English Fairy Tales
The folklorist Joseph Jacobs gathered these stories so that English children would have their own book of tales to set beside Grimm and Andersen. Here are the versions many readers first meet: Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Little Pigs, Tom Tit Tot, Henny-Penny, and the giant-killing Jack, told in a plain, spoken style close to how they were passed down aloud. Jacobs collected and gently reshaped them from older printed and oral sources, keeping the rhythm and repetition that make them a pleasure to read out loud. The result is one of the cornerstones of English children’s literature. Free to download as a PDF or EPUB.
About the Author
Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) was an Australian-born folklorist, literary critic, and historian who spent much of his career in England. He edited English Fairy Tales, Celtic Fairy Tales, and other collections, becoming one of the most influential compilers of folk stories in the English language.
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