The Watkins Book of English Folktales

Name: The Watkins Book of English Folktales
Brand: Tantor Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Neil Philip
ISBN: 9798765098608

Author: Neil Philip, Neil Gaiman

Narrator: Hannibal Hills

Unabridged: 17 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/27/2023

Categories: Fiction, Fairy Tales & Legends

Synopsis

With a foreword by Neil Gaiman, this comprehensive, entertaining, and authentic collection of English folktales is perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Philip Pullman, and the Brothers Grimm.

This is a golden treasury of over one hundred English folktales captured in the form they were first collected in past centuries. Listen to these classic tales as they would have been told when storytelling was a living art—when the audience believed in boggarts and hobgoblins, local witches and will-o'-the-wisps, ghosts and giants, cunning foxes and royal frogs. Find "Jack the Giantkiller", "Tom Tit Tot", and other quintessentially English favorites, alongside interesting borrowings, such as an English version of the Grimms' "Little Snow White"—as well as bedtime frighteners, including "Captain Murderer", as told to Charles Dickens by his childhood nurse.

Neil Philip has provided a full introduction and source notes on each story that illustrate each tale's journey from mouth to page, and what has happened to them on the way. These tales rank among the finest English short stories of all time in their richness of metaphor and plot and their great verbal dash and daring.

About Neil Philip

Neil Philip is a writer, folklorist, and poet. Among his many books are The Cinderella Story, Mythology (with Philip Wilkinson), The New Oxford Book of Children's Verse, The Tale of Sir Gawain, and The Adventures of Odysseus. Neil has contributed to numerous journals, including the Times and Signal: Approaches to Children's Books, and has also written for stage, screen and radio. His work has won the Aesop Award of the American Folklore Society and the Literary Criticism Book Award of the Children's Literature Association.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Janelle on November 18, 2022

This collection of English folktales is beautifully presented with added commentary on each of the stories including their origin in oral traditions. Many are familiar eg Jack and the beanstalk, or are variations on well known fairy tales eg The small tooth dog is a version of Beauty and the beast.......more

Goodreads review by Matt on October 03, 2022

great anthology of classic fairy tales! i grew up being obsessed with all things Grimm so this was a really fun nostalgic trip for me and some interesting background on the stories......more

Goodreads review by Pooja on December 15, 2024

England has a great culture of letters, but when it comes to folklore, people often don't think further than Jack and the Beanstalk. In this collection of English folktales though, we can see that the isles have a great tradition of oral storytelling beyond it. In my ongoing pursuit of folklore from......more

Goodreads review by Kathy on January 03, 2023

This book is an extensive collection of English folktales, with 369 annotated stories included. Each story begins with an introduction that provides a discussion of variants, source (from folklore), tale type, and narrator (with date and location). Stories are from the 19th to early 20th century and......more

Goodreads review by Ariel on September 27, 2023

Solid 4 Stars: Anyone who enjoys tales and stories will enjoy this collection. While some of them may not be in everyone's taste and to their liking it is a nice array nonetheless. I plan on purchasing a physical copy of the book for my collection. This book gives for a pleasant source of entertainme......more