Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I first read this book in 1983, and was amazed with it then. It's unique and extremely interesting. Iona and Peter Opie have the original tales as first printed in the English language. Added to that is the history and the actual gruesome origins of what we now consider children's stories! For example, Sleeping Beauty is not awakened by a kiss. Her Prince Charming violates her while she sleeps (and since she doesn't wake up, we can only imagine how mediocre he was...). She only awakens 9 months later, during the birth of twins! He eventually returns to her, and then the story gets more complicated with his ogre mother who wants to canibalize the children. The story of the Frog Prince is even stranger. Since these are the actual tales, we can see how we've changed the stories to fit in with our culture. This is not a book for young children. The history part was the most fascinating to me. In addition, litle details such as learning that Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of squirrel fur, not glass. Both words in French are spelled similarly (vaire, verre...I'm not sure of the spelling either)and the original printer had a typo that lives on til today.
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Everyone has at one time been inspired or enchanted by fairy tales, with their evil witches, pure princesses, heroic princes, and happy endings.Yet over the years, most of these popular tales have undergone many transformations, as editors and storytellers have shortened and sentimentalized them, as well as slanted them to suit the demands of the time. Now reissued, Iona and Peter Opie's magnificent The Classic Fairy Tales, presents twenty-four of the best-known fairy tales in their original written form.Drawing on years of expertise, the editors provide introductions to each fairy tale, tracing the development of each story and noting points of interest.We learn, for example, that in a 17th century version of "Sleeping Beauty", the prince actually raped the princess in her sleep.Goldilocks, it turns out, evolved from the little old woman of the original story into a young girl.Little Red Ridinghood was actually eaten by the wolf, and in an early version of the "Frog Prince," the princess had to sleep with the frog to free him from his spell.With classic tales from the likes of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, and the works of such famous illustrators as Gustav Dore, Kate Greenaway, and George Cruikshank, The Classic Fairy Tales brings to life the charm and beauty of these timeless favorites.
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