A GREAT READ FOR KIDS!

This volume contains forty-three English folk stories and tales. Many of the tales in this volume, as in similar collections from other European countries, are what the folklorists call Drolls. They serve to justify the title of Merrie England, a title which used to be given to England, indicating the unsuspected capacity for fun and humour among the English. The story of Tom Tit Tot, which opens the collection, is unequalled among all other folk-tales, for its combined sense of humour and dramatic power.

But why call them FAIRY STORIES? One cannot imagine a child saying, 'Tell me a folk-tale', or 'Another nursery tale, please, grandma'. The words 'Fairy Tales' must accordingly be taken to include tales in which occurs something 'fairy', something extraordinary--fairies, giants, dwarfs, speaking animals. It must be taken also to cover tales in which what is extraordinary is the stupidity of some of the actors, as is so common in moral tales.

So take some time out and travel back to a period before television, or even radio for that matter, when families would gather around a crackling and spitting hearth and granddad or grandma or an uncle or aunt would delight and captivate their audience with stories passed on to them from their mothers, fathers and grandparents.

33% of the net profit from the sale of this book will be donated to the Princes Trust.

ABELA PUBLISHING - YESTERDAYS BOOKS raising funds for TODAYS CHARITIES