Story summary
More English Fairy Tales summary
- 8 min read
- 10 parts
- Audio soon
A town promises a stranger fifty pounds to clear its rats, then haggles over his fee, and the Piper plays another tune.
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More English Fairy Tales at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 4 h3 h 10 min fast, 4 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 56,800 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1894by Joseph Jacobs
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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More English Fairy Tales in short
More English Fairy Tales gathers forty-four stories in the plain voice of the English storyteller. A piper punishes a stingy council. A patient farmer loses a bag of groats.
What More English Fairy Tales is about
Would you hire a man to clear your town of rats, then refuse to pay him? In the first tale of this book, the Mayor of Franchville does exactly that. The tall stranger in the coat of many colors warns him that he can play other tunes.
More English Fairy Tales was gathered and retold by Joseph Jacobs near the end of the nineteenth century. It holds forty-four tales taken from chapbooks, ballads, nursery rhymes and the notebooks of lady collectors. He kept the plain, chatty voice of the English storyteller. You will meet giants, bogles, a red calf, a buried moon, a fool shopping for brains and a Cinderella tale.
Who it’s for. This book suits families who like stories read aloud, fans of folk tales and nursery rhymes, and anyone curious about how Cinderella and the Pied Piper took shape in English.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A broken bargain brings a second tune
The book opens in Newtown on the Solent, once called Franchville. The town is so full of rats that nothing is safe. They hollow out cheeses, empty sugar barrels, and dip their tails into casks of beer. Cats, poison and traps have all failed.
A tall, thin stranger arrives in a coat of every color. He calls himself the Pied Piper and asks what they will pay to rid the town of rats. They promise him fifty pounds. Then he plays, and the rats pour out of every hole and follow him to the harbor. The townsfolk crowd their doors and call down blessings on him.
But the Mayor decides the Piper deserves only twenty pounds. The Piper answers that he agreed on fifty. He adds a quiet warning that he can play many kinds of tunes.
Keep your word, because the person you cheat may know more than one tune.
- 2Start free to read
A kind husband answers every blunder with patience
Jan is a farmer who lives alone and decides he wants a wife to keep things tidy.
- 3Start free to read
Fairy folk punish careless words and clumsy thanks
Several tales show fairies as creatures to be handled with care.
- 4Start free to read
Brave women and bold lads face the otherworld
Many tales test courage against the dark.
- 5Start free to read
Strength and cunning cut giants down to size
Giants are common in the book, and they are rarely cleverer than the people who face them.
- 6Start free to read
Fools and clever wives make a comic family
The book is full of noodles, and the best of them are loved for being foolish.
- 7Start free to read
Cinderella and Catskin show two mistreated heroines
Rushen Coatie is the English Cinderella.
- 8Start free to read
Darker tales set the moon, worms and ghosts to work
Not every tale is cheerful, and some of the best are eerie.
- 9Start free to read
Kindness and wit win out over power and greed
Under the comedy, the tales hold a plain moral sense.
- 10Start free to read
A chatty voice, rhymes and notes shape the whole book
Jacobs retold most of the tales in the style of English country storytelling.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Check yourself
Why does the Pied Piper warn the Mayor that he can play other tunes?
Right. “But the Mayor decides the Piper deserves only twenty pounds.”Not quite. “But the Mayor decides the Piper deserves only twenty pounds.”
How do the mistreated heroines find a way forward?
Right. “These heroines survive by wit and by the help of a friend, not by waiting.”Not quite. “These heroines survive by wit and by the help of a friend, not by waiting.”
What moral pattern links the tales of kindness?
Right. “In these stories, the person who helps others is helped in return.”Not quite. “In these stories, the person who helps others is helped in return.”
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- The Pied Piper A tall stranger in a many-colored coat who clears Franchville of rats and expects the fifty pounds he was promised.
- Jan A farmer with a cheerful, blundering wife, who greets every loss with better luck next time and sets off to find a thief.
- Tom Tiver A farm lad who lifts a stone to help a crying creature and wants an easy life of help with his work.
- Burd Janet A brave girl who must stand at Miles Cross on Halloween to win her sweetheart Tamlane back from Elfland.
- Tom Hickathrift A marsh laborer's son of enormous strength who delights in fairs and wrestling and takes a short road past a giant.
- Rushen Coatie A king's daughter dressed in rushes by her stepmother, who has a red calf to help her and longs to go to church.
- The Childe of Lambton A wild young heir who curses on a Sunday and then must face the monster he brought upon his home.
- Catskin A gentleman's daughter who flees her father's wish and works as a scullion, then slips out to the young lord's balls.
How it ends (spoiler)
The last tale is the Princess of Canterbury. Jack the fool answers the princess's three riddles with an egg, a crooked stick and a nut, then wins her indulgence by pretending to fish from his pocket. She spares him, and the king asks him to fish in his pocket too. Jack and the princess marry that same day. A notice then declares the English Fairy Tales closed and tells small readers to stop.
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Questions about More English Fairy Tales
Who is Yallery Brown?
He is a tiny, wrinkled creature with yellow hair, found under a stone by a farm lad named Tom Tiver. He offers help with work but forbids any thanks. The tale comes from the Lincolnshire fens.
Is More English Fairy Tales a true story or based on folklore?
It is folklore. Jacobs took tales from chapbooks, ballads and people's tellings, then rewrote them in an English storyteller's voice. The collection came out in the 1890s as a companion to his earlier English Fairy Tales.
Is More English Fairy Tales easy to read aloud?
The tales are short, the language is plain and chatty, and many have refrains and rhymes that children enjoy. Each tale stands on its own, so a reader can pick one for a single sitting.
What is the Hedley Kow?
In Northumberland lore, the Hedley Kow is a prankster spirit that takes many shapes. In this tale it changes a pot of gold into other things, and an old woman finds a cheerful reason to welcome each change.
Cite this edition
Jacobs, Joseph. More English Fairy Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/more-english-fairy-tales.
Jacobs, J. (2026). More English fairy tales. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/more-english-fairy-tales (Original work published 1894)
Jacobs, Joseph. More English Fairy Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/more-english-fairy-tales.
@book{jacobs2026more,
author = {Jacobs, Joseph},
title = {More English Fairy Tales},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/more-english-fairy-tales},
note = {First published 1894}
}
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