2 h 59 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 2 h 59 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when ordinary children meet the strange creatures and small magical people of elf-land?
In Fairy Dreams, Jane G. Austin gathers six fairy tales around magic, quests, and wonder. Ordinary children share this world with small magical people and strange creatures. These are stories of wandering, where a meeting can bring a choice between kindness and selfishness, and the unfamiliar invites a closer look.
The pleasure lies in exploring rather than rushing ahead. Austin’s tales belong to a tradition of children’s stories set in elf-land, with clear sentences and bright pictures in words. Wonder and simple choices sit side by side, giving parents and young readers something to talk about as they follow each wandering path.
What you’ll discover
- Wanderings in elf-land Enter a fairy world where ordinary children encounter magical people and strange creatures.
- Kindness or selfishness Follow simple choices that give these tales something to ponder alongside their magic.
- Magic, quests, and wonder Explore six tales whose promise is discovery, with room to wander along the way.
- Stories to share aloud Let clear sentences and bright word pictures invite a child into each scene.
- An older storytelling pace Settle into a slower manner of storytelling, rooted in nineteenth-century American children’s writing.
Who will love it
Readers who love fairy tales with flowers, winds, frost and sea princesses will enjoy this collection. It suits families reading aloud and anyone who likes wonder and gentle lessons.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A wish begins without a name
- Beauty must pass a test
- Loneliness sends Mabel into the woods
- A stranger gives Ernest a purpose
- Claude follows what others cannot see
- Love draws Ernest toward a bargain
- Fritzchen keeps his promise despite fear
- Nature joins the cast of characters
- Wishes reveal what truly matters
Who’s who
- Prince RudolfA king's son who sets out with a white veil and a diamond spear to find a flower he saw only in a dream.
- MabelA charcoal burner's lonely daughter who reads fairy tales and longs to be loved by King Tolv.
- Princess PheliaA princess of Catland, cursed to live as a gray cat, who needs her stolen crown back.
- ErnestA kind young man who lives alone by the sea and dares the Four Winds and the Gnomes to help the cat princess.
- ClaudeA boy who sees a palace and a maiden in the frost on his window and spends years searching for them.
- Princess SulemairA sea princess who sings a lonely passenger into her undersea kingdom and wishes to share his world.
- VeriaA faithful daughter who offers to give her life for her father's, if a stranger can save him.
- FritzchenA fisherman's son who keeps his promises and carries Christmas candles up to a robber baron's castle.
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- Large print hardcover
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Fairy Dreams
by Jane G. Austin · 1859
A prince throws a magic veil over the flower maidens he thinks might fulfill his dream, and each shows her true nature.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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“Yet if I found it, I would certainly recognize it, and without it I cannot live.”
In short
What would you do if you woke each morning with a single wish in your heart and no way to name it? Prince Rudolf knows that feeling.
Fairy Dreams at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h 40 min1 h 20 min fast, 2 h slow
- Length
- 24,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1859by Jane G. Austin
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
A prince tests every flower with a veil
Prince Rudolf kneels before his father, King Merowald, and asks leave to ride into the world. He wants to find a flower he saw in a dream, the only thing that can make him happy. He cannot recall its name, shape or color, yet he is sure he would know it at once.
The king sends him to the wise Althoso. The old man will not name the flower, because a prize handed over without effort would lose its worth within an hour. Instead he gives two gifts. One is a white veil to throw over any blossom that might be the right one. If the veil stays white and whole, the flower is worth keeping. If it is soiled or torn, the prince must flee. The other gift is a spear with a diamond point that breaks every enchantment.
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Details
- First published
- 1859
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 55 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Austin, Jane G. Fairy Dreams. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/fairy-dreams.
Austin, J. G. (2026). Fairy dreams. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fairy-dreams (Original work published 1859)
Austin, Jane G. Fairy Dreams. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fairy-dreams.
@book{austin2026fairy,
author = {Austin, Jane G.},
title = {Fairy Dreams},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fairy-dreams},
note = {First published 1859}
}
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What is Fairy Dreams about?
Fairy Dreams is a collection of six fairy tales by Jane G. Austin. They tell of a prince seeking a dream flower, a girl who longs for a fairy king, a cat princess, a frost palace, a sea princess and a Christmas castle.
Who is King Tolv in Fairy Dreams?
King Tolv is a fairy king in a little book of tales that Mabel reads. Every midsummer night he rides through the woods and carries any pure maiden he meets to his golden palace inside a hillside.
What does the white veil in Prince Rudolf's Flower do?
The sage Althoso gives Rudolf a white veil to throw over any flower that might be his. If the veil stays white and whole, the flower may be true. If it is soiled or torn, the prince must flee.
The author
Jane G. Austin
1831–1894 · American novelist
Jane G. Austin (1831–1894) was an American writer born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her full name was Jane Goodwin Austin. She wrote novels and stories, including historical fiction about the Plymouth colonists. Her books included Fairy Dreams, published in 1859, and Standish of Standish, published in 1889. She died in Boston.
“Yet if I found it, I would certainly recognize it, and without it I cannot live.”
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