The Red Fairy Book

Andrew Lang’s second colored collection gathers thirty-seven fairy tales drawn from French, Russian, Danish, and Romanian sources, alongside a long retelling of the Norse hero Sigurd. Readers meet the twelve princesses who dance their shoes to pieces each night, Snowdrop asleep in her glass coffin, and the golden-haired girl shut in a tower. Lang handled the selecting and framing, while his wife Leonora and a small circle of translators did much of the actual work, turning stories from many languages into plain, readable English for children. First published in 1890, the volume helped launch a series that shaped how generations first met the old European tales. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available to download.