The orphan's hand-mill: Estonian fairy tales

by August Jakobson

English (translation)
Original Estonian

142 pages, Board Book

First published August 1, 1998

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was a book of Fairy Tales, all right! If you're familiar with the most popular western Fairy Tales (notably the ones collected by the Brothers Grimm) you know that they are often strange and many of them are depressing. This is certainly the case for the stories in this collection. Many of the stories have a "happy ending," but said happy ending is not one that would likely be considered happy to a modern audience. For instance, the titular story ends with *spoiler follows* the protagonist marrying her adopted father. And this is supposed to be a happy situation for her.

These tales were interesting to study from an anthropological viewpoint, but many of them were also fun to read! Some of them were funny, either through intentional humor or because they contain such extremely unrealistic situations that they become funny.

[Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good illustrations lend themselves to Estonia's unique and plot-complex fairy tales. A worthwhile and entertaining read.