Fairytale book with several authors. Having good character or habits. Table of contents lists stories from oldest (1800s) to newest: story name, author & year written. 2nd story by George MacDonald. Published in 1980s.

[Elle]

I'm looking for a fairytale book it has several authors and in the table of contents the story's were listed from oldest to newest with the name of the story , author and the year it was written. Starting sometime in the 1800s and the last story being in 1980 something... I believe it was published in the mid 1980s .I think the book may have been blue. And the stories having to do with having a good character or good habits or something of the like.
I remember the first story but not the name or author of the story.
And the second story was by George MacDonald but I can't remember which of his stories.

The first story was about a lazy boy who gets visited by two fairy's one is plain and simple the other is pretty and lavish and they each invite the boy to stay with them at their castles but he needs to pick / they each give a description of their castles the plain one has them working and living a simple life and the lavish one the kids do whatever they want. The boy picks the lavish one and goes with her to her castle where he does nothing all day and eats he then gets picked by a giant who plans on eating him the giant is a friend of the lavish fairy and she supplies fat lazy children for I can't remember what in return.. so the giant puts the boy in a cage and that's were things get fuzzy in my mind - I know the ending is the boy manages to escape the lavish fairy. the lavish fairy and the giant both die I think and the boy goes to live with the plain fairy where he completely changes his ways.. eventually he goes home and shocks his family and teachers with his new and improved self..
that's all I remember -

[Kris]

Elle, have you tried searching on Worldcat.org? It's helpful for finding old (children's) books. For example:

Search using WorldCat.org:
https://www.worldcat.org/advancedsear...
Keyword: "george macdonald" | Subject: fairy tales | 1900-1995 ? | Juvenile | Fiction | Book | English
(Note: Sometimes the website glitches and defaults to a non-English language. Try right-clicking a blank area on the webpage and selecting Translate to English (or similar) from the browser's menu.)

Here are some of the books listed. Scroll down the pages to see the table of contents.

- Favorite Old Fairy Tales by Muriel Fuller: https://www.worldcat.org/title/favori...
- The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales by Alison Lurie: https://www.worldcat.org/title/oxford...
- Modern Fairy Stories by R.L. Green: https://www.worldcat.org/title/modern...
- Beyond the Looking Glass: Extraordinary Works of Fairy Tale & Fantasy by Jonathan Cott: https://www.worldcat.org/title/beyond...

[Kris]

About how many stories in the book?

How well known are the authors and the stories?

[Elle]

I haven't but I will definitely look at it when I get a chance. Thanks for the suggestion.
I don't remember very much about the book. I was able to figure out that the first story was by Catherine Sinclare and the story is called
Uncle Davids Nonsensical Stories about Giants and Fairys

[Kris]

Good clue. Adding "Catherine Sinclair" to the Worldcat search above, returns books like:

- The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales edited by Alison Lurie: https://www.worldcat.org/title/oxford... (There are different cover images.)
- Victorian Fairy Tales: The Revolt of the Fairies and Elves edited by Jack D. Zipes: https://www.worldcat.org/title/victor...