13 h 27 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A careless wish can change everything in a world of talking animals, enchanted princes, and dangerous bargains.
The Green Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, gathers separate tales from several storytelling traditions. In its opening story, The Blue Bird, a princess and a king face jealous family rivals and love obstructed by enchantment. Their enemies can change not only their fortunes but their physical forms.
Elsewhere, The Story of the Three Bears follows an intruder through a house whose owners are away, trying their food, chairs, and beds. Half-Chick sends an unusual animal traveller among others whose treatment matters. Nursery favourites sit beside stranger adventures, with comic mishaps giving way to threats, difficult journeys, and spells that keep people apart.
What you’ll discover
- Love under enchantment Enter The Blue Bird, where jealous rivals threaten a princess and a king.
- An unwelcome nursery visitor Follow the intruder in The Story of the Three Bears through food, chairs, and beds.
- An unlikely animal traveller Meet Half-Chick, whose encounters make the way it treats others matter.
- Wishes with a cost Explore tales where dangerous bargains and careless wishes can change everything.
- A change of mood Move between comic mishaps and perilous journeys, with unexpected helpers along the way.
Who will love it
Readers who love talking animals, fairy courts, magic objects and tales told one after another, and families who like to share stories aloud by turns, one short tale at a sitting.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A faithful king becomes a Blue Bird
- Rudeness and mockery bring their own punishment
- Magic objects grant wishes and test the owner
- French court fairies test love and vanity
- A tiny prince climbs the Ice Mountain
- Cunning and kindness help the youngest and weakest
- Russian and German stories of promises and forgetting
- The Grimm tales bring riddles, tasks and loyal animals
- What these tales are really about
Who’s who
- FiordelisaA princess locked in a tower by her stepmother, she loves King Charming.
- King CharmingA handsome king who refuses to marry the wrong princess and is changed by a fairy into a bird.
- Medio PollitoA half-chick with one leg, wing and eye who leaves home to see the king in Madrid.
- Caliph ChasidThe ruler of Bagdad who buys a magic powder with his vizier Mansor and wants to hear what animals say.
- Prince MannikinA tiny prince raised by a fairy who sets out to win the heart of Princess Sabella.
- Princess SabellaA beautiful princess whose heart was stolen by a fairy and locked away on the Ice Mountain.
- HyacinthiaA magician's daughter who helps Prince Milan with two dangerous tasks.
- JenikThe foolish third son who saves three animals and is given a watch that grants wishes.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 13 h 27 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Das grüne Märchenbuch
by Herausgegeben von Andrew Lang
A king becomes a blue bird, a caliph a stork, and a cat guards a magic watch across the sea.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you do if a snuffbox asked what you want, and answered every wish? The Green Fairy Book gathers dozens of tales from many countries.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A faithful king becomes a Blue Bird
The book opens with The Blue Bird, a court tale by Madame d'Aulnoy. King Charming loves Princess Fiordelisa, but her new stepmother wants him for her own ugly daughter, Turritella. From the first page, love, trickery and magic pull against each other.
The Queen locks Fiordelisa in a tower, and Turritella answers at a dark window in her place. Charming gives his ring to the wrong girl. When he refuses to marry her, the Fairy Mazilla changes him into a Blue Bird for seven years. He still flies to the tower each night, brings Fiordelisa jewels and sings with her, until the Queen sets a trap of knives in the fir tree.
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What is The Green Fairy Book about?
The stories feature witches, enchanted animals, fairies, magic objects and clever heroes, and they are short enough to enjoy one at a time.
Who wrote The Green Fairy Book?
Andrew Lang edited it. The stories are not his own but come from many sources, including French court authors such as Madame d'Aulnoy and the Count de Caylus, and the Brothers Grimm, who wrote down old tales.
Is The Green Fairy Book good for reading aloud?
It suits reading aloud well. The tales are brief and have clear steps, repeated rhymes, helpful animals and plain, lively language, so a listener can follow each one easily and pick up the next whenever they like.
The author
Andrew Lang
1844–1912 · Scottish poet and folklorist
Andrew Lang was a Scottish writer born in Selkirk in 1844. He lived in London and died in Banchory in 1912. He wrote poetry, novels, literary criticism, and works on folklore. He edited The Blue Fairy Book, published in 1889, and other fairy-book collections, including The Violet Fairy Book in 1901.
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