Sleeping Beauty and Other Favorite Fairy Tales

CINDERELLA, PUSS IN BOOTS, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST — some of the best-loved fairy stories of all are included in this collection of twelve tales. For centuries, the stories of the Sleeping Beauty in the wood, of the rich Blue-beard who murdered all his wives, of Little Red Riding Hood who was eaten up by the wolf, have been told aloud to children, and these translations by Angela Carter have a freshness and simplicity which call to mind their folk origins. They are tales in which good and bad fairies abound, but they also have a delightful realism. Ordinary virtues — the resourcefulness of Puss in Boots, the patience of Cinderella, the courage of Hop o’ my Thumb — are richly rewarded, and nearly every story has an amusing moral which relates it to the real world — ‘Love alone can touch the heart’ or ‘A brave, rich, handsome husband is a prize well worth waiting for’. Michael Foreman’s illustrations, in colour and black and white, are full of the magic and charm of these traditional tales and combine to make an exquisite volume.