Up and down the country went Trwyth the boar, and Arthur followed after him, till they came to the Severn sea. There three knights caught his feet unawares and plunged him into the water, while one snatched the razor from him, and another seized the scissors. But before they laid hold of the comb he had shaken them all off, and neither man nor horse nor dog could reach him till he came to Cornwall, whither Arthur had sworn he should not go. Thither Arthur followed after him with his knights, and if it had been hard to win the razor and the scissors, the struggle for the comb was fiercer still. Often it seemed as if the boar would be the victor, but at length Arthur prevailed, and the boar was driven into the sea. And whether he was drowned or where he went no man knows to this day.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B11477M1
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (May 10, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 233 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8822034600
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.59 x 9 inches

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Bruce D. Wilner

awesome!

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2019

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Like the rest of Lang's rainbow of "fairy books," this one bursts with tales drawn from the farthest corners of the globe. There's really no better way to learn about the multitude of cultures that grace our planet than by discovering their history, folkways, and values thinly disguised in the characters and plots of their folktales. Plus, the stories range from extremely brief to rather lengthy (30+ pages), so--whether you have hours or only a few minutes to while away--there's something to be found to tickle your fancy in The Violet Fairy Book. Bravo!

4 people found this helpful

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Great 'reading out loud' material for grandparents and parents

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2009

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In the late 19th century, historian, scholar, and anthropologist, Andrew Lang, began publishing collections of fairy tales from around the world. The first volume was `The Blue Fairy Book' published in 1887. Lang was not a true ethnologist, like the German Brothers Grimm. He was far more the `translator' than collector of tales from the source, stories transcribed from being told by people to whom the tales were passed down by word of mouth. In fact, many stories in his first volume, such as Rumpelstiltskin; Snow White; Sleeping Beauty; Cinderella; and Hansel and Gretel were translated from Grimm's books of fairy tales. Some of his `fairy tales' were even `copied from relatively recent fantasy fiction, such as A Voyage to Lilliput, the first of the four episodes in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
My inspiration for commenting Lang's series of fairy tale books is for the sheer quantity of tales, the wonderful woodcut illustrations, some few of which may have become almost as popular as the tales (although not quite in the same league as Sir John Tenniel's illustrations for Lewis Carroll's great fantasies), and the fact that I had these when I was young.
With twelve of these books, with between 30 and 36 stories in each book, this gives one about 400 different stories. If I were to recommend anything as standard equipment at a grandparents' house, it would be a complete set of these books.
Needless to say, there are a few `warnings' to accompany books assembled over 100 years ago. You will encounter a fair number of words with which even an adult may be unfamiliar, let alone a five year old. For example, on the second page of The Princess Mayblossom in The Red Fairy Book, a character puts sulfur in a witch's porridge. This requires at least three explanations. What is sulfur, what is porridge, and why is sulfur in porridge such a bad thing. More difficult still is when a prince entered the town on a white horse which `pranced and caracoled to the sound of the trumpets'. In 19th century London, caracoling (making half turns to the right and the left) was probably as common and as well known as `stepping on the gas' is today. But, if you're a grandparent, that's half the fun, explaining new words and ideas to the young-uns.
There is another `danger' which may require just a bit more explanation, although in today's world of crime dramas on TV, I'm not sure that most kids are already totally immune to being shocked by death and dead bodies. In these stories, lots of people and creatures get killed in very unpleasant ways, and lots of very good people and creatures suffer in very unpleasant ways. It's ironic that the critics in Lang's own time felt the stories were 'unreality, brutality, and escapism to be harmful for young readers, while holding that such stories were beneath the serious consideration of those of mature age'. The success of a whole library of Walt Disney feature length cartoons based on these stories is a testament to how well they work with children. But do be warned, Uncle Walt did clean things up a bit. Lang's versions hold back on very little that was ugly and unpleasant in some of these stories.
The down side to the great quantity of stories is that even when some come from very different parts of the world, there is a remarkable amount of overlap in theme, plot, and characters. But by the time you get to another story of a beautiful young girl mistreated by a stepmother, it will have been several month since you read Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper in The Blue Fairy Book. The other side of the coin is that you can play the game of trying to recall what that other story was with a similar theme.
There is one very big word of caution about buying these books through Amazon or a similar on line outlet. I stopped counting when I got to twelve different editions of The Blue Fairy Book, or a volume including several of these books. Not all of these editions have the original woodcuts and even worse, not all have a table of contents and introduction. The one publisher which has all twelve volumes is by Dover. Other publishers, such as Flying Chipmunk Publishing (yes, that's it's name) also have all the original illustrations, table of contents, and introduction, but I'm not certain that publisher has all twelve volumes. Dover most certainly does, as I just bought all twelve of them from Amazon.
While I suspect these stories may have been `old hat' for quite some time, it may be that with the popularity of Lord of the Rings, the Narnia stories, and the Harry Potter stories, all of which have their share of suffering and death, that these may be in for a revival. Again, the main attraction is that for relatively little money and space, Grammy and Grandad get a great resource for bonding with children.

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Burke Lanthorn

Children love it!

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2021

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I read the first story of the Kindle format. Then I recited it in very slightly abridged form to my pre-teen children.

They loved the story of 'The Shady Lad.' It captured their imagination (death, theft, and all) to an astonishing extent.

I may buy the paperback for them in the future.

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More delightful tales collected by Lang

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2010

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Among other books, Andrew Lang (1844-1912) wrote twelve books of fairy tales that he differentiated one from the other by color; for example, this one is lilac, another is grey, another is green, another pink, another is blue, and others yellow, and brown. This book contains tales written by others, but which Lang collected. He says he is much like Adam, who Mark Twain said superintended the work in the Garden of Eden, while Eve did the work. Actually, he corrects himself, the tales were originally not written, they preceded writing. They are tales invented by ancient, probably Egyptian grandmothers who told the stories to their grandchildren. The Greek Homer knew the stories and gathered them together and made up his book "Odyssey" out of many of them. Shakespeare also used these stories for his plays. People who invent new fairy tales, he writes, never succeed. The stories in this volume come from Asia, Ireland, Portugal, and other countries. Most of them were collected and translated by Mrs. Lang.

8 people found this helpful

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Kathy Burford

Uneven but very enjoyable

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2015

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This book features mainly stories from the British Isles and translated from romance languages (by Lang’s wife), along with a few tales from the Australia, Africa, and other places. My favorite is “The King of the Waterfalls” (from WEST HIGHLAND TALES, also the source of some other good stories), in which a young king competes in games against the Gruagach (“a kind of wicked fairy”). The story is complex and entertaining in itself and also exemplifies many typical plot elements and characters in sets of three. For example, the hero gets advice on choosing an unlikely reward (such as a supposedly ugly woman) and can call on animal helpers (a dog, a hawk, and an otter) in specific situations. His wife learns the true location of the giant’s soul/heart in order to destroy him by asking him three times and responding with apparent solicitude to the first two false answers (a common theme). As in the other Lang books, the documentation is minimal. But all of them include at least some intriguing and unfamiliar stories.

4 people found this helpful

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Sea Laughing

A Wonderful Collection of Fairy Tales

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2013

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Most people today are familiar with the Grimm Brother's collection of fairy tales, and these have recently experienced a resurgence in popularity. If you love old-fashioned fairy tales--not the pallid Walt Disney version, but the nitty gritty fairy tales of the past--then you'll adore "The Lilac Fairy Book."

3 people found this helpful

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LV Mermaid

One of My Favorite Fairy Tale Series

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2013

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This is one of my favorite fairy tale author. I read his books from elementary school to current and am never bored with the stories. This is a must read for anyone who loves fairy tales! And definitely a book for any children's library.

4 people found this helpful

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Carlos paez

is part of a series

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2015

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is part of a series by Andrew Lang reading them all together makes for a great read but separated they get a little wishy washy my suggestion is read them all at once or not at all

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Top reviews from other countries

tiggycat

Every library must have fairytales

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2014

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I remember some of these from childhood, but I also remember the illustrations from the fairy books- (there are many different colours) and I wish every school had copies of every book and referred to them now and again. I know we live in the real world but these legends have come from all over the world and are magical and exciting and colourful. They are the kind of stories every mother and teacher should know to pass on to different generations to keep them alive.
As a student teacher many years ago a small child in Broadwater farm begged me to read him a story again having read the whole to a class of five to seven year olds whose faces lit up with delight at being read to. He was an 10 year old coloured boy wearing a house key around his neck, and all he wanted was a dream- a fairy tale.
It is important to have dreams

Moomin

Love these books

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2014

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The Andrew Lang original coloured fairy books are brilliant. As I bought this as a present for a friend in another country I haven't seen the version they received but as far as the stories go (and the illustrations if they're the ones from the original books) I have read and re-read these and the ones from the other colour books happily for years. Whether you read them as bedtime stories to others or yourself for a quick read before bed I can't recommend them highly enough. My friend's children at 10 and 12 still love them as much as they did at 4 years ago.

J.A.

Happily ever after

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2014

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I have the whole set! Read them as a child in the 50's and as books they are collectors' items today.
Now I have them in my handbag - great for short bus journeys!

Mrs. Denise Coduri

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2017

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Superb for all ages

Oma1

disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 14, 2013

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This was not as good as The Crimson Fairy Book. More tales from china and japan with not so many from europe.

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