The Red Romance Book

Castles, enchanted creatures and wandering knights fill this collection of older romances, edited by Andrew Lang and retold by Mrs. Lang. The preface traces how tales once told in verse became long prose narratives, then explains the shorter versions gathered here. Sources include French accounts of Charlemagne's companions, Italian poems and an ancient Latin romance. Una, Bradamante, Ogier the Dane and Don Quixote appear among the figures named in the contents.

Brave deeds sit beside magic, loyalty and mistaken judgments. In one story, Don Quixote stops a procession at night, convinced that honour requires him to investigate a wrong. His intervention brings confusion and injury before an explanation exposes his mistake. Lang's introduction addresses children directly and encourages them to choose the tales they enjoy. Readers interested in older storytelling can encounter several traditions of romance through separate adventures, ranging from enchanted beings to a knight whose imagination leads him astray.