1st Edition
Red Magic The World’s Best Fairy Tales Collected and Arranged by Romer Wilson
With a Preface and biographies from Jack Zipes, as well as the original illustrations by Kay Nielsen, this collection of fairy tales originally published by the award-winning Romer Wilson – Green Magic (1928), Silver Magic (1929), and Red Magic (1930) – offers a combination of classic fairy tales, alongside lesser known, global and diverse tales.
Red Magic contains such classics as “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp” from the Arabian Nights, “A Child’s Dream on a Star” by Dickens, and “The Chimera” by Hawthorne. It also contains previously unpublished tales such as “Princess Silver Silk” and “The Enchanted Deer.” It was Romer Wilson’s intention to combine the familiar with the unknown, and to introduce authors and cultures from a variety of countries. As a researcher, Wilson uncovered a remarkable amount of stories from other countries that remain unknown today. This collection gives voice to unique and intriguing tales that inspire children to have a better understanding of how people and their stories are alike despite major differences.
Through his Preface and commentary, Jack Zipes shows how all three books are a means to bring people together in the name of peace and justice. These books will, therefore, be of interest to anyone researching or studying fairy tales, folklore and children’s literature, as well as global or comparative literature and social justice.
Preface - Jack Zipes
The Dangers of Dragons - Romer Wilson
The Reward of Virtue - Taddeo Ricciardi
The Story of the Three Bears - Robert Southey
Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
Rich Peter the Peddler - Sir George Dasent
Hawk and Mole - Edward L. Handy
A Child’s Dream of a Star - Charles Dickens
Bean Flower and Pea Blossom - Charles Nodier
The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse - Aesop
King Uggermugger, or the Princess Silver-Silk - Cholmondeley Pennell
The Bear and the Hunter’s Stepson - Charles Marius Barbeau
At the Door - Puss Brambula Compton
The Six Swans - Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
The Enchanted Deer - Mme Catherine d’Aulnoy
Mrs. Tabitha Tortoiseshell - Puss Brambula Compton
St. George and the Dragon - Percy’s Reliques
The Dragon of Watley - Percy’s Reliques
The Chimaera - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Bash-Chalek, or True Steel - Elodie L. Mijatovich
Aladdin and the Magic Lamp - Antoine Galland
Biography
Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota. In addition to his scholarly work, he is an active storyteller in public schools and has written and translated fairy tales for children and adults. Some of his recent publications include Grimm Legacies: The Magic Power of Fairy Tales (2014) and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: An Anthology of Magical Tales (2017). In 2019, he founded his own press called Little Mole and Honey Bear and has published The Giant Ohl and Tiny Tim (2019), Johnny Breadless (2020), Yussuf the Ostrich (2020), Keedle the Great and All You Want to Know about Fascism (2020) and Tistou, The Boy with the Green Thumbs of Peace (2021).
