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Princess Tales
Collection includes:
"Ricky-of-the-Tuft" from FOLK TALES OF FRANCE, adapted by Polly Curren, copyright 1963 by the Bobbs-Merril Company, Inc.
"The Blackbird's Song" adapted from THE FAUN AND THE WOOD CUTTER'S DAUGHTER by Barbara Leonie Picard, copyright 1964 by Criterion Books.
"Melisande" by E. Nesbit, John Farquarson, Ltd.
"The Handkerchief" adapted from THE SULTAN'S FOOL AND OTHER NORTH AFRICAN TALES by Robert Gilstrap and Irene Estabrooke, copyright 1958, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
"The Son of the Baker of Barre" from SEA-SPELL AND MOOR-MAGIC by Sorche Nic Leodhas, copyright 1968 by Leclaire G. Algier.
"The Practical Princess" by Jay Williams, copyright 1969 by Jay Williams.
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" from FAVORITE FAIRY TALES TOLD IN FRANCE by Virginia Haviland, text copyright 1959 by Virginia Haviland.
"The Princess and the Vagabone" from THE WAY OF THE STORYTELLER by Ruth Sawyer, copyright 1942, copyright renewed 1970 by Ruth Sawyer.
"Ricky-of-the-Tuft" from FOLK TALES OF FRANCE, adapted by Polly Curren, copyright 1963 by the Bobbs-Merril Company, Inc.
"The Blackbird's Song" adapted from THE FAUN AND THE WOOD CUTTER'S DAUGHTER by Barbara Leonie Picard, copyright 1964 by Criterion Books.
"Melisande" by E. Nesbit, John Farquarson, Ltd.
"The Handkerchief" adapted from THE SULTAN'S FOOL AND OTHER NORTH AFRICAN TALES by Robert Gilstrap and Irene Estabrooke, copyright 1958, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
"The Son of the Baker of Barre" from SEA-SPELL AND MOOR-MAGIC by Sorche Nic Leodhas, copyright 1968 by Leclaire G. Algier.
"The Practical Princess" by Jay Williams, copyright 1969 by Jay Williams.
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" from FAVORITE FAIRY TALES TOLD IN FRANCE by Virginia Haviland, text copyright 1959 by Virginia Haviland.
"The Princess and the Vagabone" from THE WAY OF THE STORYTELLER by Ruth Sawyer, copyright 1942, copyright renewed 1970 by Ruth Sawyer.
127 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 15, 2023
One of my childhood favorites.
January 2, 2013
Along with The Ordinary Princess, Princess Tales had a place on my childhood bookshelves, which - after losing the originals in 2003 - in my mid twenties I set about rebuilding.
This afternoon, looking for something to (a) take the taste of The Paris Wife out of my mouth and (b) that I could flip through in one go as I lay in the sun (and vicious wind), I picked the collection up again. It's uneven, in retrospect; ranging from faux-dialecty Irish stories full of witches to a Moroccan tale of a wise young princess wife to a good moral tale in which a bolshy princess is broken down by a prince in disguise for her own good.
But there are two stories that continue to charm. One is American writer Jay William's 'The Practical Princess' in which smart, sensible Bedelia (she was given common sense at her christening: "I don't think much of that gift" huffs her father, "What good is common sense to a princess? All she needs is charm") uses her wits first to destroy a dragon threatening the kingdom and then to foil a revolting and manipulative suitor. In the end she rescues and marries a prince. It's all very satisfying.
The second is Edith Nesbit's 'Melisande' (published originally in 1900, between Maurice Maeterlinck's play Pelleas and Melisande and Debussy adaption of the story into opera). Melisande - like Amy and Bedelia - is the 'victim' of her parents' inability to manage the fairy-invite-list/christening problem well: in this case, the baby is cursed with baldness. When she reaches 18 her father gives her a wish he has had sitting around for years. Bedelia wishes first for the people of the kingdom to be good and then to be happy, but these objectives are already achieved; therefore, she cedes to her mother's desire and wishes for "golden hair a yard long, and that it would grow an inch every day, and grow twice as fast every time it was cut, and ---" at which point she is cut off by her mathematically-minded father before she can ask for it to be "twice as thick".
My favourite passage of this whole book as a kid was the resulting very satisfying calculations about Melisande's hair growth:
Help comes in the form of the gallant Price Florizel who, after a bit of fail-fast-and-fail-often (instead of cutting the hair off the princess, he cuts the princess off her hair - with unforeseen Alice-in-Wonderland-esque results), and with a little clue from the fairy who originally gifted the back-firing wish, finds a balanced solution to the issue. A feminist classic it may not be (although Melisande does, along the way, save the country from two armed attacks) but it's a thoroughly delightful story and a lovely form of distraction from what I'm meant to be doing today.
This afternoon, looking for something to (a) take the taste of The Paris Wife out of my mouth and (b) that I could flip through in one go as I lay in the sun (and vicious wind), I picked the collection up again. It's uneven, in retrospect; ranging from faux-dialecty Irish stories full of witches to a Moroccan tale of a wise young princess wife to a good moral tale in which a bolshy princess is broken down by a prince in disguise for her own good.
But there are two stories that continue to charm. One is American writer Jay William's 'The Practical Princess' in which smart, sensible Bedelia (she was given common sense at her christening: "I don't think much of that gift" huffs her father, "What good is common sense to a princess? All she needs is charm") uses her wits first to destroy a dragon threatening the kingdom and then to foil a revolting and manipulative suitor. In the end she rescues and marries a prince. It's all very satisfying.
The second is Edith Nesbit's 'Melisande' (published originally in 1900, between Maurice Maeterlinck's play Pelleas and Melisande and Debussy adaption of the story into opera). Melisande - like Amy and Bedelia - is the 'victim' of her parents' inability to manage the fairy-invite-list/christening problem well: in this case, the baby is cursed with baldness. When she reaches 18 her father gives her a wish he has had sitting around for years. Bedelia wishes first for the people of the kingdom to be good and then to be happy, but these objectives are already achieved; therefore, she cedes to her mother's desire and wishes for "golden hair a yard long, and that it would grow an inch every day, and grow twice as fast every time it was cut, and ---" at which point she is cut off by her mathematically-minded father before she can ask for it to be "twice as thick".
My favourite passage of this whole book as a kid was the resulting very satisfying calculations about Melisande's hair growth:
The Princess's hair began by being a yard long, and it grew an inch every night. If you know anything at all about the simplest sums you will see that in about five weeks her hair was about two yards long. This is a very inconvenient length. It trails on the floor and sweeps up all the dust, and though in palaces, of course, it is all gold-dust, still it is not nice to have it in your hair. And the Princess's hair was growing an inch every night. When it was three yards long the Princess could not bear it any longer-it was so heavy and so hot-so she borrowed nurse's cutting-out scissors and cut it all off, and then for a few hours she was comfortable. But the hair went on growing, and now it grew twice as fast as before; so that in thirty-six days it was as long as ever. The poor Princess cried with tiredness; when she couldn't bear it any more she cut her hair and was comfort able for a very little time. For the hair now grew four times as fast as at first, and in eighteen days it was as long as before, and she had to have it cut. Then it grew eight inches a day, and the next time it was cut it grew sixteen inches a day, and then thirty-two inches and sixty-four inches and a hundred and twenty-eight inches a day, and so on, growing twice as fast after each cutting, till the Princess would go to bed at night with her hair clipped short, and wake up in the morning with yards and yards and yards of golden hair flowing all about the room, so that she could not move without pulling her own hair, and nurse had to come and cut the hair off before she could get out of bed.
Help comes in the form of the gallant Price Florizel who, after a bit of fail-fast-and-fail-often (instead of cutting the hair off the princess, he cuts the princess off her hair - with unforeseen Alice-in-Wonderland-esque results), and with a little clue from the fairy who originally gifted the back-firing wish, finds a balanced solution to the issue. A feminist classic it may not be (although Melisande does, along the way, save the country from two armed attacks) but it's a thoroughly delightful story and a lovely form of distraction from what I'm meant to be doing today.
February 22, 2017
Excellent collection of Princess fairy tales which are set apart from Disney's lot. Here you will read about a Practical Princess, Twelve Dancing Princess, and even a princess who marries a vagabond. I definitely recommend this for bedtime reading to your little one.
My little one isn't so little anymore, plus he is a reluctant reader. This isn't the type of book to interest him. No matter, I'm reading them to him and found that he really likes them. Yay! So don't shy away from sharing with your own children, be they girls or boys, young or older; just share.
My little one isn't so little anymore, plus he is a reluctant reader. This isn't the type of book to interest him. No matter, I'm reading them to him and found that he really likes them. Yay! So don't shy away from sharing with your own children, be they girls or boys, young or older; just share.
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February 3, 2023Thank you very much, Jestress, for https://forgottenstoriesweb.wordpress...
"Ricky-of-the-Tuft" from Folk Tales of France, adapted by Polly Curren, copyright 1963 by the Bobbs-Merril Company, Inc.
"The Blackbird's Song" adapted from The Faun and the Woodcutter's Daughter by Barbara Leonie Picard copyright 1964 by Criterion Books.
Melisande by E. Nesbit, John Farquarson, Ltd.
"The Handkerchief" adapted from THE SULTAN'S FOOL AND OTHER NORTH AFRICAN TALES by Robert Gilstrap and Irene Estabrooke, copyright 1958, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
"The Son of the Baker of Barre" from Sea-Spell and Moor-Magic: Tales of the Western Isles by Sorche Nic Leodhas copyright 1968 by Leclaire G. Algier.
The Practical Princess by Jay Williams, copyright 1969 by Jay Williams.
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" from Favorite Fairy Tales Told in France by Virginia Haviland, text copyright 1959 by Virginia Haviland.
"The Princess and the Vagabone" from The Way of the Storyteller by Ruth Sawyer, copyright 1942, copyright renewed 1970 by Ruth Sawyer.
"Ricky-of-the-Tuft" from Folk Tales of France, adapted by Polly Curren, copyright 1963 by the Bobbs-Merril Company, Inc.
"The Blackbird's Song" adapted from The Faun and the Woodcutter's Daughter by Barbara Leonie Picard copyright 1964 by Criterion Books.
Melisande by E. Nesbit, John Farquarson, Ltd.
"The Handkerchief" adapted from THE SULTAN'S FOOL AND OTHER NORTH AFRICAN TALES by Robert Gilstrap and Irene Estabrooke, copyright 1958, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
"The Son of the Baker of Barre" from Sea-Spell and Moor-Magic: Tales of the Western Isles by Sorche Nic Leodhas copyright 1968 by Leclaire G. Algier.
The Practical Princess by Jay Williams, copyright 1969 by Jay Williams.
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" from Favorite Fairy Tales Told in France by Virginia Haviland, text copyright 1959 by Virginia Haviland.
"The Princess and the Vagabone" from The Way of the Storyteller by Ruth Sawyer, copyright 1942, copyright renewed 1970 by Ruth Sawyer.
January 1, 2020
A bunch of short-short stories quick read
January 28, 2026
Incredible stories of princesses who were brave, clever, and had gumption!
July 14, 2025
I revisited this yellowing, much-loved collection of princess stories on a whim when it fell out of my new bookshelf this summer. The tales, while stereotypical and constrained due to being products of their time, do retain a certain charm despite their predictability. Even among procedural classics like "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", there are hints of growing adventurous equality in some of the stories: "Melisande" and "The Practical Princess" being the clear standouts that read like prototype versions of Gail Carson Levine novels. The collection is at its weakest when it attempts to adapt non-French fairy tales, rendering the scenery and character of Ireland and Morocco as flat and unrecognizable.
August 6, 2012
This book was on my shelf when I was a child. Translation: comfort book. I love the illustrations by Barbara Cooney.
December 2, 2014
One of my favorite books from childhood.
January 27, 2015
I didn't care for how the stories were written, but it has given me an idea for my next embroidery project.
March 16, 2016
A childhood favorite, this copy was my mom's book when she was little, and I had a great time reading it with Jaquelin & Harrison :)
November 21, 2022
Expand Your Horizons - Read a book from your childhood
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews