Fairy tales are as old as language itself.
Long, long ago, storytellers all around the world told tales of wonder both to enchant and entertain us, and also to teach us that – if we are good and kind and courageous enough – we can change the world for the better.
For this is what fairy tales do. They give us hope.
As we travel through the dark and dangerous world of the fairy tale, as we fight dragons and outwit ogres and save our sisters and brothers, we learn that we are capable of anything. And then we return to our own world with all that we have learned along the way, stronger and braver than before.
The stories in this book come from all the corners of the world. Some were told in deep time before history was recorded, and some were written not so long ago. All of them have been unjustly forgotten.
In this collection of long-lost fairy tales, author Kate Forsyth and illustrator Lorena Carrington work together to bring tales of wisdom, compassion, and courage to life for the modern-day reader.
Dr Kate Forsyth is an award -winning author, poet, and storyteller. Her historical novels for adults include Psykhe, a reimagining of the ancient Greek myth from the viewpoint of the young woman at its heart which reached No. 3 on the Australian Fiction bestsellers list; The Crimson Thread, a retelling of the myth of the minotaur set in Crete during World War II which The Washington Review called ‘a riveting tale of courage, love, and betrayal’; and Bitter Greens, a reimagining of ‘Rapunzel’ which won the American Library Award for Best Historical Fiction.