Georgian Folk Tales

by Marjory Wardrop (Translator)

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: Fantasy, Folklore, Folk Tales, Short Stories, 19th Century, Childrens

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

Marjory Scott Wardrop was an English scholar and translator of Georgian literature. She was a sister of the British diplomat and scholar of Georgia, Oliver Wardrop.

Fluent in seven foreign languages, she also learned Georgian and traveled to Georgia (then part of Imperial Russia) in 1894-5 and 1896. She translated and published Georgian Folk Tales (London, 1894), The Hermit by Ilia Chavchavadze (London, 1895), The Life of St. Nino (Oxford, 1900), etc. She also made the first English prosaic translation of The Knight in the Panther's Skin, a medieval Georgian epic poem by Shota Rustaveli (published by Oliver Wardrop in London, 1912). After her death, Sir Oliver created the Marjory Wardrop Fund at Oxford University "for the encouragement of the study of the language, literature, and history of Georgia, in Transcaucasia.

Reviews

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there are similarities with some European folklore, the Georgian ones seem to be far more violent and have many more threads, twists and turns. I could see the crossing of East and West in some of the stories but I struggled in most cases to see the message the story was trying to tell (except all Princesses are beautiful, handsome Princes are licensed to hunt and kill and devilish imps should be avoided).

[Ahimsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is a little hard to get through, but that is kind of its strength. We read folklore to get an insight into the past and other cultures and other cultures in the past. These stories do not match current expectations. Often the wicked person is the one who thrives. Very lucky, very random events often sway the story. The logic is more Looney Tunes than Brothers Grimm.

But for all that, it's a pretty fascinating read and a few of the stories are classics.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've got to say, these were pretty interesting, even though quite many of them left me scratching my head at times. There were lots of devis, lots of princes (some favored, some not), lots of marrying random princesses for sake of marrying random princesses. Overall, nothing that will probably stick out in my memory as great but it was still fun to read.

[Shakiba Bahrami · Rating 2 out of 5]

با خوندن داستان های فولکلور گرجستان متوجه شدم، هیچی ایران خودمون نمیشه:)) داستان ها به نظرم پایان بندی مسخره ای داشت در حالیکه سیر روایی داستان های ایرانی بسیار زیبا و حرفه ای سینه به سینه نقل شده.
شباهت هاش با داستان های فولکلور بقیه کشورها جالب بود ولی به نظرم نخونیدش:)

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book of Georgian folk tales in conjunction with a trip to the Republic of Georgia in May 2018. The tales are interesting, but written in rather stilted language. They did make a fine backdrop to my trip and enabled my understanding of a rich, ancient culture.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been interested in the Grimm Brother Tales and all manner of folk stories for a long time and I've read quite a few anthologies of them. The Georgian Folktales assembled by Marjory Wardrop are fresher and more enjoyable than many I've read. Almost every story has several twists that I wouldn't have expected. I found myself laughing, sometimes simply at the oddity of the plot element, oftentimes because characters often unexpectedly do the wrong thing, the morally incorrect thing. And sometimes they get away with it! You don't have to read too many tales by the Brothers Grimm before you find a dud, one or more stories, in fact, that are just a bit dull. I didn't find that to be the case with these tales. The anthology includes Mingrellian tales and Gurian tales and I did find those described as Georgian, which make up more than half of the anthology, to be the best. You will find stories that make you think of certain folk tales you are familiar with, but are truly different.

https://www.newenglandbard.com/post/t...

[rebel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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