The Allies' Fairy Book

by Edmund Gosse, Arthur Rackham (Illustrations)

The Allies' Fairy Book contains a selection of traditional fairy tales from the allied countries participating in World War I. Its stories include; 'Jack the Giant Killer' (English); 'The Battle of the Birds' (Scottish); 'Lludd and Llevelys' (Welsh); 'Gulesh' (Irish); 'The Sleeping Beauty (French); 'Cesarino and the Dragon' (Italian); 'What came of picking flowers' (Portuguese); 'The Adventures of Little Peachling', 'The Fox's Wedding' and 'The Tongue-Cut Sparrow' (Japanese); 'Frost' (Russian); 'The Golden Apple-Tree and the Nine Peahens' (Serbian); and 'The Last Adventure of Thyl Ulenspiegel' (Belgian). The tales are illustrated with Arthur Rackham's beautiful colour plates and monotone drawings.

Genres: Fairy Tales

172 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Sir Edmund Gosse was an influential English poet, critic, biographer, and translator who played a pivotal role in shaping literary and artistic discourse in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Born into the strict religious sect of the Plymouth Brethren, Gosse experienced a repressive upbringing under his father, the naturalist Philip Henry Gosse. His eventual rejection of that faith formed the basis for his most famous book, Father and Son (1907), a groundbreaking autobiographical work considered one of the first psychological memoirs in English literature.
Gosse began his literary career as an assistant librarian at the British Museum and went on to publish poetry, translations, and literary criticism. He developed close relationships with prominent writers and artists of the time, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and the sculptor Hamo Thornycroft. His interest in Scandinavian literature led to the promotion of Henrik Ibsen’s plays in England through his translations and reviews, often in collaboration with William Archer.
In addition to lecturing in English literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, Gosse served as librarian to the House of Lords and contributed significantly to the Encyclopædia Britannica. He was also an influential art critic and authored the first historical account of the New Sculpture movement in British art. A literary patron, he was instrumental in securing support for writers such as W.B. Yeats and James Joyce.
Though married to painter Ellen Epps for over 50 years and father to three children, Gosse privately acknowledged homosexual desires, confiding in his friend John Addington Symonds. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1912 and knighted in 1925. Gosse’s legacy endures through his critical writings, literary support, and Father and Son, which remains a key text in English autobiographical literature.

Reviews

[Le Maistre Chat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The previous book I finished was an anthology of fairy tales artist Edmund Dulac published during World War I, with tales from various Allied countries.
Well, Arthur Rackham illustrated more books than Edmund Dulac did, so it's not a huge surprise that he also did an Allies Fairy Book. When republished, it usually bears the less dated title Fairy Tales From Many Lands. None of the tales selected are the same between the Dulac and Rackham books. Here we have:

Jack the Giant Killer, English. Rackham did a whole volume of English Fairy Tales that starts with this story, and he also illustrated it a third time. One color plate, three B&W sketches.

The Battle of the Birds, Scotch. A king's grandson gets raised by a giant. Two color plates, head and tail-piece sketches.
(I don't know Rackham's source for this, as I don't have any Scottish collections of oral folklore or literary fairy tales.)

Lludd and Llevelys, Welsh (Mabinogion). Lludd inherits the island of Britain while his little brother Llevelys becomes a wise man in rance who helps him when Britain suffers three plagues. "The first was a certain race that came, and was called the Coranians; and so great was their knowledge that there was no discourse on the face of the island, however low it might be spoken, but it was known to them. And through this they could not be injured." The other two are the British myth theme of the two fighting dragons who need to be buried, and a wizard who turns invisible to empty the king's pantry with a hamper of holding. Headpiece and color plate.

Guleesh, Irish. A farm boy goes on a fairy raid to France, which leaves him holding the Princess of France, enchanted to be mute. Headpiece and color plate.
(This folk tale was collected by Douglas Hyde by 1890.)

Sleeping Beauty, French. Rackham illustrated this story many times if you count Charles Perrault's and the German Briar Rose as the same. This time it got one color plate, four B&W sketches.

Cesarino and the Dragon, Italian (Straparola). A young man raises a wolf, lion and bear from cubs. While hunting, he meets a holy hermit who tells him that the local kingdom is under the "must feed a maiden to a dragon and today is the Princess' turn" trope. He kills the dragon and cuts out its tongue as proof, which means the False Dragon Slayer trope happens. Upon proving himself, his sisters are jealous of his good fortune marrying into royalty and poison him. His three animals bring him back to life and the crime is detected. Color plate, head and tail-piece.

What Came of Picking Flowers, Portuguese. A variant of the story where three sisters disappear, their brother finds them, gets feathers to summon their animal king husbands, and they fight a "lich". This time there are only two brothers-in-law (king of all birds and king of fish, whose token is one of his scales), as the youngest has been held in the "lich's" lair since her disappearance rather than him being chained up dehydrated in a castle. Color plate, head and tail-piece.
(I can't find a more specific source than "Portuguese". First English translation appears to have been by Andrew Lang in 1900.)

Three Japanese folk tales collected by Iwaya Sazanami c. 1900. Very short tellings of Peach Boy, the wedding of two kitsune and "The Tongue-Cut Sparrow". Four B&W sketches between the three tales.

"Frost", one of Russia's most famous folk tales. It's the titular part of the Soviet folk tale mashup film "Morozko", known to Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans as "Jack Frost". Color plate, head and tail-piece.

The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens, Serbian. A king had a golden apple tree but the apples disappeared as fast they grew. His youngest son found nine peahens stealing them, one of which turned into a beautiful girl. An old woman observed his secret and cut off a lock of her hair. This violation made his supernatural lover disappear in an oh-so-common folk tale motif. He searched the world for her, eventually found her palace, and they married. She gave him keys to all her cellars, forbidding him to open one. So of course he opened it. There was a barrel inside, where a voice begged it was dying of thirst. Three cups of water freed the prisoner, a dragon, who carried off the queen. The prince went looking for the dragon's palace, helping a fish, a fox and wolf along the way and getting scales or hairs to magically summon them. He can't rescue his wife because the dragon has such a fast horse(!). She tells the dragon "If you loved me, you'd tell me the source of your horse." It turns out to come from an old woman who will give one of her amazing horses to anyone who can guard her mare and foal for three days, but the mare is under orders to escape so the old woman can enjoy putting the failed employee's head on a stake. Each day the prince has to summon one of his animal friends to capture the escaping mare. Rewarded with the horse, he returns to his wife and rushes her away from the dragon.
Obvious parallels to the Serbian Bashtchelik are obvious. Two color plates.
(Seems Rackham also found this one in Lang.)

The Last Adventure of Thyl Ulenspiegel, Belgian. A strange poetic story about a Belgian married couple living after the country's liberation from Spain who see the Seven Deadly Sins turn into wooden statues, are told by good spirits to burn them, see seven virtues rise from the ashes, then the husband appears to die. A Catholic priest comes across the grieving wife and starts to bury the husband, but he pops up, makes a brief anti-Catholic rant, and they live happily ever after. Color plate, head and tail-piece.
(Apparently one of Charles De Coster's "Flemish Legends". I'd guess from the style that those the novelist's own invention rather than folklore.)

There are more classic Rackham fairy tale collections, but I don't regret tracking down this one. Rackham was always great.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of old fairy tales from which it was interesting to see the similarities across countries. Always good triumphing over evil, mostly had three allies or foes, occasionally seven or twelve obstacles. Old fashioned language and illustrations

[Mary Catelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unremarkable retellings of a selection of stories from the Allied countries of World War I. Nice illustrations.