6 h 38 minAudiobook8 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
What if the fairy tale you know has a cousin in another corner of Europe?
In Europa's Fairy Book, Joseph Jacobs brings together folk and fairy tales from many parts of Europe. Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, and Androcles and the Lion share a collection full of kings, poor boys, clever girls, and foolish giants. These are short tales of wonder, trials, and rewards.
Jacobs gives these traditional stories a plain, lively voice, as though a storyteller sits nearby. Across different lands, familiar patterns emerge: a young person begins with little, faces a trial, and finds help through kindness or cleverness. The pleasure lies both in each tale and in noticing how stories echo one another across borders.
What you’ll discover
- Familiar names together Meet Cinderella, Snow White, and other familiar figures within a wider world of European tales.
- A voice for sharing Enjoy clear, lively storytelling that invites you to read a tale aloud to someone nearby.
- Kindness meets a trial Follow young people who begin with little and find help through kindness or cleverness.
- Stories that cross borders Notice how tales from different places share patterns of wonder, trial, and reward.
- Wonder in short tales Step among kings, poor boys, clever girls, and foolish giants without settling into a long plot.
Who will love it
Perfect for lovers of fairy tales, parents who read aloud at bedtime, and anyone curious where Cinderella, Puss in Boots and Hansel and Gretel come from and how stories spread.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- One Tale Lies Behind Many Versions
- A Girl in Cinders Finds Magical Help
- Tricksters and Fools Make You Laugh
- Small Heroes Outwit Giants and Kings
- Love Is Tested by Beasts and Bargains
- Twins, Servants and Siblings Show Loyalty
- Children Face Hunger, Witches and Poison
- Wit and Fair Play Beat Power
- Stories Travel by Page and by Mouth
Who’s who
- Cinder-MaidA nobleman's daughter who sleeps on cinders and, with help from her mother's hazel tree, goes in secret to the royal balls.
- Reynard the FoxA sly fox who tricks his partner Bruin the Bear out of honey and fish, and who lives by his cunning.
- Bruin the BearA strong but trusting bear who keeps bees and is fooled by Reynard again and again.
- Miss PussA clever cat who makes her poor master Jack seem the rich Earl of Cattenborough.
- The Master-MaidA maiden held by a giant who helps Prince Edgar with impossible tasks and wants to go home with him.
- John the TrueA faithful servant and foster brother of the King, who sails to bring back the Princess of the Golden Horde.
- Johnnie and GrizzleA brother and sister left in a forest by a desperate father, who use wit and courage to find their way.
- SnowwhiteA princess with skin white as snow whose beauty makes her stepmother, the Queen, jealous enough to hunt her.
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
- 6 h 38 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 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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25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Europa's Fairy Book in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Europa's Fairy Book
by Joseph Jacobs · 1916
A girl sleeps on cinders, a cat carries gifts to a king and a tailor tricks giants in these tales from all over Europe.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
These fairy tales all belong to Europe. You meet comic rogues, brave twins, loyal servants and wicked queens, plus the author's own notes on how stories travel.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
One Tale Lies Behind Many Versions
Jacobs holds that many European folk tales began as a single story, shaped by one unknown artist. The same plots, with the same incidents in the same order, show up in Scotland and Sicily, in Brittany and Albania. Chance, he says, cannot explain that.
His method resembles that of a scholar with old manuscripts. He collects every variant he can find, sorts them into families, and rebuilds the likely first form. For Cinderella he leans on a study by Miss Roalfe Cox that brought together 345 versions. He then tells each tale in the plain, lively manner of English storytellers, and softens any detail too crude for children, marking each change in the notes at the back.
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What is Europa's Fairy Book about?
It retells twenty-five fairy tales found across Europe in nearly the same form, including Cinder-Maid, Beauty and the Beast and Snowwhite. Jacobs adds notes comparing versions from many countries and asking where each story began.
Which tales are in Europa's Fairy Book?
They include Cinder-Maid, The King of the Fishes, Reynard and Bruin, The Master-Maid, John the True, Johnnie and Grizzle, Thumbkin, The Earl of Cattenborough, Androcles and the Lion and Snowwhite, among others.
What is Cinder-Maid in Europa's Fairy Book?
It is Jacobs's version of the Cinderella story. A hazel tree and a little bird give the girl dresses and carriages, and a lost golden shoe is the centre of the plot.
The author
Joseph Jacobs
1854–1916 · Australian folklorist and historian
Joseph Jacobs was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1854. He moved to England in 1872 and to the United States in 1900. He was a folklorist, historian, and writer. He published English Fairy Tales in 1890 and More English Fairy Tales in 1894. He died in Yonkers, New York, in 1916.
More by Joseph Jacobs
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