Dog
• The Three Bears

Ireland

• The Boy and the Pooka
• Brave Margaret
• Fair, Brown, and Trembling
• The Prince of Ireland and the Three Magic Stallions
• The Story of Tuan Mac Cairill
• The Bee Keeper and the Rabbit

Basque

• Nekane, the Lamiña & the Bear

Italy

• The Foolish Friend
• The Little Girl Sold with the Pears
• The Goat-Faced Girl
• Penta with Maimed Hands
• Verde Prato
• Zelinda and the Monster

Netherlands

• The Elves and Their Antics

Norway

• Boots Who Ate a Match with the Troll
• Three Billy Goats Gruff
• The Cat on the Doverfell
• Tatterhood

Iceland

• The Elves’ Dance on New Year’s Eve

Russia

• Baba Yaga
• The Cat Who Became Head-Forester
• The Dead Mother
• Father Frost
• The Good Children
• The Snake and the Princess
• The Tsaritsa Harpist
• Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird, and the Gray Wolf
• The Turnip
• Vasilissa the Beautiful

Scotland

• Whuppity Stoorie

Spain

• The Water of Life

Switzerland

• The Bear Prince

North America

Canada

• The Boy and the Dancing Fairy
• The Legend of the Flying Canoe

United States

• Ashpet
• The Ballad of Belle Dorcas
• The Gingerbread Man
• Jack the Giant Chaser
• May Belle and the Mermaid
• Mike Fink
• Paul Bunyan
• Pecos Bill
• Rainbow-Walker
• Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett
• Three Gold Nuts

Native American

• The Corn Spirit
• The Girl Who Always Cried
• How the Turkey Got His Beard
• The Lytton Girls Who Were Stolen by Giants
• The Raven and the Goose
• The Rough-Face Girl
• The Star Maiden
• The Strange Origin of Corn
• The Vampire Skeleton

Caribbean

• The Girl Who Spun Gold

South America

Brazil

• Why the Sea Moans

Columbia

• The Mother of the Jungle

Some of the Tales are definitely seasonal.

Christmas Tales

• The Christmas Rose
• The Thunder Oak
• The Christmas Fairy of Strasburg

I’ve also watched and read several re-telling and modern re-interpretations of the old stories and more modern fairy tales.

Stories

• 8: The Previously Untold Story of the Previously Unknown 8th Dwarf by Michael Mullin
• “Bluebeard’s Ghost” by William Makepeace Thackeray
• “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde

Books

• The Bourbon Street Musicians by Kathy Price
• Ouch! by Natalie Babbitt
• The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child
• Scarlet Moon by Debbie Viguie
• Tony’s Bread by Tomie dePaola

Movies

• Hoodwinked Too! (2011)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
• Red Riding Hood (2011)
• Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
• You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman

Plays and Musicals

• The Emperor’s New Clothes
• Into the Woods