8 h 54 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 54 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your only hope lies in strange beans, a dangerous bargain, or the wit to fool a giant?
In English Fairy Tales, Flora Annie Webster Steel retells old English folk stories with quick action and a storyteller's ear. Jack trades the family cow for strange beans and enters a giant's world. In Tom Tit Tot, a young woman bargains with a small black imp, then needs her wits to face the terms.
Elsewhere, Henny Penny sets off to warn the king that the sky is falling, while Dick Whittington heads to London hoping to make his fortune. Molly Whuppie faces danger with courage and cunning. Beneath the magic lie familiar worries: too little food, leaving home for work, and promises that carry a price.
What you’ll discover
- Bargains with a bite Meet strange helpers whose tempting offers turn an ordinary problem into a dangerous test.
- Small heroes, huge enemies Follow Jack into a giant's house, where a poor boy's courage faces an enormous challenge.
- Courage and quick thinking Discover girls like Molly Whuppie and Cap o' Rushes, who meet hardship with good sense.
- Folly worth laughing at Enjoy foolish husbands, frightened animals, and people whose cleverness leads them in the wrong direction.
- The rhythm of storytelling Feel the pull of short sentences, swift action, tricks, and the familiar test of three.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy tales told aloud, with giants, witches, clever girls and lucky fools. It suits families, storytellers, teachers, and anyone who remembers a bedtime rhyme.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A boy refuses every gift of the enchantress
- Tales of bargains, names and hungry visitors
- Jack the Giant-Killer uses wit before muscle
- Jack and the beanstalk climbs into the sky
- The golden snuffbox and the lazy son
- Rejected daughters and their disguises
- Enchanted loves and the cost of a mistake
- Fools, tricksters and the comedy of wrong sense
- Chains, rhymes and the pleasure of repeating
- Dark corners and how the stories are told
Who’s who
- Tom-Tit-TotA small black creature with a twirling tail and buckled shoes, who spins flax for a queen and wants her to guess his name.
- Jack the Giant-KillerA quick-witted, polite Cornish farmer's son who traps giants with pits, nooses and tricks, and later wins magic tools to help a prince.
- Jack of the BeanstalkA dreamy boy who trades the family cow for five beans and climbs into the sky to face an ogre.
- St. GeorgeA knight raised by the enchantress Kalyb who refuses her gifts and rides out to fight a dragon in Egypt.
- Molly WhuppieThe boldest of three sisters left in a forest, who tricks a double-faced giant and steals his sword, purse and ring.
- Lady MaryA spirited young woman who goes looking for her suitor's castle and must keep calm to protect herself.
- CaporushesA youngest daughter turned out by her father, who hides her golden hair under a robe of rushes and works in a great house.
- Childe RowlandThe youngest of three brothers, who follows Merlin's two rules and goes to the Dark Tower of Elfland to find his sister Burd Helen.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print hardcover
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Englische Märchen
by Flora Annie Webster Steel · 1918
A girl must guess the name of a tail-twirling imp before the month ends or she belongs to it.
Medium level5–10 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
Would you trust a small black creature with a twirling tail to spin your flax, if failing to guess its name means belonging to it? That bargain drives Tom-Tit-Tot, one of the tales in English Fairy Tales, and it shows what the book does best.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A boy refuses every gift of the enchantress
The collection opens with St. George of Merrie England, and it opens with a temptation. The enchantress Kalyb steals the infant son of the Earl of Coventry and raises him in her forest. Signs on his body, a dragon, a red cross and a golden garter, stay her hand from harming him.
When he is fourteen, he wants adventure, and Kalyb tries to keep him with gifts. She offers the swift horse Bayard, a breastplate no one can pierce and a sword called Ascalon. Last she offers her own wand, which would give him power over her land.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1918
- Language
- Deutsch
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Steel, Flora Annie Webster. English Fairy Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/english-fairy-tales-steel.
Steel, F. A. W. (2026). English fairy tales. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/english-fairy-tales-steel (Original work published 1918)
Steel, Flora Annie Webster. English Fairy Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/english-fairy-tales-steel.
@book{steel2026english,
author = {Steel, Flora Annie Webster},
title = {English Fairy Tales},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/english-fairy-tales-steel},
note = {First published 1918}
}
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What is English Fairy Tales about?
It is a collection of about forty traditional English stories, including the three bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Tom-Tit-Tot, Dick Whittington, Mr. Fox and the three little pigs, retold in a lively voice for reading aloud.
Who is Tom-Tit-Tot?
He is a small black creature with a long twirling tail and buckled shoes. He offers to spin flax for a young queen if she can guess his name within a month.
Are these tales real English folklore?
Yes. They come from the English oral tradition, with roots in ballads, chapbooks and village storytellers. Flora Annie Steel, who died in 1929, retold them for children in the early twentieth century.
The author
Flora Annie Webster Steel
1847–1929 · British novelist
Flora Annie Steel, born Webster, was a British writer born in England in 1847. She lived in India from 1867 to 1889, then returned to Britain. She wrote novels, stories, and works about Indian history. Her books include On the Face of the Waters (1896) and English Fairy Tales (1918). She died in 1929.
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