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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In these South American folk tales, animals bargain, spirits stir, and the smallest person can outwit the powerful.
Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Joseph Finger contains nineteen South American folk tales. From cold southern shores to warm northern forests, the collection moves through many landscapes and peoples. Talking animals, sly tricksters, greedy rulers and brave young people share a world full of danger and wonder.
Across these stories, courage and kindness stand beside jokes and wonders. Here, young heroes leave home, face dangers and meet helpers along the way. Foxes and birds argue and scheme, while spirits inhabit forest, mountain and water. Each short tale offers a fresh encounter with courage, cunning or kindness.
What you’ll discover
- Wit against power Meet small, poor or seemingly foolish people whose cleverness gives them a chance against the powerful.
- Animals with something to say Follow talking creatures as they bargain and scheme, showing cunning, pride and patience.
- Courage on the road Join young heroes who leave home and discover helpers as they face danger.
- A continent of landscapes Move through high mountains, wide plains, forests and cold coasts as the tales unfold.
- Stories to share aloud Enjoy short, clear sentences that let the strange events and lively encounters carry each tale.
Who will love it
This book is for readers who love fairy tales and animal stories, for families who read aloud, and for anyone curious about the folklore of the Andes, the Amazon, and Patagonia.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A song opens a world
- Honest work finds loyal helpers
- Suspicion threatens a peaceful kingdom
- The simplest gift carries value
- Courage meets the cold
- Friends stand together against giants
- Wishes need more than desire
- Kindness and work give real help
- Watch for helpers and careless promises
Who’s who
- MaconaholaA ragged stranger who wins every contest in the king's land and the heart of the princess, then faces the witch Tlapa.
- AuraA gentle fisher boy who travels far to meet the father of the girl he loves and must choose wisely.
- Na-HaA strong and fearless youth who fights the undersea people and brings a great shell to free his people.
- NataliaA girl lured by a witch's magic ball, who needs her brother Luis to find fire and rescue her.
- Hunapu and BalanqueTwin brothers in silver armor who lead the Four Hundred against three terrible giants.
- BoracA foster child found in a basket, who uses a magic feather and a magic knot to save his people.
- SusoA kind girl whose stepmother hides her hatred, and who longs to save her sick father.
- NascaA cheerful, gentle boy who shelters a strange fox-faced stranger and must outwit a giant cat.
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- Large print hardcover
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Tales from Silver Lands in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Tales from Silver Lands
by Charles Joseph Finger · 1924
A magic ball lures children, a fox outwits a greedy dwarf, and a silver mirror shows what hides inside people.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with medium classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Newbery Medal, 1925
Excellent
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“Fire will conquer frosted death.”
In short
Picture a Honduran village where the heat is so strong that people wish they were outside when they are inside, and inside when they are outside. A traveler rides in on a donkey and hears a song about a parrot.
Tales from Silver Lands at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 45 min3 h fast, 4 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 53,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1924by Charles Joseph Finger
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two brothers outwit a wizard in the forest
The book opens with the Tale of Three Tails, told by an old woman in a Honduran village. Long ago, she says, the rat had a tail like a horse. In those days the wizard Hunbatz lived on beetles and spiders in a vast forest. A hunter sends his two strong sons to clear that forest in seven days.
The brothers work well and sing as they go, and the birds and an iguana as big as a man gather to listen. Hunbatz fears his dark home will shrink, so he tells the father a lie. The father doubles the work each night, and by the fifth day the task is hopeless. Then the iguana teaches the boys a charm. They paint rings on their tools and sing a short verse, and the axes and spades work on their own.
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Details
- First published
- 1924
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Finger, Charles Joseph. Tales from Silver Lands. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/tales-from-silver-lands.
Finger, C. J. (2026). Tales from silver lands. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tales-from-silver-lands (Original work published 1924)
Finger, Charles Joseph. Tales from Silver Lands. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tales-from-silver-lands.
@book{finger2026tales,
author = {Finger, Charles Joseph},
title = {Tales from Silver Lands},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tales-from-silver-lands},
note = {First published 1924}
}
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What is Tales from Silver Lands about?
It is a collection of nineteen South American folk tales gathered by Charles Joseph Finger. They feature witches, giants, talking animals, and magic objects, and many explain why a creature or a place looks as it does today.
Are these tales real folklore or made up by the author?
Finger says he heard them from people on his travels, in places such as Honduras, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego. He retold them in his own words and often introduces the person who told each tale.
What is the Tale of Three Tails?
It is the opening tale, told by an old Honduran woman. It follows two brothers clearing a forest and a wizard named Hunbatz who tries to stop them, and it explains why some animals have the tails they do.
The author
Charles Joseph Finger
1869–1941 · British American writer
British-American writer and musician.
“Fire will conquer frosted death.”
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